The Polish Air Force has installed Teledyne’s flight data monitoring and communications technology to enhance the safety and efficiency of its dedicated VIP flight carrying aircraft. Photo: Teledyne Controls
The Polish Air Force is equipping three Boeing 737 Next Generation jets used for flights carrying the European nation’s president and senior government officials with flight data recording, transmission, management and analysis technology supplied by Teledyne Controls.
A representative for Teledyne Controls confirmed via an emailed statement to Avionics International that their technology is being added to aircraft that the government of Poland first ordered from Boeing Business Jets under a March 2017 agreement for an undisclosed sum. The order included three Boeing Business Jet 2 aircraft and one 737-800 that feature VIP interior configurations.
All three aircraft will be equipped with Teledyne’s digital flight data unit (DFDAU), GroundLink Comm+ cellular system and AirFASE ground software. A key use case for GroundLink by Poland’s Air Force will be pre-flight engine data analysis. Prior to takeoffs, their engineers will be able to offload data from the aircraft and autonomously analyze it for any anomalies.
AirFASE is flight data monitoring software developed by Airbus and Teledyne Controls that is capable of translating raw flight data into engineering values. As part of the back-end support functionality for the data-capturing and storage capability provided by AirFASE, Teledyne is using IBM for its cloud computing needs and has expanded support of cloud-computing analysis and storage for operators.
Teledyne describes the GroundLink Comm+ system as being capable of supporting real-time data streaming, cabin and flight crew connectivity, wireless distribution of field-loadable software parts and automated flight operational quality assurance (FOQA) data downloads. More than 14,500 GroundLink Comm+ units are currently in service with more than 200 commercial airlines, according to Teledyne.
Boeing uses the DFDAU and its embedded aircraft condition monitoring system to feed data to the diagnostic, prognostic and trending algorithms used by its airplane health management (AHM) system for 737s and other aircraft types.
“As well as further enhancing the safety of our aircraft, one of our main uses of Teledyne’s products is efficiency and with this technology we are able to optimize processes, both in the speed of flight data download and analysis for our senior officials,” Lt. Wojciech Szczygiel, avionics engineer, 1st Airlift Base, Warsaw, Poland, said of the decision to equip the 737s with Teledyne avionics.
The Teledyne equipment selection is the latest aircraft technology related investment by the Polish military, coming just a few weeks after the U.S. State Department approved a potential foreign military sale (FMS) worth $6.5 billion of F-35A Joint Strike Fighters to the former Soviet country. Should that deal be finalized, Poland would become the 14th nation to join the F-35 program.
Thomas Innocenti, regional director for government and military sales at Teledyne Controls, said the Polish Air Force deal is an example of how military operators can leverage the technology the company first developed with commercial airlines in mind.
“We value our relationship with the Polish Air Force and look forward to contributing to their vision of providing safe and efficient transportation for Poland’s important state officials,” Innocenti said.