The Collins Aerospace Combined Vision System is on track for certification on Bombardier’s Global 5500 and 6500 aircraft next year, sources for Bombardier confirmed with Avionics International.
LAS VEGAS – David Coleal, the president of Bombardier Aviation, said on Oct. 21 that Bombardier is looking forward to the certification of the “first true combined vision system” developed solely for business jets sometime next year. The system is to go aboard the Bombardier Global 5500 and 6500 business jets.
For the last two years, Bombardier and Collins Aerospace have been developing the system, which merges infrared enhanced vision system (EVS) and synthetic vision system (SVS) imagery into a single conformal view to increase safety and reduce pilot workload formerly required by toggling between EVS and SVS.
Coleal discussed the companies’ combined vision system in a brief interview with Avionics International at a press event before this week’s National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) annual conference here.
While other companies also have such combined vision systems, the Bombardier/Collins Aerospace system is the first for purpose-built business jets, rather than systems converted from airliner use, Bombardier said. The avionics suites for the Global 5500 and 6500 also feature advanced weather detection, real-time air traffic information, and airport moving maps.
The Bombardier 5500 and 6500 business jets are to feature the first combined vision system developed solely for business jets. Photo: Bombardier
“The combined vision system aboard the Bombardier Global 5500 and Global 6500 aircraft will allow pilots to get much more information from a single glance,” Mathieu Noel, Bombardier Aviation’s director of product strategy and design, wrote in an email to Avionics International. “The head-up display on these advanced cockpits will for the first time merge two types of information, synthetic vision and enhanced vision, on one screen. For pilots, that means not having to choose between one type of view or the other, as the best view is always displayed.”
Collins also expects the CVS to be offered as an upgrade option for existing Global 5000s and 6000s, which currently feature SVS and EVS as separate systems.
Bombardier launched the Global 5500 and 6500 programs at the 2018 European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE). The first Global 6500 entered into service on Oct. 1, 2019, a week after the 5500 achieved Transport Canada certification.