Sun, May 11, 2008
FAA Grants Type Certification For Ovations And Acclaim
The use of Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)-aided navigation
and Safe-Taxi has been certified by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) on Mooney's family of airplanes -- the Acclaim
Type S, Ovation 3 and Ovation2 GX.
The amended Type Certificate for the upgrade was awarded to
Mooney by the FAA on April 30. WAAS and Safe-Taxi will provide
additional safety and ease pilot workloads in Instrument
Meteorological Conditions (IMC) or high traffic environments, both
in the air and on the ground. Mooney will begin delivering aircraft
with the WAAS system and the SafeTaxi software upgrade
immediately.
"The addition of WAAS navigation to our airplanes allows Mooney
operators to take full advantage of the capabilities, accuracy,
reliability and integrity of their Garmin G1000 avionics and Global
Positioning System (GPS)," said Mooney CEO Dennis Ferguson. "The
overall performance of Mooney airplanes permits them to be operated
in the same environment as many business aircraft, especially
turboprops. That's why we have made an ongoing commitment to
provide our customers with all the tools necessary to do so
efficiently. That's the reason Mooney airplanes are the only ones
in their class to be approved for flight into known icing and
that's also why we made it a priority to obtain WAAS certification.
We appreciate the way the FAA worked closely with us to make this
happen."
WAAS uses satellite-based navigational aids for precise lateral
and vertical approach guidance. It improves position accuracy from
a typical 49 feet down to approximately 9 feet. With the FAA's
published LPV (lateral position with vertical guidance) approaches,
operators can frequently make approaches to general aviation
airports down to minimums of less than 300 feet and 3/4 of a mile.
The WAAS avionics system approved for Mooney aircraft generates a
virtual glide path for more than 3,000 straight-in GPS and Area
Navigation (RNAV) approaches that the aircraft's navigation system
has programmed into it. They system is coupled with the precision
flight guidance of the Garmin GFC700 autopilot.
Mooney is working on a retrofit package and pricing structure
for aircraft produced prior to April 30 who wish to add the
capability to their airplanes. It is expected to be released during
the second quarter of this year.
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