Will Distribute And Install Retrofit Nextgen Flight Deck And Integrated Autothrottle For The King Air 200 And 350

Innovative Solutions & Support  has entered into an agreement with Blackhawk Modifications, Inc. based in Waco, Texas, to partner as a distributor and installation center for Innovative Solutions & Support’s (IS&S) NextGen Flight Deck and its Integrated Turboprop Autothrottle for the King Air 200 and 350 platforms.

“IS&S is proud to partner with Blackhawk Modifications and utilize their experience and history with the King Air 200 and 350 to bring our NextGen Flight Deck and Autothrottle to King Air operators,” said Geoff Hedrick, IS&S’s CEO/Chairman. "The NextGen Flight Deck applies its recently STC’d PC-12 flight deck with its Patent Pending autothrottle, the first and only FAA certified for part 91 & 135. This can then be fully integrated with Primary Flight Displays (PFD) and Multi-Function Display (MFD) with dual satellite based augmentation system (SBAS) GPS receivers in support of the Integrated Flight Management System (IFMS™) with LPV approach capability. The result is an integrated avionics suite providing unrivaled situational awareness, safety enhancements and operational performance.

“Our Autothrottle’s Engine Out Thrust Control will automatically adjust the remaining engine power if the airspeed falls below minimum-control airspeed Vmc," he said. "The pilot can maintain control as autothrottle mitigates the adverse YAW allowing the aircraft to safely accelerate under full control.”

"The IS&S NextGen Flight Deck and Turboprop Autothrottle is one of the most innovative products I’ve ever seen in the turboprop market," said Blackhawk Modifications president & CEO Jim Allmon. "The King Air 200 through 350 market represent over 3000 airplanes with an additional 2000 in the C90 through E and F90 market. With over 5000 aircraft, this represents the largest pool of upgrade candidates in the world.”

"The IS&S Turboprop Autothrottle allows a pilot to automatically control the power settings of the engine," said IS&S president Shahram Askarpour. "The Autothrottle computes and controls appropriate power levels and features an automatic take-off and go-around mode that smoothly brings the turbine engine to max power in a few seconds.”

The Autothrottle includes two other major modes; the torque hold and airspeed hold modes, where the pilot selects the desired torque or desired airspeed. At all times and regardless of the mode, the system protects the aircraft from over and under speed as well as protects the engine from over torque or over temperature.

When engaged by the pilot, the Autothrottle system adjusts the throttles automatically to achieve and hold the selected airspeed guarded by a torque/temperature limit mode. If the pilot manually adjusts the power level and approaches torque or temperature limits the Autothrottle will warn the pilot with a built-in throttle handle shaker system.

IS&S will utilize a King Air provided by Blackhawk Modifications for flight testing and expects an STC shortly.

IS&S has been developing our NextGen flight deck for the past 10 years, with hundreds of fielded systems. With that development, we simplified the flight deck and created the tools pilots need to take advantage of high resolution graphics that provide synthetic vision, real time weather, LPV and RNP approaches, intuitive flight planning, electronic checklists, graphical charts and maps. Even with this wealth of information, pilots are still required to multi-task in the cockpit; our autothrottle provides that logical next step in relieving pilot workload and enhancing safety for them and their passengers.

(Image provided with IS&S/Blackhawk Modifications news release)

FMI: www.innovative-ss.com, www.blackhawk.aero