Cargo and charter flight operation ABX Air, Inc. and Innovative
Solutions and Support (IS&S) told Aero-News this week that the
two companies have successfully obtained a Supplemental Type
Certificate (STC) from the FAA for installation of glass panel
technology in the cockpits of Boeing 767s (below).
Under a partnership between the two companies, ABX Air will
install IS&S flat-panel screens in B757 and B767 airliners, as
well as handle training duties on the components.
With the acquisition of the STC, both companies are aggressively
marketing the technology as a turnkey solution to the owners of
more than 1,700 B757 and B767 aircraft in operations throughout the
world. The agreement allows quick retrofit of these planes with
Primary Flight/Navigation Display Systems, with completion in less
than four days.
"This agreement dramatically compresses the downtime for a flat
panel upgrade," said IS&S Chairman and CEO Geoffrey S. M.
Hedrick. "Our goal is to eventually offer an overnight training and
retrofit package to install these state-of-the-art flat panel
technologies."
Hedrick said the programmability of the company's flat-panel
systems provides pilots with a greater degree of situational
awareness, that will become more important as airline traffic and
international trade increases over the next decade and governments
mandate technologies that provide more detailed and precise flight
data to make skies safer.
"Until now, the widespread adoption of flat panel technology has
been limited by the investment and downtime required to
successfully retrofit outdated flight decks with today's
technology," says Hedrick. "Our arrangement with ABX eliminates all
barriers to adoption."
"At the same time, IS&S solutions dramatically slice the
costs of these retrofits and put the planes back in the air faster,
restoring the aircraft to revenue generating service for their
owners in a matter of days, said Hedrick.
This new flat panel technology improves dispatch reliability and
provides weight reductions, improving revenue per mile for cargo
and passenger airlines. The technology's flexibility allows for
easy reprogramming and upgrades. Flat panels also provide for
standardized flight deck presentation, reducing training time and
cost.
"Clearly, flat panel technology offers a full spectrum of
operator benefits," says Dennis A. Manibusan, Senior Vice
President, Maintenance & Engineering. "This new agreement
brings this technology within reach of an increasing portion of the
existing B757 and B767 fleet, vastly accelerating flat panel
adoption throughout aviation."