FAA Grants Rare ‘Field Approval’ from Existing King Air 90C Supplement Type Certificate
FreeFlight Systems recently announced that Tampa’s Hawker Beechcraft Services have successfully integrated an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) compliant suite of FreeFlight avionics components that includes dual FDL-1090-TX Extended Squitter Transponders–a 1201 WAAS/GPS Receiver Unit and a FDL-978-RX Universal Access Transmitter that enables operators to display weather and traffic conditions to portable iPad devices for the King Air 200 aircraft.
Hawker Beechcraft Services received ADS-B Out compliance approval for the King Air 200 avionics package via Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Field Approval application of FreeFlight Systems’ existing Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the King Air C90A aircraft.
The field approval process is applicable to ADS-B systems that have previously been approved under a Type Certificate amendment or under an STC, and is an important tool for enabling the thousands of ADS-B installations that will need to be completed before the January 1, 2020 ADS-B mandate.
Tim Taylor, President of FreeFlight Systems, said,
“The Field Approval process allows the General Aviation community to take advantage of the heavy lifting we have done to obtain broad STC approvals for our ADS-B products. The process reduces costs for end users by taking advantage of the skills already available in the installation community. Our STC takes care of the complexity of the ADS-B system performance–the installer uses his skills to ensure a safe and compliant installation.”
Taylor continues, explaining that this straightforward retrofit installation provides all the benefits of ADS-B Out rule compliance, and provides the safety and situational awareness enhancements of ADS-B In to the King Air community via an affordable and time-saving installation.
In addition to achieving crucial ADS-B Out compliance, integration of similar systems via the Field Approval policy offers significant reductions in Direct Operator Costs–achieved in part to reduced program expenses when compared to the standard STC application process, as well as in substantially reduced downtime for system integration.
Hawker Beechcraft representatives estimate a cost of under $40,000 USD to accomplish its recent Field Approval for the FreeFlight Systems’ King Air B200 ADS-B solution, which offered significant cost savings versus legacy equipment and Proline21 replacement via new system integration/labor and equipment costs.
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About FreeFlight Systems
FreeFlight Systems designs and manufactures high-performance avionics that realize the substantial safety, cost, environmental and other benefits enabled by the NextGen airspace transformation. Founded in 2001 and based in Texas, the company stands at the forefront of the NextGen transformation
FreeFlight Systems produces a range of high quality, American-made, competitively priced systems for installation in all aircraft types. For more information, please visit www.freeflightsystems.com.