ATR Gains EASA Nod for -600 Cockpit Upgrade

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has certified the Thales/ATR Standard 3 cockpit upgrade for the ATR 42-600 and ATR 72-600, the Franco-Italian airframer announced Tuesday. According to ATR, the new version of the -600 Series’ avionics will improve situational awareness and approach capabilities while offering pilots a more user-friendly interface, along with tools to optimize airlines’ operations. Standard 3 carries an RNP-AR 0.3/0.3 capability and consists of a synthetic vision system, additional high and low speed protections, and customizable checklists and databases. ATR will install Standard 3 in all new -600s starting at the end of this year.  

With Standard 3, the addition of an Inertial Reference System provided by Thales will allow safe operations in corridors with a 0.3 nautical mile half-width, enabling airlines to operate in more stringent conditions, notably in mountainous areas or congested traffic environments. Standard 2 offered a similar 0.3 nautical mile capacity for approach, but only 1 nautical mile for missed approaches and departures. Air New Zealand, which helped finance the development of RNP-AR 0.3/0.3, first asked ATR to look into the upgrade.

ATR will also offer a synthetic vision system (SVS) in the Standard 3 avionics suite, helping with situational awareness. The manufacture calls the option a first for commercial air transport.

The new avionics also include additional speed protections. When the aircraft reaches high or low speed limits, the crew receives an alert and the system activates safe guidance. In addition, ATR will offer customized capabilities such as company route databases or checklists.

ATR can retrofit Standard 3 in -600s already in service through a simple software upgrade of the avionics suite. As of today, nearly 400 ATR-600s operate worldwide.

Developed over the last two years, the new avionics resulted from close cooperation between ATR and Tier 1 systems integrator Thales.