Primus Epic CDS/R Certified in Avanti

Honeywell, headquartered in Morristown, N.J., has found homes for its newest EFIS retrofit, the Primus Epic CDS/R cockpit, in Canada and Germany. The avionics maker announced last month that project partner Marinvent in Montreal had obtained an STC for Primus Epic CDS/R in the Piaggio Avanti and said it had launched a program to retrofit six Challenger 601-1As at RUAG Aerospace of Germany.

Marinvent became the first Primus Epic CDS/R customer for the Avanti when it gained a Transport Canada STC for the retrofit late last month. John Maris, Marinvent president and program test pilot, said the new avionics suite in the company’s Avanti provides “full FMS navigation capability and control of the autopilot by the copilot, both of which were unavailable in the original aircraft.”

Meanwhile, Honeywell announced that it has teamed with RUAG’s Aerospace Services subsidiary to install Primus Epic CDS/R equipment on a half dozen 601-1A Challengers for the German Ministry of Defence. RUAG will take the lead in designing, installing and certifying a four-display Epic package. Honeywell said RUAG plans to offer the modification to other Challenger 601-1A operators and mod centers.

In addition to the display system retrofit, RUAG will install Honeywell Primus 880 weather radar and EGPWS with a runway awareness and alerting subsystem. The airplanes will retain the existing Honeywell autopilot, FMS and non-Honeywell radios. The Primus Epic CDS/R system features between two and four 8- by 10-inch LCD screens. A retrofit-optimized derivative of Honeywell’s factory-installed Primus 1000/2000 and Primus Epic avionics systems, the control display system version has digital-to-analog interfaces enabling it to operate with legacy analog flight control systems, according to the manufacturer.