FAA To Upgrade Its King Airs with Pro Line 21

The FAA will upgrade the cockpits in its fleet of 18 King Air 300 flight-inspection airplanes with Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics systems rather than replace the aircraft, the agency said. Rockwell Collins installed the retrofit displays and associated hardware in the first airplane last month. FAA technicians will perform the upgrades in the remainder over the next three years as part of a broader aircraft life-extension program. The total cost of the project will run $32 million, or about $1.78 million per airplane, and includes extra inspection gear to test NextGen navigation systems. The FAA noted that a proposal to replace the King Air 300 fleet with new Model 350s would have cost $90 million. FAA flight-inspection airplanes are used to test electronic navaid signals. The inspection fleet also includes a number of Challengers, Hawkers and Learjets.