Touchscreen instrument panel displays are moving quickly into business jet and airliner flight decks, and Collins Aerospace has become the dominant player in accelerating the adoption of such displays in this class of aircraft. Not only are Collins touchscreens now available in owner-flown jets such as the Cessna Citation CJ3, but also in professionally-flown airplanes such as the Nextant 604XT and in-development Boeing 777X.
For many years, touchscreens were considered a non-starter for business jets, with critics contending that some business jet flight decks were too large for pilots to be able to reach the panel comfortably. They also claimed that touchscreens were difficult to manipulate in turbulence.
However, these perceived drawbacks have not held back touchscreen development in business aircraft, beginning with controllers on Garmin G2000 through G5000 flight decks, then similar units in Gulfstream’s new G500 and G600. Collins Aerospace (née Rockwell Collins) launched its touchscreen efforts with the Pro Line Fusion suite in new and retrofit King Airs, then started a development program in partnership with Nextant Aerospace to install touchscreen Pro Line Fusion in the Challenger 604. A Nextant 604XT is being shown this week at Collins Aerospace's EBACE static display.
Next in line for Collins was the Pro Line Fusion touch retrofit for the Citation CJ3, which just earned EASA certification; U.S. FAA certification took place in April 2017. There are 32 CJ3s with the upgrade flying in the U.S., and Collins Aerospace is already working on CJ2+ and CJ1+ programs. “I think we’ll see a lot of interest from European operators,” said JP Rivet, Collins director of commercial avionics marketing for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. “There are quite a few owner/operators in Europe.”
Touchscreens are becoming a “major pillar” in avionics, he explained. Pilots of all ages are so used to interacting by touch with their mobile devices that transitioning to flight deck touch displays is a natural move.
In the Pro Line Fusion touch system, the philosophy is described as “touch what you want to change,” which makes learning the system intuitive. For example, touching the V-speeds on the PFD allows for quickly updating them, or rerouting is a simple matter of pressing on the points that need to be changed.
“Adoption is quick from that perspective,” he said. Of course, pilots can still use knobs and buttons as alternative ways of accessing all the features, but they soon revert to using the touchscreens primarily, he said.
For the CJ3 and 604NXT, the upgrade offers added features including synthetic vision, geo-referenced charts, ADS-B Out, LPV approaches, radius-to-fix legs, and other performance-based navigation capabilities. “The package is pretty complete,” Rivet said. The creation of LPV approaches in Europe is accelerating, and by 2024 there should be 1,000 of these approaches at European airports.
In Europe, the Challenger 604 Pro Line Fusion upgrade—already certified in the U.S. and expected to be approved shortly in Europe—can be installed by Bombardier service centers, with Nextant and Bombardier Business Aviation Services facilities providing the upgrade in the U.S.
A similar Pro Line Fusion touch upgrade for the King Air C90 received EASA approval in February 2019, while the B200 and B300 were certified in August 2018. New-production King Airs are equipped with the Pro Line Fusion suite. Collins dealers in Europe can install the CJ3 and King Air upgrades, while Textron Aviation service centers offer the upgrade for U.S.-based King Airs and CJ3s.