Story ID: 775_RockwellCollins.doc
Rockwell Collins Offer Falcon Cockpit Upgrades
By: Thierry Dubois
Caption: Avionics specialist is here for the first time exhibiting with recently acquired Arinc.
Word Count: 264
Rockwell Collins (Booth 6129) has announced the EASA certification of its Pro Line 4 to Pro Line 21 avionics retrofit for the Dassault Falcon 2000 and Falcon 2000EX. In addition, an upgrade for FANS 1/A will be available in 2015 for the aforementioned two aircraft and the Falcon 50EX.

The Pro Line 21 retrofit features four 10- by 8-inch LCD panels and WAAS/EGNOS capability as well as support for electronic charts and graphical weather. The upgrade is also available for the Falcon 50EX. “The benefits include enhanced situational awareness and required display real estate for operating in rapidly modernizing airspace,” said Craig Olson, Rockwell Collins vice president and general manager for business and regional systems.

The retrofit has been offered in the U.S. for years and Rockwell Collins is now expecting European sales to take off. The first installation is due this summer at a Ruag maintenance facility in Germany.

One incentive for customers to accomplish the upgrade may be increasing maintenance expenses for older cathode-ray tube displays. “We do repair CRTs but we'll service them only as long as we can get parts,” said Adam Evanschwartz, director of marketing for business and regional flight deck systems.

EBACE 2014 is the first aviation tradeshow to see the combined offerings of Rockwell Collins’s commercial systems and information management services (formerly Arinc) businesses in one exhibit. The acquisition of Arinc provides corporate flight departments with tools that integrate regional and international trip support, fuel sourcing and the company’s Flight Operations Systems scheduling and dispatch software, according to Rockwell Collins.