Duncan Aviation's engineering and certification services recently amended two STCs for the Embraer Legacy 600. The first STC is for the Honeywell Aerospace FMS and the second is for FANS. These STC amendments will allow owner/operators of Embraer EMB-135BJ aircraft to upgrade their existing NZ-2010 FMS from version 6.1 to version 6.1.1 and certify the Mode V Glidepath deviation alerting and annunciation for precision approaches.

ST01856WI updates the Honeywell FMZ-2000 FMS to FMZ-2010 and allows for LPV/WAAS (Localiser Performance with Vertical Guidance/Wide Area Augmentation System) and Vertical Navigation (VNAV) capabilities. The amendment certifies the use of the Mode V Glidepath monitoring, alerting, and annunciation for LPV approaches. The new software gives audio and visual alerts when a pilot's approach is too low.

The amendment to ST01858WI resolves the issue of latency with FANS. The new software includes a message latency monitor to detect old CPDLC messages that may no longer apply.

“Prior to the software fix, ATC could send a pilot a message, and it was possible for that message to get lost or delayed. Effectively, the upgrade time-stamps the message so pilots know which messages are current,” says Duncan Aviation certification coordinator Russ Kromberg. “Although there were many reasons our customers wanted these upgrades, the primary concern was to make CPDLC fully compliant with current FANS standards for flying the North Atlantic Tracks.”

Although these upgrades were completed at Duncan Aviation's satellite shop in Houston, Texas, they can be performed at any of the company's 28 satellites or workaway stations or at any of the three full-service facilities in Battle Creek, Michigan, Lincoln, Nebraska, or Provo, Utah.