Alpine Aerotech, a Canadian helicopter maintenance provider and product developer, has received Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) STC for its modular centre pedestal/console riser for Bell medium aircraft (Bell 205, 212, 412). It is also in the process of receiving its FAA certificate for this modification. Aerotech developed this pedestal to aid in the installation of increasingly diverse avionic configurations.

The pedestal riser allows for virtually endless combination of rack and panel mounted devices installed in the centre pedestal, providing total flexibility to easily switch from rack mount to panel mounts in just a few steps. Alpine Aerotech developed this elevated wedge-type design to increase the depth of the aft end, permitting the installation of larger equipment. The resultant change in angle also reduces glare from ambient light sources and therefore increases readability of equipment installed in the panel.

“Avionic systems continue to progress, and requirements are continuously expanding,” explains Taylor Wilson, manager of manufacturing at Alpine Aerotech. “Our pedestal riser permits the installation of virtually any combination of mounting type, in any position along the centre pedestal. We believe this type of customisation is necessary knowing how quickly things can change in avionic systems today.”

Alpine Aerotech has also gained TCCA STC approval for the J301a-001 audio panel for Bell helicopters.

The TCCA STC for the J301A-001 (STC number SH21-8) is applicable to the Bell aircraft series 412/212/205. The J301 is a drop-in replacement for the Andrea A301 series and the NAT N301A series audio panels, allowing for an additional two TX/RX positions for a total of eight. The J301 has the flexibility to work with several different ICS tie line levels, simplifying its interface with existing audio systems. The STC can be implemented on an 'as-needed' basis. Therefore any quantity of panels within the helicopters audio system can be upgraded, and operators don't have to implement them all of them at once.

The J301A-001 audio controller is a compact, lightweight unit that is compatible with the current industry standard interconnect. The unit will support one low impedance headset (5 ohm mic and 8 ohm phones) or one high impedance headset (150 ohm amplified dynamic mic and 150 ohm phones). By using a Windows based application (ProCS), configuration settings may be changed via a 3.5mm jack on the front panel. Field replaceable illuminated legends allow one version of the controller for many different mission configurations.