Innovative Solutions and Support (IS&S) has been awarded European Union Aviation Safety Agency and Transport Canada Civil Aviation supplemental type certification for its ThrustSense full regime autothrottle for King Air aircraft. European Union and Canadian acceptance means that over 40 countries outside of the US have approved IS&S's autothrottle technology.

The number of King Air configurations compatible with the IS&S autothrottle has also increased. Categories of customised ThrustSense King Airs include special mission, extended range, heavy-weight and Blackhawk aircraft. It is the first and only certified autothrottle for King Air 200 and 300 aircraft and is standard equipment on King Air 260 and 360 production models.

IS&S comments: “We're feeling a wave of greater acceptance in ThrustSense safety and performance by business aviation owners and operators on all seven continents. With the prospect of general aviation movements increasing significantly with the pandemic recovery, we're seeing there's a greater focused attention by aircraft operators on further enhancing the King Air's utility and value by reducing workload in their flight operations.”

The IS&S ThrustSense autothrottle with LifeGuard Protection is a full regime system from take-off roll to landing phases of flight including go-around. ThrustSense's FADEC-like engine protection prevents both engine and airspeed exceedances that can and have become safety challenges during situations of high pilot workload. Most critical to safety, ThrustSense provides protection against Vmca, via the LifeGuard system that proportionally reduces engine power to maintain directional control, thus mitigating the 'low-and-slow' challenge associated with twin-engine operations.