Aeronautix has been awarded an FAA STC for the aural warning and annunciation system (AWAS) it is manufacturing and installing on the Beechcraft King Air 350 and 300 series aircraft. The system is designed to integrate with the Collins Proline 21 avionics suite to provide improved situational awareness, will give aural voice warnings to pilots avoiding potential engine damage due to over-temp or over-torque conditions.

Pilot workload during critical phase of flight like take off and missed approach can distract from serious engine limitation exceedances that then go unnoticed by crew, resulting in damage costing hundreds of thousands of dollars for repairs. However with AWAS, if an engine exceeds temperature or torque limitations in any manoeuvre, an aural voice callout informs the pilot and crew that immediate action is required, supplementing the visual indication on the engine multi-function display (MFD). The aural voice warning, 'Monitor Temperature' is triggered when engine temperature exceeds a limit and will continue repeating 'Temperature' every five seconds until the condition no longer exists or is manually silenced by the crew. If torque exceeds 102 per cent an aural voice warning will call out 'Monitor Torque' and will repeat the word 'Torque' every 15 seconds until the condition no longer exists or is manually silenced by the crew. These aural warnings are supplemented by amber and red visual annunciation on the AWAS control panel.

The non-invasive on-site installation takes about 12 hours and consists of wire harness connections to the existing 429 data bus in the King Air.

With PT6 engine overhauls averaging $300,000 or more, the AWAS could pay for itself with a single voice callout.