HELISHOW: Honeywell's kit keeps Abu Dhabi Aviation safe

Visitors to the Helishow Dubai which opened today, can see how the 16 AW139s in Abu Dhabi Aviation’s 61-strong fleet are equipped with safety functionality incorporated into Honeywell’s Primus Epic integrated cockpit designed to reduce pilot workload and improve situational awareness in particularly hostile and challenging environments such as offshore oil and SAR operations.

The safety features from Honeywell on display at the show includes:

•            Auto-hover, fly away, approach and land functionality -- Primus Epic automatically hovers the aircraft over a fixed point down to 10ft, and even over rough seas by automatically climbing away from waves over 20ft

•            Pilot “rethink” function, which detects erroneous inputs from the pilot and alerts him or her prior to completing the request

•            Compatibility with Honeywell’s Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) MK XXII system, to minimise the risk of Controlled Flights into Terrain (CFiT)

•            Integration with Honeywell’s SAR-optimised Primus 701 weather radar, with search and surveillance modes, sea-clutter reduction and beacon detection for use during offshore SAR operations

•            Video display support for external cameras, enabling the pilot to monitor aircraft components such as engines, tail rotor and undercarriage

Abu Dhabi Aviation is also using Honeywell’s Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS 1) KTA-970 transponder to reduce the risk of mid-air collisions. Honeywell’s TCAS system provides flight crews with greater situational awareness of air traffic around them and provides alerts when in close proximity to surrounding aircraft. “With the Middle East’s airspace heavily congested due to military and commercial transport use, TCAS is a critical technology for high volume commercial helicopter operators such as Abu Dhabi Aviation across the region, a Honeywell spokesperson said.