EXTON, PA – November 12, 2014 – Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc.(IS&S) (NASDAQ: ISSC) announced today that it received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for its Flight Management System (FMS) for Boeing 737 Classic aircraft. As a result, IS&S now offers the most advanced Boeing 737-300/-400/-500 NextGen retrofit, including Required Navigational Performance/Radius to Fix (RNP/RF), Required Time of Arrival (RTA), Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) and Wide Area Augmentation System / Global Positioning System (WAAS/GPS) capabilities. The IS&S cockpit upgrade opens a major new aircraft retrofit market worldwide, providing legacy air transport aircraft with navigational capability and performance equivalent to that of the newest production aircraft.
This latest certification is the culmination of a multi-year program to upgrade (2) 737-400 aircraft to full CNS/ATM compliance standards in which IS&S served as the systems integrator. This program included installation of new transponders, cockpit printers, ACARS and SATCOM systems. Relocation of the center console facilitated installation of this new equipment.
The IS&S B737 Classic cockpit upgrade is the first Air Transport retrofit to integrate RNP/RF, LPV and WAAS/GPS approaches supporting a worldwide navigational database, greatly increasing the utility of these aircraft and firmly establishing IS&S as a leader in this market. The RNP and WAAS/GPS capabilities will enable aircraft to fly shorter flight paths and optimum idle-thrust descents, thereby reducing fuel consumption, carbon emissions, and noise levels. LPV capability significantly improves access, with thousands of airports now benefitting from published WAAS LPV procedures.
The IS&S flight deck upgrade replaces legacy CRT and Flight Management avionics, leverages recently developed advanced display and computing technology, and provides the flexibility for functional evolution as NextGen requirements evolve. The IS&S upgrade package includes an advanced flight management system with global navigational database capability, primary & navigational flight displays, and a WAAS/GPS system, and seamlessly integrates DataComm and ADS-B capabilities.
The IS&S NextGen cockpit upgrade package provides further operational benefits, including increased operational flexibility and reliability, improved dispatch and on time arrival availability and simplified maintenance. In addition the system enhances safety through improved situational awareness and reduced crew workload.
The IS&S cockpit upgrade package is easily integrated with third party avionics systems, including the Mode S transponder, the ACARS system, SATCOM, and the cockpit printer. The MCDU acts as the crew interface for these systems through ARINC 739 AOC pages. The Flat Panel Display System installation was specifically designed to minimize aircraft down time due to rewiring. To convert from an EFIS airplane, no wiring modifications are required in the electronics bay, where shelf removal dramatically increases avionics modification complexity – the IS&S FMS Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) are plug-in replacements for the legacy FMS LRUs. Including installation of dual GPS antennas and receivers, the upgrade package installation can be completed in less than five days.
The FMS complements the IS&S Cockpit/IP® display and instrument systems that have been installed on nearly 300 air transport aircraft to-date. The Cockpit/IP® employs IS&S’s open architecture flat panel display system that allows operators to upgrade their aircraft to a glass flight deck while leaving third party avionics installed in the aircraft. The flight management system supports satellite-based operations, which result in improved efficiencies, related to RNAV, RNP, and LPV procedures.
About Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc.
Headquartered in Exton, Pa., Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc. (www.innovative-ss.com) is a systems integrator that designs and manufactures flight guidance and cockpit display systems for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) and retrofit applications. The company supplies integrated Flight Management Systems (FMS) and advanced GPS receivers for precision low carbon footprint navigation. IS&S supplies Flight Management solutions to the commercial air transport market, the military aviation market for C-130, L-100 and the business aviation market for the Eclipse E500 and E550 aircraft.
