Montreal’s Esterline CMC Electronics has received certification from Transport Canada on a flight management system upgrade that will breathe new life into the Royal Canadian Air Force fleet of CC-150 (A310) Polaris aircraft.
On Tuesday, the company said its Airbus A310 Flight Management System (FMS) upgrade — installation of CMC’s CMA-9000 FMS and CMA-5024 Satellite-Based Augmentation System GPS Sensors — had received a supplemental type certificate (STC), issued by Transport Canada last month.
The CMA-9000 includes full-performance, coupled vertical navigation functionality, and the capability to fly all of the latest descents and approaches with significantly improved efficiency, control and annunciation. Its large, single navigation database allows global operations to significantly more destinations than the legacy FMS. Modern datalink capability is available as a service bulletin. CMC worked in cooperation with Mid-Canada Mod Center for the STC’d modification.
According to Jim Palmer, vice president, aviation products, Esterline CMC Electronics, “This FMS upgrade breathes new life into this legacy Airbus aircraft. The certification ushers in a new generation of airline FMS retrofits that bring operational efficiency and safety to aircraft, and many productive years of operation. It also marks the first time that an airline FMS was replaced with a more modern FMS, as an STC rather than an original equipment manufacturer program.”
Under the contract, Future Air Navigation (FANS-1) functionality will be added to the five aircraft. The FANS-1 functionality includes Airline Operational Communication (AOC) and Controller-Pilot Datalink Communications (CPDLC) functions via the CMA-9000 FMS in association with newly installed communication avionics.
This is the first certification of an upgraded flight management system on the Airbus A310-300 aircraft. The upgrade is being offered to other Airbus A310 and A300 aircraft flying globally. The DND FMS configuration shares a common core with the Esterline CMC Electronics’ FMS that has been certified for the Sukhoi SuperJet 100.