- EASA TECHNICAL STANDARD ORDER AWARDED TO NEW FLIGHT DATA RECORDER THAT RECORDS AND STORES MORE THAN 3,500 HOURS OF DATA
ASHBURN, Va. – May 26, 2021 – Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division, and Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) today announced that their 25-hour Flight Data Recorder (FDR) developed for the air transport market has received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Technical Standard Order (TSO) certification. In addition to the mandatory FDR functionality, the HCR-25’s partitioned design supports the Honeywell-developed Real-Time Access Recorder (RTAR), which enables flight data to be streamed from the recorder in support of Honeywell’s “Black Box In The Sky” connected recorder concept.
The new HCR-25 FDR variant of the Honeywell Connected Recorder-25 (HCR-25) is based on Curtiss-Wright’s compact, lightweight Fortress® technology. The unit surpasses the requirements of each of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defined flight recorder types and adds real time data streaming to support the ICAO Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety (GADSS) initiative. The HCR-25 can record and store more than 3,500 hours of data in crash-protected memory before needing to overwrite the oldest data collected (Record capacity function of received data rate).
“The partnership of Honeywell and Curtiss-Wright continues our shared legacy as pioneers and innovators of crash-protected recorders, with both companies taking leadership roles in providing flight recorders to the industry for over 60 years,” said Chris Wiltsey, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions division. “We are proud to work closely with Honeywell to bring extended operation and greater survivability for flight data recorders to the aviation market, enhancing these critical technologies with next-generation features such as real time streaming connectivity and new levels of performance.”
“The new regulatory requirement provided a great opportunity to strengthen our recorder technology and provide our customers with solutions that fit their needs,” said Amanda King, vice president and general manager, Connected Secure Solutions, Honeywell Aerospace. “We worked alongside Curtiss-Wright to design and develop a new generation of recorders that leverages our full hardware and software expertise to meet the 25-hour requirement, and identify the right information and make it available to accident investigation agencies when it’s most needed.”
Developed for customers that require flight data recorders, the HCR-25 FDR is ideal for both new installations and retrofit applications. This backward compatible recorder solution provides class-leading record capability. The unit’s ability to store more than 3,500 hours of data and secure streaming to remote ground stations reduces dependency on recorder recovery while also providing a real-time source of airplane condition indicators and flight operations data. The FDR weighs less than 10.5 pounds (4.75 kilograms) and includes a 90-day underwater locator beacon.
