Sooner or later, every pilot will deal with an AOG (aircraft on ground) situation. And while all AOGs are a pain-in-the-aft section, the ones that really drive you up a wall are the nonsensical ones like burnt-out light bulbs or broken switches.
Take a failed heading selector, for example. It’s hard to find a King Air pilot who hasn’t reached up on the panel to change a heading only to have that innocuous little switch break. No switch means no flying.
Fortunately, Aerospace Systems International (ASI) has developed an FAA STC to install an auxiliary heading select switch (AHS) in the pedestal of Collins Pro Line 21 and Collins Fusion-equipped King Air B200- and B300-series aircraft.
While having ASI’s backup AHS in the pedestal indeed ensures system redundancy, it also provides significant ergonomic benefits to single-pilot operators.
“Having the standard heading selector mounted up on the panel is just inconvenient for pilots, especially when flying alone,” stated ASI’s VP of Customer Support, Randy Mullin. “Reaching up to the panel to make a progressive heading change while shooting an approach can be unnecessarily difficult. It’s just easier to have the AHS located down on the pedestal. That’s where pilots want it.”
While ASI’s pedestal-mounted auxiliary heading selector is ideally suited to reduce the workload of King Air pilots, the unit was initially developed for a foreign authority special mission customer.
“Textron Aviation approached us to develop a solution for a foreign King Air operator,” explained ASI’s VP of Sales and Marketing, Evan McCorry. “They had a search and rescue mission profile but didn’t want to pay to update their current FMSs.”
“Also, because of their missions, the operator wanted to be able to do heading inputs manually, and locating the unit in the pedestal would make that easier for the crew,” he added. “We engineered and manufactured the auxiliary unit in-house and were able to do the installation in their aircraft via an FAA 337 major alteration form.”
McCorry said that during the unit’s development, the ASI team realized that the AHS would be a great addition to any Collins Pro Line 21- or Fusion-equipped King Air because of its benefits. The company has earned FAA STC validation and foreign certification approvals from EASA, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and Argentina. Both of the ASI configurations, with and without USB ports, have FAA parts manufacturing authority (PMA) approvals.
While providing a fully redundant, remote-mounted auxiliary heading selector provided a host of benefits, Mullin said that the development team saw an additional opportunity with the new unit.
“King Airs don’t have any USB power plugs in the cockpit, and with so many pilots relying on iPads today, that’s often a problem,” he said. “We amended our STC to offer versions of the AHS installation that includes USB A/C charging ports in the sidewall near the pilot’s and co-pilot’s seats.”
“To simplify the system’s installation, the power supplies for the USB ports are located inside of the AHS chassis,” Mullen added. “Most King Air owners coordinate the installation of the AHS and USB connectors with other maintenance tasks. If the cockpit seats are already removed, the components can be installed in as little as 20 hours.”
“The flight guidance panel heading (HDG) switch has historically been a single point of failure in an otherwise redundant system,” McCorry said. “Adding our auxiliary heading selector, which is isolated from the aircraft’s primary system, provides unmatched mission readiness.”
“Add the optional USB A/C charging ports, and operators can provide a new level of convenience and capabilities to crews flying Collins Pro Line 21 and Fusion-equipped King Airs around the world,” he added. “These are amazingly capable aircraft, and we’re proud to have developed a system that adds safety by reducing a pilot’s workload.”
