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EMERGING TECH
Turboprop Autothrottle and Emergency Autoland Systems
by Matthew McDaniel
While I have loved flying in sunny skies for 45 years, sometimes (as all pilots know), the sun can be a bit too bright and hot. This includes operations on the ground since even air-conditioned aircraft have challenges in hot and humid environments.
Autothrottle systems are not new. They’ve been around almost as long as commercial jetliners have transported passengers from A to B at previously unheard-of speeds. Granted, the early analog versions were rudimentary compared to the precision today’s digital technology of- fers. They were also bulky, requiring heavy mechanical motors, clutches, and hardware. Yet, old or new, analog or digital, autothrottle technology remained available only within the large turbojet market for decades. The more complex operating mechanics of turboprop engines, with their multiple lever engine controls and mechanical fuel control units, proved incompatible with autothrottle technology. Thus, the turboprop pilot was left to be the sole source of throttle settings and speed control. While
this kept such pilots more practiced in those particular airmanship skills, it also kept their workloads higher than their contemporaries flying turbojet aircraft. That was especially true in the takeoff, approach, and landing phases.
A New Millennium
As the 21st century dawned, digital avi- onics technology achieved new lows, as in low-weight, low-bulk, and low-cost. With the advent of ever-increasing capabilities combined with ever-decreasing size, digi- tal avionics soon began to make inroads into general aviation. Electronic Flight Instrument Systems (EFIS), including Electronic Attitude Indicators (EAI) and/or Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicators (EHSI), had only begun to appear in busi- ness jets and turboprops in the early 1990s. While these increased instrument versatility and capability, they weren’t exactly revolutionary developments. However, throughout the first decade of the 2000s, companies like Avidyne and Garmin began to capitalize on rapidly advancing computer software and hard-
ware capabilities to create full-featured Primary Flight Displays (PFD), Multi-Function Displays (MFD), and even Flight Management Systems (FMS) for use in light jets, turboprops, and even piston-engine aircraft. It didn’t take long for this new technology to find acceptance among those who craved the latest and greatest for their aircraft’s flight deck. As a result, many older, cabin-class aircraft now fly with retrofitted, thoroughly modern instrumenta- tion, navigation, and engine management equipment. In many cases, the value of that new digital avionics package can exceed that of the aircraft itself.
The future had arrived, and technology on the flight decks of cabin class aircraft began advancing faster than most owner/pilots could keep up with. Radio stacks of navigation and communication equipment (even those with LCD displays and early digital technology) that were all the rage in the ‘70s and ‘80s began to get replaced with units that combined GPS and ground-based navigation, and communication needs, into a single unit. Moving maps quickly evolved from monochrome to full color
PHOTOS COURTESY OF INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS & SUPPORT
20•TWIN&TURBINE/April2023 /EMERGING TECH/