Honeywell has achieved European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification of its IntuVue RDR-7000 weather radar system. Designed for business jets, the RDR-7000 delivers a package that should create safer and more comfortable flights that reduce weather delays and lighten pilot workloads.

The RDR-7000 weather radar is certified for use on Global Express/XRS/5000, Dassault Falcon 900A/B, Dassault Falcon EX/LX/EASy, Textron Citation X, Leonardo AW139 (short nose), Cessna Citation Encore/Ultra/Bravo, Lockheed C-130 Hercules and other aircraft.

“Achieving EASA certification for the RDR-7000 will ensure our business aviation and helicopter operators get the very best in technology,” says Nadya Krisko, senior director of business and general aviation, EMEAI, Honeywell Aerospace. “Operators of these aircraft can now purchase and install the RDR-7000 on their aircraft and take advantage of the system's safety and operational benefits, including predictive hail, predictive lightning, extended turbulence detection range and forward-looking windshear for aircraft with 18-inch antennas.”

The automated, hands-free operation of the RDR-7000 weather radar system means no manual tilt or gain adjustments are required. This will enable pilots to focus solely on flying, which during high-stress periods is important.

The RDR-7000 automatically scans from the ground to 60,000 feet and as far as 320 nautical miles ahead. Honeywell has incorporated advanced vertical displays in airborne weather radars into the RDR-7000 using patented 3D volumetric buffer technology.

3D volumetric scanning techniques let the system analyse storm clouds and look for conditions that could potentially produce lightning, hail, turbulence or windshear, and displays them for the flight crew. The RDR-7000 also can determine if a second storm front is behind the initial front. The longer and more accurate turbulence detection range provides flight crews with as much as six to 10 minutes to react to approaching turbulence.

Loaded into the RDR-7000 internal memory is a terrain database that allows ground returns to be removed from pilots' displays, reducing the potential of displaying confusing or irrelevant information while in weather mode. When ground map mode is selected, the weather return information can be removed from the display, providing pilots with ground return information only.

The Honeywell RDR-7000 retrofit programme offers numerous incentives for incorporation, including software package incentives, trade-in credits for old radar units, and maintenance service plan avionics incentives in the first year when a new three-year contract is signed.