The typical business airplane at different points in its lifetime will receive overhauled engines, a refurbished interior and more than a few coats of fresh paint, along with a host of required periodic maintenance checks and upgrades, all of which constitute the obligatory costs of operating a business jet or turboprop. Yet many older corporate airplanes have been flying for years with decades-old technology in the cockpit, undergoing only minor upgrades to inertial navigation sensors, flight management systems, GPS receivers and secondary equipment. As the shift to a so-called Free Flight operating environment continues its slow but steady crawl, a host of advanced digital avionics will be needed to meet new requirements. Experts counsel that operators should be planning for such changes now, while there is still ample time to gauge exactly what will be needed in the way of cockpit retrofits and upgrades.
For many operators, fundamental changes to the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) and the airspace within Eurocontrol, scheduled to start taking root in the next five years or so, will mean having to make wholesale changes within the cockpit. Pilots may scarcely recognize the instrument panel of their airplane as they nestle into the cockpit for the first time after it emerges from two to three months of comprehensive upgrades inside an avionics maintenance center.
