Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Bombardier manufactures a variety of business aircraft models, provides engineering, and aircraft maintenance services.

Matt Thurber

Owners and operators of the Learjet 55C have a new flight management system (FMS) option, the installation of dual Avidyne Atlas units that allow pilots to fly fully-coupled LPV approaches. Florida Jet Center (Booth 3726) worked with Avidyne (Booth 1681) on the project, which required reconfiguration of the center pedestal to accommodate the EFIS mode select controls and the Dzus-mounted Atlas FMSs.
The modern Atlas units add many capabilities in addition to LPV, LP, LNAV/VNAV, and LNAV-only approaches, including synthetic vision display and a moving map. Built-in Bluetooth connectivity allows for the transfer of information between the Atlas FMSs and iPads running ForeFlight Mobile and Avidyne’s IFD100 app. Other features of Atlas include flight planning, radar and video display, fuel flow information, ADS-B In (weather and traffic), and other pilot-configurable options.
Even in aircraft with legacy EFIS avionics such as&nbsp;the Learjet 55C, Avidyne’s GPS Legacy Avionics Support connects navigation information through the VOR localizer channel, making it possible for active flight plans to conclude with a GPS (RNAV) approach.
The Atlas FMSs are equipped with QWERTY keyboards and touchscreen displays and meet TSO C146c. The price for the dual Atlas system for the Learjet 55C is $90,880.
“Atlas gives new life to these highly capable airframes without the high cost of a full flight deck replacement,” said John Talmadge, Avidyne v-p of worldwide sales, “and giving operators a whole host of new capabilities—and most importantly opening up hundreds of airports and runway ends with GPS-based LPV approaches.”

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In this article

Learjet 55

Avidyne

Bombardier

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