Butler National’s Avcon Industries has received an FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) for a variety of special-mission modifications to a National Science Foundation (NSF)-University of Wyoming (UW) environmental research Beechcraft King Air B300. The changes include complex integration of structural and electrical modifications to accommodate deployment of various types of sensors on the turboprop twin.
In addition to approval of its King Air Nose Extension sensor mounting provisions on the B300 and 350, the STC includes “wingtip or outboard hard points, also referred to as provisions for external stores, with significant sensor shapes, dual downward and dual upward camera ports, lower fuselage hardpoints with pylons for large external sensors, side-fuselage hardpoints for sensors, and upper fuselage hardpoints for sensors,” according to Avcon. Flight testing was done using generic shapes mounted to the hard points, giving customers a variety of sensor mounting choices for their specific missions.
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