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

Matt Thurber

The FAA has approved the supplement type certificate (STC) for the installation of the FreeFlight Systems RA-4500 MK II radar altimeter in Airbus AS350 and Bell 407 helicopters. The RA-4500 MK II is 5G-resilient and also meets the FAA’s corresponding alternate methods of compliance (AMOC) for AD 2023-11-07 regarding radio altimeter tolerance in the 5G C-band environment.
As a member of the FreeFlight Terrain series 5G-resilient radar altimeter family, the RA-4500 MK II features “advanced RF filtering to help rotorcraft operators maintain reliable, high-fidelity agl radar altitude performance in today’s changing RF environment,” according to the company.
The installation package includes documentation, STC drawing information, rotorcraft flight manual supplement, and AMOC letters.
FreeFlight will support continued upgrades to the RA-4500 MK II as minimum interference-tolerance performance criteria evolve, the company said.
“The 5G era has made radar altimeter performance a front-and-center operational issue for rotorcraft operators, and the RA-4500 MK II reflects that reality,” said FreeFlight Systems president Anthony Rios. “Its all-new digital design provides rotorcraft operators with high-integrity radar altitude performance, including low-level operations and RF-dense environments.”

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In this article

Bell 407 Series

AS350/H125

FreeFlight Systems

Bell

Airbus Helicopters

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