If I can see a Beechcraft Bonanza flying overhead, it’s probably a test plane of the Brno branch of Honeywell. There is only one Bonanza B36TC registered in the Czech Republic.

The Brno team shared it in 2020 as a gift from Germany, and the plane then went through construction. Bonanza with registration OK-ATB received a new instrument panel, avionics, a complete set of cables and a special technical structure instead of one rear seat. Thanks to this, it can be used as a so-called test bed for the avionics systems developed in Brno.

The new pstrojov board is divided into two halves. In the right is the avionics of the Bendix King series and the standard control elements that are used for the operation of the aircraft itself. The left half is the installation of the first developed and tested modules with which it is necessary to work first. From the point of view of avionics, it is probably two planes at once.

Tests from the first idea to the product

You can get Experimental VFR Day Only stickers for the rams. She knows that the aircraft has an experimental status and the Civil Aviation Administration has limited its operation to flying according to the type of pilot (VFR), not according to the instruments (IFR). It is therefore a limitation for the tests that the aircraft is not allowed to fly at night and under conditions of poor visibility, as its avionics allow. And of course I can’t take anyone on board outside of the testing team.

The plane is literally a cable that allows the connection of various additional modules and other devices.

One seat took up the space of the tester equipped.

A large cable leads to the rear seats, from where it can be remotely connected to anything in the plane’s instrument panel or other onboard systems. There is a stable recording device (data logger) that records what happens during the test flight so that it can be analyzed later

The extra space in the rack is usually used for the installation of further equipment, typically various industrial pots or display devices, when a prototype camera for a visual autopilot or a pilot navigation control system is being tested.

Modules can also be installed outside the aircraft, always with regard to the effect on flight characteristics. Here, the use of cameras was tested to locate the pistachio track and start the pistachio maneuver.

On the plane, the attacks are also tested in the early stages of the flight, including you, just so that it is not only obvious, but also practically, whether it is the correct direction of the flight or a dead end. What the first test aircraft, ready to fly in Kunovice, allows.

Both the Brno team and the team from Honeywell used airplanes that are owned by Honeywell on flights in the USA, which was a matter of time and financial expense. In exceptional cases, the aircraft could fly with a pilot to R, we were able to examine the Boeing 757 – Flying Test Bed in 2015 at the Brno airport.

For example, what is being tested?

One of the avionics systems that was developed in Brno is the first autopilot for general aviation with a touch screen controlled dog KFC-230 (AeroCruze 230).

The avionics development process also includes a lot of certifications, and all products are therefore very expensive, which is why the KFC-200 autopilot from 1976 (on the far right in the picture) is used in many airplanes today, which had the form of a large unit mounted in the avionic bay and long connections controls.

Even the modern compact KFC-150 from the 1980s (in the middle of the photo) flies as well, which, as can be seen from the photo, has the same structural dimensions as the new one with a touch screen that can easily replace it.

on the far right is the autopilot electronics from 1976, this was used. In the center is the modern version from the eighties, and on the far left is the latest model developed in Brno with a touch screen.

When developing the AeroCruze 230, one of the main goals was to make the transition from a push-button system to a touchscreen system as smooth as possible for pilots. The content of the test was, for example, control during turbulence, for which Honeywell invited twelve pilots from commercial airlines and they tested the control in underwater conditions.

The touch control of the autopilot is stupidly not a trendy thing, but a purely practical thing. Whatever the button, whatever the function, whatever the modification meant changing the control panel. With the touch panel, these things can be supplemented with software updates, so this system should have a useful life and always offer the latest.

AeroCruze 210 graphics (3D-printed wing panel)

The autopilot function for the flight itself has not changed significantly since the previous ones, because according to the company’s reports, the previous ones worked perfectly. What I like are the complex functions, such as advanced automatic piling on the piston or animal flight, including the future possibility of mounting the machine on the piston track.

And how will the autopilot function gradually reach me? As time progresses, we will see the migration of functions and systems from the so-called large air force to smaller aircraft within the general air force, and this will be easy at first with the help of software updates, said the project’s chief engineer, Petr Lacman.

Air Data Heading Reference shows the position of the aircraft, above the horizon. Two gyroscopes (composite and on the floor nron vacuum system), now an electronic sensor (MEMS). First, his abilities in underwater conditions were tested on board the plane.

Another product developed in Brno (and tested in Bonanza) is a system for monitoring the status of the pilot, the aim of which is to simplify the work in the cockpit. The camera with image processing monitors the alertness and state of the pilot, it can be combined with other biometric sensors.

The system will then alert the co-pilot, try to wake up the pilot in a hurry, activate the autopilot in case of emergency and alert the driver in case of emergency. This is also one of the ways to dream of more pilots on board long-haul flights in the future. However, this product is still in the early stages of development.