By Skies Magazine | October 24, 2019 Estimated reading time 6 minutes, 41 seconds.
On the opening day of the NBAA Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (BACE), a showcase of new products available at the convention were displayed to a crowd of consumers and media members.
The showcase was held in what is called the “Innovation Zone,” a brightly coloured and thoroughly decorated stage that sits in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre, and was moderated by Mike Nichols, CAM, CAE, NBAA’s senior vice-president of Strategy and Innovation. During the display, 11 members of the aviation community were given a five minute slot to introduce new products their company brought to the 2019 edition of NBAA-BACE in the inaugural New Product Showcase.
Representing the Canadian aviation industry was Chris Bartlett, president of CCX Technologies. His company is based in Ottawa, Ont., and specializes in providing cybersecurity and defence solutions.
“As technologies improve, aircraft have become more vulnerable to cybersecurity threats,” said Bartlett. “We are constantly working towards an answer to that problem.”
CCX’s solution, according to Bartlett, is the AP-250 Inline Cybersecurity Appliance, which is meant to monitor and protect onboard networks from unauthorized access.
According to Bartlett, the AP-250 can operate across all facets of aviation — from military, to commercial and business. Installed in-line with an aircraft’s aviation suite, the AP-250 Inline Cybersecurity Appliance monitors the onboard network while providing alerts to crew and strengthening the plane against potential cybersecurity threats.
Along with CCX, Canada was represented by Thales, a French company that designs electronic suites for the aerospace sector with several offices across Canada.
Thales’ representative was Yanik Doyon, director of Sales and Marketing for the TopMax — a wearable heads-up display, and the latest product Thales brought to the showcase.
The TopMax is a lightweight, wearable display worn on a pilot’s headband, with a display piece that rests just over the dominant eye of the pilot.
“The TopMax was developed using the technology on Thales’ Scorpion helmet, which has been in military use since 2008,” said Doyon.
Doyon told Skies that the TopMax can be retrofitted to older aircraft along with the possibility of developing it for newer products in the near future.
“One of the unique features of the TopMax is that it features both the traditional head’s up display, along with a full colour feature,” added Doyon. “If you’re flying through a mountain range at night, having the traditional functions of a heads-up display is necessary, but you would also want the capability to see the mountains you are flying through.”
Along with the full-colour display feature, the TopMax features a 3D traffic display that allows pilots to scan for and locate nearby air traffic.
Along with those two presentations, Scott Rehn, CEO of Aero Crew Solutions based out of Atlanta, Ga., presented the company’s new Aero Crew Solutions Recruiting App. The app, which comes in two variations — one for pilots called “Aero Crew” and the other for recruiters named “Aero Recruiter” — is meant to connect operators with flight crews in a timely manner, without having to make several phone calls to find the right person for the job. Potential employers can view a pilots qualifications along with the amount flight hours they have logged, and makes payment simple as it is done during the booking process.
Next on stage was Ryan Edmark, director of Sales for Aero LED, a company based in Idaho with a focus on aircraft lighting systems. Edmark showcased a number of the company’s latest LED lighting systems — specifically lights that would be used for landing and taxiing of aircraft. The focus of the showcase was Aero LED’s new Polaris light, a nine watt LED bulb replacement for incandescent position light bulbs that are installed behind a red or green forward facing navigation lens.
“Well that was illuminating,” quipped Nichols before introducing the next presenter.
That presenter was Mary Altman, director of Sales for AllProtect Aviation, which manufactures protective covering used on either the interior or exterior during building, maintenance, repairs, inspections and overhauls of aircraft. AllProtect’s latest product was the AllProtect Red padded protection.
“Sometimes, an interior panel can be damaged while moving chairs around in the cabin of an aircraft during maintenance,” said Altman. “That can be a minor scratch, but it will still cost a lot of money. Our product is meant will help to avoid those extra costs.”
Altman said the new product was red in colour to bring awareness to any maintenance technician, letting them know they are working near a sensitive area of the aircraft.
Along with those, Mark Sanders of GoGo Business Aviation introduced the GoGo 5G aviation internet network, which will launching in 2021.
Ed Harris, vice-president of Sales and Marketing for Jeff Bonner Research and Development, debuted the company’s latest fold-out table, designed for the Boeing Business Jets’ Max.
The Swedish scheduling company, Schedaero, introduced the company’s Schedaero Crew App, which allows for the management of aircraft along with the ability to schedule and coordinate flight crews and gives instant reports to users post-flight.
A Colorado-based company, Scott International Procedures, saw training services director Shawn Scott present the crowd the company’s new plotting chart app, which allows for crews to map out their missions pre-flight.
Finally, Textron’s vice-president of Aftermarket Innovation, Brian Adams, debuted the company’s new 3D Pubs product for the OEM’s Citation Longitude, which allows mechanics to dissect any problems on an aircraft through a 3D model which lists each component of the plane. 3D Pubs offers a fully interactive, three dimensional model of the aircraft that highlights where a problems that may need to be diagnosed and fixed.
