SAIB CE-10-38

FAA Aviation Safety

SPECIAL AIRWORTHINESS

INFORMATION BULLETIN SAIB: CE-10-38 SUBJ: Navigation Date: July 15, 2010 This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory.

Introduction

This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin advises you of an airworthiness concern regarding a missed GPS Non-Precision Approach (NPA), which may be caused by the Honeywell GPS sensor when no backup navigation system is available on flights greater than 5 hours.

These sensors are used in Honeywell’s Flight Management System (GNS-XES, GNS-XLS, GNS- XLS Enchanced, GNS-XLS PRNAV, GNS-XLS Enhanced PRNAV, GNS-XL, GNS-XL PRNAV, CDU-XLS), GPS Navigator (KLN-89B, KLN-90B, KLN-94, KLN-900), TAWS (KMH-820, KMH- 920, KGP-560, KGP-860, MK-XXI, MK V, MK VII, MK VI, MK VIII, MK XXII), GNSS (KGS-

200), IC-615(IC-615), and EPIC Radio (VIDL-G).

At this time, the FAA has determined that this airworthiness concern is not an unsafe condition that would warrant airworthiness directive (AD) action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 39.

Background

On March 30, 2010, Honeywell International, Inc. (Olathe, KS) provided the Wichita Aircraft Certification Office (ACO) written notification of a possible safety issue (i.e., annunciated/temporary loss of GPS navigation) against the Mercury PX Global Navigation System Sensor (GNSS) within its host VOR/ILS Data Link with GPS (VIDL-G) Receiver (Honeywell P/N: 7026207-802), which was initially discovered during an extended flight on a Dassault F7X airplane.

An end customer flying a Dassault F7X airplane with a Honeywell VIDL/G Navigation Receiver experienced an annunciated/temporary loss of GPS navigation during an extended flight between ESGG (Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport, Sweden) and KBFI (Boeing Field, Seattle WA). Flight deck effects included steady reduction in the number of GPS satellites being tracked resulting in related CAS messages (NAV: FMS/GPS 1+2 MONITOR), degradation of the GPS operating mode to altitude aiding, and ultimately temporary loss of navigation from the GPS. The end customer reported this issue to the airframe manufacturer who, in turn, notified Honeywell.

The VIDL/G navigation receiver incorporates a Mercury PX GNSS and is certified to TSO-C129a (Class B1/C1) Airborne Supplemental Navigation Equipment using the Global Positioning System (GPS). This annunciated/temporary loss of GPS navigation function had not been previously observed by Honeywell and was not revealed by TSO-C129a testing.

Honeywell has isolated the issue to a latent defect in the software that is common to all of Honeywell’s 8-channel GPS receivers. The affected models and their part numbers are listed below.

Model Part Number(s) GNS-XES 17450-0305-xxxx, 17450-0307-xxxx, 17450-0406-xxxx GNS-XLS 17960-0101-0xxx, 7960-0102-0xxx GNS-XLS Enhanced 17960-0203-0xxx GNS-XLS PRNAV 17960-0103-0xxx GNS-XLS Enhanced PRNAV 17960-0204-0xxx GNS-XL 18355-0101-00xx GNS-XL PRNAV 18355-0102-00xx CDU-XLS 18420-0101-0xxx KLN-89B 066-01148-x1x1, 066-01148-x1x2 KLN-90B 066-04031-xxx1, 066-04031-xxx2 KLN-94 069-01034-01xx KLN-900 066-04034-0101 and -0201, 066-04034-0102 and -0104 KMH-820 066-01175-210x KMH-920 066-01178-210x KGP-560 066-01196-0x0x (RMD PN 965-1196-0xx) KGP-860 066-01197-0205 (RMD PN 965-1198-00x) MK-XXI 066-01227-0x01x (RMD PN 965-1227-00x) MK V 965-0976-020-XXX-XXX, 965-0976-060-XXX-XXX MK VII 965-1076-020-XXX-XXX, 965-1076-030-XXX-XXX, 965-1076-060-XXX-XXX MK VI 965-1186-XXX, 965-1190-XXX MK VIII 965-1216-XXX, 965-1220-XXX MK XXII 965-1590-XXX, 965-1595-XXX KGS-200 066-01201-0101 IC-615 7017000-XXXXX VIDL-G 7026207-XXX

Recommendations

The FAA recommends that the pilot assure that he/she is prepared to revert to an alternative means of navigation appropriate to the flight if the above situation occurs.

For Further Information Contact

Albert Ma, Aerospace Engineer, FAA Wichita Aircraft Certification Office, Mid-Continent Airport 1801 Airport Rd., Wichita, KS 67209; phone: (316) 946-4151; fax: (316) 946-4107; e-mail:

albert.ma@faa.gov.