Spirit Avionics Ltd. has successfully completed the avionics design and engineering effort for the U.S. Navy’s F-5N adversary aircraft Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) upgrade demonstration / evaluation program. The COTS avionics technology will be installed and reviewed to examine the feasibility of outfitting the Navy’s F-5N fleet with COTS products to mitigate weather related mishaps, controlled flight into terrain and midair collisions.  

The upgrade includes a complete cockpit instrument panel redesign utilizing the Garmin GTN-650 WAAS GPS / Nav / Com unit and the Sandel SN 3500 Electronic Horizontal Situation Indicator interfaced with the Garmin GDL 69 XM Weather Receiver, Avidyne TAS-620 Traffic Awareness System and an Agilynx Lynx Series 1553 / Arinc 429 digital databus converter.

The President of Spirit Avionics, Rick Ochs comments, ” Our team is very proud to assist the U.S. Navy in bringing advanced technology to a magnificent legacy fighter aircraft. This program will allow the F-5N to continue to serve the active duty forces in adversarial and Top Gun training missions for many years to come.

If you would like to know more about this program, please contact Spirit Avionics at 614.237.4271 or email sales@spiritavionics.com. 

Spirit Avionics, located in Columbus, Ohio is a veteran owned certified FAA repair station with full avionics service, installation and engineering capabilities.

Spirit Avionics received word this week that we have won the bidding process for the annual ODOT Avionics contract. This contract will start on May 1, 2011 and run through April 30, 2012 and covers the entire fleet of 27 aircraft. Spirit Avionics will be the sole provider of Avionics upgrades, parts and service for these aircraft for the entire year.

We are all very proud and excited to be bringing this business back home to Columbus.

Spirit Avionics was featured in this month’s Avionics News Magazine’s “What’s New” editorial on page 74. The feature describes the FAA King Air B300 prototype completion performed by Spirit Avionics, Lane Aviation and Tritex Air.

We really want to thank those at Avionics News for running this article for us. We really appreciate it!

Port Columbus International Airport (CMH), Columbus, Ohio

December, 2010

Spirit Avionics Ltd. has successfully completed the prototype aircraft’s upgrades for the Federal Aviation Administration. Program Management, Engineering and Certification services were provided by Spirit Avionics Ltd. The technical services for this program were performed in unison by Spirit Avionics, Lane Aviation and Tritex Air. Now that the prototype’s design has been approved by the FAA program team, Spirit Avionics and their subcontracting team will begin the process of upgrading the remaining 17 King Air B300 aircraft over the next 4 years.  

The program work scope included:

Some of the unique challenges that were encountered and overcome over the course of the upgrade were:

• Incomplete existing aircraft interior made fit and finish of new interior pieces difficult. Due to obsolescence of those parts from the aircraft manufacturer, many interior pieces had to be redesigned and manufactured.
• All modifications and upgrades performed were required to have a positive effect on maintenance efficiency and yet retain the feel of a business aircraft interior. These requirements were successfully achieved.

Before Modification

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After Modification

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