Gama Engineering News

UK-based Gama Engineering Ltd, a division of the Gama Group, has produced the world's first child's seat certificated for take-offs and landings on most business jet configurations.

The new seat is already in service with long haul airlines Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific and it is anticipated that it will be well received by those looking to ensure the comfort and safety of younger passengers flying on executive aircraft.

Designed to enhance the in-flight experience (for both toddlers and their parents), children no longer have to sit on parents laps, ensuring a more relaxed, less stressful and safer travelling experience. The Gama Infant Safety Seat, has been designed to fit seamlessly with all the new aircraft seat design trends and can be tailored to individual aircraft owners and operators bespoke interior schemes.

The seat is compliant with the requirements of TSO-C100b and is approved for installation under EASA STC's for carriage on all commercial Airbus and Boeing aircraft. In addition it is now available for a wide range of corporate jet operators, including aircraft manufactured by Bombardier, Dassault and Gulfstream.

This announcement follows a new child flight safety awareness campaign launched by the FAA.

"Millions of people will take to the skies this summer, and we are doing everything we can to keep air travelers as safe as possible," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a press release. "We want to make sure parents and caregivers have the best information to keep their children safe when they travel."

As part of the campaign the FAA has introduced a new Flying with Children website that provides parents with tips and video tutorials on the proper child safety procedures to follow while flying this summer.

"The safest place for a child under two on an airplane is in a child safety seat, not on a parent's lap. Whenever possible, parents should travel with a safety seat for use before, during and after a plane ride," said Robert W. Block, president, American Academy of Pediatrics.

Find out more about our Infant Safety Seat or download our pdf brochure.

Gama Engineering welcomes Richard Scase, our new Fixed Wing Maintenance Manager.  Richard brings a wealth of GA experience to the established team.  In particular his Cirrus knowledge will complement our newly-awarded Cirrus Service Centre Approval.

SESAR, ADS-B, CPDLC, TCAS, PNB (PRNAV and LPV), EFB and FMS. Acronyms , acronyms and more acronyms!

Gama Engineering's Certification and Approvals Manger, David Wyatt is keeping our clients and partners abreast as to how the advent of SESAR (Single European sky ATC research) can positively affect their future operations.

SESAR is a massive undertaking, with some €2bn of funding involving some 2500 people, developing over 300 projects, covering the entire air traffic control/ management infrastructure. David has just returned to Fairoaks from 'ATC Global' the the three day annual event comprising an exhibition, speiclaist seminars and workshops.

"I have often felt that SESAR will be of benefit to the scheduled airlines, rather than for the Regional or General Aircrat sectors. That said, we are ensuring our clients and partners keep vigilant and take advantage of any benefits that technology might bring, e.g. the use of electronic flight bags to receive text messages for up to date weather, NOTAMs etc."

Professional Air Training's Beech 76 Duchess G-BNUO is the first UK GA aeroplane to be updated to benefit from the introduction of EGNOS-LPV.

EGNOS-LPV is the acronym for European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, Localiser Performance with Vertical guidance.

It provides more efficient and reliable operations, including the potential to make precision-like-approaches at more airports. All this without having any adverse impact on safety.

Based in Bournemouth, Professional Air Training pride themselves on ensuring their students not only have the required skills for today's flying but are also well trained for the future. They have invested considerable time and effort to develop a CAA-approved GPS training programme and are now the exclusive UK-based Flight Training Organisation taking part in the validation of LPV in British skies this winter.

Gama Engineering Ltd have been selected to be the 145/DOA to not only update the avionics but certify the modifications to Regional and General Aviation aeroplanes to enable them to benefit from the advent of EGNOS-LPV operations.

Gama Engineering's Head of Airworthiness David Wyatt and MD/Head of Design Harry Lees admire Duchess G-BNUO fine lines as well as the enhanced avionics fit!

Gama Engineering's, Certification & Approvals Manager, David Wyatt (right) stops by ther EGNOS stand to catcnh up with Hans de With and Donna Reay at the European Regions Airlines Association (ERAA) General Assembly in Rome as a fully fledged member. With 500+ delegates attending, the ERAA is wothout doubt the most efficient way for operators, service providers and regulators to both netwrk and update themselves in all the latest happenings in Regional Aviation.

David and his team are set to install and certify the avionics update to the first ERAA aircraft (Channel Island based Aurigny's Trislander) to enable them to take advantage of the 'new' world of EGNOS-LPV over the coming winter.

EGNOS-LPV? Think of it as affording ERAA members significant opportunities to offer safer, more reliable and cost effective air services.

A delighted Group Captain Dave Lee, OC 1 EFTS, RAF Cranwell and Babcock Company Pilot, Captain Peter Gooding collect the 93rd and final MoD Tutor aircraft to recieves its major avionics upgrade.

Attending the delivery ceremony at the Gama Support Services facility at Farnborough's famous 'back shed', Dave and Peter were joined by members of the Babcock International Group team, who manage the initial flight training needs of of the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Army Air Corps.

Great teamwork all round.

Helitech 2011, what a perfect occasion to publicly showcase for the first time Gama Engineering.

MD, Harry Lees (facing us in the centre of the photo) relays the good news of our being able to offer clients access to the Garmin 500H and Cobham's HeliSAS autopilot products in particular.

To the right foreground can be seen the Gama Infant Safety Seat which someone wanted to buy and take away as soon as the show finished!

Gama Engineering's appointment today as the first European distributor of Cobham's HeliSAS Autopilot and Stability Augmentation System offers helicopter operators the benefit of a significant improvement in flight safety and reduced pilot work-load.

HeliSAS is FAA fully certified with EASA validation in progess and replaces old analogue systems with a significantly lighter autopilot that increases helicopter stability. It's light weight, low cost and is easy to install.

HeliSAS provides precise control during all modes of flight, regardless of wind conditions or any shifts in weight. It is designed to be engaged at all times-- "on" before takeoff and "off" after landing. If the helicopter is inadvertently flown to an extreme attitude, simply releasing the cyclic while HeliSAS is engaged, automatically returns the helicopter to a near-level attitude in hands-off flight. This is possible due to the HeliSAS attitude-command/attitude-hold SAS + full autopilot configuration.

HeliSAS is immediately available for retrofit in Bell 206B, 206L, and 407 fleets as well as operators of Europcopter AS.350 series. More helicopter types are being certified on an ongoing basis.

17th April 2012 : First EASA Approval now issued for the Bell 407.

Additional information is available from www.helisas.com

In partnership with Garmin, we are now offering installation of the Garmin G500H Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS).

The recently certified Garmin G500H, EFIS is the affordable all-glass avionics flight display designed specifically for the VFR Part 27 helicopters including the Bell 206, Bell 407, Eurocopter AS350B2, AS350B3 and EC130B.

The Garmin G500H (G500) is optimized for rotorcraft and offers features like helicopter synthetic vision technology (HSVT^TM)

It incorporates two individual displays - a PFD and MFD - in a customized package designed for easy retrofit installation. The G500 combines primary flight data including attitude and air data with navigation, weather, terrain and traffic data displayed in an intuitive pictorial format on dual LCD displays. This user friendly presentation allows pilots to quickly and efficiently scan the data so that they can stay ahead of the helicopter.  The G500 replaces traditional mechanical gyroscopic flight instruments with Garmin's solid state Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) that offers superior reliability and accuracy, and allows for rapid alignment and in-flight re starts.

Additional information is available from http://www8.garmin.com/helicopters/

Lees Avionics Ltd have had another successful exhibition at AeroExpo at Sywell aerodrome last weekend.

Our stand generated good footfall of customers, keen to see the latest offerings of GA glass cockpits. With several serious enquiries on both design and installation sides of the business, AeroExpo once again proved to be a good place to demonstrate what we can do.

The stand was staffed throughout the weekend by some of our technical staff, including licenced engineers, who were able to provide answers to customers queries, including a quick fix 'in the field' for a customer with a GPS antenna problem!