Honeywell Radios Keep Airline Pilots Connected

For more than 75 years, airlines have relied on Honeywell communications and navigation radios and data management equipment to improve flight safety and operational efficiency. Our radio product portfolio includes radar altimeters like the pacesetting ALA-52B, which filters out 5G broadband interference so aircraft can operate safely during the critical approach, landing and climb-out phases of flight.

We also provide a full lineup of highly capable navigation, high frequency, voice communications and data management solutions for airline customers. Honeywell radios are known for clear, timely and accurate voice and datalink communications between the flight deck, onboard systems and air traffic control.

For example, more than 7,000 aircraft are equipped with the Honeywell Mark II+ Communications Management Unit (CMU). The Mark II+ provides a datalink management capability to help airlines improve fuel efficiency and on-time performance, simplify pilot interfaces and enhance operations. It does all this and more by accessing data from onboard avionics systems and using advanced analytics.

The Mark II+ lets airlines improve operations by using aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS) and modern DataCom networks. It also qualifies pilots to fly along preferred flight lanes in the North Atlantic and Pacific track systems using performance-based communications and surveillance (PBCS) capabilities. This helps airlines reduce flying time and fuel costs on popular transoceanic routes.

The Datalink Aeronautical Operational Control (AOC) Flight Tracker is another example of Honeywell’s advanced communications and navigation technology. The flight tracker lets airline operations centers and air traffic control know an aircraft’s exact location at all times. It improves flight safety by comparing an aircraft’s planned and actual routes and providing automatic alerts of abnormal aircraft movements.

The Datalink AOC uses readily available sensor information including altitude, airspeed, vertical speed, fuel on board, heading variation, engine status, flight phase and other aircraft indicators. The Datalink AOC database contains conditional logic to detect when data indicators suggest irregular aircraft movement by exceeding predefined thresholds, then automatically downlinks an abnormal position report once every minute using the ACARS network.