Chelton’s Flight System Requires Upgrade

Chelton Flight Systems, maker of a certified synthetic-vision wonder-box (that may represent the first generation of the kind of instruments that will usher the SATS program into reality) issued a Service Bulletin last month requiring owners to upgrade their software to prevent the FlightLogic EFIS from giving “hazardously misleading guidance into non-protected areas in certain departure and missed approach procedures.” The bulletin describes how to recognize when misleading guidance is being displayed and describes procedures for continued safe operation. The system should not be relied on for certain procedures, defined in the Service Bulletin, until the Service Bulletin is complied with. Compliance requires a software update, which solves the problem. The moral of this story — remember that the price of safe flying is eternal vigilance, even when wowed by the latest, coolest, niftiest technology.