aerospacetechreview.com Q&A with Flyht's Willie Cecil The Oct. 18, 2022 article begins... "William Cecil has a robust history in avionics technology development and currently is Director, Aircraft Data & Edge Solutions at FLYHT Aerospace Solutions. FLYHT is known for delivering long range voice and data communication, new aircraft network edge technology and actionable intelligence solutions to airlines around the globe. We asked him a wide range of questions to see what we could learn not only about him and FLYHT, but his outlook for the industry."
For the full article, follow this link.
https://www.aerospacetechreview.com/director-aircraft-data-edge-solutions-flyht-aerospace-solutions-william-cecil/ Cecil responds to these queries...
"How did the pandemic impact FLYHT?"
"What strategies did the company use to survive that tumultuous time?"
"How is the recovery going – are you optimistic?"
"(Flyht) recently completed the first of 20 AFIRS 228S units on ARJ21 aircraft ordered by China Express Airlines. Tell us what that process was like, any challenges and where the program is going."
"Coral Jet has placed an initial order to become the launch customer for the AFIRS Edge, an aircraft interface device (AID). Tell us more about that product and its capabilities. FLYHT has been delivering Automatic Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRS) avionics and services to airlines for around 20 years, uniquely providing onboard analytics and voice and data communications using Iridium satellite connectivity."
"Can you explain some of these industry firsts?"
"The AFIRS Edge also serves as a data port for the Actionable Intelligence services such as fuel management, aircraft health monitoring and real-time engine data reporting. Explain how this will benefit operators."
"FLYHT recently retained Satichi Consulting Inc. for corporate development and capital markets communications services. Why? What will they do for the company?"
"The company recently joined IATA’s Aviation Cyber Security Strategic Partnerships program. Why is this important? What cybersecurity concerns should operators be most concerned with?"
"FLYHT recently added two industry veterans to its senior leadership, Scott Chambers and Murray Skelton. What do these leaders bring to the table?"
Conclusionary question: "Can you give our readers a taste of something new that you all may be working on for the future?"
Cecil: "With Iridium Certus the AFIRS Edge supports real-time transmission in-flight, whether it is for real-time black box data transmission or for real-time aircraft health monitoring.
With the AFIRS Edge the airline can also automate FDR downloads after landing. FDR data is troublesome to download by hand, but the data has great value in cases where the aircraft has experienced extreme stresses such as during turbulence or a hard landing. The AFIRS Edge FDR download capability makes it possible for Line Maintenance to avoid lengthy inspections and flight cancellations by examining decoded FDR data which includes details about the aircraft stresses that can be compared against OEM published limits."
A portion of Cecil's second comment... "With the combination of AFIRS Edge ACMS function and Iridium Certus connectivity and our Water Vapor Sensing System (FLYHT-WVSS-II) technology, which FLYHT recently acquired, we will soon be delivering a technological overhaul for legacy ABO/AMDAR solutions to provide more data, more efficiently enabling additional benefits beyond the systems in service today. Water vapor data has been a missing component from most AMDAR reporting, and the expectation is that this data will enable up to 15% improvement in short term Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. This water vapor data will also provide further environmental benefits as it is the key to enabling contrail avoidance for airlines and the consequential environmental benefits."