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Product Recall. What: Honeywell Flight Management Systems (FMSs) served by Honeywell NZ–2000 navigation computers and IC–800 integrated avionics computers. Airworthiness Directive Date: May 14, 2009 [1]
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Product Recall • What: Honeywell Flight Management Systems (FMSs) served by Honeywell NZ–2000 navigation computers and IC–800 integrated avionics computers. • Airworthiness Directive Date:May 14, 2009 [1] • Why: There have been reports of in-flight position shifts of computed position in airplanes with Honeywell NZ–2000 navigation and IC–800 integrated avionics computers serving FMSs. If FMS is coupled to an autopilot or flight director system, this shift in position could result in uncommanded deviations from the intended flight path of the airplane. If flight crewis unware of the deviation, that can compromise terrain/traffic avoidance. • Incidents: Honeywell issued a Technical Newsletter A23-6111-008 to all operators of the NZ-2000 Navigation computer in February 2, 2007 describing the problem. In the newsletter, Honeywell provided two workarounds 1) return the affected to Honeywell to be retrofitted with previous software. 2) “Deselect IRS(s) such that each FMS has access to only one IRS.” [3]
Product Recall • Number of Units Sold: • The latest AD listed 104 affected aircrafts worldwide, 77 in the U.S. [1]. • Honeywell identified 234 business jets in the previous AD. [5] • When Sold:Since the problem was attributed to a software update and since the problem in question is specific to the NZ-2000 FMS or IC-800 in an aircraft with more than one IRS(Inertial Reference System) certain aircrafts used by different aircraft manufacturers at different time, it would be best to list the manufacture and the effected model.
Identifying the affected models: • In the newsletter Honeywell showed two ways to identified the affected affect part numbers and software level. • The first way to identify
Identifying the affected models: • In the newsletter Honeywell showed two ways to identified the affected affect part numbers and software level. • The second way to identify:
Operator’s Cost • Cost of Compliance:The following table provides the estimated costs for the 77 airplanes in the U.S. [1].
Management Issues • Recognition of Problem:The Federal Aviation Administration reviewed the newsletter that Honeywell sent out and have determined that the unsafe conditions is likely to exist or develop on other airplanes of the same type design. They issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD 2007-07-12) to take effect in April 18, 2007 which will require Honeywell to identify all affected computer by part number and revising the Limitation section of applicable airplane flight manuals, while Honeywell is developing a software modification to address the problem. Once the software has been developed Honeywell issued Service Bulletins recommending installing new software “as manpower and material are available”, the FAA have determined that the imprecise compliance is not timely enough. A new Directive (AD 2009-08-01) was issued which supersede the previous one and require all aircraft to be upgraded to the new software. Once the AD was release, other countries release their own AD regarding the issue. [6] • Speed of Response:The response was relatively quick. Once the problem have been identified, Honeywell issued a newsletter alerting all operators of the known failure and the AD was instrumental in getting all operators in complying with getting the software upgraded with the fix. • Responsibility:Honeywell took full responsibility for the problem by releasing the information to operators in their newsletter.
Impact of Recall • Legal Consequences:There were no legal consequences of this Airworthiness Directive. Honeywell informed all operators in a timely manner. The FAA further mitigate the problem by making the software upgrade mandatory. • Reputation:Honeywell continues to be in business today and their stock prices are higher than ever. The company stock (HON) did take a small at around the same time the Airworthiness Directive was applied, but it is hard to determine if that is the main cause of the dip since Honeywell is a multinational conglomerate that produces consumer goods and engineering services in addition to their aerospace systems. • Sales: There were no indication of negative impact to the sales of the NZ-2000 FMS. In fact later that year, Honeywell released a new Sales bulletin for their flight management system with pricing included for additional software upgrades to the NZ-2000 computer. [4]
References [1] Federal Register. (2009). AD 2009-08-01 Retrieved from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR82092009-04-09/html/E9-7790.htm [2] Federal Register. (2007). AD 2007-07012 Retrieved from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR82092007-04-03/html/E7-5896.htm [3] Gulfstream memo. (2007). Maintenance and Operations Letter Retrieved from http://trainingcas.homestead.com/fms_mol.pdf [4] Honeywell. (2009). Sales Bulletin HSB 2009 -02 (o). Retrieved from http://www51.honeywell.com/aero/common/documents/myaerospacecatalog‑documents/Operator_Sales_Bulletins-documents/2009-02_%28o%29_FMZ-2000_v6.1.pdf [5] Pope, Stephen. (2007). AD Affects Honeywell NZ-2000s. Retrieved from http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2007-04-30/ad-affects-honeywell-nz-2000s [6] European Aviation Safety Agency. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.regles-osac.com/OSAC/ad_cns.nsf/VConsultWeb/981148C3083226C4C12575A7002FD7A7