The FAA has mandated that all US registered, turbine powered aircraft with six or more seats must install a Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) by March 5, 2005. TAWS is a new enhanced technology that replaces earlier Ground Proximity Warning Systems (GPWS). TAWS uses position data from a navigation system such as GPS and a digital terrain database to display surrounding terrain.

The Sandel ST3400 TAWS is a complete TAWS computer/display system in a box. It the only TAWS system that displays the terrain information in the pilot's primary instrument cluster and does not share a radar display. It includes the TAWS computer and an integrated full-color display built within a standard 3-inch instrument chassis. It can be installed as a direct replacement for existing Radio Magnetic Indicators (RMI).

In the near future. Sandel is developing an interface with traffic collision avoidance systems from other vendors to display traffic data on the ST3400 display. Yes. Dual ST3400's may be installed in a left-side/right-side configuration, much like pilot/copilot TCAS VSI.

With the introduction of terrain awareness and advisory products that were not certified for the Class A or B TAWS mandate, clarification was needed to properly categorize all other non-TAWS products. Some manufacturers advertise products with "TAWS-like" or "terrain advisory" features. These details sometimes confused and misled consumers. Class C TAWS refers to terrain awareness intended for aircraft not affected by any TAWS mandate.

long as the ST3400 TAWS is mounted in the pilot's primary field of view, no external annunciators are required. The unit will support external warning, caution, or master caution annunciation if so desired.

Yes. Please contact Sandel by phone at 877-726-3357, email at info@sandel.com or click here to request a copy of the ST3400 Demo CD-ROM. The demo program will take you through sample flight scenarios and allows full operation of the ST3400. The CD-ROM also contains the ST3400 Pilot's Guide and other documentation.

Heading information is required to be interfaced to Terrain Awareness Systems (TAWS) only if the TAWS installation include a terrain display. Generally, compatible interfaces include analog XYZ synchro found in modern HSI/Compass systems or digital ARINC data found in modern AHRS systems. In particular, this detail is true for Honeywell and L3/Goodrich TAWS products.

The TAWS requirement (See FAQ 24G) can be for either a Class A or Class B system, depending on the number of passenger seats and the type of operation. The Class A TAWS requirement is for all FAR Part 121 aircraft and Part 135 aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats. The Class B requirement is for FAR Part 135 aircraft with 6-9 passenger seats and Part 91 aircraft with 6 or more passenger seats. Class B compliance does not require display or input from a 2500 ft.

Most TAWS installations require only uncorrected barometric pressure altitude information from an existing encoding altimeter. This altitude information is combined together with the altitude dervied from the connected GPS to provide accurate altitude information. This combination of pressure altitude and GPS altitude is called "Geometric Altitude" which is less susceptible to errors or malfunctions from normal altimeter systems.

of January 2004, most terrain databases included with TAWS only contain vertical obstacles such as towers, antennas, and buildings for North America. In particular, obstacle information outside North America are not included in the Bendix/King KGP-560/860 and L3/Goodrich Landmark TAWS8000 systems.

Most TAWS product manufacturers strongly recommend that a temperature input be used with terrain awarenss installations. Commonly, this input is only considered for aircraft operating in extreme weather conditions which may cause discrepancies in altitude calculations. The temperature input into TAWS provides a more accurate vertical position and prevents serious discrepancies between actual altitude and TAWS calculated altitude (i.e.

The Sandel ST3400 TAWS System is unique in that it can accept either a 2000 or 2500 ft. radio altimeter input as part of the Class A TAWS requirements. Most Class A TAWS systems require strictly a 2500 ft. input but Sandel was able to prove equivalency in the functionality of their system with only a 2000 ft. input. present SW (software) level 01/09 with MOD-6 is required in the ART-2000 to be compatible with the KMD-850.

Terrain Avoidance and Warning Systems (TAWS) require the installation of a "Terrain Inhibit" switch as part of the system installation. When switched, this function will inhibit all audio and visual (where applicable) alerts to the pilot. The purpose of the Terrain Inhibit function is to allow aircraft to operate without nuisance or unwanted warnings at airports that are not in the system database.