Specialized Helicopters’ Robinson R22 Glass Cockpit
“The world is moving towards glass cock-
pits, and we have to move with it,” Gularte
says. “So it only makes sense to teach pilots
using glass cockpits.” It supports moving
map and other modern navigation aids, and
is easy to modify using software upgrades.
According to Gularte, the next software
update will add the ability to track engine
and rotor parameters, allowing maintenance
departments the ability to know exactly
what the engine and rotor RPM was in the
event of an overspeed. “Imagine if every heli-
copter had this feature?” he says. “The days of
guessing would be over and the money saved
would be tremendous, not to mention buy-
ers’ remorse on used aircraft sales.”
Granted, the cost of this $50,000 glass
cockpit has to come from somewhere. In the
case of Specialized Helicopters, the company
charges $310 an hour to rent the R22-GT.
But this is still less than $500/hour for its IFR-
equipped R44; a fact that can save students
literally thousands of dollars in training.
“We can do more for our students with
the R22-GT, at a lower cost than using the
R44,” Chris Gularte concludes. “That’s a deal
that works out well for everyone.”
Specialized Helicopters of Watsonville, Calif.
is a Robinson dealer, maintenance center and
training facility. When it comes to helping
pilots gain IFR flying certification, Special-
ized Helicopters used to rely on a larger R44
for training. “The Robinson 10-holer analog
IFR panel has a weight balance problem
when installed in the R22, which is why
Frank Robinson stopped making them and
we had to use the R44,” says Chris Gularte,
the company’s president and chief tour pilot.
“But it costs our students $500 an hour to
rent the R44, versus $280 an hour to rent an
R22 dual. That’s why we decided to install a
glass cockpit in one of our R22s.”
Rotor & Wing
Half Page Island = 4. 5”x 7. 5” (no bleed)
Working with ASAP Avionics of Campbell River, Canada, Specialized Helicopters
acquired and installed a two 8.4-inch LCD
Sagem Avionics screens, plus many separate
components, to create the glass cockpit in
its R22. Like the Sagem glass cockpit used in
the Robinson R44 Grand, the R22- GT (Glass
Trainer) integrates all of the aircraft’s nav and
monitoring functions onto this platform;
adding full IFR functionality.
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APRIL 2010 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE
