Honeywell’s 3-D Weather Radar Delivered To Lion Air, Enhances Safety For Entire Fleet

Lion Air takes delivery of first single-aisle installation of Honeywell’s advanced 3-D weather radar

PHOENIX.- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced today that Indonesia’s Lion Air has taken delivery of the first Boeing 737NG with Honeywell’s next-generation advanced 3-D weather radar system. Honeywell’s RDR-4000 3-D weather radar was recently certified on the 737NG platform and the Lion Air delivery marks the first single-aisle installation of the advanced weather radar.

Lion Air will be taking delivery of 120 737NGs equipped with Honeywell’s advanced weather radar through 2013. Lion Air also selected Honeywell’s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) ensuring its usage of the latest technology of avionics and promoting safety products with this growing Indonesian carrier. Lion Air also intends to adopt Honeywell’s “Stable Approach Monitor” (SAM) system for added situation awareness for their flight crew when it is available next year.

“Honeywell developed RDR-4000 advanced weather radar after listening to our Airline customers and working with them to create a product that meets their needs by advancing the technology innovations in weather hazard analysis and avoidance,” said Mike Madsen, Honeywell Aerospace Vice President, Airlines. “By providing longer range weather detection, automatic and more accurate assessment of real weather hazards, and discrimination of non-hazards, this system enables pilots to easily identify the best and most direct routing to avoid turbulence. This ensures a more comfortable ride, while saving fuel. This is a great example of how advanced technology can make things simple - reducing pilot workload, increasing safety and reducing fuel consumption.”

“Lion Air’s greatest focus is the safety of our passengers,” said Rusdi Kirana, President Director of Lion Air, “We selected Honeywell’s RDR-4000 weather radar and other safety products because they offer advanced safety features that aren’t available in other surveillance and information products.”

Honeywell’s 3-D Volumetric Weather Radar, RDR-4000, is the first and only weather radar system certified to the FAA’s Enhanced Turbulence Detection Minimum Operation Performance Standard (MOPS), providing pilots the ability to detect and avoid previously unforeseen turbulence. It is the first fully automatic weather radar system that decreases pilot workload and improves their in-flight decision making by offering weather analysis tools for viewing storms in three dimensions at up to 320 nautical miles ahead of the aircraft. These technological advances allow pilots to be better informed about air turbulence, windshears and overall weather conditions so they can make more informed route decisions — thereby increasing passenger comfort and safety — and decreasing weather-related costs due to injuries and aircraft damages. Honeywell’s advanced weather radar is the only commercial radar that utilizes pulse compression for greater accuracy at longer range – a technology used previously only in military radars. Honeywell’s advanced weather radar is currently operating as standard equipment on the Airbus A380 and the military C-17, and is specified as standard equipment on the Gulfstream 650 and Airbus A350 when they enter service. It is also certified and flying on the Boeing 777 and 737NG.

Lion Air will also equip their aircraft with Honeywell’s ACARS and intends to install Stable Approach Monitor (SAM) when it becomes available in 2009. SAM provides alerts to the pilots if the aircraft is approaching the runway in a way that could lead to an unsafe landing, such as too high or too fast. ACARS provides a secure satellite based network for communicating vital information, like ATC and AOC messages over a secure network.