The new modular flight deck that lets pilots customize their displays based on mission and phase of flight. Each flight crew and mission are different, and pilots like to set up their cockpits in ways that are optimized for them and their needs. Present-day avionics systems expect pilots to conform to their limited-design layouts, forcing them to think the way engineers think they should. The future must be better.

“With Honeywell Anthem, pilots can quickly and easily position the primary flight display, navigation maps, charts, radio controls and other information and tools anywhere they want on any display,” said Jason Bialek, Product Line Director for Honeywell Anthem.

“The most relevant information is always right at their fingertips when they need it, which aligns with our promise to make Honeywell Anthem easy to use, easy to learn, and fun to fly,” he added.

The world’s most modular and customizable flight deck appeals to aircraft manufacturers, too. “We have had a lot of great feedback from the OEMs,” Bialek said. “With Honeywell Anthem, they can design a cockpit that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, regardless of the aircraft type or size. Honeywell Anthem can be configured for small general aviation aircraft, helicopters, urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles, high-end business jets, large passenger aircraft or anything in between.”

Honeywell Anthem uses intuitive technology that is familiar to pilots who use Electronic Flight Bag apps and smartphones every day. 

Unlike traditional interfaces based on text-entry or basic graphical menus, Honeywell Anthem uses visualization and modern graphical and gesture-based methods, making the flight deck much easier to use. For example, pilots can modify their flight plan simply by clicking on a new waypoint on the map display, or they can establish a hold on certain inbound courses with specific leg distances via touch instead of the less intuitive, more traditional, text-based menu methods. If pilots want to enter everything via menu pull downs and text entry, they can do that, too. Generally, once pilots see how fast and easy the newer methods are they stop doing it the traditional way.”

As the first flight deck to feature always-on cloud connectivity, Honeywell Anthem enables innovations like the Connected Mission Manager, which anticipates what major tasks are next like the next logical radio frequency to tune, or the appropriate chart to display, along with which normal checklist to display and complete. Honeywell Anthem minimizes the number of touches or clicks required to get key tasks done by anticipating the pilot’s needs and providing a simplified time-based view, which is much easier to use and interpret than complicated waypoint lists seen in traditional cockpits. If a less experienced pilot is behind the airplane and fails to complete the After Takeoff or Climb checklists those icons remain on the timeline and present an obvious next “to do” item for the pilot, helping the pilot prevent errors from becoming more serious incidents. 

“Always-on connectivity, Connected Mission Manager, Smart Scratch Pad and other unique features reduce complexity and improve the flying experience for pilots of all experience levels,” Bialek said.