Iridium plans Certus safety flight trials aboard 767, 777 and 737

Iridium Communications expects to soon begin flight trials to ensure its global Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-powered next-gen Certus service is validated by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for aircraft safety communications.

“I can’t disclose yet who the first, initial airline will be. We’re in talks with several; we’ve locked into one,” Iridium executive director of aviation John Peterson revealed to Runway Girl Network at the SATELLITE 2025 conference and exhibition in Washington D.C.

In terms of which aircraft platforms will be utilized for the trials, said Peterson, “It looks like it’s going to be a 767 to get us started and a 777 afterwards. And then we’ve also got 737 as well. So we’re very excited with the pace of progress. I think in Q2 of this year, we’ll be flying the first one. And by Q4 this year, we want to be done with our flight trials.”

Successful completion of the Certus safety validation program is necessary in order for Iridium to receive final clearance from the FAA for Certus to support FANS-1/A, the Future Air Navigation System, which enables direct datalink communications between pilots and air traffic control — and is a necessity over oceans.

The validation process will involve extensive live evaluation of Certus and include Iridium partners, both value-added manufacturers (VAMs) and service providers.

To that end, Iridium’s VAMs have produced the requisite Certus terminals, and are in the midst of securing supplemental type certifications (STCs) across aircraft types.

“We’re in this STC process now,” confirmed Peterson.

Once a couple of milestones are crossed, linefit offerability at airframers is expected to be secured. “So the first milestone has to be crossed is we got to get into flights trials and then the next milestone that has to be crossed is we have to get our certification. And then once those two things are done, then we’re offerable,” explained Peterson.

“An airline has to spec an aircraft roughly 24 months before they get delivery of the aircraft. And Boeing and Airbus at the production rates they’re on today — especially on narrowbodies — they can’t take a chance if someone specs an aircraft today … and it’s not ready. So, because the production rates are so high and because they’re not having problems selling aircraft that are 30% more fuel efficient than the previous model, they’re just taking no chances. But because we know this, everything is in place; we just have to hit our milestones and then we can be specified. And then once we’re specified, we’re delivered with the aircraft.”

That said, Peterson confirmed that some aircraft platform selections have already been made, and all the engineering work for linefit is being done. “It’s just not offerable yet until we do our part because they can’t take a chance in production. Because those aircraft have to deliver.”

Boeing has traditionally talked excitedly about Certus but Iridium has received a good reception at Airbus at well, “especially at Airbus,” said Peterson, “because you take a look at the new A321XLRs; these aircraft are going almost 5,000 nautical miles. They’ve got to have a satcom. I mean, the most popular place those things are going to be used is in the Asia-Pacific region, which is all jungle and ocean. Like that’s our wheelhouse.”

Iridium’s L-band LEO meshed satellite network, called NEXT, competes with Viasat (formerly Inmarsat’s) L-band geostationary (GEO) satellites in supporting cockpit comms and safety services. But current Iridium customers are accustomed to legacy kit and service.

Peterson said the difference in performance between Iridium’s legacy short burst data for aviation and its Certus safety for Aeronautical Mobile-Satellite (Route) Service is significant, noting that it’s “a 10-fold difference in terms of how much faster and how much better it works. So if it took 20 seconds 10 years ago to do it, we’re doing it in less than two seconds today. So that has a lot of advantages around it because when you can perform ‘get on and off the network’ so quickly, it’s a lot more efficient for the network, but it also makes a lot more time, a lot more room for the airlines to put other things on there.”

“Weather is a big deal,” he continued. “Being able to get weather updates as they update every 15 minutes is a big deal. Flight plan updates is a big deal. Being able to communicate shortcuts on waypoints or for air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to be able to communicate loops for slowdowns, like all of these sorts of things are happening all the time everyday. And I’m so happy to get this stuff out because now they can just bias themselves to say, ‘yeah, just put all that over the satcom now because it doesn’t cost any more’ and we can get much more data off and we get the performance we need.”

Airlines can choose from various Iridium Certus pipes including Certus 200, 350 or 700 with corresponding Kbps speeds. Safety services can easily be supported in the 200-350 Kbps range.

Some bizjet operators, meanwhile, have already installed Certus satcom hardware for cockpit comms and light cabin connectivity, whilst waiting for Certus to be cleared for safety by the FAA.

Related Articles:

• AirFi LEO breaks cover on Atlantic Airways A320
• Airbus highlights benefit of A321LR/XLR complement to widebodies
• Iridium Certus enables wireless IFE providers to tackle fraud
• Iridium CEO talks D2D and the firm’s commitment to aero
• Iridium approves third Certus 700 satcom for aero; says more to come
• Viasat confirms another satellite malfunction: dual-payload I6 F2
• SITA to provide Iridium Certus service to airlines and ANSPs

Featured image credited to Jason Rabinowitz

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