Avionics News January 2013 - 23

No, that wasn’t it, either, so what was it? Honeywell eventually answered the questions. Bendix/King was getting reorganized into a stand-alone unit within the conglomerate with its own funding stream and the latitude to run the business like a small entrepreneurial company. The model: today’s lean, nimble, innovative technology companies – or firms quick to develop and field planned new products before competitors overtake them by offering newer goods that leapfrog the delayed product, thereby inducing premature obsolescence. “First we had to determine whether we’re still relevant to the market, whether the brand still holds value,” Jollis recalled. “We had thousands of customers, many of them asking why we’d not kept up in the segment. The research itself reaffirmed the value of the brand and the loyalties of thousands of customers. We found the brand remains surprisingly strong – it’s still relevant and pilots want more choice.” But changes were certainly needed – something to give the venerable company a fresh start. In leaving Olathe, Kan., the newly revamped Bendix/King gets to move away from its main competitor to a town that’s seen a boom in aerospace-company launches during the past decade in Albuquerque, N.M. And to give the company both the sense and reality of a fresh start, this reorganized Bendix/King would not only change its headquarters and move its R&D operations far from Garmin – and Honeywell’s Phoenix-based operations – it would build on the idea of co-development with compatible partners. Another company started by former Bendix/King engineers is in Albuquerque: Aspen Avionics, producer of a very innovative line of PFD and MFD products. Albuquerque also is home to the company that single-handedly put the very-light jet in the spotlight, Eclipse. Two decades ahead of Aspen and Eclipse, the Albuquerque area boasted a couple of companies making hang gliders and ultralight aircraft. The revised Bendix/King has been leveraging Albuquerque in more ways than one. Future Developments “We’re intending to come back to center-stage… front to back, left to right,” Jollis explained. “We’ve entered into selective partnerships with good products…particularly where they’re willing to make it look like ours – but with added value, functional ease of use and aesthetics.”

The first example is the new Bendix/King KMA 30 audio-control panel. “It’s a new product we developed in partnership with PS Engineering,” Jollis said. “It essentially capitalizes on the many advances and capabilities developed by PS Engineering, but sports a faceplate and badging to match Bendix/King’s future products like the KSN 770. Aesthetically, it will be right at home with other Bendix/ King avionics. The new myWingMan iPad application puts our brand on pilots’ list of tools, and we thought we could find a way to make it much easier to use than many of the other products out there.” The development focused on creating a simplified user interface, which Jollis stressed, “The iPad application will have connectivity with Aspen’s Connected Panel system, and more of our products will have a connectivity advantage, accessories and others.” Still coming down the pipeline is the long-awaited Bendix/King entry into the all-in-one-box avionics system – the KSN 770. “We’re working in partnership with Aspen Avionics in Albuquerque,” Jollis explained. “We offer both touch and button controls on the 770, because many pilots didn’t feel as in control with only a touchscreen interface.” The KSN 770 also will have some things others don’t, including some sensors that will put the package a notch above the competition. A Continuing Transition Not all the people attached to the new Bendix/King headquarters will be in Albuquerque, N.M., and not all will be in Olathe, Kan. Remote staffing is in the works. Bendix/King wants its qualified people to get out and fly more than they had been flying from the airports in East Kansas. The idea is for them to get a better grasp of what appeals to pilots – what pilots want and will use. Then, there’s making Bendix/King products a part of the efforts to reduce the increasingly high cost of flying. “A lot of people are dropping out because of the increases in cost of flying, in the cockpit avionics, insurance, maintenance and fuel,” Jollis noted. “Whether through smarter, less-expensive database updates, more product integration or links to other systems, we want to do all we can to bring back some value to the customer. We want to have the opportunity to be judged on the merits of our products and their value to our end users, the Part 23 and Part 27 operators – and not against standards for other equipment.” q
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Avionics News January 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News January 2013