At its core, the key to success for the autothrottle that formed the basis for the ThrustSense series from Innovative Solutions & Support was to “design an actuator that was fail-safe—there was no failure, no jamming, and no issues that would cause jamming of the throttle to prevent the pilot from moving the power lever,” said Shahram Askarpour, president of [IS&S.|https://innovative-ss.com/about-iss/[
“We always wanted the pilot to be able to override it,” he added.
At the National Business Aviation Association’s BACE on Monday, IS&S announced it was continuing its ThrustSense line with pursuit of inclusion on the Cessna Citation M2, CJ3, and CJ4.
The ThrustSense with LifeGuard Protection is planned for the full range of flight decks, including those with Pro Line 21, Pro Line Fusion, and Garmin avionics.
The autothrottle installation uses the standby electronic flight instrument—called the Integrated Standby Unit—as its controller in each model, so detailing those solutions would take up much of the time between the announcement and FAA certification in each variation.
While the autothrottle helps significantly with workload management, Askarpour noted that the primary benefit was safety, particularly in engine-out scenarios, to help prevent VMC rollover—also an issue with jet operations.
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The ThrustSense installation in the Pilatus PC-12 and Beechcraft King Air 260 and 360 won a 2021 FLYING Editors’ Choice Award for this solution for non-fadec engines.
The package includes a configuration adapter that will allow the owner to transition the autothrottle to a new flight deck, should they decide on an avionics upgrade.
While no fixed pricing was set, Askarpour projected that the cost would be similar to that of the King Air installations—less than $100,000, all-in.
Askarpour anticipates using a similar network of service providers to manage the installation as it does with the Pilatus and King Air models.
The company is taking orders for delivery in early 2022.
