T²CAS™ AVAILABLE THROUGH TG AVIATION ON PIAGGIO P-180

ACSS Working With TG Aviation To Bring Higher Level Of Safety To Piaggio Operators

Contact:
Steve Henden
Manager, Communications
ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Company
623-445-7021

GENEVA, May 25, 2004 – ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, announced today that they have teamed-up with TG Aviation/ Marinvent to offer T²CAS™ – ACSS’s combined traffic and terrain avoidance system – for Piaggio P-180 aircraft. T²CAS is an integrated TCAS II and Class A TAWS that will bring a higher level of safety and situational awareness to P-180 operators.

T²CAS is a unique safety avionics product that combines a performance-based terrain awareness warning system (TAWS) with the industry’s leading traffic alert and collision avoidance system, the TCAS 2000. T²CAS received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification in February 2003. The system provides a powerful combination of functionalities that result in space, wiring, weight and power savings. T²CAS is a performance-based system that can be applied to any business, regional, air transport or military aircraft to avoid Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), which gives operators more time to clear terrain and traffic with an increased margin to maneuver and reduce nuisance alerts.

Among the patented features is a Terrain Advisory Line that indicates where the terrain is should the aircraft continue on its current flight path. The length and duration of the alert line mirrors the cautionary terrain segment within 30 degrees either side of the aircraft flight path, out to four minutes in front of the aircraft. When the GCAM detects that the aircraft does not have sufficient climb capability to clear the terrain by a standard vertical recovery maneuver, it generates a unique identifiable “Avoid Terrain” aural-visual alert.

The growing list of T²CAS customers includes Aero California, Aeromexico, Air Atlanta Icelandic, AVITEX, EAT, Gulf Air, Federal Express, Mesaba, Northwest Airlines, ONUR Air, QATAR, Royal Brunei, SUKHOI, Swift Aviation, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Customs Service, Virgin Express, and Marinvent.

TG Aviation based at CYHM-Hamilton, Ontario, provides quality Airframe, Engine, Avionics maintenance and conversions for business aircraft up to and including the Challenger 604. TG Aviation is a member of the Thomson-Gordon Group of Burlington, Ontario, a 3rd generation family-owned business established in 1911.

Marinvent Corporation of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was incorporated in 1983 and is a leading government-recognized aerospace research and development organization specializing in systems engineering, advanced flight testing, and human factors design. The company has developed numerous technologies for civilian, NASA, and tactical applications, using its two advanced research aircraft. Marinvent was awarded the prestigious Canadian American Business Achievement Award in 2003, along with its strategic partner Jeppesen Sanderson, Inc., for the development of the JeppView line of electronic charting products.

ACSS (Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems), an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, is a leader in safety avionics systems. ACSS products include the TCAS 2000 traffic alert and collision avoidance systems; MASS™, an enhanced TCAS for military operations; a family of Mode S transponders; the T²CAS™, a combined traffic and terrain collision avoidance system; TAWS+, a stand-alone 2-MCU terrain awareness warning system; and Dlink+, a communications management unit, VDL Mode 2 digital radio, and control display unit in one package. More than 9,000 units of ACSS’s products are operating in commercial, corporate and military aircraft. To learn more about ACSS, please visit the company's web site at www.L-3com.com/acss.