In-flight air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity provider SmartSky Networks has been granted supplemental type certificate (STC) #ST04610CH from the FAA for installation of its Flagship system on a Dassault Falcon 2000EX business jet.

The work was done by hardware sales and installation partner West Star Aviation at its Grand Junction facility in Colorado. Liberty Partners provided engineering support, commencing the project on 3 February. The aircraft arrived for service at West Star in March, with the first-of-type installation and unrelated planned maintenance completed in just over a month, followed by a return to service in mid-April. The FAA supplemental type certificate was granted on 28 April, representing less than three months from start to finish for the entire project.

"SmartSky was a great company to work with on this STC effort. The coordination between West Star, SmartSky and Liberty Partners was excellent, and we are pleased to be part of enabling all Falcon 2000 series aircraft models to upgrade to SmartSky's groundbreaking new technology. Its high bandwidth and low latency performance enables continuous data transfer to and from the aircraft powering inflight use of demanding applications like livestreaming, videoconferencing and even gaming. This is the kind of performance our customers demand from their connectivity, and we look forward to installing more of the SmartSky systems," says West Star avionics technical sales manager Aaron Berg.

SmartSky's industry leading two-way data flow was on full display upon the jet's return to service flight from Colorado to the Bahamas, where nearly seven GB of data was used in just over three hours, more than three GB of data downloaded onto the aircraft and nearly four GB of data uploaded off the aircraft. SmartSky is the only aviation network that offers a symmetrical, two-way data link, and in the case of this flight, a remarkable 55 per cent of the data used was sent off the aircraft.

With nearly 450 aircraft in service, the Falcon 2000 series joins a growing list of aircraft types that have already been granted STCs for SmartSky's patented ATG connectivity service.

"West Star Aviation is a fantastic partner. Its ability to provide a flawless installation, while minimising downtime, enabled an extremely quick issuance of the STC from the FAA. We know Falcon 2000 owners, operators, pilots and passengers are going to love having this level of connectivity on their aircraft. With this first install under its belt, we look forward to more and faster installations with West Star in the future," says SmartSky MRO account manager Chris Buff.

Along with this STC for a Dassault-produced aircraft, SmartSky has already been awarded STCs for more than a dozen models from major manufacturers such as Textron Aviation, Gulfstream Aerospace, Bombardier, Embraer and Dassault, with several more in progress and being scheduled.