Raytheon Control-By-Light Gets Continental Order

SUDBURY, Mass., Nov. 18 -- Raytheon Control-By-Light has received an order to supply its new fiber-optic networked Digital Flight Data Acquisition Units for use on the fleet of 33 ATR-42 and ATR-72 aircraft operated by Continental Express, the regional air carrier to Continental Airlines. The Control-By-Light system will enable Continental Express to significantly expand flight data recording capacity on existing passenger aircraft, as required under recent mandates from the Federal Aviation Administration. Raytheon did not disclose the terms of the contract.
Continental Express plans to first install the Control-By-Light systems on its fleet of Aerospatiale ATR-42 twin turboprop aircraft, which the regional carrier uses for short-haul routes. Sensors and interconnect cabling for the systems are to be provided by Downey Corp. of East Middlebury, Vt. Raytheon Control-By-Light employs an integrated system of intelligent remote sensors, fiber optics, and distributed remote data acquisition units.