This paper examines Honeywell's Primus Epic integrated avionics system, first certified in 2003 with the Bell/AgustaWestland AB139. It explains how the system consolidates traditionally separate avionics components — navigation, flight planning, weather radar, and display technology — into a single, software-driven platform. The paper describes the system's core operating principles, including its use of Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) and Enhanced Vision Systems (EVS), its major subsystems such as the IPFD and EGPWS, and the measurable benefits it delivers. A dedicated section addresses how the Primus Epic was adapted for rotary-wing aircraft, particularly the AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter, demonstrating the system's versatility across aircraft types.
Standard avionics systems are traditionally built from independent components assembled to function together within an aircraft. Different aircraft types have different demands, and systems for navigation, flight planning, landing, and data analysis are typically sourced from specialized manufacturers and integrated separately for each aircraft. This approach frequently creates issues with component compatibility and portability. The solution is to design a system that incorporates all required features into one compact platform, delivering every requirement through a single set of hardware, software, and data.
This is precisely what the Honeywell Primus Epic achieves. Primus Epic is an integrated avionics system developed by Honeywell and first certified in 2003 for use with the Bell/AgustaWestland AB139. The system integrates many services into a single package and serves as the avionics platform for the Hawker Horizon, Cessna Sovereign, Gulfstream G550, Dassault Falcon 900EX, and numerous other jets (Goyer, 2003).
The Primus Epic AW139 Four represents a major breakthrough in display technology for helicopters. It is the world's first interactive navigation system of its kind, allowing pilots to select objects on the display to enhance the view or retrieve additional information. Because the system is entirely software-driven, updates and data functionality can be maintained without a steep learning curve. Honeywell developed an Integrated Primary Flight Display (IPFD) capable of projecting the external environment onto the screen to support pilot decision-making. Beyond improved visibility, the system enhances deck functionality through modular avionics and flat-panel displays. Additional features include a fully functional helicopter Flight Management System (FMS), a four-axis autopilot, engine instrument displays, crew alerting, flight planning tools, and a weather radar (Honeywell Business Aviation, 2010).
In essence, Primus Epic consolidates functions that previously required multiple instruments from multiple manufacturers — each with its own compatibility constraints — into a single unit that supports all phases of flight, from planning through execution. It has been evaluated and validated for both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, making all those services available through one console.
Primus Epic is an integrated, chip-managed solution that combines physical situational awareness — including camera-based external views that allow pilots to inspect the underside of the aircraft — with advanced flight data processing. Its central technological innovation is the blending of two existing vision enhancement methods: Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) and Enhanced Vision Systems (EVS).
Synthetic vision uses an onboard computer and terrain database to determine the aircraft's position and render a visual representation of the surrounding environment. In conditions of darkness or heavy cloud cover, the pilot can see an electronically generated image of what the terrain ahead should look like based on stored data. However, this representation reflects stored information rather than real-time conditions, meaning that recent changes in the environment may not be captured (Goyer, 2010).
Honeywell's implementation of synthetic vision, called SmartView, addresses this limitation by layering real instrument data over the synthetic terrain view. In addition to the terrain representation, SmartView displays altitude, Horizontal Situation Indicator (HSI) data, vertical speed, altimeter velocity vector, navigation source, annunciators, airspeed tape, autopilot annunciations, and trend vectors. The pilot thus receives a comprehensive picture of the terrain below — including potential hazards — alongside all critical flight instrument data, much of which would otherwise only be visible through a conventional instrument panel (Goyer, 2010). The system therefore draws on both pre-stored databases and live inputs from the current flight environment.
The Primus Epic system contains several subsystems, many of which represent world firsts in avionics. The Honeywell AW139 configuration, for example, includes an external camera that allows the pilot to verify engine fire warnings and inspect the undercarriage visually. The system also features an LCD scratch pad through which the pilot can call up any required information — weather radar data, maps, or the current flight plan. Safety-related components include trim actuators and the Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS), both of which function equally well for fixed-wing and rotary-wing pilots (Flight International, 2009).
The Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) database gives pilots a visual representation of flight path and terrain. Combined with Honeywell's navigation tools, it functions as a strategic planning instrument, allowing pilots to anticipate events well in advance. The integrated Heads-Up Display (HUD) symbology presents an optimum energy management paradigm for the aircraft, combining multiple sources of information and decision-support tools into a single display (Honeywell Business Aviation, 2010).
Flight control subsystems include the Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) with Stability Augmentation System (SAS), dual AHRs, Flight Management, and a range of safety subsystems — equipment diagnostics, crew intercom, exceedance recording, integrated maintenance, trend monitoring, communications, and a lightning sensor (Honeywell Business Aviation, 2010). Communication facilities include both VHF and HF communications. All of these features are available not only for commercial jets but have been adapted and validated for helicopter use, most notably on the AgustaWestland AW139.
"Safety and navigation advantages across aircraft types"
"Primus Epic adapted for rotary-wing helicopter operations"
The Primus Epic is a modern integrated avionics system created by Honeywell. First validated on the Bell/AgustaWestland AB139, it was subsequently extended to the Primus Epic AW139 configuration for helicopters. Its defining characteristic is the consolidation of a broad range of flight-related functions — navigation, display, flight planning, safety, and communication — into a single integrated package. The interactive navigation system and advanced display technology represent particularly noteworthy achievements, compressing what once required numerous instruments from multiple vendors into one cohesive platform.
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