Gogo Business Aviation has announced its AVANCE LX5 has received Supplemental Type Certification (STC) and Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The company says that the first-article STC for the onboard 5G system was completed by Duncan Aviation’s Engineering & Certifications Services team on a Citation Excel aircraft, with Gogo’s dealer network and OEM partners actively pursuing multiple STCs that will certify the Gogo AVANCE LX5 system for installation across a variety of business aircraft models.
Only a minor STC modification will be required before customer installations of the LX5 can begin once the 5G chip is available, Gogo confirms.
“Receiving formal approval from the FAA to produce and manufacture the AVANCE LX5 Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) reaffirms our commitment to Gogo 5G as we march toward our launch date,” said Sergio Aguirre, president of Gogo.
“We built LX5 on the AVANCE platform as a smaller, single-box option to make the installation of Gogo 5G even easier for customers.”
According to Gogo, the company’s 5G is expected to provide ~25 Mbps on average, with peak speeds in the 75-80 Mbps range, which it says will outperform any competitive geosynchronous (GEO) satellite or air-to-ground (ATG) solution. The LX5 was designed with the same form factor and same connections as the L5 to help streamline installation.
