Crane Aerospace & Electronics has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has awarded a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for Crane’s SmartStem® Wireless Tire Pressure System for Learjet 40 and 45 aircraft.

“A recent decision from the FAA allows Part 135 pilots to use certified SmartStem wireless tire pressure monitoring equipment to measure their aircraft tire pressure providing an additional benefit to SmartStem users,” said Tim King, Director, Aftermarket Sales. “Imagine the saving achieved in both time and cost when a pilot can check their own tire pressure, especially in remote locations where a mechanic may not be readily available.”

The certification for the Learjet 40/45 system adds to the growing list of SmartStem Tire Pressure Sensors already certified for use on a variety of other business jets including Cessna Citation Sovereign, Citation X, Dassault Falcon 50, and Bombardier Learjet 60. In addition, SmartStem is certified on several commercial aircraft including the Boeing 777, 787 and Bombardier Q-Series models. Crane is in the process of certifying SmartStem on additional business, regional, and large commercial aircraft.

To fit an aircraft with SmartStem technology, the existing tire inflation valve stem is simply replaced with a SmartStem tire pressure sensor, which, in addition to serving as the inflation valve, contains special electronics. SmartStem sensors communicate tire pressure, temperature and other stored information wirelessly to a Handheld Reader, making tire pressure measurement simple and quick while at the same time creating unique data records which can be used as part of a tire management program.

In addition, since this information is communicated wirelessly and does not require the removal of the valve cap, no gas is lost during routine tire pressure checks.