Introductory Offer Of Autopilot And WAAS Priced Below Autopilot Alone

Mooney announced at AirVenture 2008 this week its MooneyMax Advanced Factory Maintenance facility is offering special pricing on retrofit upgrades of the Garmin GFC 700 Autopilot with full WAAS capability to owners of Mooney GX aircraft that were built prior to the release of the three axis, full digital, dual channel Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) in November 2006.

Under terms of the deal, MooneyMax will install the GFC 700 on Garmin G1000-equipped airplanes... AND include the full Wide Area Augmentation System... for only $48,900. That price is actually lower than the previously established price of $52,000 for installation of the autopilot alone.

"This retrofit is applicable to all Mooney GX models built prior to the FAA’s approval of the GFC700 for installation into Mooney production aircraft," said Pete Wolak, vice president of customer service. "The integrated autopilot greatly reduces the pilot’s workload while increasing the capabilities of the aircraft. By adding the full WAAS capability to this package, we’re making it possible for Mooney operators to fly with the most advanced flight management and control technologies available in this class of aircraft.

"We have already begun accepting reservations for these retrofits and have limited capacity before October 31, 2008," he added.

Garmin's GFC 700 is a three axis, fully digital, dual channel, fail passive attitude-based Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS). It features roll, pitch and yaw control, with automatic Pitch Trim and Mach Trim control, and additional features not found in other autopilots including Flight Level Change. As general aviation's first and only fully integrated avionics system, the GFC 700 is capable of using all of the data available to the G1000, including the ability to maintain airspeed references and to optimize performance over the entire airspeed envelope.

The FAA granted approval of WAAS capable equipment for Mooney airplanes on April 30 of this year. WAAS uses satellite-based and approximately 25 ground reference stations positioned across the United States that monitor GPS satellite data. Two master stations, located on either coast, collect data from the reference stations and create a GPS correction message for precise lateral and vertical approach guidance. WAAS improves position accuracy from a typical 49 feet down to approximately nine feet.

FMI: www.mooney.com, mooneymax@mooney.com