Enhancements Provide New Capabilities and Added Safety

Garmin tells ANN that they have added significant enhancements to their all-glass, G1000 integrated avionics suite. These upgrades simplify operation, enhance situational awareness and increase safety during flight and when taxiing. Garmin's FliteCharts, ChartView, and SafeTaxi are on display at Garmin's exhibit (#2853) at the NBAA Convention in Orlando, Florida.

"These three major upgrades are yet another example of our commitment to innovation and our continued effort to give customers who fly G1000 equipped aircraft more resources and advantages than any other avionics system on today's market," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing.

Garmin ChartView brings an electronic version of Jeppesen's extensive library of charts and airport diagrams directly to the G1000's Multi-Function Display (MFD). ChartView displays approach charts, geopolitical features, airspace, airways and airport diagrams. In addition, pilots will see the aircraft's present position on the chart. These electronic charts greatly reduce the amount of paper in the cockpit and help ease pilot workload. Customers subscribing to ChartView will receive periodic DVD updates from Jeppesen so they can update the information on the aircraft. The DVD may also be loaded onto a personal computer to display and print charts while on the ground.

Garmin FliteCharts is an electronic version of the National Aeronautical Chart Office (NACO) U.S. Terminal Procedures Publication. FliteCharts lets pilots quickly find and view all NACO Departure Procedures (DP), Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs), approach charts, and airport diagrams on the MFD. G1000 equipped aircraft with FliteCharts will have access to all approach plates currently published by NACO, which encompasses 17,500 approach plates at over 2,916 airports. Garmin will offer regular updates to FliteCharts as they become available from NACO.

In addition to the terminal procedures available with ChartView and FliteCharts, Garmin's SafeTaxi (shown below) is an industry-leading service that helps pilots navigate unfamiliar airports while taxiing. SafeTaxi identifies runways, taxiways, and hangars, as well as the aircraft's exact location on the field. The SafeTaxi information will be a standard feature integral in the basemap and will be displayed on the G1000's MFD. Over 700 U.S. airports and diagrams will be pre-loaded on G1000 equipped aircraft with the SafeTaxi feature, and Garmin will continue to develop and offer new airport charts as NACO provides new information. Garmin also plans to offer international airport diagrams in the future, pending approvals from the necessary agencies.

Garmin's all-glass, fully-integrated G1000 avionics suite is a revolutionary design that has set a new standard for the aviation industry. The lightweight, modular design and open architecture continue Garmin's tradition of technology innovation. The system integrates all primary flight, navigation, communication, terrain, traffic, weather, engine instrumentation, and crew-alerting system data, and presents the composite information on large-format Primary Flight Displays (PFD) and MFD. The G1000 also includes the GFC 700, the first entirely new autopilot designed and certified for the 21st century. The GFC 700 is capable of using all data available to the G1000 including the ability to maintain airspeed references and to optimize performance over the entire airspeed envelope.

FMI: www.garmin.com