Garmin Says Enhancements Include ADS-B Compliance, User-Requested Options

Garmin has announced new capabilities for G1000-equipped King Air 200/250/300/350 series aircraft. These enhancements provide a number of new features and optional equipment upgrades that offer King Air owners and operators more capability. These new upgrades include several key NextGen components like Automatic Dependence Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) compliance, as well as customer-requested capabilities such as creating user-defined holding patterns, and the approval of optional equipment to increase its global operating capability.

“Our G1000 retrofit program for the King Air product line has received exceptional response and Garmin will continue to provide King Air operators with the best technology available,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin’s vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “These new capabilities help minimize pilot workload, offer additional NextGen capabilities and provide a number of operational benefits to G1000-equipped King Air operators.”

Owners and operators will now have the ability to quickly build user-defined holding patterns that can be created over an existing fix in the navigation database or user-defined waypoint. Unpublished holds or those assigned by air traffic control are easily created and displayed on the multi-function display, further simplifying the activity.

New enhancements offer options to ensure aircraft are prepared for NextGen, which presents a significant opportunity for owners and operators to fly more efficiently with greater flexibility and situational awareness. These new operational features include:

• Barometric Vertical Navigation (Baro-VNAV) approach capability
• FAA ADS-B Out Compliant
• Required Navigation Performance (RNP) capability that includes the ability to fly procedures with Radius-to-Fix (RF) segments

For those operators conducting SAR missions, the G1000 system can automatically generate flight plans for three search patterns: Parallel Line Search, Expanding Square, and Sector Search patterns. This feature aids in crew situational awareness by simplifying the process of entering and managing search patterns. The SAR package is a priced option.

The optional GRS 7800 Attitude Heading and Reference System (AHRS) enables free-gyro mode for King Air aircraft greatly expanding the authorized area of operation up to North 84 degrees latitude. With the optional GRS 7800, King Air operators will increase their global operational capabilities and have access to more remote locations.

The optional GTS 8000 traffic system and GTX 3000 transponder is a fully Change 7.1 compliant TCAS II/ACAS II system, which also meets the standards for ADS-B ‘Out’ compliance. This offers King Air operators a solution to satisfy worldwide regulatory requirements. The GTS 8000 system offers improved safety by issuing traffic alerts and Resolution Advisories (RA) to avoid traffic conflicts. The optional GRA 5500 radar altimeter supports the TCAS II/ACAS II solution for King Air aircraft without an existing compatible radar altimeter. The GRA 5500 all-digital radar altimeter provides smooth altitude tracking resulting in highly accurate altitude indications, even over the most challenging environments.

The GWX 70 combines exceptional range and adjustable scanning profiles with precision target definition for accurate, real-time weather analysis in the cockpit. Compared to earlier generation magnetron-based weather radar systems, the digital GWX 70 offers significant improvements in capability, reliability, and cost of ownership.

The aircraft eligibility list now includes the B200GT and B200CGT models and also includes all serial numbers for B200 and B200C models.

For current King Air owners and operators, the latest software is available today from a Garmin Authorized Dealer as a free upgrade (installation charges may apply). Optional equipment upgrades are also currently available. King Air owners and operators may contact a Garmin Authorized Dealer for pricing information.

FMI: www.garmin.com/aviation