From Mobile Phone Applications to Full Glass Cockpits

By Chris Batcheller

It's hard to believe that we've been playing with GPS technology for 20 years, but maybe even more surprising is how far the technology has come in such a short time. Garmin is using AirVenture 2009 to celebrate 20 years of helping people find their way from point 'A' to point 'B', and the company continues to invest in their line of aviation products, according to Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing.

To mark the 20th anniversary, Kelly announced that Garmin has delivered 100 thousand of their GNS 400/500 series products. "Since our inception 20 years ago, we have endeavored to design quality products that are known for their innovation and reliability. We are very thankful for every loyal customer who has helped us reach this tremendous milestone, and we are committed to serving them for years to come," he said.

Garmin is developing an IPhone version of it’s Pilot MyCast. This application will bring you Aviation Weather and Data including, NEXRAD Loops, METARs, TAFs, Weather Maps, Satellite Loops, Lightning, AOPA Airport Directory and NOTAMs. The application also brings flight planning and flight filing functionality.  The expected street price is $99.95 annually and the product is expected in September 2009.

Garmin has also made some enhancements to their V.8 for all phones.  These include Airport Diagrams, File SIDs & STARs, File Victor and Jet Airways, METAR and TAF “bubble map”, Displays current and predicted weather in a pictorial format.  The cost is $9.95 per month and there is no additional cost for current customers.

So many displays, and so little time!  Garmin is developing a wide range of products to meet customer demands, but the variety can be overwhelming.  This article will discuss three of Garmin’s glass panel offerings.  The G3X is targeted at the experimental market and is designed to allow you to add components and panels as time and budget allow.  The G500 is a new product that is being introduced and it is being targeted at airplanes under 6000 lbs in the certified and experimental category.  The current G600 product line is for certified and experimental aircraft up to 12,500 lbs. 

The G3X is currently in development.  Using the building block approach you can build your avionics to meet your current and future needs. The G3X will support a single or up to three displays.  With 2 or more displays, the G3X will have the reversionary mode feature just like the G1000.  You can see the G3X here at Oshkosh as units are installed in several aircraft including Flight Design – MC, Gobosh – G700S, StingSport – S3, Tecnam – P92 Eaglet, Avionics Systems LLC and Steinair.

Garmin has continued development of the G600.  Now shipping is SVT (Synthetic Vision Technology) for the G600.  SVT is scaled for the G600, and highway in the sky is not available.  They have also added the GWX68 weather radar interface, new winds aloft depiction and a new pop-up data field.  The new GAD43 autopilot adapter is now shipping and this will allow you to eliminate the standard size attitude indicator and replace it with a 2” standby unit.  Garmin also announced that existing G600 customers can get SVT free, and a ½ price GAD43 autopilot adapter. 

Garmin introduced their G500 this morning.  Garmin quotes the G500 as “a lower-cost alternative to the G600, designed specifically for Part 23 Class 1 and Class 2aircraft (most singles or twins under 6,000 lbs)“.  It’s a compact unit with a PFT on the left side and an MFD on the right.  Like it’s bigger brother the G600 and G1000 the G500 has push buttons around the bezel.  It has options for SVT, ChartView and the GAD 43 autopilot interface.  The G500 is offered at an introductory price of $15,995.  That price is about half the cost of the G600, making glass cockpits available for a wider variety of aircraft.   You can see the G500 in the EAA sweepstakes Aviat Husky and in a Diamond DA20.

Garmin also introduced the GTS or Garmin Traffic Systems family of products.  The 800, 820 and 850 products according to Garmin will “combine active TAS/TCAS with passive ADS-B “In” to correlate target data”.  The major difference in the 800, 820/850 is the output power. The 800 has 40 watts of transmit power while the 820 and 850 have 250 watts. All units feature +/- 0.05 nm of range accuracy and 5 degrees RMS of bearing accuracy. Garmin noted that all units will work up to 55,000 feet, something competitor systems don’t offer on the lower wattage units.  Availability will be in the forth quarter of 2009. 

FMI: www.digitalcyclone.com/products/mobile-my-cast, www.garmin.com