Garmin upgrades glass cockpit suites

As cockpit avionics and personal devices get smarter they need better ways to communicate with humans and each other. A new round of enhancements addresses that need for Garmin’s top sellers in the aviation world.

Garmin officials are hoping existing customers will want to upgrade once they see the new features. The Garmin GTN 650/750 series (the $11,400 GTN 650 is the smaller-screen version of the $16,900 GTN 750) now lets you talk to your radio rather than just touch it. It is called Telligence Voice Command and has its own dedicated push-to-talk button.

“With features like Telligence Voice Command, pilots will feel as though they have a virtual copilot sitting in the seat next to them as the GTN completes tasks via spoken commands,” said Garmin Sales Vice President Carl Wolf. “These features and more help pilots keep their eyes out of the cockpit by providing a more intuitive, natural user interface that assists them in completing the most important task—flying the aircraft.”

Commands include “Tune destination tower,” "Tune nearest center,” “Show flight plan page,” and either “Show distance” or “Say distance to destination.” You also can pinch or expand your fingers to zoom in or out, just as it is done on your smartphone.

The $15,995 G500 and $28,000 G600 (for larger aircraft) have enhancements that allow the new Garmin GTX 345 all-in-one Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast transponder to display its weather and traffic information. Database synchronization streamlines updating when the G500/G600 is paired with a GTN 650/750.

The new Flight Stream 510 is a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth multimedia card that allows database transfer between the GTN 650/750, select avionics, and up to two compatible iOS or Android mobile devices operating the Garmin Pilot app. Flight Stream 510 enables two-way flight plan transfer between the 650/750 and Garmin Pilot and ForeFlight Mobile. Those with a G500/G600 display can see backup attitude information on a mobile device. Databases that can be transferred include Jeppesen NavData, Garmin Navigation Database, obstacle, terrain, SafeTaxi, FliteCharts, and Basemap.

When the GTN 650/750 is paired with a GTX 345 ADS-B transponder or GDL 88 ADS-B datalink, Flight Stream enables ADS-B traffic and subscription-free Flight Information Service-Broadcast weather display via Bluetooth on mobile devices using Garmin Pilot or ForeFlight Mobile.

Flight Stream 510 will retail for $1,495 and is expected to be available in August.

Garmin also announced a series of updates to the Garmin Pilot app for Apple mobile devices. The app will integrate with geo-referenced Jeppesen terminal charts so that the charts “can be viewed within Garmin Pilot from the charts page and in split-screen mode alongside the moving map,” the company said in a news release. A Jeppesen Mobile FliteDeck subscription is required to download and save the charts. Pilots who use either Jeppesen or Garmin FliteCharts can use chart overlay to display instrument approaches on top of the moving map. All Jeppesen terminal charts and Garmin FliteCharts are geo-referenced through the app.

Android users now will have an electronic logbook in the Garmin Pilot app that integrates with flyGarmin. The logbook feature provides automatic record keeping of data pertaining to each flight, and information is sorted and saved for reference across Garmin Pilot devices and within flyGarmin.