Industry news
A fusion of technologies
Garmin announces two new autopilots
By Thomas B. Haines
The long-languishing aftermarket digital autopilot segment received a big boost recently when Garmin International announced not one, but two new autopilots. The GFC 500 is geared toward lighter general aviation airplanes that can use a Garmin G5 solid-state attitude indicator as the primary attitude source. The GFC 600 will be of interest to those flying high-performance singles and light twins up through turbine aircraft. The GFC 600 interfaces well with Garmin G500 and G600 glass flight displays, Garmin navigators, and a variety of third-party flight displays.
Both autopilot systems drive servos manipulated by brushless DC motors and a gear train that eliminates the need for a mechanical slip clutch, reducing maintenance and improving reliability and longevity. And both autopilots derive much of their performance from the well-regarded GFC 700 autopilot that Garmin introduced a decade ago to its Garmin G1000 integrated panel; the GFC 700 has since migrated up through a variety of turbine aircraft, but always as a part of an integrated panel, not as a standalone, aftermarket product.
In fact, the new products seem to be a fusion of technologies Garmin developed for the autopilot in its G3X Touch integrated cockpit for Experimental airplanes and the GFC 700 autopilots—which reach all the way up to FAR Part 25 airplanes.
As with other new after-market autopilots just becoming available, the new Garmin products offer the best of both worlds. They are attitude driven, which provides a crisper and more accurate flight experience than rate-based autopilots (those that use a turn coordinator to drive the autopilot). And, as digital autopilots, they can provide safety-enhancing features (see sidebar at left) that are not possible with traditional analog systems.
The Garmin autopilots are self-monitoring, which means they are constantly running diagnostics to assure the system is commanding appropriate responses given the selected mode. If a fault is sensed, the autopilot will kick off and alert the pilot.
Garmin already has the initial STC for installation of the GFC 600 in the Beechcraft Bonanza A36 and Baron B55; the Baron 58 will follow soon. Base price for the GFC 600, including the pitch trim capability in a Beechcraft Bonanza A36 is $19,995; $23,995 for the Baron.
The GFC 500 is $6,995 for those who already have a G5 installed. The autopilot and a G5 can be purchased together for less than $10,000. Garmin officials say they expect to have an STC for the Cessna 172 in the fourth quarter of this year; the Cessna 182 and Piper PA–28 will follow.
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'Round The World in a Robinson
By Dave Hirschman
Two British helicopter pilots, Peter Wilson and Matthew Gallagher, stopped at AOPA headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, in July as they entered the final quarter of a world-spanning flight in a Robinson R66.
Their 120-plus-day, 30,000-nautical-mile adventure is the first helicopter circumnavigation that touches the equator in both the eastern and western hemispheres (Indonesia and Colombia).
“The route that we’re attempting has never been tried before,” said Wilson, who previously flew his helicopter (G-DIGA) around the perimeter of Africa. “Others may do it more quickly in the future, but we’ll always be the first to complete it.”
The pair expect to fly about 300 flight hours, and their route has stretched from Arctic Alaska to the equator. They’ve been across Europe, the Middle East, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Alaska, Canada, the U.S. West Coast, Central America, Trinidad, Cuba, and the U.S. East Coast. They planned to re-enter Canada at Quebec; after crossing the Atlantic via Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Scotland; they will return home to England.
They’re documenting their trip with photos and video, and taking scenic routes. From the Mid-Atlantic, for example, the pair planned to fly New York’s Hudson River VFR corridor on their way northeast.
They have encountered bureaucratic snafus, weather delays, and bouts of sickness. But Gallagher said the people they’ve encountered along the way have been friendly and helpful.
“Everywhere we’ve gone, they people have been absolutely incredible,” he said. “That’s been the best part.”
Email [email protected]
Web: www.threejourneysround.com
First Look
Non-TSO avionics approved
For the first time, the FAA has approved non-TSO avionics as primary flight instrumentation in a Standard-category airplane from the factory. CubCrafters has the FAA’s blessing to install Garmin G3X avionics suites in its factory-built XCubs, and it’s already doing so for its 2018 model year. The touchscreen G3X PFD/MFD (along with digital autopilots) are approved under a first-of-its-kind amendment to the XCub type certificate.
AOPA has long advocated wide approval of safety-enhancing, innovative, and economical non-TSOed avionics across the broad GA fleet. Previously, non-TSO avionics (such as Dynon’s D10A and Garmin’s G5 electronic flight instruments) have only been approved through supplemental type certificates on individual aircraft models.
CubCrafters has installed hundreds of Garmin G3X avionics suites in Carbon Cubs flown under Light Sport and Experimental rules. But FAA approval to put the powerful, relatively low-cost G3X systems in Standard-category airplanes opens the door to aircraft and avionics manufacturers to install similar non-TSO avionics in new airplanes, as well as the existing fleet of legacy aircraft.
The FAA has shifted to what it calls a “risk-based” certification philosophy in evaluating new technology, and it has apparently concluded that the G3X system is safer than the mechanical attitude instruments that preceded it.
The G3X shows aircraft attitude information as well as GPS-derived “synthetic vision”; an angle-of-attack indicator; and a moving map with weather, terrain, and traffic warnings. It also can drive a digital autopilot with a one-touch “level” button. (Optional features include remote radios, ADS-B In and Out, and a remote transponder.)
“We believe the added capabilities and valued offered by this new panel are game changing,” said CubCrafters President Randy Lervold. —Dave Hirschman
CubCrafters developed the XCub in secret during a six-year certification process, and unveiled the airplane last year. The XCub is a VFR-only aircraft, and that restriction will remain even with the new G3X instrument panel, company officials said. –Dave Hirschman
Notable People in Aviation History
September 24, 1929
James H. Doolittle takes off and lands entirely on instruments in the first “blind” flight. Most people associate Doolittle with his World War II achievement: the air raid on Japan following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, where he commanded the “Doolittle Raiders.” But he earned his first Distinguished Flying Cross (see page 32) as a test pilot in the 1920s and was a flight instructor during World War I. Doolittle was among the first to believe a pilot needed to be trained to use instruments to fly through fog, clouds, precipitation, darkness, or low visibility.
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