For the quarter that ended July 1, the company posted net income of $287.9 million, or $1.50 per diluted share, compared with $257.9 million, or $1.33 per diluted share, a year earlier. Sales rose to $1.32 billion from $1.24 billion.

The company, whose product lines include equipment for fitness, outdoor, automotive, and marine markets in addition to aviation, counted the release of its Autoland and autothrottle systems to the retrofit market among the period’s highlights. The company said the systems’ certification for certain Beechcraft King Air aircraft is “imminent.” Garmin’s Smart Glide also received a 2023 Readers’ Choice Award from FLYING.

• READ MORE: FLYING Reveals Innovation Award Series for 2023

“We returned to consolidated revenue growth in the second quarter with growth in three of our five segments, demonstrating the resilience of our diversified business model, said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and CEO. “Our recent wearable launches have been well received, and we expect continued revenue growth throughout the remainder of the year.” 

For the six-month period, Garmin reported net income of $490 million, or $2.56 per diluted share compared with $469 million or $2.43 per diluted share during the same period in 2022. Sales rose to $2.47 billion from $2.41 billion. 

The post Garmin Reports Promising Second-Quarter Results appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In 2022, we introduced the Readers’ Choice Award to recognize a product or development in the GA space that resonates most with our audience—and we continue that honor this year. 

But there’s more. We also felt there was a gap—an emphasis on things—and a place we needed to make to salute a person who has contributed in a comprehensive way to the aviation community with years of commitment, expertise, and spirit. 

A New Award

That’s why for 2023 we’re inaugurating the Sean D. Tucker Award, to do just that. And for the initial award, we’re presenting it to the legend himself, Tucker.

Tucker’s resumé as an aerobatic star and air show performer is well known, and perhaps, too, his propensity to give back to the industry that has nurtured him from his modest beginnings and early struggles to the success he is today. But Tucker is a person who measures himself not by the scores on a championship run, but by the lives he’s touched through the Experimental Aviation Association’s Young Eagles program, and most recently, the Bob Hoover Academy in his hometown of Salinas, California. At BHA, he and his fellow volunteers not only introduce disadvantaged area youth to the magic of flight but also help them achieve a pilot certificate and follow-on goals.

For those contributions ongoing to improve the lives of those around him with his joy, FLYING is thrilled to launch this award in his honor.

Innovation Award: Swift Fuels UL94

While the spark of inspiration may transpire in a moment, transforming an innovative creation to a market-ready and delivered product takes time, money, and persistence. There are no shortcuts to enduring success. In the current environment where so much attention is focused on cleaner solutions for GA, the critical element of bringing a viable unleaded fuel to aviation consumers must be recognized—because it has taken more than a decade to accomplish and realize in full.

For accomplishing this with its UL94 aviation gasoline, we’re proud to bestow the 2023 FLYING Innovation Award upon the team at Swift Fuels. The company’s “mission every day for the last 10 years,” according to founder and CEO Chris D’Acosta, has been to develop “a solution to the 100LL problem” and drive that progress in a tiered approach. 

Swift debuted a lower octane unleaded fuel, UL94, in 2015. It serves as a drop-in solution for more than 130,000 aircraft on the FAA registry that can operate on a 94-octane or lower fuel. Swift accomplishes this through a supplemental type certificate that will be good for any unleaded avgas it produces in the future. 

And UL94 is not just avgas with the lead out—it’s a better fuel in many ways, according to D’Acosta. “There is a market draw to our fuel,” he says, because all Swift fuels burn cleaner, with lower toxicity overall. The need to clean lead from the engine every 50 hours no longer exists, for example.

But announcing the availability of a product, and getting it to the customer are two different things. Swift has done the legwork to ensure pilots can trust the fuel—that it meets the ASTM unleaded avgas specification—and that it reaches them in a geographically distributed way, direct to the airfield. With roughly 81 airports, universities, and private users on the U.S. map—and distribution at events like EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin—Swift continues to expand its reach.

And that’s important, because the company is far from finished. Its UL100 fuel is in the confirmation and approval process via ASTM and STC to serve the remainder of the piston market requiring a higher octane level. 

Readers’ Choice: Garmin’s Smart Glide

When we posed the question earlier this year to FLYING’s audience as to what innovation made the most impact on the community, the choice was clear among the contenders.

Garmin’s Smart Glide functionality was introduced in late 2021 and expanded through the STC process to dozens of additional single- and multiengine airplanes. Smart Glide builds upon other aftermarket GTN Xi navigator features, and the GFC 500 or 600 digital autopilot, in a wide range of airplanes. Smart Glide includes the GTN’s range ring optimized for an engine-out situation. It aviates, navigates, and communicates for the pilot—partially—and gives the option to squawk 7700, for example. If the autopilot is engaged, the sequence begins by pitching for best glide speed.

An airport glide indicator helps the pilot determine which airport to go to, setting up a direct-to course to the nearest, if one is in range, and putting the CTAF or tower frequency in the standby—or the emergency frequency of 121.5 if not within gliding distance of anything in the database. It will also tell pilots if the destination becomes unreachable according to the data. If the airplane is less than 2 nm from the airport, the autopilot will not couple, anticipating the pilot’s prompt action instead.

It’s all in the service of assisting pilots—not flying the airplane for them. With the host of “helping hands” that Smart Glide provides adding significantly to safety of flight, pilots who read FLYING confirmed Garmin’s latest tech made the best choice for innovation of the year.

Editors’ Choice Awards

Aircraft: Daher Kodiak 900

Merging two “aviation families” into one cohesive aircraft manufacturer—as Daher and Kodiak have accomplished over the past four years—deserves a round of applause. To bring forth as its first consolidated effort a backcountry beauty like the Daher Kodiak 900 within that time frame is impressive indeed—and we won’t even mention the pandemic. 

The 900 began as a Kodiak 2.0 vision years ago within the original Quest team. Daher’s horsepower in advanced aircraft design and manufacturing propelled the project into FAA type certification in July 2022. The new model took the high-performing, short-field wing of the 100 series, stretched the fuselage, incorporated the cargo pod cohesively into the belly, powered it with a new Pratt & Whitney PT6A-140A turboprop, and streamlined it all behind a cowl that performs wonders in reducing drag.

The answer to the question, “What’s next in town-and-country flying?” has been firmly answered with the Kodiak 900, which is why we gave it our Editors’ Choice Award this year. With the 900, Daher has opened up a new market segment—and kept the good habits of the series from which it has been born.

Avionics and Apps: ForeFlight Terrain Awareness

It’s common to chase “feature fever” in app development, adding gee-whiz elements to already robust programs that do little more than clog up the works. Not so with the folks at ForeFlight, who continue to evolve their flight planning and navigation app in ways that truly add safety and efficiency benefits.

In our estimation, one feature added last year to ForeFlight’s palette is the Hazard Advisor suite, which takes terrain and obstacle data it first launched 10 years ago and repackages it in a way that truly adds to the pilot’s situational awareness. For those using ForeFlight Pro Plus, Hazard Advisor altitude preview allows them to manually control Hazard Advisor’s altitude before flight, and Auto Hazard Advisor, which transitions HA into auto mode after takeoff, following the current altitude for a view of the surrounding terrain. 

Combined with per leg altitude planning—giving pilots the ability to select multiple attitudes within a flight plan—ForeFlight starts situational awareness early during the flight planning process. The upshot? We feel it makes a bold move toward combating a perennial cause of GA accidents, controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). 

Gear: Lightspeed Delta Zulu

Our editors do a lot of their own flying, both in aircraft they own as well as rent or use for instruction, and the investment in a headset is a real debate amongst the team. But for the last year one option has stood head and shoulders—intended—above the rest, and that’s the latest from Lightspeed Aviation, the Delta Zulu.

The active noise reduction (ANR) Bluetooth-enabled headset gives the pilot the ability to customize its auditory acuity with the help of an app, and it also has a built-in carbon monoxide detector that provides an auditory warning if there is CO present in the cockpit. The free Lightspeed app allows the pilot to check the CO sensor data visually during flight and review it later. The app also makes it possible for the user of the headset to fine-tune the device to meet the wearer’s hearing needs. 

And how does it wear? According to our testers, it’s one of the lightest-feeling ANR headsets out there, with ear seals comfortable enough that one tester noted she “forgot it was there.” That’s awesome praise for a vital pilot tool.

Training: Redbird Flight Simulations for Redbird Pro 

Known for its low-cost, full-motion flight training devices, Redbird Flight Simulations expanded its remit in the training arena last year with the launch of a pilot proficiency app called Redbird Pro. The app is designed to assess pilot knowledge and tailor training options through artificial intelligence to help them improve their weak points. The app utilizes articles, simulator scenarios, and quizzes as training tools. 

Many of the training scenarios are drawn from I.L.A.F.F.T. and Chart Wise content from FLYING, as well as content from the AOPA Air Safety Institute. Yes, Redbird Pro is aimed directly at those GA pilots who don’t typically spend the hours logged between flight reviews practicing toward proficiency. The gist? We’re really not as good at retaining that proficiency as we could be. Just as an app such as Duolingo encourages you to daily practice a language, Redbird Pro gamifies the proficiency quest and rewards you for frequent engagement. 

For giving shape and life to that practice—and making it fun—Redbird deserves a nod for making real strides toward improving pilot competence and confidence.

The post FLYING Reveals Innovation Award Series for 2023 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

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According to Garmin, the GFC 500 autopilot performs by integrating Garmin’s GI 275 or G5 electronic flight instruments, which can be a combination of either a standby GI 275 or G5 electronic flight instrument interfaced to a G500 TXi flight display. It can also be used with a Garmin G3X Touch flight display.

The autopilot mode controller uses large dedicated keys and knobs, along with a control wheel that allows for easy adjustment to aircraft pitch, airspeed, and vertical speed. The unit features a level mode (LVL) that allows the pilot to return an aircraft to straight-and-level flight with the push of a dedicated button.

The GFC 500 has traditional autopilot capabilities, such as altitude hold, vertical speed, and heading modes. In addition, the GFC 500 includes altitude preselect, vertical navigation (VNAV), underspeed and overspeed protection, and more. Pilots can also select, couple, and fly various instrument approaches, including GPS, ILS, VOR, LOC, and back-course approaches when paired with a compatible Garmin GPS navigator.

The GFC 500 includes Garmin Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP), which works to assist the pilot in maintaining the aircraft in a stable flight condition. ESP functions independently of the autopilot, working in the background while the pilot hand-flies the aircraft. ESP helps avoid inadvertent unusual attitudes and bank angles by nudging the pilot to return the aircraft back to a safe flight attitude.

In addition, the GFC 500 can be equipped to take advantage of Garmin’s Smart Glide, a safety tool that helps reduce pilot workload by automating certain tasks. In the event of an uncommanded loss of engine power, Smart Glide flies the airplane while the pilot troubleshoots the problem.

• READ MORE: Garmin Gets STC for GFC 500 Autopilot for Older Aircraft

Smart Rudder for Beechcraft Barons

Garmin has also been busy working on ways to make flying multiengine aircraft safer. This week, the company received certification for Smart Rudder Bias and VNAV functionality for the Beechcraft Baron B55 and B55A aircraft that are equipped with the GFC 600 autopilot.

Smart Rudder Bias can now provide pilots of Beechcraft B55 Baron aircraft assistance against the hazardous effects of one-engine inoperative (OEI) flight when the aircraft is appropriately equipped.

The system is designed to continuously monitor engine parameters using engine indication system (EIS) data displayed on a G500 TXi or G600 TXi flight display. When the system detects a predetermined power differential between each engine, Smart Rudder Bias activates, dynamically adjusting to assist the pilot by providing enough force to the rudder to help control a sideslip.

In addition, there is a yellow annunciator for the inoperative engine along with autopilot annunciations on the G500 TXi or G600 TXi flight display, helping the pilot identify which engine is having the issue more quickly.

Smart Rudder Bias requires a G500 TXi or G600 TXi configured as a primary flight display (PFD) with EIS data, which can be shown as a strip on the G500 TXi or G600 TXi, or on a separate dedicated TXi EIS display. Additionally, Smart Rudder Bias requires the yaw axis option be installed on the GFC 600.

• READ MORE: Garmin Achieves STC for GFC 600 for Cessna 310R, Pilatus PC-12/47

Vertical Navigation (VNAV)

Pilots of Beechcraft B55 Baron aircraft with an autopilot paired with a GTN or GTN Xi touchscreen navigator and the G5, GI 275, G500 TXi/G600 TXi or G500/G600 will now have the option to fly a fully-coupled VNAV profile.

Using the navigator, the pilot can easily enter altitude constraints on the flight plan page to set-up a vertical descent profile.

Using VNAV, pilots also experience a near-seamless transition to an arrival and instrument approach as step-down altitudes are automatically populated. When the GFC 600 or GFC 500 autopilot is fully-coupled on a VNAV descent, pilots can experience a smooth and controlled descent, giving them more time to focus on briefing the approach and preparing for landing.

Garmin To Add More STCs

To view the most up-to-date aircraft STC list and certifications that are expected to begin in the next 12-months, or to express interest in a specific aircraft make/model, visit: www.garmin.com/GFC500 or www.garmin.com/GFC600.

For additional information about Smart Rudder Bias visit: www.Garmin.com/SmartRudderBias.

The post FAA Approves Garmin Autopilot STC for American Champion Scout appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

And robots join human hands. One twists around an assembly, articulating in Muppet-like motions. Another tests the next assembly by dunking it over and over into a bath—be it electrolyte or another kind of liquid: water. A third traverses the floor taking one basket to another point on the assembly line.

After all, it is a production line—but it takes a while to mentally place all of those elements on your first walk through. There are layers that unfold before your eyes, if you observe how the pieces come together. And that’s just on a single floor of a single building within Garmin International’s expanding physical plant.

More lies beneath. Much more goes into those black boxes we now follow into the clouds, into the night, along the airways to a destination. Arrows along the high ceiling replace the magenta line—but only for a moment—as you step into an atrium in the building on Garmin Way, within the Garmin Aviation complex in Olathe, Kansas.

Nearly 20 years ago, Garmin introduced the G1000 integrated flight deck to the market, with its first OEM installation in a 2003 Cessna 182—an every-pilot’s avionics suite into an every-pilot’s airplane. While not the first large-format primary multifunction flight displays to hit the certified light GA space—an honor that goes to Avidyne in the Cirrus SR20—Garmin turned that idea into a foregone conclusion by putting its consumer electronics engineering force behind it. Now, just about every new airplane flies with glass up front.

The growth continues. Garmin’s latest manufacturing and distribution center—completed in October 2018—added more than 775,000 square feet to the company’s footprint in Olathe. And it’s only the first part of a $200 million expansion. Garmin’s plans for those additional facilities—a conversion of warehouse space into a 544,000-square-foot aviation visitor’s center, plus research and development areas and employee amenities—were put on hold during 2020 but resumed in August 2021.

As we follow the path within Garmin’s headquarters taking the G1000’s latest models from concept to distribution, the OEM’s engine shows no signs of letting up.

Skunk Works

Like most OEMs, Garmin embodies its design development in a “skunk works” of sorts. For now, those are found on the main floor of the facility that Garmin folks call Building 1. Coincidentally, Building 1 sits adjacent to the contemplative garden outside, where co-founder Gary Burrell’s Kansas roots meet cofounder Dr. Min Kao’s Taiwanese-American heritage in the tall prairie grass and reflecting ponds.

Garmin’s R&D space opens up from a lobby filled with a handful of prototypes from across the company’s verticals—the fitness and outdoor segments together account for nearly 60 percent of the company’s revenue, $2.4 billion in 2020. About 10 tactile and enticing prototypes of a new design, molded in black casing, sit under a poster heralding the latest inReach satcom device, and there’s also a scooter with cut ting-edge tech for motorbikes across the room.

There’s a vaguely Italian feel to the level of high design on display. Form intersects with function here— and clearly, this part of the team is inspired to play during their working hours.

One of the most curiously compelling rooms is within the Industrial Design area—and it isn’t the secret lair where the real forward-construct happens (I get the sense that those machinations remain mostly mental, interior, and seldom seen). It’s the room where the company builds and stores all of its kiosks for demo and trade shows. Because here, lined up in row upon row, sit the Garmin Aviation product evolutions, where you can compare them side by side, and follow those lines of thought.

Stephen Waite, industrial design manager, lights up a kiosk for us, in order to demonstrate the effort that goes into these deceptively simple display stands. I recall the time when Cessna Aircraft Company was spec’ing out desktop kiosks housing the G1000 avionics suite to deliver to flight schools and dealers for product tutelage and flight training. Folks around those affiliate networks expressed surprise that a kiosk would cost $18,000—when the whole enchilada installed in the business end of an airplane cost just over twice as much, roughly $45,000.

Couldn’t they be made less expensively? Just like an aircraft mockup costs as much—or more—than producing a live airframe, it’s difficult to “dumb-down” a flight deck and still have it function in a realistic way for training. The same holds true for the marketing displays produced here.

Main Lines

Our walk through the main production area in the manufacturing center begins with the donning of PPE—but in this case, we’re protecting the production environment from foreign object debris, our stray fibers and other FOD that would insinuate themselves into the tiny nooks and crannies of the sensitive avionics built on these floors.

We put on smocks and special shoes, or booties, that hold in the detritus we might redistribute as we walk around. With the masks still in place for COVID-19 protocols, along with safety glasses familiar to most manufacturing floors, I feel suited and booted for the tour.

My first impression? There are racks and racks of hardware lining multiple areas within the space—and it’s difficult to knit together where any one piece of avionics begins its journey from an assemblage of parts. But it’s easier to see where they come to conclusion: near the exit door where they pass from quality control into the distribution area of the building.

Jim Mazurek, vice president of aviation operations and distribution, led us around, allowing us to roughly follow the line along which an integrated flight deck, or navigator, or electronic instrument travels, winding through the organized pods of people and machines as they transform delicate parts into avionics that can withstand the environment inside an airplane or helicopter. Where there are robots at work, they have names—like Art and Jack—and feel almost endearing as they go about their programmed effort.

The company regularly tops consumer lists for product support, and one of our final stops in this area took us to the space Garmin uses for servicing repairs. The work requires testing, troubleshooting, and attention to detail in a different way than the other positions on the floor. I gained a new respect for the effort required to understand the issues leading to a component failure—and how that knowledge could be brought back into the manufacturing process by its proximity.

Electrifying—and Radiating

Seeing the repair stations, for me, then begged the question: How does the company ensure its components stand up, as best they can, to the abuse we give them in flight? Well, once a prototype—or several—have been built of a given model, the fun stuff begins: A series of testing regimes ensure the hardware (and the software on board) can stand up to the harsh environments that we put the components through.

To add to its alluring and compelling nature, just about all of this in-house testing takes place back in the basement of Building 1. We started our journey through this part of the Garmin complex in the area where the company conducts its electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and interference testing.

I’ve seen videos of airframes going through lightning test programs—but I hadn’t considered before the entire laboratory needed to house radio and other electromagnetic tests, where a serious collection of Garmin gadgets undergo repeated cycles of high, medium, and low frequency electromagnetic emissions and other invisible waves of strife.

Within a sealed room, a table the size of a sandbox was filled with wire bundles powering and connecting various avionics components. Shadowing over it hovered an array composed of triangular reflectors that took up half the room’s airspace.

Inside another sealed room, the engineers assigned here conducted similar tests using vibration and other sound waves, all in the interest of determining that those black boxes could soldier on in the face of any potential onslaught as they trip through the atmosphere.

Praf Patel, senior team leader of EMC engineering, explained to us the tests in progress, and we stood quietly for a few moments, to appreciate their silent industry.

Destructive Testing

The folks having the most fun? The destructive testing lab gurus found in the Agree/Reliability labs within Garmin. We walked through the labs with Mitch Rausch, quality manager, who certainly looked like the kind of guy who not-so-secretly enjoys his work.

Mazing through the corridors, around a corner from the EMC labs, you find destructive testing labs, where a serious amount of damage is inflicted (or attempted) upon samples of each piece of the equipment Garmin ships. Dunking that’s reminiscent of a bad day at the carnival. Saline shocks worse than a bad day at the beach. Hammer drops that make for just a bad day, period. If you can think of a way Garmin should beat upon its hardware before sending it into your instrument panel, they’ve likely already thought of it, and some lucky engineer is overseeing that effort right now.

The Human Factor

The last kind of testing isn’t nearly as “hey, watch this” worthy—it’s much more of a mental game. That’s the human factors testing area, where simulators reign, and the physically tested avionics go through motions that are just as critical to safe flight.

Joe Komer, technical lead, aviation systems and human factors engineer, led us around the simulator room and then into the main sim bay, where he had a specific installation set up in the extensive fixed-base simulation platform. We strapped into the nominal flight deck of a Cessna Citation Longitude (my first go at the super-midsized jet) and focused in on the G5000 suite that makes up that airplane’s front office. The sim can be configured to match the wide range of aircraft that Garmin targets with its various product lines, and then updated as those components evolve.

Bringing It Home

Fulfillment fascinates me as well. And in the current landscape, a company such as Garmin has to hold its own within both the incoming supply chain and outgoing distribution—and connect with the likes of Amazon while retaining its in-house capacity for delivering its product to customers.

Garmin’s on-site warehouse and distribution area is divided into a couple of sections—one to serve its aviation customers and dealers directly, another to service Amazon orders and other channels for the full line of Garmin products.

Robots move some products from the ceiling-high stacks, and people on forklifts secure others. They track into tubs that flow past us on up-ramps, down ramps, and a near roller coaster of chutes, moving along at a measured yet sprightly rate.

Smaller orders travel on another track, picked up and held into place in slings that defy gravity somewhat, to safely move a sealed box or a carton from the conveyor belts to one of a couple of dozen delivery bays.

Mazurek pointed out those assembled shipments ready to go out the door—”This one’s going to a dealer, this one’s going to an installer”—as we cruised by, hurrying along to take in all of the action. Garmin’s aviation products consistently represent about 15 percent of its overall revenue (and did so in 2020 at $623 million, and again through 2021)—but they require special attention, as they hold a lot of people’s lives in the balance.

Layers

The embodiment of how critical each layer is to Garmin’s success lies in two insights—one of which I derived during my visit, and the other on the occasion of the National Aeronautic Association’s Robert J. Collier Trophy gala in November 2021.

That evening took on a sincere and genuine shine for Bailey Scheel, senior aviation programs engineer, who led the project team responsible for bringing the multi-layered, enveloping safety architecture of Garmin’s Autoland to fruition. While Phil Straub, executive vice president and manager of the aviation division, accepted the award from the NAA, he put Scheel and that team front and center—and emphasized that hundreds of Garmin folks had worked toward Autoland’s development and deployment.

Garmin is far from the only avionics manufacturer to embody the attention to detail needed to innovate and succeed. The accomplishments of Aspen Avionics, Avidyne, and BendixKing (now within Honeywell Aerospace) come to mind—but few aviation OEMs approach the extensive vertical integration from concept to fulfillment, and retain all of this capability under one roof—almost literally. The significance of the physical layers of the company and the way they connect formed my first insight.

The second insight was a bit more subtle. After spending a full afternoon walking through each of the layers of Garmin’s physical plant, with detailed expositions from the folks leading within each group, I had a sense of that vertical integration, indeed.

At the close of our tour, we stood in the simulation room with Komer, when Straub came in to say hello in his genial and unassuming way.

He’d let each area of the division he leads speak for itself, both in the words of the team and the actions going on all around, and he just wanted to check in with us to make sure our questions were answered. Straub is an active pilot, and he’s been leading Garmin Aviation since 2011, after joining the company in 1993 as a software engineer.

But his words to us that day and again at the Collier event reflected the same philosophy—the team leads the way. It’s not about him, or any one person. You sense that he’s there as a supporter, an enabler, and a coach, leading from within the team—amongst all of those human layers. And it’s working.

Expanding the Safety Envelope

Garmin flight test engineers find new ways to assist pilots.

TWO RECENT RELEASES from Garmin, Smart Rudder Bias and Smart Glide, show the evolution of enhanced stability protection (ESP)—Garmin’s “telepathy” that kicks in to assist pilots when the airplane strays outside of normal-category operations.

In an interview with Garmin flight test engineer Joshua McKinney, I asked about how these newest safety features fit into the Autonomí suite’s philosophy. “The thing that helps people understand what is expected of the machine and what is expected of the pilot [is that] a lot of things happen up front automatically, but after that initial assistance, then nothing happens automatically,” McKinney said.

Garmin’s lead demonstration pilot Jessica Koss and I flew with both Smart Glide and Smart Rudder Bias on back-to-back days so I could understand how each played a role in expanding the capabilities of its envelope protection. Both build upon other aftermarket GTN Xi navigator features, and the GFC 500 or 600 digital autopilot, in a wide range of airplanes. Smart Glide includes the GTN’s range ring optimized for an engine-out situation. “It aviates, it navigates, and it communicates for us—partially,” Koss said. “It gives us the option to squawk 7700, for example.” If the autopilot is engaged, the sequence begins by pitching for best glide speed (110 knots in the Beechcraft A36 Bonanza we flew from Garmin’s flight ops facility at the New Century Airpark in Olathe, Kansas).

An airport glide indicator helps the pilot determine which airport to go to, setting up a direct-to course to the nearest, if one is in range, and putting the CTAF or tower frequency in the standby—or the emergency frequency of 121.5 if you’re not within gliding distance of anything in the database. “It will also tell us if the destination becomes unreachable,” said Koss, according to the data. If the airplane is less than 2 nm from the airport, the autopilot will not couple, anticipating the pilot’s prompt action instead.

With Smart Rudder Bias, the team harmonized the ESP function within Autonomí to work with a rudder assistance function in the event of a power loss in a light twin—such as the Beechcraft Baron we flew for the demonstration. Brandon Toby, initial flight test pilot, loved the challenge of developing the software. “This is the first time I’ve had to quantify engine-out performance [in such a way] and get down deep within those numbers,” he said.

The functions are there to assist pilots—not to fly the airplane for them—and to reinforce the lessons we’ve learned in training.

The post Garmin: Into the Layers appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

James Temple: AEA Member of the Year

Temple runs Temple Avionics, which was founded in 1973 by James’s father, Marshall. James Temple began working with his father at the age of 13 and continued working in the family business all through high school. 

In his 20s, Temple attended training classes offered by Honeywell, BendixKing, and Universal Avionics. His skill set included bench working nav/coms and autopilots for aircraft and other avionics. In the 1980s, he started to take over the day-to-day operations of the business, and in 1993, he took over the business full-time when Marshall retired.

Temple accepted the award at the AEA Awards presentation held Monday morning ahead of the New Product introduction session. In addition to providing sales, service, and installation of avionics for a variety of aircraft, Temple Avionics also contributes to the aviation community by sponsoring the Marshall Temple scholarship through the AEA Education Foundation.

Garmin: AEA Associate Member of the Year 

For many pilots, the name Garmin is synonymous with GPS aviation. The GPS navigation giant was established in 1989 and is located in Olathe, Kansas.

Garmin is known for its cockpit technology that has been used in the automotive, marine, and aviation means of conveyance. Garmin has also entered the outdoor and fitness market.

The company has developed several safety-enhancing technologies, including Garmin Autoland, a certified autonomous system designed to allow an emergency landing without human intervention with the push of a button. 

The system, which earned Garmin the 2020 Robert J. Collier Trophy and the 2021 FLYING Innovation Award, was developed to be activated in the event of pilot incapacitation—a passenger can press the button and save the day.

In the summer of 2021, Garmin continued its development of safety-enhancing technology with Smart Glide, a system designed for single-engine aircraft that when paired with compatible avionics such as GTN Xi series navigators, provides assistance to the pilot who has experienced an uncommanded loss of engine power by recommending a suitable airport estimated to be within glide range. In addition, Smart Glide provides critical information to the pilot and optimizes select avionics settings to reduce the pilot’s workload in a high-stress situation.

Garmin is known for its service and support, and no fewer than 15 members of the Garmin team went up on stage to accept the award. The company, which has been a member of AEA since 1990, is a sponsor of events at AEA International Convention & Trade Show as well as AEA Connect Conferences held throughout the year. 

Garmin also contributes to the AEA silent auction and to scholarships offered through the AEA Educational Foundation.

The post James Temple, Garmin Honored at AEA Awards appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

“We heard from the 310R crowd loud and clear – the feedback was overwhelming and we’re excited to have this certification program completed,” says Jim Alpiser, Garmin’s director of aviation aftermarket sales.

The GFC 600 digital autopilot is intended for piston single and twin-engine airplanes as well as turbine aircraft. It offers traditional autopilot features such heading, vertical speed and altitude hold, along with advanced functions such as altitude preselect and indicated airspeed hold, VNAV capability—when paired with a GTN or GTN Xi series navigator—and a dedicated LVL button that, when engaged, automatically restores the aircraft to level flight with one press. 

The GFC 600 supports the Smart Glide function,  that when paired with the GTN Xi series navigator and Garmin attitude indicator can automate tasks to reduce pilot workload during uncommanded-loss-of-engine-power emergencies, underspeed and overspeed protection, and the ability to select, couple, and fly various instrument approaches, including GPS, ILS, VOR, LOC and back-course approaches when paired with a compatible Garmin GPS navigator. There’s also a yaw dampening (YD) mode to minimize yawing oscillations and help maintain coordinated flight. 

The Electronic Stability and Protection mode functions independently of the autopilot, working in the background when the pilot is hand-flying the aircraft to help avoid inadvertent flight attitudes or bank angles by nudging the pilot to return the aircraft back to a safe flight attitude 

Garmin notes Smart Rudder Bias is also now certified for Cessna 310R aircraft equipped with the GFC 600. This technology helps the pilot maintain aircraft control in the event of an uncommanded loss of engine power on one side by continuously monitoring engine parameters using engine indication system (EIS) data displayed on a G500 TXi or G600 TXi flight display. 

Smart Rudder Bias activates when the system detects a predetermined power differential between each engine and rudder force is dynamically adjusted to help the pilot maintain control. In addition, a yellow annunciator for the associated inoperative engine is conveniently displayed along with autopilot annunciations helping the pilot more quickly identify the issue. 

Garmin also recently announced that expanded engine monitoring capability is now available for certain Pilatus PC-12/45 and PC-12/47 aircraft with the addition of the TXi engine indication system (EIS) display. This upgrade offers PC-12 owners and operators a fully modernized, complete Garmin cockpit retrofit solution that includes the GFC 600 autopilot, G600 TXi primary flight display, GTN Xi navigators, GTX ADS-B transponders and GWX weather radar and more. Additionally, Garmin has also received an STC for the GFC 600 autopilot in Pilatus PC-12/47 aircraft.

The post Garmin Achieves STC for GFC 600 for Cessna 310R, Pilatus PC-12/47 appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Smart Glide is a safety technology that can assist pilots in emergencies involving a loss of engine power. By automating tasks, some workload is lifted from the pilot—and by installing Smart Glide on compatible avionics—pilots can tap into suitable airport recommendations within the aircraft’s glide range, along with optimization of  select avionics settings. 

WhenSmart Glide is paired with the aircraft’s autopilot, it can automatically adjust the aircraft’s pitch for best glide speed while navigating the aircraft to a suitable airport for landing. 

Smart Glide joins Garmin’s Collier Trophy-winning Autoland as a part of the Autonomí family of autonomous flight technologies.

Activation and Airport Selection 

If a loss of engine power occurs, you can activate Smart Glide by simply holding the direct-to button for two seconds. After activation, Smart Glide will recommend an airport that is estimated to be within the aircraft’s best glide range and create a best direct route based on current conditions. 

To select the best airport, Smart Glide takes into consideration: 

• Runway length
• Runway condition
• Proximity
• Terrain
• Available weather 
• VFR/IFR conditions—If the aircraft is appropriately equipped with either a GTX 345/GTX 345R transponder or a GNX 375 acting as a transponder, or a GSR 56/GDL 69/GDL 69A with a weather subscription.

Alternate airports within the best glide range will also be shown and can be selected. 

In the event there is not an airport within the best glide range, Smart Glide provides an aural and visual alert to the pilot while continuing to search for suitable airports. 

Approach and Landing 

At 4 nm from the selected destination, Smart Glide will notify the pilot with both an aural alert and visual banner. At 2 nm from the destination, audible airport position alerts and a flashing red alert displayed on the GTN Xi will advise the pilot to take control and begin the landing sequence.

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If the landing zone selected is not on an airport, Smart Glide provides audible agl altitude alerts to ensure the pilot is aware of the aircraft’s height above terrain  while landing.

Supporting Systems 

In addition to the G3X Touch and G5, Smart Glide is also available for certified aircraft equipped with a GTN Xi series navigator paired with a G500 TXi/G6000 TXi or a GI 275 electronic flight instrument. 

Compatible Garmin autopilots such as the GFC 500 or GFC 600 can be automatically engaged when Smart Glide is activated, including those installed on experimental-category aircraft. 

The post Garmin Smart Glide Now Free for Some Systems appeared first on FLYING Magazine.