Garmin G5000 Avionics For Legacy Cessna Jets

Just ahead of NBAA, Garmin announced that it's expanding its integrated flight deck upgrades to include a G5000 modernization program for the Citation Excel and Citation XLS. The STC is on schedule for late 2018 approval and will be available from select Garmin dealers, as well as Textron Aviation Service Centers.

The new digital flight deck will replace the mostly analog cockpits of these popular jets.Operators will get three 14-inch high-res flight displays situated alongside dual touch-screen controllers, with the same menu structure as in forward fit G5000 installations. The landscape-oriented displays will also have multi-pane capability, so pilots can view maps, charts, checklists, TAWS, TCAS, flight plan information, weather and more---simultaneously. Geographical map overlay within the HSI is also available on the PFD. Charts can be viewed across all three displays and are geo-referenced, including Garmin FliteCharts terminal approach procedures or optional Garmin ChartView powered by Jeppesen, as well as Garmin SafeTaxi airport diagrams.

The Garmin G5000 avionics suite inside a Citation XLS.

The G5000 flight deck is estimated to provide a weight savings of 200 pounds or more compared to the current system, allowing additional baggage, passenger and/or fuel load flexibility.

While some avionics retrofits work the old autopilot into the plan, theG5000 installation will use Garmin's fully digital Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS). The system supports a wide range of capabilities, including coupled WAAS/SBAS approaches, vertical navigation and flight level change (FLC) modes. New to the Citation Excel, and available as a standard feature on both the Citation Excel/XLS, emergency descent mode is automatically enabled by the autopilot in the event of a loss in pressurization. Safety-enhancing autopilot underspeed protection (USP) is optional and allows the autopilot to assist with airspeed management. Fully coupled go-arounds are also enabled, greatly reducing pilot workload and bringing sophisticated flight monitoring and performance capability to these aircraft.

With the G5000 upgrade, these aircraft will receive a fully integrated FAA and EASA rule-compliant ADS-B Out solution, which operators will have to do before 2020 regardless, sothat's a big cost savings to begin with.

As an optional upgrade, Connext wireless cockpit connectivity can enable wireless flight plan transfer and more between the Garmin Pilot app on a mobile device and the G5000 integrated flight deck. Pilots can more easily manage flight plans with FlightStream, while also receiving additional benefits such as the sharing of traffic, weather, GPS and more across multiple mobile devices in the cockpit.

The G5000 flight deck modernization program will also support additional options, including: Advanced weather radar capabilities; Wind shear alerting; SiriusXM Aviation weather for the U.S. and Canada; Access to global weather products and text/voice communication through the Iridium satellite network; Active and passive traffic surveillance using TCAS II/ACAS II technology, whichhelps to prevent pilots from taking off and landing on a taxiway, on a runway that's too short or on the wrong runway based on performance data entered during preflight; andFAA Data Comm operational support.

Learn more at garmin.com/aviation.