Garmin last week unveiled their latest avionics suite for the FAR 23 turbine aircraft, military and advanced air mobility (AAM) markets.
Featuring three 355 mm primary display units (PDU), the Garmin 3000 Prime flight deck has 100 times faster system connectivity with improved touch-screen capability, fingerprint resistance and sunlight readability.
The announcement came as the USA's National Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (NBACE) got underway in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"Twenty years ago, Garmin redefined the general aviation cockpit with the G1000, our first integrated flight deck," said Phil Straub, Garmin Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Aviation.
"Ten years later, we introduced the G3000, bringing the first touch screens to the light turbine cockpit, and revolutionary technologies like the award-winning Garmin Autoland.
"With over 30,000 Garmin integrated flight decks now in service, we are proud to introduce G3000 Prime, the industry’s most intuitive and advanced flight deck to date.”
G3000 Prime avionics include secondary display units (SDU), which provide data entry and system control, with the added capability to display multi-function applications. The high-res, 178-mm SDUs feature a 40% increase in screen area over prior Garmin touch controllers.
In certain aircraft applications, the SDUs can double as an integrated standby flight instrument, which removes the need for a dedicated standby instrument in the panel.
According to Garmin, the new suite will use "state-of-the-art user interface design and advanced connectivity, G3000 Prime leverages cutting-edge technologies that can enhance safety potential and efficiency while minimizing pilot workload in every phase of flight."
Other features of the G3000 Prime include:
- new multi-touch touchscreen interface, capable of recognising up to 10 touchscreen inputs at once
- on-screen hand stabilisation for better control in turbulence
- quick access bars that enable pilots to open apps such as maps, traffic, weather and charts with one touch
- Window Manager feature, which enables the crew to configure app display and window sizes
- Garmin Autonomi software including Autoland, SmartGlide and Electronic Stability Protection (ESP).
Garmin G3000 Prime has achieved FAA TSO certification, and is already in operation in the Cessna Citation Gen3 range and the new Cessna CJ4 Gen 3 prototype.
Announcements from individual aircraft manufacturers about adopting G3000 Prime are expected soon.