For consumers stepping up into the world of turboprops and jets, a big a part of the transition is perhaps studying an unfamiliar avionics suite. And for a lot of growing old plane that by no means had avionics upgrades, it means spending massive on repairs and coping with downtime, whereas sacrificing fashionable capabilities and automation that may improve workload.
This implies shopping for the airplane proper so there’s cash—plenty of it— left within the finances for main panel upgrades. However the decisions for avionics in lots of growing old generators are usually extra restricted than for pistons due to fewer STC approvals. Nonetheless, the marketplace for avionics techniques for turbine airplanes is dominated by Garmin, which earns regulatory approval at spectacular charges. From a functionality standpoint, Garmin’s full-suite avionics that are actually normal in lots of new jets and turboprops are trickling right down to the aftermarket, and that’s bringing the capabilities of older turboprops and jets to a excessive degree.
Right here’s a take a look at frequent retrofit decisions for standard turbine-powered airframes in hopes of serving to the shopping for resolution. The takeaway: It might make sense to purchase an airplane that already has the avionics you need, however put together to pay a hefty premium.
The Autopilot Dilemma
A part of the issue with full-suite avionics upgrades for entry-level generators is the autopilot, or the shortage of STC approval to retrofit new autopilots into older airframes. Availability apart, simply as it’s with the market’s decrease finish, autopilot retrofits for turbine plane imply main teardown and expense. Though many older generators are in determined want of dependable autopilots, making the work, expense, and lengthy downtimes usually value it.
For instance, whereas Garmin’s GFC 500 retrofit autopilot has change into maybe the commonest within the piston world with a wide-reaching AML-STC, there isn’t an analogous retrofit autopilot for generators. Nonetheless, Garmin is slowly including to its turbine-category STC approval checklist with the good-performing, smart-servo-equipped digital GFC 600. This tech trickles down from the GFC 700 built-in autopilot present in Garmin’s G1000 and different built-in avionics suites.
It has options that provide sizable security backstop, together with Garmin’s ESP (digital stability and safety) and return-to-level mode, good rudder bias in twin-engine purposes that stabilize the plane when an engine fails, plus flight director command bar presentation on Garmin flight shows, altitude preselect, and full method coupling.
Standard fashions on Garmin’s G600 autopilot STC embrace the Cessna 208 and 208B Grand Caravan, Cessna 425 Conquest, loads of King Air fashions, Pilatus PC-12/41/45/47, Piper 500TP Meridian and Malibu JetProp conversions, plus the Daher TBM 700 and TBM 850.
Most of those Garmin upgrades will associate with Garmin flight shows, together with the G600 TXi and in some circumstances the G1000 and G5000, which have the embedded GFC flight management system. Garmin additionally has in progress different plane fashions in its certification program. Briefly, for those who plan to put in a retrofit Garmin glass suite in any turbine, ask the store if the plane has STC approvals. Not all do.
Furthermore, when deciding which growing old jets it is going to pursue for an STC of this magnitude, Garmin additionally seems to be at obsolescence and the general worth of the plane. Within the case of the G5000 retrofit as one instance, homeowners shall be investing that’s seemingly north of $600,000 and would require sizable quantities of downtime. However for the correct jet, that might make sense—particularly one which’s going by means of an entire refurbishment. Suppose like-new for lots much less cash.
A closing thought on autopilot upgrades is the Genesys Aerosystems S-TEC 3100 digital autopilot. It has compatibility with third-party flight shows, envelope safety, and full method coupling. Whereas the AML-STC checklist has been gradual to evolve, it has change into extra accessible for frequent turboprops, together with King Air fashions.
Garmin Full-Suite Upgrades
Garmin avionics for generators begin on the very best degree with the newly launched G3000 Prime suite, which isn’t accessible for retrofit, however the G5000 suite is. Garmin expanded on the profitable G1000 King Air improve program (extra on that in a minute) and focused the Beechjet fleet with the retrofit of its big-screen G5000 built-in cockpit. Garmin expanded the G5000 STC undertaking for workhorse Cessna jets, together with the Cessna Quotation XL/XLS fashions. Just like the Beechjet (and the G1000 for King Airs), the G5000 for the Quotation is a complete transformation that basically guts the airframe of the prevailing growing old avionics, together with the autopilot. It’s an enormous undertaking. After I visited the corporate’s Olathe, Kansas, engineering hangar to see a G5000 retrofit in progress, Garmin’s Dave Brown made level about these older turbine airframes needing a refresh.
“Mainly, you’ve acquired airframe that operators love, however the factor is these airplanes got here out within the mid-Nineties and are outfitted with older and fewer succesful avionics, to incorporate CRT shows. Now all the pieces has gone to LCD,” Brown mentioned.
With Garmin’s G5000 XL/XLS retrofit, operators basically get all of the avionics they’d in a brand-new airplane. The G5000 STC yields the identical flight deck that was normal in a brand new Quotation X, Latitude, Longitude, Sovereign, and sister product (the Garmin G3000) in smaller Quotation CJ3+ and M2 mild jets.
One in all many benefits of upgrading the avionics in older generators is the ahead leap in ergonomics—which suggests lighter workload. Climbing into the G5000 XLS cockpit, it’s rapidly obvious that Garmin labored onerous to enhance upon the ergonomics and general structure of the flight deck. It begins with three 14-inch shows—pilot and copilot PFDs, plus an MFD. The screens (in contrast to the G1000, these are touchscreen) are so massive within the Quotation’s panel that the corners of the bezels are edged proper to the top of the accessible construction. That’s a variety of display space.
The opposite factor Garmin has completed is moved the autopilot management panel to the world beforehand occupied by the CAS (crew alerting system) just under the glareshield. Within the XLS, the previous autopilot was down within the middle pedestal and never essentially the most handy location. Most new jets and turboprops have the autopilot controller on the high of the panel for higher ergos. Plus, within the XLS, that opens the middle pedestal for the two-color touchscreen controllers that serve a wide range of features, together with information entry for the G5000 suite. The backup instrument of alternative in nearly all of Garmin’s built-in avionics for generators has change into the Garmin GI 275—an instrument that has additionally gained reputation for main gear in piston purposes.
G1000 King Air: Autothrottle, Autoland
An early turbine makeover was the Garmin G1000 for the King Air, and up to now over 900 airframes have been retrofitted. The King Air is smart for this sort of improve as a result of it’s the workhorse of the dual turboprop world. However Garmin shocked everybody a few years in the past with the primary retrofit Autoland system in a King Air 200. It’s no shock that Garmin selected the King Air 200 (and shortly the King Air 300, I’m instructed) as its first aftermarket retrofit.
King Airs have earned bragging rights as among the best in school for dispatch reliability and mission flexibility, and lots of are proprietor flown. Garmin’s FMS-embedded Autothrottle isn’t new. It’s been flying in later-gen Cirrus Imaginative and prescient Jets, Daher TBMs, HondaJet Elite II, and now the Epic E1000 AX, the place it’s proving to be a single-pilot workload reducer.
Within the King Air interface, a serious aim for Garmin was taming the dreaded engine failure that has put a couple of King Air pilot within the Nationwide Transportation Security Board accident stories. It has good energy administration cues for securing a failed engine with the OEI ESP (one engine inoperative digital stability and safety) characteristic. If an engine fails, the autopilot-based OEI ESP (standing by within the background and detecting the autopilot’s rudder enhance has activated) will modify the PFD’s roll restrict indicators from 45 levels inward to 10 levels towards the failed engine and 40 levels on the great engine. The pitch limits shrink from 20 to 10 levels nostril up and from 15 to five levels nostril down. OEI ESP is disabled with a push-button panel swap, the place the system returns to the autopilot’s regular ESP mode.
There’s additionally computerized low airspeed safety when under VMCA, plus 15 knots indicated. Security apart, Garmin’s King Air STC is smart for the key Autothrottle and Autoland retrofit (decide to a minimum of 300 hours of store time). At press time there have been over 900 King Airs retrofitted with Garmin’s G1000 built-in avionics—the one plane mannequin the place an aftermarket G1000 set up is feasible. Contemplating the teardown and complexity, that’s a powerful quantity and proof that homeowners see worth in spending massive to modernize their growing old King Airs. Once more, full-up refurbishment initiatives nearly at all times embrace the G1000 for the King Air, and it actually makes older fashions higher, less complicated airplanes, particularly from a system’s standpoint the place the AC inverter system comes out.
At the moment, not all King Airs are eligible, together with smaller 90-series planes. The AML-STC approval covers B200 King Airs outfitted with a minimum of Section II G1000 NXi {hardware}, plus ones with PT6A-42/52/61 engines with four-blade propellers and hydraulic touchdown gear, which is a requirement for the Autoland choice.
You possibly can set up Garmin’s Autothrottle with out putting in the Autoland, however Autoland received’t work with out Autothrottle for apparent causes. Garmin mentioned that many purchasers will seemingly select each for the last word security enhancement and automation.
Avidyne Atlas FMS
The Atlas system from Avidyne is exclusive as a result of it gives a large—and comparatively cheap—one-shot improve for previous jets and turboprops that haven’t seen avionics upgrades in a long time. It’s powerful to consider, however in some circumstances, these previous jets don’t even have WAAS GPS functionality. That limits their operation—and their resale potential—as a result of the avionics in lots of older jets aren’t supported and, if they’re, it may not make sense to restore given their age and functionality.
For those who’re conversant in Avidyne’s IFD-series navigators, you’ll acknowledge the Atlas as a result of that’s the place the working logic got here from. However the {hardware} is sized for older jet panels, with a Dzus-mount chassis that matches the middle pedestal space of jets which may already be outfitted with historic nav administration techniques which can be lengthy extinct. At 7.5 inches tall, 5.75 inches broad, and 10.61 inches deep, the system is designed to suit the house occupied by older FMS fashions. And in comparison with different avionics retrofit options, the Atlas can scale back set up effort as a result of there could possibly be much less teardown and panel work. It additionally saves panel house and considerably reduces weight.
On the coronary heart of Atlas is a GPS/SBAS flight administration system that meets TSO-C146c for full SBAS/LPV method steering, plus it’s an permitted GPS place supply for ADS-B. This GPS place supply is one cause why ADS-B gear for the turbine market was gradual to evolve, and whereas the market has slowly caught up, there are many jets that stay parked as a result of they merely haven’t been upgraded but. That is one other resolution.
In comparison with a few of the historic avionics within the flight decks of some older jets, the Avidyne Atlas is worlds forward. Just like the IFD-series retrofit navigators, the Atlas has a contemporary characteristic set, with a hybrid management set.
Almost something you possibly can accomplish with a touchscreen, you can even do with the unit’s onerous controls—a characteristic that’s labored nicely for the attraction of Avidyne’s IFD navigators. However the true attraction of the Atlas is its capacity to interface with a wide range of third-party older avionics which can be in older jets, with an I/O designed to combine with current EFIS, PFDs, CDIs, HSIs, distant sensors and autopilots.
Older jets would possibly nonetheless have mechanical and analog flight devices that won’t work with some newer retrofit techniques. For ADS-B assist, the Atlas was designed to feed WAAS GPS place to a wide range of Mode S transponders—an essential a part of upgrading older generators. Contemplate that some used generators are sourced from international international locations the place ADS-B necessities are nonexistent.
Collins Professional Line Fusion
One turbine-caliber improve that doesn’t get a variety of consideration is the Collins Professional Line Fusion. It’s an entire modernization that features ADS-B mandate compliance, SBAS-capable GNSS, digital charts, plus LPV method functionality—one thing that is perhaps lacking in growing old plane. Fusion consists of three 14.1-inch widescreen LCDs with fashionable graphics, configurable home windows and touchscreen interfaces which can be much like the show configuration in newer King Air fashions delivered from the manufacturing unit.
For those who’ve ever flown a contemporary Rockwell Collins suite, you’ll acknowledge the airport dome and prolonged runway centerlines with mile markers which can be supposed to raised orient the pilot from high of descent by means of closing method. The shows are touchscreen, plus there’s a QWERTY keypad and radio tuning knob console.
The aftermarket STC checklist is restricted to Cessna Quotation CJ1+, CJ2+ and CJ3 jets, plus the Beech King Air 200/300 collection. There’s additionally the Rockwell Collins Professional Line 21 Modernization program, which steps the prevailing Collins suite in King Air, Premier 1/1A and Hawker 700/800XP/850XP fashions to the next degree.
A great supply of knowledge on Collins Fusion undertaking is Elliott Aviation in Illinois, a busy store that has definitely pushed out its share of Collins (and Garmin G1000) retrofits.
Ahead Pondering
Ahead pondering is what you want when pulling the set off on an growing old used turbine plane buy. Along with rigorously contemplating the capabilities the plane has (or lacks) in comparison with what you’re used to in your piston mannequin, take into account the sizable repairs that tags together with previous analog avionics.
Programs like iron vertical gyros and sophisticated autopilots shall be extraordinarily pricey to restore, plus alternative parts have gotten tougher for retailers to supply. Work carefully with a trusted avionics professional earlier than committing to any plane that has growing old avionics and get a proposal for upgrading it so you possibly can finances accordingly.
Ultimately, it might make sense to purchase one which has the most recent fashionable gear. The very last thing you wish to take care of is dear avionics repairs and poor dispatch reliability after spending massive for an growing old turboprop or jet.
Used Market Realties
Just like the used piston plane gross sales market, the used entry-level turboprop and jet panorama is the proverbial Wild West—with a lot larger stakes. Which means making an correct evaluation of what you’ll must spend (earlier than closing the deal) to get the plane’s avionics as much as a typical that you could be be accustomed to after proudly owning a well-equipped piston.
What many step-up consumers fail to appreciate is that these machines are much more complicated to work on. Since they’re pressurized, avionics installations could require costly and time-consuming engineering approvals, simply to call one facet of the work.
I eyeballed the used marketplace for some typical examples of what consumers would possibly take care of and as anticipated, many growing old turboprops have what’s known as federated panels—which embrace all kinds of avionics of various manufacturers and vintages.
One instance was a 1980 Piper Cheyenne II priced at $700,000. Whereas it had a Garmin GTN 750 IFR navigator and newer Garmin climate radar, it nonetheless sported the unique mechanical flight devices, together with King distant gyros and King KFC300 autopilot.
Whereas Garmin has STC approval for G600 TXi flight shows within the Cheyenne, it doesn’t have approval for the GFC 600 autopilot (however at press time, it was shut).
For the G600 TXi flight show improve with EIS engine instrumentation system and autopilot (as soon as it’s accessible), it is best to realistically finances $200,000 when all is alleged and completed. The flight shows can, nevertheless, work with analog KFC300, however it’s an previous system. It’s an analogous story with the Cessna Conquest collection, the place Garmin has STCs for the G600 TXi shows, EIS engine monitor and even the GFC 600 autopilot—a full Garmin suite.
Except the plane is de facto priced proper, I would counsel shopping for one which already has the avionics you need. An ideal instance is the Daher TBM 700 collection that have been outfitted with classic King EFIS.
I discovered an early 2000 TBM700B that was already outfitted with a full Garmin suite together with G600 TXi, twin GTN navigators, GFC 600 autopilot, and GTX 345R ADS-B transponder. It makes for a clear, logical structure that needs to be acquainted for pilots stepping out of contemporary pistons and ultimately that ought to imply a better transition in comparison with a airplane with older, unfamiliar gear.
This characteristic first appeared within the June Final Situation 959 of the FLYING print version.
