Garmin has announced it has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the GFC™ 600 autopilot in the King Air 200 series of aircraft. The advanced auto-pilot system accommodates a wide range of aircraft with varying speed and performance characteristics including turbine-based platforms such as the King Air.
The GFC 600 certification for King Air 200 features robust self-monitoring capabilities to provide ideal autopilot performance, excellent reliability and top-notch safety features.
This includes the traditional autopilot capabilities such as altitude hold, vertical speed and heading modes. Additional advanced features are included such as altitude preselect, VNAV1, Level Mode, underspeed and overspeed protection and more.
Autopilot GFC 600 - Image by Garmin
Pilots can also select, couple and fly various instrument approaches, including GPS, ILS, VOR, LOC and back course approaches when paired with a compatible GPS navigator.
The system is exceptionally durable with environmentally hardened autopilot servos designed for harsh operating conditions contain brushless DC motors; improved over decades-old servo designs on the market today. The servos are optimized for turbine aircraft by offering more torque to help better command and respond to control demands required of turbine aircraft.
Standard mark-width (6.25-inch) design of the GFC 600 mode controller ensures the autopilot controller allows for routine installation into the aircraft’s avionics stack. In King Air 200 aircraft, GFC 600 will require a G600 TXi or G600 flight display.
List of GFC 600 features:
- Reduced pilot workload with coupled ‘go-arounds’ during missed approaches when properly equipped.
- Premium functions and advanced capabilities such as altitude pre-select2 and indicated airspeed hold mode.
- Built-in GPS roll steering capability that eliminates the need for external roll steering converters, allowing for smoother navigation when installed with a compatible navigator.
- Level Mode button, which automatically engages the autopilot to restore the aircraft to straight and level flight.
- Underspeed protection can help prevent the pilot from stalling the aircraft.
- Overspeed protection which can help prevent the pilot from exceeding the aircraft maximum speed (VNE).
- Yaw Damping (YD) mode that can help minimize yawing oscillations and can also help to maintain coordinated flight.
- Flight Director command bars that can be displayed on the G600 and G600 TXi flight displays.
- Control wheel steering that allows the pilot to adjust pitch, roll, altitude hold, vertical speed or airspeed references using the control yoke while the autopilot is engaged.
As a standard feature, pilots receive Garmin Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP™) with the GFC 600 digital autopilot, which works to assist the pilot in maintaining the aircraft in a stable flight condition. ESP functions independently of the autopilot and works in the background to help pilots avoid inadvertent flight attitudes or bank angles and can help provide airspeed protection while the pilot is hand-flying the aircraft.
The GFC 600 digital autopilot for the King Air 200 is available immediately through select Garmin authorized dealers for the following variants: 200, 200C, A200, A200CT, B200, B200C, B200GT. For more information about the system, check out Garmin's page here.
For a video demonstration of the GFC 600, check out this video by Garmin: