Garmin International Inc. announced this week a successor to the G1000 integrated flight deck, the G1000 NXi. According to Garmin, the King Air 200 is the launch platform for the system with approval for the King Air 300/350 family being imminent.
Deliveries are expected to begin in February as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) approval for the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck in the King Air 200 and expects approval for the King Air 300/350 aircraft models within the coming weeks.
“As innovators in the avionics industry, we’re excited to introduce the G1000 NXi – the next generation G1000 integrated flight deck,” said Carl Wolf, vice president of aviation marketing and sales. “Garmin’s co-founders Gary Burrell and Dr. Min Kao had a vision to develop an intuitive and highly advanced integrated avionics system for general aviation aircraft, which became the G1000 integrated flight deck and today, over 16,000 of these systems are flying worldwide. Building on its success, we’re excited to introduce the G1000 NXi, a faster, modernized and lighter avionics suite with a superior feature set that will carry on the lineage and achieved level of distinction that pilots and aircraft owners have come to associate with a Garmin integrated flight deck.”
The G1000 NXi promises faster map rendering and smoother panning. Boot-up time is minimal with immediate access to frequencies, flight plan data, and more. The systems includes contemporary animations and a modern design that boosts improved readability. The LED back-lighting is brighter and clearer and consumes less power while also improving dimmming performance.
For new installations, the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck is estimated to provide a weight savings of 250 pounds or more in King Air aircraft, allowing additional baggage, passenger and/or fuel load flexibility. New G1000 NXi installations also utilize a new, fully integrated and lightweight air data and attitude heading reference system (ADAHRS), streamlining the upgrade process. According to Garmin, King Air owners and operators with an existing G1000 integrated flight deck can easily upgrade to the G1000 NXi with minimal aircraft down time and disruption of the panel as the displays preserve the same footprint and connector so panel modifications are not required.
Available as an option, Flight Stream 510 enables Database Concierge, the wireless transfer of aviation databases from the Garmin Pilot app on a mobile device to the G1000 NXi system. It supports two-way flight plan transfer, the sharing of traffic, weather, GPS information, and back-up attitude information. Additionally, D2 Bravo and D2 Bravo Titanium aviator watches sync with the Garmin Pilot app for matching flight plan data throughout the cockpit.
Visual approaches integrated within the G1000 NXi system offer pilots safety-enhancing guidance in visual flight conditions based on a three-degree glideslope from the threshold of the runway. Pilots can select the runway for which they have been cleared to land, set customized minimums, select vectors or straight-in for the final approach intercept and fly a visual approach coupled with the autopilot.
Geographical map overlay within the HSI is available on the primary flight display (PFD), which also supports the display of NEXRAD, FIS-B weather, weather radar, SafeTaxi® airport diagrams, traffic, terrain and more. For example, pilots can display SafeTaxi on the HSI map while preparing flight plan information on the multi-function display (MFD).
Garmin has additional information concerning the King Air upgrade path at https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/587311.