Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), has announced progress toward a major milestone and incentives for the G5000â„¢ integrated flight deck program for Textron Aviation´s Citation Excel and Citation XLS, the company said.
The G5000 integrated avionics suite modernizes the cockpit, increases aircraft utility, addresses mandate requirements and provides operators with a significantly lower cost of operation while solving parts obsolescence issues.
Certification efforts continue in partnership with Textron Aviation. The initial installation of the G5000 integrated flight deck in the Citation XLS development aircraft is complete and first flight is scheduled for later this year.
As the program is progressing toward certification in late 2018, Garmin is announcing a five-year warranty and five years of comprehensive database coverage for the first 25 aircraft to place a firm commitment for the G5000. This provides zero-cost of avionics operation for the first five years in service.
The G5000 integrated flight deck for the Citation Excel and Citation XLS features three landscape-oriented flight displays with multi-pane capability, allowing pilots to simultaneously view maps, charts, checklists, TAWS, TCAS, flight plan information, weather and more. Electronic charts and Garmin SafeTaxi® airport diagrams can be viewed across all three displays and are geo-referenced. The G5000 flight deck for the Citation Excel/XLS is estimated to provide a weight savings of up to 200 pounds or more compared to the current system, allowing additional baggage, passenger and/or fuel load flexibility.
The G5000 installation on the Citation Excel/XLS includes a fully digital Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS), offering precise performance and optimized for comfort throughout the aircraft´s flight envelope. 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 aircraft pressurization. Safety enhancing autopilot underspeed protection (USP) is an optional feature and allows the autopilot to assist with airspeed management, as well as enabling fully coupled go-arounds, greatly reducing pilot workload during this critical phase of flight.
Garmin International Inc. is a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN). Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in Switzerland, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
