Garmin Receives GFC 500 Autopilot Certifications for Beechcraft 35 and Cirrus SR20 Models

Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the GFC 500 autopilot in additional aircraft to include Beechcraft 35 models C-G and select Cirrus SR20 models. (Includes Cirrus SR20 S/N 20-1005 through 20-1877 and 20-1879 through 20-1885 that were manufactured without a Garmin G1000/G1000NXi integrated flight deck.) The GFC 500 autopilot is intended for light piston aircraft while delivering superior in-flight characteristics, self-monitoring capabilities and minimal maintenance requirements when compared to older generation autopilot systems.

The GFC 500 autopilot uniquely integrates with Garmin’s GI 275 or G5 electronic flight instruments; a combination of either a standby GI 275 or G5 electronic flight instrument interfaced to a G500 TXi flight display; or a G3X Touch flight display to provide pilots with an economical and modern autopilot solution. (The G3X Touch AML STC does not include Cirrus SR20.) The autopilot mode controller contains large, dedicated keys and knobs, a control wheel that allows for easy adjustment to aircraft pitch, airspeed and vertical speed, and a Level Mode (LVL) that returns the aircraft to straight-and-level flight with the push of a dedicated button. In addition, with the GFC 500, appropriately equipped aircraft can also take advantage of Smart Glide, a tremendous safety tool that helps pilots in an engine power loss emergency by automating tasks and helping to reduce pilot workload. (Smart Glide compatibility requires a GTN Xi navigator and is currently available for GFC 500-equipped aircraft with a GI 275; see Garmin.com/SGproducts for more details.)

The full-featured GFC 500 autopilot provides a long list of existing general aviation aircraft with a simple, lightweight, cost-effective autopilot upgrade path. Incorporating solid state attitude with robust self-monitoring capabilities, the GFC 500 provides superior autopilot performance, greater reliability, and invaluable safety tools that are similar to those featured on the popular GFC 700 autopilot. In addition to traditional autopilot capabilities, such as altitude hold, vertical speed and heading modes, the GFC 500 also includes altitude preselect, VNAV, underspeed and overspeed protection and more. Pilots can also select, couple and fly various instrument approaches, including GPS, ILS, VOR, LOC and back course approaches when paired with a compatible Garmin GPS navigator.

As a standard feature of the GFC 500, pilots receive Garmin Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP), 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 while the pilot is hand-flying the aircraft to help avoid inadvertent flight attitudes or bank angles by nudging the pilot to return the aircraft back to a safe flight attitude.

Under this background, the “11th Annual Avionics International Forum” (AIF 2022) will be held in the city of Shanghai on April 20th - 21st, 2022, focus on breaking through the key bottlenecks such as avionics system integration, cockpit interactive display, high-speed network communication and real-time health monitoring, focus on the research and development of core key basic components such as airborne embedded operating system, protocol processing chip and DC motor bearing, and catch up with the international mainstream technology level in terms of multi-functional display, aviation lighting equipment and cockpit control panel. Promote professional simulators and full motion flight simulators and drive the development of special software such as flight control, graphics, and images. Strengthen the construction of supporting capacity of navigation aircraft and UAV airborne system, to realize the platform, series, and large-scale development of airborne system.

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