When Garmin came out with a surprise launch of the GI 275 lineup of retrofit flight instruments, designed to be close to plug-and-play replacements for aging small, round, analog flight instruments, the company once again changed the used-airplane game. It’s not the first time that it has done that. Garmin had previously introduced an affordable electronic instrument, the G5, affordable flat-panels, low-priced autopilots and even a couple of new lower-priced navigators, all of which have already gone into a lot of airplanes.

Still, the GI 275, in terms of overall impact, will likely eclipse the importance of all of those new products, and by a big margin. A 3.125-inch panel-mount round gauge that does the jobs of several different analog round gauges—and for a low price, too—the GI 275 will not only enjoy wide adoption, but also multiple instruments likely will be purchased, in most instances.

Because the GI 275 is a standard 3.125-inch round instrument, it requires no cutting of the panel, making installation a lot easier, translating directly into “a lot cheaper.” There are literally hundreds of thousands of instruments in panels out there that could be replaced. It could be more than a million replacement candidate instruments.

How We Got Here

Light aviation as we know it today is a segment that depends heavily upon the existence of more than 100,000 older airplanes. The majority of these were built during the two-decade-plus-long heyday of GA, from the mid-to late 1950s to around 1980, during which time historic demographic, political and market forces combined to create a vibrant ecosystem of small, piston-engine-powered light planes flown by active pilots. These aviators grew up as WWII was playing out and came of age in time to buy affordable, plentiful new single- and twin-engine airplanes manufactured by a number of thriving small aircraft manufacturers.

As time went on and making new aircraft became more and expensive, sales of newly manufactured light planes dried up. This was in large part because the planes that were built during the 1960s and 1970s, many of which were 10 years old or less, became an unbeatable deal for would-be owners. And the fewer new planes that manufacturers turned out, the more expensive each one was to build.

At the same time, by the mid-to-late 1980s, the pilot population was shrinking, and those used planes, still plentiful and fairly young, many of them with very low hours, dominated the segment. By the mid-1990s, existing planes accounted for as much as 90% of the aircraft marketplace, a state of affairs that has persisted until recent years. To complicate matters, unlike in the automotive world, where technology and improved reliability have continued to drive new sales, existing small plane models were (and still are) substantially similar to the new planes that are being built, ostensibly to replace their aging predecessors.

Things have changed of late. The fleet has continued to shrink substantially as planes are wrecked, scrapped or otherwise age out of the fleet. In addition, the truth is that used planes aren’t the deal they used to be. They’re going up in price as their numbers decline, and as much as we’d like to believe differently, age affects everything, from housing to our own health, in undesirable ways—and airplanes are hardly the exception to that rule. Time takes its toll on every component and system, from the fuel filler caps to exhaust stacks. And maintenance ain’t cheap.

It’s important to consider that new light planes aren’t all that different from their 40-year-old predecessors. They can’t be. Most “new” models are built based on decades-old type certificates. While manufacturers do work in improvements over time, most of them, from seat belts to sun visors, can be updated, often relatively cheaply, too.

The aircraft’s flight instruments, however, have stood largely frozen in time, with few viable replacement options. In most cases, owners of older airplanes could only grit their teeth and pay to keep the old gear going for as long as possible.

Solutions

With the advent of the Garmin GI 275, a big part of that equation has changed. It’s true that Garmin’s own G5 flight instruments (HSI and AI) are popular and even less costly solutions to analog instrument replacement, but the GI 275 goes far beyond the G5’s capabilities, and considering its ease of installation, it will give the G5 a run for its money. 

There are, in fact, a number of different GI 275s, and it’s quite possible to replace the functions of all six instruments in the classic six pack—attitude, altitude, vertical speed, airspeed, heading and rate of turn—with fewer than six instruments, as some incarnations of the GI 275 perform multiple functions. The primary attitude instrument, for example (in essence a mini primary flight display), shows attitude, airspeed, altitude, vertical speed, heading and more. In addition, it displays navigation inputs, allowing the pilot to fly a course based on a flight plan entered in a compatible paired navigator. In addition, it shows flight path vector and flight director cues. As small as it is, its powers are great and many.

The uptake is that a few GI 275s can effectively replace all of the flight instruments in an analog panel, and they can do it incredibly cost effectively.

Indeed, the economics of it are compelling. For around $5,000, an aircraft owner could install a single primary display. And for around $20,000, an owner could replace the entire classic six-pack of flight instruments and come away with what’s essentially all the capability of a flat-panel suite but with far lower installation costs.

Just how many and which instruments will pilots choose to install in their planes? It’s hard to say. For starters, there are many possible combinations. Decisions will be driven in part by the existing equipment in the airplane, and others will be based on the available budget of the owner or the value of the airplane the instruments are going into, though with used plane values rapidly rising, that calculation is changing as we speak.

Here are the primary roles the chameleon that is the GI 275 can play.

Primary Attitude Indicator 

When serving as, to use Garmin’s term, a primary attitude indicator, the GI 275 offers a number of upgrades over any analog gauge, as well as a host of improvements over the company’s popular G5 instrument. For one thing, you get rid of the vacuum-powered gyro, which is a huge safety improvement. You also get all kinds of added features that no analog gauge ever dreamed of having.

These include:

Display of altitude, airspeed and heading on the instrument. It’s all there before your eyes.

Lateral and vertical deviation indications and selected nav source.

There’s also altitude pre-select for autopilot interface when paired with the GFC600.

Heading bug select.

Optional synthetic vision, which overlays a 3D view of the outside world, including traffic, terrain, airport locator tags, obstacle (like towers and high terrain) and more.

Display of flight path marker (when tied with the optional synthetic vision), for immediate reference not to what the gauges say but to where you’re actually headed.

There’s even a built-in VFR GPS, with optional glare shield-mounted antenna that can be driven by the GI 275’s internal battery even in case of an aircraft electrical loss for limited, direct-to guidance from the GI 275 itself.

With the battery installed as part of the setup, it’s got a 60-minute backup battery life, and that’s a conservative figure.

CDI (Course Deviation Indicator) and HSI (Horizontal Situation Indicator) 

The GI 275 can be used as a navigation display, using a variety of navigator inputs to display course deviation indications laterally or vertically (for glideslope on ILS or RNAV approaches), all while having the capability of displaying additional data, such as moving map, weather, terrain and traffic.

Primary Engine Display 

When used as a display of engine information for normally aspirated or turbocharged piston engines from Continental and Lycoming four- or six-cylinder engines, the GI 275 can display RPM, manifold pressure, cylinder head temperature, exhaust gas temperature, turbine inlet temperature and more, including leaning assist, while also issuing alerts for exceedances, as allowed for and detailed in the handbook.

Multifunction Display (MFD)

The GI 275 can, when configured and installed to do so, display, in Garmin’s words, “additional page functions and features beyond a traditional flight instrument,” though what there is about this instrument in any regard that doesn’t go beyond a traditional flight instrument is hard to say. Regardless, when it’s set up as an MFD, the GI 275 can:

Act as a moving map, with displays of terrain, traffic, weather, airways, airspace information and more.

Serve as a dedicated traffic display when paired with a Garmin GTX 345, GNX 375 and GTS 800 series traffic hardware. It will display Garmin’s cool relative traffic motion display it calls TargetTrend. It also supports a number of third-party traffic sensors.

Display Garmin’s SafeTaxi utility.

Act as a display of terrain with color-coded shading to show areas of high terrain around the flight and with audible and visual alerts.

Display Sirius XM and FIS-B (ADS-B) weather.

Show pertinent airport information, like frequencies, runway lengths and more.

Act as a radar altimeter display when paired with the GRA 55/5500 units.

Replace the primary attitude indicator in the Garmin GFC 600, GFC 500 and a variety of third-party units, as well.

Working With The GI 275

One of the biggest wonders of the GI 275 is that, despite its small size, it’s easy to see, interpret and use.  The display is super sharp, as you can see in the accompanying photographs, and the screen, which takes up the entire bezel, is also very bright. Things that seem as though they might be difficult to see and do with it in fact are neither. It’s easy to distinguish one traffic target from the next, for instance, or to read details on the map.

Just as importantly, if not more so, Garmin has nailed the symbology on these instruments, so even when there’s a lot going on, such as on the primary attitude instrument, which displays about a dozen different things simultaneously, not only is it possible, but it’s easy to pick out just the thing you’re looking for.

It’s also no chore to control the instruments, though Garmin had to get creative to make that happen, using a combination of knobs and touchscreen gestures to allow pilots to quickly and accurately work with the display. To go from page to page, you just use the outer concentric ring, and to make selections and enter values, you use the inner knob. Touch control isn’t only possible but necessary for pilots to use in order to select the function they’re aiming to control. This could be inputting a target altitude. Touch the preselect field, which activates it, and then use the inner knob to select the target altitude. In other cases, you can use classic gestures, like pinch to zoom and panning, which you do with a single finger.

There are a couple of gestures that are new to Garmin avionics, including the long touch, analogous to a knob press, to do things like sync to standard barometric pressure. There’s also a new swipe gesture you can use to immediately pull up pop-up menus, which you can also access with a button push. Menus, by the way, are placed on the display in a way that makes sense for that particular instrument. None of these gestures, of course, are Garmin inventions. If you use a smartphone or any one of a hundred other modern electronic devices, navigating around the GI 275 will likely be second nature.

That’s an important point, because before long there will be a lot of GI 275s in the fleet, and this is not entirely because they’re cool, though they definitely are, but also because it will be more cost-effective in many cases for owners to replace aging instruments with a GI 275 than it would be for them to fix the legacy gauge.

When the panel welcomes a new instrument, pilots get all kinds of safety benefits, including saying buh-bye to failure-prone vacuum-powered instruments (and perhaps the vacuum system itself—how cool would that be?). This is in addition to greater reliability, capability—look again at that primary display with synthetic vision—and usability.

Cost of the GI 275 will vary depending on what role it fills. A basic (but still very capable) CDI or MFD display sells for just $3,195. Other displays, all of which have additional hardware, sell for just a few or several hundreds of dollars more. A primary display (or a paired reversionary mate) has built-in AHRS and air data and goes for either $3,995 or $4,995, depending on whether it also supports an autopilot. Although it was at launch only compatible with the company’s G5 flight instrument, last October Garmin announced that it could now pair with the G5, as well. The inclusion in the GI 275 of an analog-to-digital converter, needed by many legacy autopilots that rely on old data formats, will sweeten the deal, as legacy converters can be hard to find and expensive to repair or replace.

So this is happening, and you can expect to see the GI 275 in a plane near you, and soon. Garmin has been shipping the units for more than a month as of this writing, and they’re selling, no surprise, very briskly. And, as I mentioned, the market is huge. According to Garmin, its AML list includes more than 1,000 general aviation and business aircraft, from light singles from Cessna and Piper up to pressurized twins, like the Mitsubishi MU-2. How many GI 275s will Garmin sell over the next few years? I will only venture to say that it will be a really big number.

Why? Well, in the original release of the GI 275, Garmin’s VP of aviation sales and marketing, Carl Wolf, might have said it all: “If it’s round and in their panels, pilots can likely replace it with the GI 275 to receive modern flight display features and benefits in a powerful yet compact touchscreen flight instrument.”

And the addition of such instruments will go a long way toward modernizing existing aircraft and breathing new life into an aging fleet, which at this point desperately needs just such an addition of smart, affordable technology to go with a fleet full of airframes and engines that will, for the foreseeable future, keep on keeping on.

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Envision a busy aviator flying single-pilot IFR in IMC on a real IFR day, his trusty iPad by his side. He’s heading direct to the intermediate approach fix and has been cleared for the approach to the ILS to Runway 01. The ATIS is calling it 200 and a quarter, and two other planes have already flown the approach and landed.

Then this happens: The pilot taps the instrument flight plan on his tablet device and activates the approach (which he has already loaded). This, again, he does on his iPad, which happens to be wirelessly connected to the Garmin GTN 750 in the panel. That instrument dutifully activates the approach as commanded, again, on the iPad.

New Garmin Navigators And More: Supercharged GTN 650Xi and GTN 750Xi

With the introduction by Garmin of these new features, pilots can now do nearly all the controlling of a connected Garmin panel-mount device, like the GTN 750, remotely, from the iPad, or from their phone that’s running Garmin Pilot.

This is all well and good, but why, you might ask, should anyone care? Isn’t it just the same planning done from a different device?

Yes, but more importantly, no!

The reason it matters, and I was skeptical until I saw the accompanying screen shots, is that this ability brings with it some huge safety-of-flight benefits for pilots on IFR flight plans (or who are just using an approach unofficially to guide their way to, say, an unfamiliar airport on a low-visibility day). Moreover, Garmin points out that the way pilots will make those inputs, loading IAPs, departures and arrivals, is identical to the way that they would on on the Garmin software in their panel-mount avionics.

In the first shot, you can see how remarkably clearly the Garmin Pilot app illustrates, in living color, the many approaches into Minneapolis-area Flying Cloud Airport.  You want to fly the Schep9 approach? Its location, orientation and feeder fixes are hard to miss. And besides making it easier to verify, this ability makes it simple to visualize how you get to the IAF and what you’ll do then.

But it gets better and applicable to all pilots, even those without an instrument ticket. In the second screenshot, the profile view clearly indicates the vertical elements of the flight plan in a way that makes it clear what the vertical situation is, in this example of a flight from one Minnesota city to another. 

In the IFR realm, this will allow pilots to enter and visualize crossing restrictions—a danger zone on many flights—in a way that makes it clear when it’s time to descend and to what altitude you need to get before the next fix.

This newest release is already available on Apple devices from the App Store.

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One of the most remarkable things about Garmin Autoland is the way it transitions the instrumentation on the Garmin displays from pilot-centric to passenger-focused. The kinds of things we pilots understand intuitively when we glance at a display, things like airspeed tapes and vertical rate, are next to meaningless to a non-pilot passenger. So the key to the successful implantation of Autoland was for Garmin’s and Piper’s user experience engineers to stop thinking like pilots and start asking questions like any non-aviation savvy passenger might.

Here’s a rundown of what the Autoland system will display to passengers after the autoland sequence is activated.

1. The first thing Autoland wants to communicate is that it’s active. To activate it, you press a guarded switch framed in red. If someone accidentally activated Autoland, now would be the time to turn it off and let ATC know.

2. The flight displays change, too, so that non-pilots can make sense of the flight situation. Note that the tapes are showing “speed” and “altitude.” The skypointer is still there, as is the synthetic vision display. A new, simplified moving map also is windowed into the primary flight display.

3. The direction to “keep hands and feet away from aircraft controls” is important not just for its literal message but also to reassure passengers that they don’t have to do anything to help fly the plane.

4. Both the primary- and multi-function displays are used to communicate, so all can see easily and to make the messaging more effective.

5. Just as you’d hear a flight attendant announce on an airline flight, Autoland reminds passengers to prepare for landing, secure their stuff and buckle their belts.

6. The system keeps passengers apprised of the flight’s status. Here, it announces that it is getting ready to land.

7. After the plane successfully lands, stops and the engine is shut down, the system stays active, helping passengers exit, explaining things they likely understand already, like how to undo their seatbelts, and also things they might not know how to do, like open the cabin door.

Read More About Garmin Autoland: 

Piper M600 SLS: The First Production Plane That Lands Itself
Teaching Garmin Autoland To Think Like A Pilot
Why The Piper M600 SLS Is Remarkable

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The round-up in our January/February 2020 issue includes an ADS-B Receiver, a flashlight from Smith & Wesson, a GoPro camera, and more. Click through the gallery below to view all of the items. 

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Learn more at pilotmall.com.

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It’s been just over a year since Garmin launched its a pair of multifunction touchscreen WAAS navigators, the GTN 650Xi and GTN 750Xi. The two are updates that bring a new interface and added features to the original GTN navigators, which Garmin introduced almost ten years prior. 

When it introduced the GTN 650 and GTN 750 navigators in 2011, Garmin was updating the revolutionary GNS430 and GNS530 units, the two most popular aftermarket avionics products in modern aviation history. The 650 and the 750 covered much of the same ground as its predecessors but did it with greatly improved user interfaces, including, touchscreens, faster processors and built-in interfaces for more effectively integrating the units with existing components, both by Garmin and others.

The updates of those two units, into the GTN 650Xi and GTN 750Xi, are part of Garmin’s multi-faceted update of its product lineup with the NXi branding. As is the case with other such updates, while the two new GTN boxes look nearly identical to the previous units, the similarity belies wholesale changes. In a telephone briefing on Thursday, Garmin told Plane & Pilot that the new units are much faster, have super hi-res displays and are built to connect better with other components and be easier to update, among other changes.

And despite all the improvements, the two instruments are about the same price as their predecessors, $12,495 for the GTN 650Xi and $17,995 for the GTN 750Xi.

Garmin also announced that it was offering numerous updates to its G3X Touch Certified flat panel avionics offerings, including flight logging and optional engine data logging, both features previously available with G3X Touch for Experimental Category planes. In certified planes, the displays will now automatically sync with the Garmin Pilot app to log flight data. Additionally, Garmin announced that new display pairings are available, so owners can put up to three G3X Touch displays across the panel, mimicking or outdoing the look and functionality potentially of even some of its G1000 NXi glass cockpits.

For more information, visit FlyGarmin.com.

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Let’s say you’ve got an older bizjet, one worth less than a cool million, but it’s still a great airframe with good engines. But it lacks so much, including the ability to fly WAAS/LPV approaches. What does one do that’s in keeping with the value of the plane? Because, let’s face it, a half-million-dollar investment in a million-dollar bird can be tough to justify. 

Avidyne has the answer with its new Atlas rail-mounted color touchscreen FMS with all the digital approach goodness plus a full QWERTY (so easy to type that word) keyboard AND a VHF transceiver for starting at around $45,000 for a single unit and, well, about twice that if you want to make yours a double. The keyboard, again, is beautifully executed, with large, easy-on-the-fingertips lighted keys and a removable brace/guard.

The system gives pilots a full-color moving map with touch screen, Jeppesen electronic approach charts and airport diagrams and more.

We met with Avidyne founder and president Dan Schwinn and marketing director Tom Harper at NBAA this week for a guided tour and were impressed. The units are based on the company’s successful IFD550, which we reviewed and loved, so the technology is all proven.

Harper said that for planes that have just upgraded to ADS-B, the system can take advantage of an existing WAAS antenna for additional savings and installation optimization.

The company is looking to identify initial STC airplanes. Certification is planned for next year.

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The aviation electronics company uAvionix, which has made a name for itself with its low-cost ADS-B solutions, including wingtip light and tail beacon mounted units, has acquired AeroVonics, a marriage that has generated some excitement in GA.

The key products that led to the acquisition is AeroVonics’ AV-20-S AOA instrument and its AV-30 customizable primary display that packs a ton of info into a small, standard instrument-sized hole in the panel.

Included in the AV-30, shown here, is G-loading, the upcoming flight-planned GPS waypoint, airspeed, altitude and vertical speed, plus more, all integrated artfully around an attitude indicator display. It sounds like too much to take in on one small instrument, but the execution of the display is impressive.

In a post about the acquisition, uAvionix said that adding its first panel-mount products is part of a larger plan to create an extensive lineup of panel electronics, many of which will integrate with its ADS-B solutions. Chief among the new developments, it said, is an autopilot interface that will marry existing STEC autopilots with its displays.

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We’re here to answer your ADS-B questions, and we know what they are, as well as what they aren’t. We’re starting with the latter. You already know that the deadline is near. In a matter of months. You already know what you need to do. Install ADS-B Out in your plane. You already know what that entails: a new ADS-B transponder or an upgrade to your existing one (this is not common) with a certified WAAS source. Lastly, you probably already know that your flight options will be pretty severely restricted without ADS-B. Forget about flying in Class Bravo or Charlie, flying above 10,000 feet in most of the nation and flying in most Class Echo airspace, as well.

Here are some questions you don’t know the answers to.

1. Now that you’ve waited this long to equip, will you still be able to get it done in time?
2. Are there any new options for equipping with ADS-B that didn’t exist back when you should have gotten going on this?
3. With such a small percentage of the fleet equipped, will the FAA relent and give GA a break, extending the deadline or easing the ADS-B No-Fly Zone?

The answer to numbers one and two are the same: yes, no and maybe. Which is one of the greatest problems with putting things off until the last minute. You’ve procrastinated your way into a good deal of uncertainty. Do we have answers? We do. How sure are we of those answers? Just as with the Magic 8-Ball, you might be hoping for an answer like, “Reply hazy. Try again,” or even “Better not tell you,” but in this case, for the last one the answer seems pretty clear. There’s no way the FAA is going to extend the deadline. Come Jan. 1, 2020, if you’re not equipped, your options are instantly limited.

Is there good news for procrastinators? Well, I hate to say it, but kind of. The argument many pressed early on, that if they waited, better, cheaper ADS-B boxes might appear, has actually proven pretty spot on. The $250 ADS-B solution never happened and never will, but the prices have come down, and, even more, the value has gone up. Take Garmin’s new GNT 375, a full-fledged multifunction WAAS navigator that also does ADS-B. It’s not cheap, but you get so much more than a navigator and so much more than an ADS-B Out box. And up until early April, no one outside of Olathe knew it existed.

And there are newish alternatives that are less costly to install, too, mostly because they take less time to install. UAvionix’s wingtip ADS-B Out solution is a quick and easy install, or so the company claims. But even if it takes three times longer to install than it says, it’s still a quick install.

But Can You Still Find A Shop To Do This?

Okay, so you’ve waited until the ADS-B equipage deadline is less than six months away. The question is, even after you find that perfect box, will you be able to find a shop to install it? In some cases, if you’re lucky. But it’ll get harder the longer you wait, and not a little bit harder every day. We think it will be more like the way that hitting something when you’re going twice as fast doesn’t hurt twice as much but four times as much. When it comes to ADS-B, that thing you’ll be hitting is a brick wall, and the name of that brick wall is Jan. 1, 2020.

Our best advice? Check out these ADS-B solutions, make a decision, find a shop and make it happen right now, because if you’re going to get lucky, it’s probably not going happen on Nov. 28 (Turkey Day) and probably not on Dec. 25, and absolutely no ADS-B miracles will come to pass on Dec. 31, when people around the world will be saying “Happy New Year,” and among pilots, the happiest of those will be the ones with an ADS-B solution snug as a bug in their favorite plane’s panel.

ADS-B In and Out

Garmin GNX 375

Introduced this spring, the GNX 375 from Garmin is an all-in-one nav/ADS-B solution that provides premium features in a compact package. The touchscreen display, made for Class I and II aircraft as well as experimentals and homebuilts, features ADS-B Out through a 1090 MHz ES transponder, as well as a dual-link ADS-B In receiver. On top of the subscription-free weather and traffic that come with that, the GNX 375 provides a number of advanced nav capabilities, a key highlight being the ability to accommodate LPV approaches down to 200 feet. Creating flight plans is easy thanks to predictive text offered by the unit as you type, and Bluetooth allows fliers to share plans quickly between devices. The unit integrates with other Garmin displays and at 2 inches tall is also compatible with older course deviation indicators. MSRP for the GNX 375 is $7,995.

Lynx NGT-9000

The Lynx NGT-9000 provides all the perks of ADS-B In and Out in an easy-to-use touchscreen format that packs a punch in terms of capabilities. The unit’s high-resolution, full-color display allows users to swipe between different pages of info—for example, one that shows NEXRAD weather, METARs, AIRMETs and SIGMETs, as well as a separate temps and winds aloft page. When viewing traffic, the Lynx allows users to see the type and groundspeed of nearby aircraft, and users have the option of adding ATAS for audible traffic alerts. Equipped with a 978/1090 dual-band receiver, the unit provides the necessary coverage for aircraft flying at any altitude, and the built-in WAAS GPS means no external GPS connection is required. Users can feed ADS-B traffic and weather to popular aviation apps via the Lynx’s WiFi connection. The unit starts at less than $5,500, with options for ATAS, eTAWS and other add-ons available at an additional cost.

FreeFlight RANGR 978

FreeFlight’s RANGR 978 line provides a time-tested and flexible option for pilots looking for ADS-B In, ADS-B Out or both. The series has been on the market for several years and offers boxes with or without internal GPS as well as an all-in-one dual-band solution. The TSO-certified units are all WiFi-equipped and pair with a vast array of apps, including ForeFlight, WingX Pro, Jeppesen FliteDeck and more, to bring sub-free weather and traffic. The units, which are available for a wide range of GA aircraft, are priced between $3,000 and $5,000.

Garmin GTX 345

The GTX 345 mode S 1090 extended squitter transponder from Garmin provides ADS-B Out and In in a comprehensive unit that checks all the key boxes for ADS-B benefits. The 1.65-inch transponder fits in a traditional stack opening and features a dual-link receiver, allowing fliers to take advantage of full ADS-B traffic and weather and stream it to portable devices. Optional WAAS GPS is available for pilots without a pre-existing unit in their panel, making the 345 fully compliant with the 2020 mandate. The unit, priced just under $5,000, also provides audible traffic and altitude alerts and can be configured using dual antennas for a diversity solution.

ADS-B Out

skyBeacon

The skyBeacon is a great option for those looking for an ADS-B Out solution that won’t require the dismantling of the flight deck and expensive installation fees. The innovative product comes in the form of a nav light, meaning it can be installed in a matter of minutes by replacing a traditional aircraft position and strobe light. It features ADS-B Out via a UAT transmitter and a blade antenna, as well as integrated WAAS GPS and an altitude encoder. The skyBeacon works with any mode C or mode S transponder, and once it’s installed, users can configure it using uAvionix’s accompanying app. In some cases, a fairing is required for aircraft models for which the skyBeacon design isn’t compatible. With such quick installation and a price tag lower than $2,000, the skyBeacon proves a hassle-free and affordable way to meet the looming FAA mandate.

Stratus ES and ESG

Appareo has two solid options for ADS-B compliance in the form of the Stratus ES and ESG transponders. The former, priced at $2,495, provides ADS-B Out when paired with select navigators from Garmin and Avidyne, while the later provides WAAS GPS in the box for $500 more. The 1.65-inch transponder boxes were made for cockpits without glass, and they both make use of an aircraft’s existing altitude encoder and transponder antenna. The ESG requires the installation of a GPS antenna, which is included in the purchase price of the product. Both units connect with the Stratus 3i receiver to provide a full view of ADS-B weather and traffic.

Trig Avionics TT22

For those with minimal panel room to spare, the TT22 is a compact Mode S transponder that can fit into a 57-mm round instrument hole. The key to its space-saving design is that it comes in two components, one of which can be installed anywhere in the airframe. The TT22 includes an integrated altitude encoder and pairs with a number of different brand-name position sources, including units from Avidyne, FreeFlight, Aspen, Garmin and Trig, to provide ADS-B Out Compliance. The TT22, which is splash-proof and available for less than $2,000, features backlighting and allows users to manually adjust the brightness.

Garmin GDL 82

The GDL 82 from Garmin is a datalink with a built-in WAAS GPS that connects with an airplane’s existing mode A/C transponder to provide ADS-B Out compliance for aircraft flying under 18,000 feet. One of the more affordable ADS-B options on the market, the unit is incorporated into the transponder and antenna cabling in the underbelly of the aircraft, resulting in less downtime in comparison to panel ADS-B installations. The unit automatically transmits the squawk code and altitude from the aircraft’s transponder, making the aircraft ADS-B Out compliant. The unit is compatible with a number of ADS-B In units, such as the GDL 52 and GDL 39, providing pilots with a fuller traffic picture. The unit is priced at $1,795.

BendixKing KT 74

This slide-in mode S transponder is designed to take the place of the popular BendixKing KT 76 and KT 78 transponders. The KT 74 makes use of the previous unit’s mounting hardware and wiring harness, making installation of the new unit a much less timely and costly affair than it is for other products. The 74 broadcasts on the 1090 MHz frequency and pairs with a number of different GPS systems, such as those from Aspen, Garmin and, of course, BendixKing, in order to provide ADS-B Out compliance. With a sleek design and extra features, such as altitude alerts, the AKT 74 provides a clean and simple user interface. The unit is available for less than $2,500.

ADS-B In Portables

ForeFlight Sentry

This portable ADS-B In receiver delivers FIS-B weather and dual-band traffic to a pilot’s ForeFlight app, along with a slew of other in-demand features for fliers looking to take full advantage of the benefits of ADS-B. The small $499 unit, which attaches to the aircraft via a quick-release suction cup and mount, includes a WAAS GPS, back-up attitude, weather replay and, uniquely for an ADS-B receiver, a CO monitor. The Sentry’s battery allows it to run for more than 12 hours on a single charge, and it can stream data via WiFi to up to five different devices.

Garmin GDL 50

The GDL 50 from Garmin provides a reliable ADS-B In receiver that pairs with a variety of different apps, including Garmin Pilot, FltPlan Go and Foreflight. The unit streams information via Bluetooth as opposed to Wi-Fi, and in addition to subscription-free weather, it provides traffic info via Garmin’s Target Trend traffic awareness technology, which gives pilots a dynamic view of the aircraft surrounding them in relation to their own motion. The GDL 50 is also equipped with GPS and attitude sensors that enable use of synthetic vision. The unit, priced at $749, can run up to eight hours before it will need a recharge.

XGPS190

Like the Sentry, the XGPS190 provides traffic and weather for popular aviation apps via a dual-band receiver, along with WAAS GPS and AHRS, which allows users to utilize synthetic vision on their devices. The unit is compatible with a variety of different apps, such as FlyQ, WingX and others, and can connect to two different devices at once via Bluetooth. The XGPS190 features a removable antenna and can run for up to five hours in ADS-B mode. The unit comes with a price tag of $699.99.

Related Reading: Four ADS-B Receivers To Consider

Related Reading: Going Direct: ADS-B: Big Problems and a Bigger Upside

Related Reading: Game-Changing Avionics from Garmin

The post The ADS-B Deadline Is Almost Here appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Garmin has announced FAA approvals for the installation of its new lower-cost autopilots in some popular airplanes. The company’s GFC 500 got the okay for a host of Mooneys (Models J, K, M, R and S) and for the Beechcraft A36 Bonanza (models 36, A36 and A36TC). Its GFC 600 model autopilot aslo won FAA approval in the Cessna Caravan (models 208 and 208B). The GFC 500 sells for less than $10,000 and the GFC 600 goes for $31,995.

The post Garmin Gets Autopilot Approvals For New Models appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

The screen that brought Adventure Pilot to the low-cost supplemental avionics dance: a super-bright VFR Sectional Chart with a moving-map GPS flight plan superimposed on top of it. And, yes, the iFly740 is a fully touch-screen device.

We’re afloat in constantly updated technological innovation everywhere we turn. Today’s newest super “iGadget” tops tomorrow’s “so last week” pile. And customer service, when you can reach a human being, often earns a single descriptor: fail.

It’s refreshing then to find a company, and its flagship product, that continually raises the bar of technical innovation while cleaving to an old-fashioned ethic: the customer as valued partner.

Shane Woodson and Walter Boyd, leaders of Adventure Pilot, are two longtime flyboys with serious software engineering chops. Five years ago, they perceived a market vacuum, and they filled it. They felt all those high-priced, small-screen moving-map GPS units were due for a serious competitive comeuppance, so they created one—the iFly 700, which sold for a pittance: $500.

I found their booth five years ago at Sun ‘n Fun and marveled at the iFly 700: a supplemental (non-FAA certified) moving-map GPS that not only displayed your flight course on top of a VFR sectional or IFR/enroute chart, but did it as a touch-screen device, then a still-emerging technology.

Customers flocked, and they’re flocking more than ever, with each new iteration of the iFly GPS experience.

The iFly 700 model required a modest $69/year software update subscription ($109 for VFR/IFR combined). It was big on display with its seven-inch diagonal screen, smart as a whip with tons of useful pilot-friendly features, and perhaps most valuable, Woodson and Boyd were unusually responsive to their soon-to-be-exploding customer base.

Flash-forward, and we find Adventure Pilot going stronger than ever with a third-generation GPS phenom: the iFly 740 and its just-released version 9.2 software. They’ve also developed the iFly GPS app for iOS and Android devices, but there remains at least one compelling reason new and returning customers will want to take a hard look at the iFly 740 unit: the new, super-bright screen.

For all us nitpickers, the 1300-Nit screen is bright enough for the most sun-drenched cockpit. That’s a boon for GA, light-sport aircraft and the open-cockpit environments of experimental aircraft, ultralights, trikes, gyros and powered parachutes.

Let’s zoom in on just a few of the many tasty new treats:

Extreme sunlight-readable bright screen. Woodson calls it “the brightest portable GPS screen on the market.” It’s twice as bright as the previous iFly 720 and up to four times brighter than an iPad screen.

A big CPU jump. By moving from a 1.4 gHz cpu to a 2.12 gHz dual-core processor, boot time to a Sectional chart and full GPS lock is reduced by over 60 percent, now only 20 to 25 seconds.

Onboard RAM doubled. The entire user interface experience is faster and smoother.

Improved WiFi. New-generation GPS receiver with improved reception for better WAAS lock and acquisition of three to four more satellites.

Minimal change to the “footprint.” Only an increase of .07 inch to thickness and 2 oz. of weight (14 oz. total).

New built-in lithium polymer (Li-Po) emergency battery in case of aircraft electrical failure.

All iFly models, including the $399, five-inch screen iFly 520, tap into aircraft power systems or can run on compact battery packs for many hours. Like other iFly models, the 740 works with both 12V and 24V electrical systems. It handles hot, sunny cockpits with a broad, 170-degree temperature tolerance range. Many iFly GPS customers report their newer iPads with retina screens and some Android tablets often shut down from sun overheating.

As veteran pilots and software developers, Woodson and Boyd don’t shirk from tweaking code, either. They’re constantly refining, upgrading and innovating with new features. The just-released software version 9.2 is another goodie bag chock-full of useful tools. Some highlights:

NRST Airport page: Overhauled and much more robust than previous versions, the Nearest Airport page displays full information of airport type and name, a directional clock-like pointer, distance to the airport and a Direct To button, along with basic details such as runways, frequencies, ADS-B and more.

A new Emergency Assist Mode puts you into an All Airports display. When you touch Emergency, the software calculates your ability to reach any airport in the vicinity, based on aircraft glide ratio, altitude, speed, direction and more. Conservative estimates for each airport display in green, yellow or red, where green is easy to reach, while red is strongly discouraged.

Seamless HD chart display: Earlier versions of the iFly GPS software displayed one chart at a time. Now, successive charts along your route blend seamlessly as iFly picks them for you automatically. In VFR mode, you move between WAC, Sectional and TAC charts based on location and zoom level. You can also manually select any chart you prefer.

New Mode Menu: An upper area selects the base map to be displayed (Map Mode), while the lower shows you optional layers you can add to the base map. IFR pilots now have IFR Low and High En Route charts. There’s also an option to overlay Nexrad and Metars data on any of the base maps. In short: Have it your way.

Quick View Popup: With earlier versions, you tapped the map, and a Possible Actions Menu popped up. Now it’s called the Quick View Popup menu, and it’s reorganized for ease of use in selecting pages such as Airports (APT), Weather (WX), Airspaces (ASPC), Navigation Options (NAV) and Traffic (TRFC).

Yet another neat feature: When you choose APT, an info sheet on the airport pops up. Tap it to easily add the airport to your flight plan or get more details about the airport such as extended runways.

Plates and Diagrams: Georeferenced plates now display right on any base map. You can set the opacity of the plate and toggle its colors for white or black background. Plates are easily pulled in by touching an Airport, touching the View Plates dialog, then selecting.

There’s also a Plates button that shows when you’re looking at a Plate or Diagram, and a Pin option to tag plates important for your flight plan.

Multiple Device Sync: “We give pilots with dedicated iFly 740 units the ability to use the iFly GPS App for iPad or Android Apps seamlessly,” said Woodson. The functions, buttons and features are identical on all platforms. When you select “share with Local Devices,” it pushes complete flight plans to any or all other devices on which you’ve installed the app. “Better yet, if you’re flying with a navigator, maybe your wife or a friend, and you rubber-band a route on your iFly 740 or modify your flight plan, the change will show up automatically on the other local WiFi-connected iFly GPS software devices, too.”

Adventure Pilot stands by its ethic of affordable functionality. iFly GPS subscribers receive one VFR or IFR software subscription and can use it on many devices with the Multi­Platform Upgrade.

“We give pilots that built-in redundancy factor, so there’s no learning curve or need to stay proficient on multiple apps. It saves them money to put more fuel in the tank for those $100 breakfasts and hamburgers,” Woodson continued.

Customer accolades are plentiful. Woodson draws the most pleasure from those who praise the ease of use of the iFly GPS system.

“When customers buy an iFly GPS, they are part of our iFly GPS family,” he said. “It’s not just bells and whistles or bling features, but how easy you make it for the pilot. We continually hear from fellow pilots that our software is more intuitive.

“Our IFR and VFR pilots tell us we really do make their workload in the cockpit easier. Our goal is to get them the information they need quickly and get their eyes back outside the airplane.” The company has well more than 300 beta testers who are heavily involved in providing ongoing feedback.

On the near horizon, perhaps to debut at Sun ‘n Fun 2016, the programmers are hard at work on software version 10, which may add synthetic vision to the iFly GPS universe.

One more feature deserves mention: iFly Streets. This $50 option turns your iFly 740 (and previous models) into a sophisticated ground GPS that plugs into your car’s DC power socket. Woodson said more than 30% of their customers opt for the added functionality and superior brightness in sunlight.

Which brings up a final mention: experimental kit builders and LSA, ultralight, trike and even powered parachute pilots have discovered the 740 not only for its bright screen, but for its affordable functionality. “I talked recently with a guy flying a powered parachute,” Woodson said. “He mounted a 740 with an ADS-B transceiver on it!”

The company offers ADS-B In/Out by bundling with aftermarket units such as the NavWorx ADS 600 and SkyGuardTWX Vision­Pro Plus. “Pilots get the full iFly 740 experience with ADS-B In/Out, full weather, traffic, everything.”

Current price for the iFly 740 and mounting accessories is $899. Contact: www.adventurepilot.com.

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