Garmin announced it has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the GFC™ 600 digital autopilot in Air Tractor AT-802 and AT-802(A) models and Piper Matrix PA-46R-350T aircraft. Certification for Cessna 310P/Q aircraft is expected in July. The GFC 600 digital autopilot is designed for high performance piston single and twin-engine aircraft and also provides an advanced autopilot solution for both jet and turbine aircraft that have a wide range of speed and performance characteristics.
Full-featured autopilot
The GFC 600 digital 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 600 provides superior autopilot performance, greater reliability, and tremendous safety tools.
In addition to traditional autopilot capabilities such as altitude hold, vertical speed and heading modes, the GFC 600 also includes:
• Premium functions and advanced capabilities such as altitude pre-select1 and indicated airspeed hold mode
• VNAV can fly a fully coupled vertical descent profile with automatic step-down altitude captures1
Dedicated LVL button can automatically engage the autopilot to restore the aircraft to straight and level flight with one press
• Underspeed protection helps prevent the pilot from stalling the aircraft
• Overspeed protection helps prevent the pilot from exceeding aircraft maximum speed (VNE)2
• Select, couple and fly various instrument approaches, including GPS, ILS, VOR, LOC and back course approaches when paired with a compatible Garmin GPS navigator
• Yaw Damping (YD) mode minimizes yawing oscillations while also helping to maintain coordinated flight
• Electronic Stability and Protection (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 an appropriate flight attitude2
• Smart Glide™ can help pilots in an engine power loss event by automating certain tasks and helping to reduce pilot workload3
• A mode controller with a color Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screen that presents mode annunciations in a format similar to Garmin TXi™ flight displays for easy reference by the pilot
Smart Rudder Bias
Available for Cessna 310P/Q aircraft, Smart Rudder Bias provides pilots assistance against the hazardous effects of one-engine inoperative (OEI) events when the aircraft is appropriately equipped. The system continuously monitors engine parameters using Engine Indication System (EIS) data displayed on a G600 TXi flight display and activates when the system detects a predetermined power differential between each engine. Once activated, rudder force is dynamically adjusted to aid a pilot in providing enough force to the rudder to help control a sideslip. A yellow annunciator for the associated inoperative engine is conveniently displayed along with autopilot annunciations on the G600 TXi flight display, helping the pilot more quickly identify the issue.
The GFC 600 digital autopilot for the Air Tractor and Piper Matrix aircraft is available immediately through select Garmin authorized dealers. Certification for Cessna 310P/Q aircraft is expected in July. Garmin continues to add additional aircraft models to the growing STC list for the GFC 600 autopilot. To view the most up-to-date aircraft STC list, including certifications that are expected to begin in the next 12 months, or to express interest in a specific aircraft make/model, visit www.garmin.com/GFC600.
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1 Requires compatible flight display. VNAV requires a GTN or GTN Xi series navigator.
2 Not available for Air Tractor models.
3 Smart Glide compatibility requires a GTN Xi navigator and compatible flight display; see Garmin.com/SGproducts for more detai ls.
