The FAA has approved an STC for installation of Garmin’s GFC 600 autopilot in the Beechcraft King Air C90 and E90. This upgrade is available now from select Garmin dealers and it can integrate with Garmin G600 and touchscreen G600 TXi displays, the GI 275 flight instrument, and GTN navigators.
In addition to Garmin’s Electronic Stability & Protection, the autopilot also offers the LVL button, which returns the airplane to straight-and-level flight. Brushless DC motors in the autopilot servos perform better and have lower maintenance requirements than older servo designs, according to Garmin. “In addition, these servos are optimized for turbine aircraft by offering more torque to help better command and respond to control demands required of turbine aircraft,” the company said.
Some of the GFC 600 features include altitude preselect, indicated airspeed hold, coupled approaches and go-arounds, built-in GPS roll steering, underspeed and overspeed protection, yaw damper, control wheel steering, vertical navigation, and flight director command bars displayed on the G600 and G600 TXi.
The mode controller fits in a standard 6.25-inch radio stack. Mode annunciations are displayed on the G600 flight display and G600 TXi display or on an optional annunciator panel.