Garmin GTN Xi navigators and TXi flight displays will soon be certified as the primary indicator for the GWX 8000 StormOptix weather radar, allowing pilots to display and control the radar using the GTN Xi and TXi.
The addition of these products as primary indicators makes Garmin’s GWX 8000 available for potentially thousands of high-performance piston- and turbine-powered aircraft that don’t have Garmin-integrated flight decks. The expanded display interface capability should be available in the second quarter of this year. Aircraft equipped with the GWX 75 radar can be updated to the GWX 8000 configuration with a software update to the GTN Xi or TXi.
StormOptix auto mode technology frees pilots from the task of manually configuring radar settings. The radar automatically adjusts tilt and gain by merging 3D volumetric scanning and advanced ground clutter suppression, giving pilots a composite, real-time depiction of the weather with volumetric profiles of areas of precipitation and a 16-color palette.
Turbulence detection and hail/lightning prediction are included, along with Garmin’s Weather Attenuated Color Highlight Technology, which Garmin said “helps pilots identify shadowing effects of cell activity and highlights areas where radar returns are weakened or attenuated by intense precipitation.”
In aircraft equipped with at least two of the GWX 8000-compatible displays, “pilots can look at individual tilts and returns on their side of the cockpit for increased situational awareness.”