Garmin’s G5 electronic flight instrument will soon be approved to act as a standby instrument when paired with Garmin’s G500 TXi touchscreen or G500 flight displays. Garmin also announced new VNAV profiles for the GTN 650/750 touchscreen navigators, as well as upcoming GFC 500 autopilot pairing with the G500 TXi or G500 flight displays and other new enhancements to these avionics products. The software updates that enable these new features should be available in August, according to Garmin.
When paired with the G500 TXi or G500, the G5 standby instrument receives automatically synced heading bug, altitude select, airspeed bug, and baro setting information from the G500 TXi or G500. These displays all share flight director and autopilot mode annunciations from the GFC 500 autopilot. Garmin expects more than 600 aircraft will be approved for installation of the G5 as a standby instrument when installed along with the G500 TXi or G500 displays.
The new VNAV profiles are available when the GTN 650/750 navigator is paired with the G500/G600 TXi, G500/G600, or G5, allowing pilots to create a vertical descent profile by setting altitude constraints in the flight plan on the GTN. Features include automatic population of step-down altitudes or altitude restrictions when loading and activating an arrival or approach; manual setting of unpublished altitude restrictions; and top- and bottom-of-descent display on the moving map. When paired with these displays, pilots get improved situational awareness with a vertical deviation indication, which provides vertical guidance for the descent, according to Garmin. A VNAV softkey on the autopilot mode controller enables flying a fully coupled VNAV approach, when the GTN 650/750 is paired to a GFC 500 or 600 autopilot.
The new CDI preview “allows pilots to view course and vertical deviation information prior to an instrument approach,” similar to the preview feature available on many business jets. This works when the GTN 650/750 is paired with the G500/G600 TXi, G500/G600, or G5. The preview is shown on the HSI or lateral deviation indicator.
For aircraft equipped with a TXi display that is also engine instrument system (EIS)-capable or a G1000 NXi flight deck, pilots can use the Garmin Pilot app (iOS version) to view real-time engine information delivered via the Flight Stream 510 wireless gateway.
Garmin also announced new capabilities for the touchscreen TXi displays, including: 10-inch TXi can be configured to 40 percent PFD and 60 percent MFD split-screen; seven-inch portrait or landscape G500 TXi or G600 TXi can show moving-map and single-engine information simultaneously; seven-inch landscape TXi can work as a PFD; multiple video inputs can be displayed on a TXi’s MFD; and EIS-capable TXi displays can show individual CHT values.
The GTN 650/750 navigators are gaining new features. New audible and visual terrain proximity alerts warn pilots of “terrain ahead, pull up,” “obstacle ahead, pull up,” and “wire ahead.” On final approach at 500 feet, an aural “five-hundred” annunciation is provided. For landings at airports that are not in the aviation database, user-defined waypoints can be set as an airport to minimize unnecessary terrain alerts. Pilots can now access a QWERTY keyboard on the GTN 650/750 and G500/G600 TXi for a more familiar interface. Additional coordinate systems have been added to make entering GPS coordinates in various formats simpler, and these include latitude/longitude, degrees/minutes/seconds, and decimal degrees. And the GTN navigators and G500/G600 TXi displays now support the new GWX 75 weather radar.