Shortly after Nighthawk Flight Systems unveiled the Guardian cockpit display and avionics system at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the company announced that Comp Air is the launch aircraft manufacturer for the system. Comp Air’s piston- and turbine-powered 6.2 experimental airplane will be equipped with the Guardian avionics large-format touchscreen display and Nest computing center.
Nighthawk’s first display measures 11.6 inches and connects to the Nest with a single cable. The Nest can be installed anywhere in the aircraft and is expandable by adding “blades” that enable easily upgradeable avionics functionality such as mission computer, air data/attitude heading reference system, and smart input/output to existing avionics. These include autopilot, GPS, radios, navigation receivers, ADS-B In, and other functions. Nighthawk will also offer blades with its own avionics capabilities.
“We developed Guardian to give general aviation aircraft an affordable system with all the functions and features of advanced glass systems, but better,” said Nighthawk Flight Systems CEO Paul Martin. “We provide a much lighter, more affordable system with the best, most realistic synthetic vision on the market.”
Guardian is “up to 50% lighter than current, equal-capability avionics systems,” according to the company. The avionics’ synthetic vision system offers high-resolution 3D imagery “that provides high detail that dramatically improves definition and situational awareness,” merging obstacle, flight environment, traffic, weather, terrain, and satellite imagery.