Story ID: 
Pilots Can Control Garmins by Voice
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: The FAA issued an amended supplemental type certificate for the VoiceFlight Systems VFS101, adding new units to the company’s approvals for voice command o
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The FAA issued an amended supplemental type certificate for the VoiceFlight Systems VFS101, adding new units to the company’s approvals for voice command of Garmin GNS navigators. The amendment adds the GNS430W and 530W, allowing pilots to use speech command instead of knobs to control a wider variety of Garmin navigators. In addition to the VFS101’s original speech-recognition features, the system has new capabilities that allow pilots to enter long flight plans “within the 31-waypoint limitation of the GPS units,” according to VoiceFlight. “Pilots can now enter Boston to Florida (e.g. BOS V3 PBI) in seconds with a simple speech command.” The VFS101 also allows pilots to use speech commands for direct-to operations and automatic expansion of airways. VoiceFlight Systems began delivering the $2,995 VFS101 in July at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh show. “The VFS101 is the first FAA-certified speech recognition product,” according to the company.