Garmin Completes 1st Flight of the Beechjet 400A Featuring G5000

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), celebrated the maiden flight of the Beechjet 400A featuring the G5000 Integrated Flight Deck. This marks a significant step towards completion of the G5000 upgrade for the popular Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP. The G5000 modernizes the cockpit, increases aircraft utility, provides additional weight savings, exceeds NextGen requirements and solves parts obsolescence, giving operators superior avionics capability and increasing value of their aircraft.

“Owners and operators of Beechjet aircraft continue to show excitement for a Garmin-inspired cockpit in their aircraft,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin’s vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “This G5000 Flight Deck modernization program provides pilots with advanced technology and capability on an aircraft that owners have grown to love. Pilots will appreciate the simplified user interface, which provides quick access to information to enable better decision-making in the cockpit.”

The 63-minute flight took place late in the afternoon on Tuesday, September 16 th at New Century AirCenter (KIXD) near Olathe, Kansas. The crew performed an initial checkout of the G5000 system and its flight instruments. During the flight, the crew also engaged and evaluated the autopilot and yaw damper. The Garmin flight test team was pleased with the initial flight as the G5000 performed as anticipated.

“The maiden flight of the Beechjet 400A is a significant leap forward in flight management and integrated flight deck technology,” said Phil Straub, vice president managing director of aviation. “We are pleased with the results of the flight test, as all systems performed as expected. Congratulations to the entire team on this major accomplishment.”

The Garmin G5000 Integrated Flight Deck for the Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP features three high-resolution 12-inch flight displays along with two touch screen display/controllers, which serve as the primary crew interface to the system. Charts are available across all three displays, including geo-referenced Garmin SafeTaxi ® airport diagrams, FliteCharts™ terminal procedures or optional Garmin ChartView powered by Jeppesen. The G5000 offers PBN/RNP 0.3 with LPV/APV approach capability, so owners and operators have access to even more airports throughout the world.

Superior flight control technology is available from Garmin’s integrated autopilot, which works seamlessly with the G5000 system. A fully digital, dual channel, fail passive Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) offers added capability including, coupled wide area augmentation system (WAAS/SBAS) approaches, vertical navigation and flight level change (FLC) modes. Safety-enhancing autopilot underspeed protection (USP) allows the autopilot system to assist with airspeed management. Coupled go-arounds are enabled by this technology, which greatly reduces pilot workload during critical phases of flight.

The new Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP flight deck features a number of safety enhancements, including Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT™) as an option, which presents a 3D depiction of virtual terrain, obstacles, traffic and the runway environment so that the image on the display replicates what the pilot would see outside the cockpit on a clear day. SVT works seamlessly to alert pilots of potential ground hazards by displaying terrain and obstacles that pose a threat to the aircraft with appropriate Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) alert coloring, as well as voice alerts. The G5000 system also provides TAWS-B alerting as standard with optional TAWS-A, offering alerts such as excessive closure rate and large glideslope deviations.

With the G5000, owners and operators are equipped with cutting-edge avionics, which meet and exceed industry requirements. This upgrade includes several key NextGen/SESAR components such as Automatic Dependence Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), as well as support for Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) operations. Garmin Connext™ services provide Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP owners and operators optional access to worldwide weather, voice calling and text messaging within the G5000 Integrated Flight Deck. The G5000 further supports a wide array of additional options, including advanced airborne weather radar capabilities such as turbulence detection, ground clutter suppression as well as SiriusXM Satellite Weather for the U.S. and Canada.

The new Beechjet 400A and Hawker 400XP flight deck is estimated to provide a weight savings of 150 pounds, allowing owners and operators additional payload flexibility. Furthermore, the G5000 is supported by Garmin’s award-winning aviation support team, which provides 24/7 worldwide technical and warranty support.