Garmin's G600 - An All-in-One Device for Pilots

Garmin International Inc., division of Garmin Ltd., has recently launched the G600, an innovative avionics suite designed specifically for the retrofit aircraft market, during the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture Fly-In located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The G600 is said to replace traditional mechanical gyroscopic flight instruments with a solid state Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) for superior reliability and accuracy, as Garmin's AHRS features rapid alignment while moving, including in-flight dynamic restarts.

G600 incorporates two individual displays - a 6.5-inch (diagonal) PFD and a 6.5-inch (diagonal) MFD with VGA resolution - in a customized package designed for easy retrofit installation. The G600 is designed to communicate and integrate with Garmin's panel mount products, and provides essential information such as attitude, air data, weather, terrain, and traffic.

Building on the main features of the G1000 integrated avionics series, the G600 has multiple features and functions that dramatically reduce pilot workload. The G600 combines critical flight data and displays it in a digital format on dual LCD displays.

"The G600 lets owners of existing aircraft upgrade their avionics panel from steam gauges to a modern glass cockpit," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing. "With its outstanding features, easy operation, and the finest situational awareness, the G600 makes a glass cockpit an affordable option for thousands of aircraft owners."

The bezel framing the G600's PFD and MFD (10"w x 6.7"h) allows for easy installation into the existing instrument panel in most aircraft. The system is designed to take the space that is currently occupied by the instrument six-pack (attitude, airspeed, altitude, vertical rate, turn coordinator and directional gyro).

The G600 also provides a user interface for the more than 170 channels of XM audio and the manufacturer's newest technology - the SafeTaxi, which provides pilots with detailed diagrams of over 650 airports so that they can navigate unfamiliar taxiways. More precisely, these electronic charts identify runways, taxiways, and structures, and are geo-referenced to the aircraft's exact position on the field.

The main features of Garmin's latest product include interfaces with Garmin navigators for GPS, flight plan and navigation data, display for TIS and various TAS and TCAS systems, solid-state Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) with tri-axial magnetometer, worldwide terrain and U.S. obstacle database, Digital Air Data Computer and optional Class-B Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS).

Real-time weather is also available as an option via XM WX Satellite Weather (U.S. only) through Garmin's GDL 69 or GDL 69A, as the graphical weather illustrations of NEXRAD, METARs, TAFs, TFRs, winds aloft, echo tops, precipitation type at the surface, lightning strikes, storm-cell data, AIRMETs, and SIGMETs. The weather data may be received directly over Jeppesen and topographic map databases.

The G600 includes the GDU 620 display/control unit, GRS 77 AHRS, GDC 74A digital air data computer, GMU 44 tri-axial magnetometer, and GTP 59 temp probe. The G600 will be available in mid-2007 at a suggested retail price of $29,772.