Garmin International has certification of the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck upgrade for the King Air C90, that gives aircraft owners and operators a wealth of new features, capabilities and added utility all within a modern flight deck. King Air C90 owners and operators can easily upgrade from the G1000 with minimal aircraft downtime and installation labour.

“As the popularity and demand for the G1000 NXi continues to grow, we're excited to expand the availability of this upgrade to even more aircraft,” says vice president of aviation sales and marketing Carl Wolf. “It is an advanced flight deck that adds modern features such as wireless connectivity, visual approach guidance, SurfaceWatch, HSI map and more, all of which add tremendous value and advanced capability into existing King Air C90 aircraft.”

Flight Stream 510 and Connext technology within the integrated flight deck enables Database Concierge, the wireless transfer of aviation databases from the Garmin Pilot app on a mobile device to the G1000 NXi. Additional features include two-way flight plan transfer, the sharing of traffic, weather, GPS information, back-up attitude information and more, between the G1000 NXi and the Garmin Pilot, FltPlan Go and ForeFlight Mobile applications.

Visual approach guidance and map overlay within the horizontal situation indicator (HSI) further enhance its feature set. Within the HSI map, pilots can overlay NEXRAD, Flight Information Service-Broadcast (FIS-B) weather, weather radar, SafeTaxi airport diagrams, traffic, terrain and more. NEXRAD weather radar imagery can be overlaid on the moving map and animated on the multifunction display. Split screen view is also available, offering a simultaneous view of maps, charts, checklists, flight plans and more on a single screen. The addition of sectional charts and IFR low/high enroute charts give pilots convenient access to chart data on the flight display.

The G1000 NXi also supports the display of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) In traffic and subscription-free Flight Information Service-Broadcast (FIS-B) weather. The addition of SurfaceWatch runway monitoring technology provides visual and aural cues to help prevent pilots from taking off or landing on a taxiway, on a runway that is too short or on the wrong runway based on performance data entered during preflight. Visual and audible runway distance remaining annunciations are also available via SurfaceWatch.

Modernised displays offer improved readability, while processors provide smoother panning throughout the displays and faster map rendering. Because the flight displays initialise in seconds, pilots have immediate access to frequencies, flight plan data and more, saving valuable time in the cockpit. It also incorporates contemporary animations and new LED back lighting, offering increased display brightness and clarity, reduced power consumption and improved dimming performance.

This upgrade adds to the growing portfolio of aircraft eligible for the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck upgrade, including the King Air 200/300/350, Daher TBM 850/900, Cessna Citation Mustang, Piper PA-46 and soon, the Embraer Phenom 100. Garmin says that aircraft owners and operators can easily upgrade to the G1000 NXi with little aircraft down time and disruption of the panel because the displays preserve the same footprint and connectors, so panel and wiring modifications are minimised.

The G1000 NXi upgrade for the King Air C90 is available immediately through select Garmin dealers.