Garmin International has celebrated the delivery of its 750th G1000/G1000 NXi integrated flight deck upgrade for King Air aircraft. Certified and introduced in 2007, the G1000 retrofit programme modernised the King Air cockpit by providing operators with enhanced operational benefits and increased aircraft utility, while also offering significant weight savings and a lower cost of operation. Its successor, the G1000 NXi, carries on the lineage and success with an even faster, more modernised and lighter avionics suite.

From fleet workhorses to individual operators, G1000/G1000 NXi installations have been completed on a variety of King Air aircraft that has grown to include the King Air C90A/B, 200, B200, 300 and 350 series. The milestone G1000 NXi retrofit was installed by Stevens Aerospace and Defense in Greenville, South Carolina in a King Air B200C operated by the US Army, a long time Garmin customer. This upgrade allows the US Army to take advantage of the scalable G1000 NXi platform, including the new mission-specific capabilities recently certified for the King Air G1000 NXi upgrade.

“The global acceptance of the G1000/G1000 NXi King Air upgrade has made it the most successful integrated flight deck retrofit for this family of aircraft,” says vice president of aviation sales and marketing Carl Wolf. “We'd like to thank our talented and trusted worldwide dealer network, which has helped us achieve such a tremendous milestone, and extend our humbled appreciation to the US Army for its trust in Garmin. We look forward to continuing to grow the success of the G1000 NXi integrated flight deck retrofit in the King Air cockpit to even more owners and operators around the world.”

The G1000 integrated flight deck revolutionised the King Air cockpit by incorporating key benefits like Synthetic Vision Technology, Electronic Stability and Protection with the coupled go-around feature, geo-referenced approach charts, datalink weather and more. As a complete retrofit, this upgrade solved parts obsolescence among the King Air fleet with state-of-the-art zero-time avionics and provides an estimated weight savings of 250 pounds or more compared to the original system, allowing additional baggage, passenger and fuel load flexibility.

Building on the success of the G1000 retrofit programme, the G1000 NXi offers modernised flight displays that support faster map rendering and smoother panning throughout the primary flight display and multifunction display. Features like wireless cockpit connectivity, including wireless aviation database updates using Garmin Flight Stream 510, visual approach capability, enhanced situational awareness with SurfaceWatch and more, are all available. Modernised situational awareness tools such as geographical map overlay within the HSI and visual approaches add to the G1000 NXi feature set. Additionally, King Air owners and operators with an existing G1000 integrated flight deck can upgrade to the G1000 NXi with minimal aircraft down time and disruption to the panel as the displays preserve the same footprint and wiring harness connections.

Garmin has made additional upgrades and investments to the supplemental type certificate to support the US Army aircraft, including the TA-24 third-party GPS and the APX-119 IFF transponder interface as well as additional aircraft-specific system integrations.