Garmin International is expecting imminent EASA approval of the G5000 flight deck for the Cessna Citation Excel and Citation XLS aircraft. Providing an exceptional experience for European owners and operators, the G5000 integrated avionics suite modernises the cockpit with additional capabilities, significantly reduces operational costs and increases situational awareness of the flight crew.

“Working alongside EASA, we are thrilled to bring this complete flight deck solution to the European market and further expand the G5000 upgrade programme for the Citation Excel and Citation XLS fleet,” says vice president of aviation sales and marketing Carl Wolf. “Since the programme's certification three years ago, well over 100 Excel and XLS aircraft have committed to upgrading with G5000, including aircraft from charter and fractional provider flyExclusive. We are gratified with the success thus far and look forward to continuing along that steady growth path following the EASA certification.”

The G5000 integrated flight deck for the Citation Excel/XLS features three landscape-oriented flight displays with split-screen capability, allowing pilots to simultaneously view maps, charts, checklists, TAWS, TCAS, flight plan information, weather and more. Electronic charts and Garmin SafeTaxi airport diagrams are geo-referenced and can be viewed across all three displays. Intuitive touchscreen controllers serve as the pilot interface to the flight deck and contribute to the ease of operation and seamless transition between various pages.

Installation of the G5000 on the Citation Excel/XLS includes a fully digital Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS), offering precise performance throughout the aircraft’s flight envelope. The system also includes Emergency Descent Mode (EDM) as a standard feature that can be enabled by the autopilot in the event of a loss in aircraft pressurisation. Underspeed protection (USP) is an optional feature that allows the autopilot to assist with airspeed management, while also enabling fully coupled go-arounds, greatly reducing pilot workload.

The G5000 upgrade for the Citation Excel/XLS comes with a fully integrated Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out solution that is FAA and EASA rule-compliant. Additionally, operators gain access to more airports and lower approach minimums throughout the world as the G5000 has PBN/RNP 0.3 with LPV/APV approach capability.

This upgrade also offers additional options such as synthetic vision technology (SVT), which presents a 3D virtual depiction of terrain, obstacles, traffic and the runway environment; SurfaceWatch, which provides visual and aural cues to help prevent pilots from taking off and landing on a taxiway, on a runway that is too short or on the wrong runway based on performance data entered during preflight; Datalink weather, including access to global weather products and text/voice communication through the Iridium satellite network; advanced Doppler weather radar features, including ground clutter suppression and turbulence detection; and FANS-1/A+ and ACARS support, meeting requirements to fly the North Atlantic Track System (NATS).