Garmin has received certification of its G5000 integrated flight deck for Cessna Citation XLS+ and XLS Gen2 aircraft, building upon the successful G5000 upgrade programme for Citation Excel and XLS aircraft. The G5000 integrated avionics suite modernises the cockpit with additional capabilities, significantly reduces operational costs, increases situational awareness of the flight crew and solves long-term concerns related to legacy avionics parts obsolescence.

“This is a significant achievement for Garmin and our customers,” says Carl Wolf, vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “We are thrilled to expand our G5000 programme, offering a cutting-edge avionics suite that provides safety-enhancing tools, situational awareness and operational efficiency to now over 1,000 eligible aircraft. With this certification, we are also bringing even more advanced features and capabilities to the Citation Excel and XLS fleet, ensuring these aircraft remain at the forefront of technology for years to come.”

The G5000 integrated flight deck for the Citation XLS+ and XLS Gen2 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. Two 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. New with the G5000 for the XLS+ and XLS Gen2, two GI 275 electronic flight instruments can be used as standby ADIs.

Installation of the G5000 for the Citation XLS+ and XLS Gen2 includes a fully digital Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS). The AFCS offers precise performance throughout the aircraft's flight envelope and helps manage speed and performance.

The system also includes Emergency Descent Mode (EDM) as a standard feature. In the event an aircraft loses cabin pressurisation, EDM is capable of automatically descending the aircraft to a preset altitude without pilot intervention to help avert hypoxic situations. Underspeed protection (USP) allows the autopilot to assist with airspeed management, while also enabling fully coupled go-arounds, greatly reducing crew workload. Additionally, operators gain access to more airports and lower approach minimums throughout the world as the G5000 is PBN/RNP 0.3 certified, enabling LPV/APV approach capability.

Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT) has been upgraded to include a 3D exocentric view of the airport environment to aid situational awareness while taxiing. SVT also displays 3D building footprints including hangars, terminals and towers, taxiways, aprons, signs and other markings to help reduce runway incursions by providing better situational awareness while taxiing at airports contained in the SafeTaxi database. Significant updates to SVT have added features such as increased topographical clarity, sharpened water and terrain boundaries, improved obstacle and powerlines display, enhanced runway and airport sign depiction and more.

Taxiway Routing, a new feature from Garmin, allows the flight crew to use the touchscreen controller to enter taxi routes, which then provides guidance on the 2D navigational maps or 3D SVT depictions. SurfaceWatch runway monitoring technology complements TOLD calculations to provide indications and alerts designed to help prevent pilots from taking off or landing on the wrong runway, a runway that is too short or a taxiway. It also displays the remaining runway distance information on the PFD during the takeoff roll and landing rollout.

The G5000 upgrade for the Citation XLS+ and XLS Gen2 comes with a fully integrated Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) solution that's DO-260B/TSO C166b compliant and utilises antenna diversity, which satisfies all current global mandates. ADS-B In traffic data is analysed by Garmin's recently announced Runway Occupancy Awareness (ROA) technology, which alerts the crew of potential runway incursions with nearby airborne aircraft, aircraft on the ground and ground vehicles. ADS-B In includes subscription-free Flight Information Service-Broadcast (FIS-B) weather and ADS-B In traffic, which offers exclusive features like TargetTrend.

The flight crew is provided a more complete weather picture using the GWX 8000 StormOptix weather radar with auto mode, eliminating the requirement to manually adjust the radar and resulting in easier weather interpretation and a more simplified operation. The GWX 8000 StormOptix weather radar includes hail and lightning detection and is available with a predictive windshear warning system.

Using a 4G LTE cellular or wi-fi connection provided by the optional GDL 60 datalink, Garmin's PlaneSync connected aircraft management system will automate database updates, provide real-time remote aircraft status and automatically transmit flight log and engine data to the cloud after landing. With Connext global datalink services, operators can receive worldwide satellite weather coverage, voice calling, email and text messaging. Additionally, SiriusXM satellite weather and audio entertainment links are incorporated into the upgrade. With FANS-1/A+ and ACARS support in the G5000 upgrade, XLS+ and XLS Gen2 owners meet the requirements to fly the North Atlantic Track System (NATS). The upgrade also supports CPDLC, including Link 2000+ and FAA DataComm, for departure clearance (DCL) and enroute datalink services.

Both existing and new G5000 Excel, XLS, XLS+ and XLS Gen2 operators can take advantage of Garmin's new enhanced G5000 optional features, which include upgraded SVT with 3D SafeTaxi, Taxiway Routing, GWX 8000 StormOptix weather radar, ADS-B In and PlaneSync connected aircraft management.