Garmin is putting a "W" on its best-selling GNS400/500-series GPS-based navigation systems after receiving US Federal Aviation Administration approval to use the wide-area augmentation system (WAAS). The GNS400W/500W meet stringent "sole means" criteria for using GPS/WAAS from en route to precision approach.
WAAS allows pilots to fly lateral precision with vertical guidance (LPV) approaches to altitudes as low as 200ft (61m), says Garmin, which says the FAA has so far approved more than 600 LPV and 5,500 WAAS approach procedures.
Garmin has also received supplemental type certification allowing 400W/500W units to be installed in more than 980 makes and models of aircraft, enabling owners of the 75,000 panel-mounted systems in service to upgrade their equipment. A software update due in the first quarter will allow systems to be certificated for primary means GPS navigation, it says.
Mooney Aircraft, meanwhile, has received FAA certification for Garmin's GFC700 autopilot in its Acclaim, Ovation 2GX and Ovation 3 high-performance piston singles. The GFC 700 is a three-axis, dual-channel, fail-passive digital automatic flight-control system, with pitch and Mach trim among its features.
Source: Flight International
