Garmin announced on Wednesday that 10 percent of the Cessna Citation Excel and XLS business jet fleet has now been retrofitted with the company’s G5000 integrated flight deck upgrade. As previously reported by AVweb, the G5000 Citation Excel/XLS retrofit program was introduced in 2016 and received STC approval two years ago. According to Garmin, the G5000 upgrade provides a way to modernize the Excel/XLS cockpit and solve “long-term concerns related to legacy avionics parts obsolescence.”
“Offering an unprecedented level of situational awareness, the G5000 also yields a significantly lower cost of operation and delivers an exceptional in-flight experience making it an attractive upgrade in these popular aircraft,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “We look forward to growing the success of this program further so even more owners and operators can continue to experience the benefits of the G5000 integrated flight deck in the cockpit.”
The G5000 setup for the Excel and XLS features three landscape-oriented flight displays with split-screen capability. Installation includes a fully digital automatic flight control system (AFCS), emergency descent mode (EDM) and optional underspeed protection (USP). It also offers fully integrated ADS-B Out, PBN/RNP 0.3 with LPV/APV approach capability and FAA Data Comm with options for synthetic vision technology, SurfaceWatch and datalink weather.
