Hawker Beechcraft’s King Air twin turboprop continues to be a popular airplane around the world, and now European owners of the 200 and B200 models can retrofit their cockpit with the Garmin G1000 panel. “Receiving EASA validation is an important milestone for Garmin’s G1000 retrofit program, and we believe it will be a popular avionics upgrade for owners and operators,” said Gary Kelley, Garmin’s vice president of marketing. The panel installation creates a weight savings of 200 pounds. It includes one 15-inch multi-function display and two 10.4-inch primary flight displays. The retrofit already is FAA-approved for the C90 and 200 series King Airs, and Garmin says it should also get the FAA OK later this year for the 300 and 350 series.
The G1000 installation on the King Air 200/B200 includes a three-axis automatic flight control system, coupled space-based augmentation system approaches, terrain awareness and warning system, and dual integrated solid-state attitude and heading reference systems. The STC also includes approval for Garmin’s synthetic vision technology. Available as an option is a ChartView feature that overlays the aircraft’s position on an electronic version of Jeppesen’s charts and airport diagrams. The G1000 is the standard panel for Cessna’s Citation Mustang jets.
