Century Avionics dual Garmin G600 Txi King Air upgrade
The main objective for the installation was to remove the original analogue mostly vacuum driven gauges and install a more reliable solid-state glass cockpit. This provides for vastly improved situational awareness, reliability and minimising downtime.
The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft, now Textron.The Super King Air family has been in continuous production since 1974, the longest production run of any civilian turboprop aircraft in its class and is the most widespread turboprop business aircraft in the world, with more than 7,300 King Airs and Super King Airs having been delivered by May 2018. Surpassing 60 million flight hours in commercial, military and special mission roles, King Airs are operated in more than 94 countries. Almost 53% of the aircraft delivered have been from the 200/300 series family. More than 1,800 King Air 200 series have been delivered during more than 40 years of production.
What made this installation project unique?
This was Century Avionics’ second dual Garmin G-600TXI installation into a Beechcraft King Air B200.The other highlight of this project was the removal of the instrument panel and all its analogue gauges and replacing them with digital displays. During the process, all the old analogue avionics’ wiring was completely removed which was a great weight saving. This is a huge advantage for this aircraft. The installation of the modern Garmin suite allows the pilots to fly GPS based approaches as well as see both ADBS traffic and non-ADBS traffic all in front of them on 10-inch screens. The project started on 1 November 2019 and was completed on 21 February 2020.
What equipment was installed?
• Dual G600 TXi: 10-inch display with AHRS (pilot panel): Garmin G600 TXi Touch Screen GDU 1060 PFD / MFD, LRU kit, G600 TXi, remote AHRS, data card, TXi database kit and product information
• Additional hardware: GAD-43e gyro adapter, standard
• Enablements: G600 SD card - chart view enablement
• Garmin audio options: GMA-35c Garmin digital Bluetooth audio panel / marker beacon and six place intercoms
• Dual GTN 750: GPS / NAV / COMM with GA-35 WAAS antenna
• Bluetooth connect: Flight Stream 510 Connext
• Garmin Radar: GWX-75 Garmin 10-inch radar system
• Garmin Traffic GTS-855/ GTX-335 TCAS I System: TCAS I, GTS-855, Traffic Processor GA-58 and GA-58 antenna with TNC connector
• GTX-335R + GTX-345R transponder ADSB Out and ADSB In / Out
• Standby instruments: MD-302 Mid-Continent attitude, altitude, airspeed, slip, internal backup battery
• USB charging port: GSB-15, Garmin USB charging port
Did Century Avionics encounter any problems whilst working on the project?
Yes, it did. It encountered an autopilot interface difficulty due to the existing autopilot being an analogue system, but all Century Avionics’ resources and expertise were used to resolve this issue.
What was the customer’s response?
The customer was excited by the significantly improved functionality and situational awareness as well as the detail of the complete panel upgrade. The Century Avionics’ team was happy about the result of the transformation from the old instrument panel to the new panel, whilst receiving positive feedback from the customer. A big thank you and well done to the entire team of Century Avionics’installers and technicians for making this project a complete success: They were: Ashiek Ajam, Junior Maponya, Luke Muirhead and CJ Woller.
For more information please contact Century Avionics
Tel: +27 11 701 3244
E-mail: salesadmin1@centuryavionics.co.za
Website: www.centuryavionics.co.za