Avionics News September 2017 - 18

STRAIGHTENING UP TO FLY RIGHT
Continued from page 17

The GFC 500 uses a single G5 PFD as the attitude
source for this attitude-based autopilot; a second G5
configured as a directional gyro adds depth to the
capabilities and control options of the GFC 500. And
the autopilot also employs the Smart Servos that give
the G3X its autopilot capabilities.
As a package, they work seamlessly to produce
smooth flight, altitude captures and even coupled
LPV approaches. But the main appeal in these two
new autopilot systems is their sophisticated, allencompassing features set.
Garmin's GFC 600 and GFC 500 flight-control
packages both incorporate a number of safetyenhancing technologies designed to help pilots return
to controlled flight in the event of an inadvertent
departure from controlled flight - or excess bank
angles in turns.
"As a longtime disruptor in the industry, we are
excited to transform the market by bringing two gamechanging autopilots to a broad spectrum of general
aviation," said Carl Wolf, Garmin vice president of
aviation sales and marketing. "With these autopilots,
we're addressing head-on what the NTSB has
highlighted as a significant contributing factor in GA
aircraft accidents - loss of control.
"Incorporating key safety benefits such as ESP,
underspeed protection, Level Mode and many more,
the GFC 600 and GFC 500 provide pilots with a bestin-class feature set compared to any other autopilot on
the market."
Autopilot advances part 1:
Envelope Protection
First up in the features list for both, we offer
Garmin's Electronic Stability and Protection, or ESP.
This is a hands-off feature in that it's always available.
ESP works in the background, independent of
the autopilot, to help pilots avoid inadvertent flight
attitudes that lead to loss-of-control accidents, while
also providing airspeed protection whenever the pilot
is hand-flying the aircraft.
It works this way: Should the pilot, for whatever
reason, inadvertently and exceed pre-determined pitch,
roll or airspeed limitations, ESP kicks in to lessen the
18

avionics news

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september

2017

aircraft's pitch attitude or bank angle by providing the
pilot with a gentle nudge on the flight controls - you
can feel it in the stick or yoke. That corrective force
strengthens if the aircraft's pitch, bank or airspeed
exceedance grows further away from the preset limits.
And there's more here.
Should the pilot become incapacitated - which the
system detects as ESP being activated for an extended
period of time - the autopilot engages with the Flight
Director in Level Mode, bringing the aircraft to level
flight until the pilot commands otherwise.
Conversely, in the pattern or whenever the aircraft
flies within 200 feet of the ground - where ESP might
unduly fight the pilot's input - the GFC software
automatically disables ESP. And ESP can be manually
disabled for maneuvering flight.
Next, we saw in action the underspeed protection, or
USP, which acts to prevent the autopilot from stalling
the aircraft. Smooth and easy, it pushes the nose down
to maintain an airspeed above stall speed.
The counterpart to USP is OSP - overspeed
protection. Overspeed protection works to prevent the
aircraft from exceeding Vne - the velocity never to
exceed of an aircraft.
In Flight Director mode, the G5 or other compatible
attitude indicator or other PFD displays command bars
to show required pitch/roll commands needed to track
the active vertical and lateral references selected by
the pilot.
LOC-I avoidance: Push-button upset
recovery with Level Function - LVL Mode
Garmin pioneered this advanced function years
ago with the introduction of the GFC 700 in G1000equipped "Cirrus Perspective by Garmin" cockpits. As
fast as they could, competitors began pursuing their
own versions of this helper with lifesaving potential.
The little blue Level Mode - marked LVL -
automatically engages the autopilot to restore the
aircraft to straight-and-level flight should the pilot feel
control of the aircraft slipping beyond reach, or in the
instance of spatial disorientation and any other time
when controlled flight feels threatened.
From every demonstration in my experience, it
works - and works well.
Continued on page 20



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News September 2017

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Avionics News September 2017 - Intro
Avionics News September 2017 - No label
Avionics News September 2017 - Cover2
Avionics News September 2017 - 1
Avionics News September 2017 - 2
Avionics News September 2017 - 3
Avionics News September 2017 - 4
Avionics News September 2017 - 5
Avionics News September 2017 - 6
Avionics News September 2017 - 7
Avionics News September 2017 - 8
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Avionics News September 2017 - Cover3
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