Garmin, headquartered in Olathe, Kansas, announced on Jan. 31 that its GFC 600 autopilot is now certified for King Air 200 aircraft. The FAA Supplemental Type Certification (STC) allows King Air 200 owners to upgrade their autopilot and allows retrofitting of all-Garmin scalable avionics.
The GFC 600 autopilot, similar to the GFC 700, is used on single-engine and multi-engine high-performance aircraft and jet aircraft. Its basic features include altitude hold, vertical speed and heading modes, and the GFC 600 also includes altitude preset, VNAV1, level mode, underspeed and overspeed protection, and more still,” according to the company.
“Pilots can also select, pair and fly various instrument approaches, including GPS, ILS, VOR, LOC and return course approaches when paired with a compatible GPS navigator,” Garmin said.
GPS features can assist pilots with missed approaches, a straight and level autopilot function available at the touch of a button, and underspeed and overspeed protections to help prevent stalls and exceeding maximum structural speeds. Premium features include speed hold mode and pre-select trim options.
“As a standard feature, pilots receive Garmin Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP) with GFC 600 digital autopilot, which helps the pilot keep the aircraft in stable flight condition,” Garmin said in a statement. “ESP works independently of the autopilot and works in the background to help pilots avoid inadvertent flight attitudes or bank angles, and can help provide speed protection while the pilot is hand-flying the aircraft.”
The GFC 600 includes six variants, and Garmin says it will continue to work towards getting FAA approval for more aircraft models for autopilot over the next year.
