Competition in the market for modern flight deck upgrades in earlier-generation jets is heating up, with Garmin announcing an STC upgrade to install a G5000 touchscreen-controlled flight deck in the Citation Excel and XLS. The upgrade will be available from select Garmin dealers and Textron Aviation service centers and will also reduce the basic operating weight by about 200 pounds. FAA approval is planned in late 2018. The G5000 avionics replace the Excel/XLS’s Honeywell Primus 1000 flight deck.

The upgrade includes Garmin’s digital automatic flight control system with emergency descent feature, coupled WAAS/SBAS approaches (PBN/RNP 0.3 with LPV/APV approach capability), vertical navigation and flight level change modes as well as optional underspeed protection and fully coupled go-around capability.

Two touchscreen controllers manage three 14-inch high-resolution displays in landscape orientation, and the engine indication array appears on the center MFD. The displays offer Garmin’s multi-pane layout, which can be customized by each pilot to show maps, charts, checklists, TAWS, TCAS, flight plan information, weather and more, according to Garmin. Buyers can opt for Chartview (Jeppesen) terminal charts; Garmin’s FliteCharts and SafeTaxi diagrams are standard. ADS-B out is also standard, as is TAWS-A alerting.

Geographical map overlay is available for display within the HSI on the PFD, according to Garmin, and charts are georeferenced and can be viewed on all three 14-inch displays.

Some of the options that buyers can add to the upgrade include: synthetic vision, Connext wireless cockpit connectivity, turbulence detection and ground clutter-suppression digital weather radar, windshear alerting, SiriusXM weather, global weather and text/voice via Iridium satcom, active and passive traffic surveillance using TCAS II/ACAS II technology, SurfaceWatch runway advisories, and Data Comm, including Link 2000+ and CPDLC.

“The G5000 upgrade offers lower cost of operation, exceeds modern airspace initiatives and solves parts obsolescence among the Citation Excel/XLS with zero-time avionics,” Garmin noted.