FAA approval of Garmin’s formerly experimental-only G5 electronic flight instrument in certified airplanes represented one of the first examples of a relaxation of regulations aimed at bringing lower-cost safety gear to more airplanes.
The G5 display is designed to replace failure-prone mechanical gyro-driven attitude indicators as a standalone primary source of aircraft attitude and turn coordination information. The STC, awarded last year, comprises an approved model list containing hundreds of individual GA aircraft models.
Approved for flight under VFR and IFR conditions, the unit integrates with the airplane’s existing pitot-static system to display attitude, airspeed, altitude, vertical speed and much more, and an also be used as an HSI/DG, making it a very strong contender for the first-ever Flying Innovation Award, which we’ll hand out at Oshkosh later this month.
The Garmin G5 display is vying for the prize against five other contenders including the Piper M600, HondaJet, Dynon D10A flight display and SiriusXM SXAR1 portable satellite weather data receiver.
