On the opening day of EBACE Textron Aviation announced that the standard avionics package for its entire King Air lineup would be the Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion suite. The flagship King Air 350 and popular King Air 250 will get the new flight decks by this summer, and the C90GTX will get it later this year.
The decision to go with Fusion is an interesting one, as Beechcraft’s sibling company, Cessna, has moved toward an all-Garmin avionics fleet, with many models being outfitted with Garmin’s latest touch controlled packages, the G3000 on the lighter side, from the Citation M2 to the CJ3+, and G5000 for larger jets, including the Sovereign+, Latitude and X+.
Unlike the Garmin displays, the PFD and MFDs in the Fusion suite feature touchscreen displays. Garmin’s displays can be controlled by touch controllers, but the displays themselves are not touch-active. The three King Air models had previously been outfitted with the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics package.
The new Fusion package features a trio of 14-inch displays and will, says Rockwell Collins, “provide the backbone” for future enhancements, including a compact head-up guidance system, infrared vision and airport taxi utilities.
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