Garmin GNS 400W/500W Series Receives WAAS Certification
December 12, 2006 // Published as a news service by IHS
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Garmin International announced its GNS 400/500 series earned the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) TSO C146a Gamma-3 certification, which enables pilots to fly lateral-precision with vertical (LPV) guidance approaches and receive global positioning system (GPS) navigation via the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).
The FAA also granted approved model list (AML) supplemental type certificate (STC) approval, which enables the 400W/500W equipment to be installed on more 980 makes and models of aircraft.
The GNS 400/500W series joins the G1000 and GNS 480 in providing WAAS-enabled navigation for aircraft.
"All 75,000 Garmin GNS 400/500 series products currently in the field can upgrade to WAAS," said Gary Kelley, Garmin vice president of marketing.
"We expect the number of WAAS-equipped aircraft to increase quickly, and pilots will be able to operate to and from airports that would otherwise be unavailable to them in marginal weather."
The certification and AML STC approval will enable GNS 400/500 series panel-mount avionics owners to upgrade their products to meet FAA WAAS standards without a field approval. (The AML STC data is intended to provide complete FAA approved data for a large subset of CAR3/FAR23 aircraft; however, if the aircraft does not pre-qualify for the AML STC standards, additional means of airworthiness approval will be required, Garmin said.)
These upgrades include 5 hertz (Hz) position updates, faster map redraws, fully coupled and guided procedure turns and holding patterns, and increased XM weather content, according to Garmin.
The Garmin GNS 400W/500W series uses satellite-based navaids for precise lateral and vertical approach guidance - similar to instrument landing system (ILS) operations - without the need for ground-based navaids. The Gamma-3 level of certification enables pilots to fly the FAA new LPV approaches. The FAA published more than 600 LPV and 5,500 WAAS approach procedures.
The WAAS system was designed to improve the accuracy, reliability and integrity of the GPS signal. GPS-WAAS navigators that meet FAA WAAS regulations may be used for sole means of navigation for all phases of flight, including en route through precision approach at airports. With WAAS LPV approaches, pilots have stabilized lateral and vertical navigation and will be able to navigate as low as 200 feet above the runway end under instrument flight rules.
Garmin panel mount avionics have been installed on nearly three-fourths of all U.S. single and twin-engine piston and turbine aircraft retrofitted since 2000. In 2004, Garmin announced its GNS 480 was the first GPS navigator in the industry to earn a TSO C146a Gamma-3 certification.
Source: Garmin International.