Garmin International has announced that the company received an STC from the FAA for the GFC 700 autopilot for Raytheon's Beechcraft Bonanza G36.

"The integration of the GFC 700 with the G1000 is seamless and pilots will be amazed at its rich feature set and high level of performance in handling the aircraft," said Gary Kelley, Garmin's vice president of marketing.

"Today's announcement is an historic day for us and for general aviation. In addition to being the first entirely new autopilot designed and certified in the 21st century for this class of airplane, the GFC 700 marks the first time general aviation pilots will have the option of flying with a completely integrated cockpit -- where every element of the avionics panel was designed to communicate with each other for the purpose of reducing pilot workload and enhancing safety of flight."

As general aviation's first and only fully integrated avionics system, the GFC 700 is capable of using all of the data available to the G1000. This includes the ability to maintain airspeed references and to optimize performance over the entire airspeed envelope.

"We are very pleased to be the first manufacturer to offer Garmin's autopilot on the G1000 equipped Bonanza G36," said Randy Groom, Beechcraft president and general manager.

"No other four- or six-seat aircraft provides such a combination of performance, comfort and integrated avionics."

The Garmin G1000 integrates all primary flight, navigation, communication, terrain, traffic, weather, engine instrumentation, and crew-alerting system data and presents the composite information in brilliant, sunlight-readable color on two 10.4-inch, high-definition displays.

Following are some of the standard system components and features of the G1000 on the Beechcraft Bonanza G36:

• The primary flight display (PFD) replaces many of the traditional cockpit instruments and presents this information in an integrated fashion on a large-format display, and the multi-function display (MFD) puts all aircraft-systems monitoring and flight-planning functions at the pilot's fingertips
• Integrated solid-state Attitude and Heading Reference System, which can align while in motion, including in-flight dynamic restarts
• Integrated digital air-data computer
• Integrated engine-monitoring display
• Integrated three-axis automatic flight control system
• Integrated Mode S transponder with Traffic Information Service
• Dual integrated radio modules that provide WAAS-upgradeable IFR oceanic-approved GPS; VHF navigation with ILS; and VHF communication with 16-watt transceivers and 8.33-kHz channel spacing
• Integrated Class-B Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) with worldwide terrain and obstacle database
• Integrated satellite weather datalink and digital-quality audio via XM Satellite Radio
• Integrated digital audio control system
• Integrated design with reversionary capabilities, allowing all flight-critical data to transfer seamlessly to a single display for added safety during flight

FMI: www.garmin.com