Upgraded Avionics Suites Installed On Baron 55s

Cutter Aviation at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport recently announced its first installation of the new G600 retrofit glass cockpit solution by Garmin. The Cutter avionics team completed the retrofit on a Beechcraft Baron 55 on Friday, September 5... and reports the G600 performed flawlessly through all test flights and delivery to the owner.

A second G600 retrofit Baron 55 was completed on Monday, and three additional aircraft are currently in process.

The Garmin G600 was first unveiled at AirVenture 2006, as ANN reported. Cutter calls the retrofit panel a perfect solution for owners looking for the enhanced situational awareness, pilot workload reduction and safety that a glass cockpit provides without the need of upgrading to a completely new aircraft. 

Contained within the space of a standard "six-pack" of primary flight instruments, the two 6.5-inch diagonal flat-panel LCDs of the G600 allows for an easy upgrade to a glass cockpit without costly and time-consuming major panel redesigns or replacement.

The Garmin G600 offers a crisp and clear VGA quality display that's fully readable in direct sunlight thanks to Garmin's advanced RGB backlight system. Replacing gyro-based mechanical instruments, the left-hand panel offers an EFIS-like Primary Flight Display for attitude, airspeed, climb rate, altitude and course/heading information. The right-hand panel serves as the Multi-Function display providing a wide range of data from navigational overlays to weather data. Such a combination allows owners to experience a "big picture" suite of avionics without replacing their beloved aircraft.

Cutter says that depending on your panel configuration, installation time can be as little as two weeks from start to finish for the G600 upgrade.

FMI: www.garmin.com, www.cutteraviation.com