I thought the stec 5000 hit a roadblock during flight testing. Hopefully they get there. It’s been advertising “end of next year” for 3 or 4 years now.
My experience with Genesys management on a previous Stec 3100 install was not good. A/P was fine. Customer service not so much. I hope they succeed anyway and give Garmin some competition.

I had the pleasure of meeting Rob Irwin at Jet Tech today. He’s a total perfectionist and his work reflects it. The hangar was immaculate. He told me he’s done panels on 1200 airplanes. He really knows his stuff. Very impressive

Purchased Jet Techs test airplane for the STC in the C550. Great workmanship , dealt with Rob very helpful & a pleasure to deal with. If you think he's a perfectionist on his airplanes you should see the logbooks I received with the plane.

my 501 has 750/650 and GI-275 which we just added not long ago. I think the 275 was in the Garmin STC.

Even with the GI-275 it was some work to get it dialed in. Seems simple but it wasn't. LOL Works great now.

I would like to have the G600 but it's not worth the extra cost for what I get. I don't mind the analog 6 pack. That being said I love the GTN and would not want to fly my plane without them.

Cant wait for the digital AP for the 501.

Mike

Anyone have information on whether we will get a digital autopilot for the 501?

It doesn’t exist nor is it needed. The SPZ 500 is excellent. If it does happen, it’s going to be several years down the road but it’s definitely not something I would jump to spend money on!

It doesn’t exist nor is it needed. The SPZ 500 is excellent. If it does happen, it’s going to be several years down the road but it’s definitely not something I would jump to spend money on!

The best ting to happen to SPZ 500 keepers is a digital AP shows up and floods the market with spares.

Mike C.

We just had an update from Garmin at the Legacy CJP gathering last week. They are starting the retrofit on a 560 as I type. Expected to be 18-24 months out. There is a question as to whether they will tackle the 501/550 birds after that. Speculation for the 560 is that the upgrade from a legacy panel (no TXi boxes) will be $400k. $200k if you already have Garmin PFD/MFD and GTN navigators. That's like half the cost of a 501 so not sure how many will do it. It could open the door for STEC. My SPZ is working fine and I wouldn't gain all that much beyond a bunch of weights savings (I could ditch a lot of AP/FD and inverter boxes in the nose). I already have VS/IAS preselect from the JetTech STC. I would gain true VNAV but I already have vertical guidance so it's pretty simple to just dial the AP pitch wheel to match the carat on the VSI. The SPZ will porpoise a bit at high VS/IAS which the Garmin would likely not do. It also had a bank limitation in NAV mode that can cause wandering when making a had turn like a T approach. I can avoid this by leading the turn in HDG mode and then back to NAV. A couple of my tape gauges stick sometimes which can cause some heartburn for example when one of my oil pressures is in the yellow. But I cross-check with the oil temp and then it eventually comes back.

Finally, as Mike said, if a number of 560s do the upgrade we will have plenty of spares to keep us going.

So the question is, are those annoyances worth $200k?

We just had an update from Garmin at the Legacy CJP gathering last week. They are starting the retrofit on a 560 as I type. Expected to be 18-24 months out. There is a question as to whether they will tackle the 501/550 birds after that. Speculation for the 560 is that the upgrade from a legacy panel (no TXi boxes) will be $400k. $200k if you already have Garmin PFD/MFD and GTN navigators. That's like half the cost of a 501 so not sure how many will do it. It could open the door for STEC. My SPZ is working fine and I wouldn't gain all that much beyond a bunch of weights savings (I could ditch a lot of AP/FD and inverter boxes in the nose). I already have VS/IAS preselect from the JetTech STC. I would gain true VNAV but I already have vertical guidance so it's pretty simple to just dial the AP pitch wheel to match the carat on the VSI. The SPZ will porpoise a bit at high VS/IAS which the Garmin would likely not do. It also had a bank limitation in NAV mode that can cause wandering when making a had turn like a T approach. I can avoid this by leading the turn in HDG mode and then back to NAV. A couple of my tape gauges stick sometimes which can cause some heartburn for example when one of my oil pressures is in the yellow. But I cross-check with the oil temp and then it eventually comes back.

Finally, as Mike said, if a number of 560s do the upgrade we will have plenty of spares to keep us going.

So the question is, are those annoyances worth $200k?

Maybe, remains to be seen.

The SPZ shouldn't do that, either, but IAS mode seems to require a nearly perfect system to work well. Mine does fairly well, but not perfect.


For some things.

The AP and FD boxes are specific dash numbers for the 560 so won't be directly usable for the 501/550 folks.

The servos come in various dash numbers also, some may work for other models, I don't know.


The benefits of the Garmin AP:

- Modern AP with brushless digital servos (less servo maintenance)
- Removal of older equipment (less maintenance, weight)
- LVL button
- EDM (emergency descent mode) for cabin pressure loss (does not retard throttle, suggested it tie to speedbrakes)
- Envelope protection (over bank mostly)
- VNAV with bridging (perfectly hitting crossing altitudes)
- Preselect VS and IAS (versus just "hold").
- Removal of AC inverter system (if AP/FD was the last user of that, which is my case).
- Better integration with the Garmin EFIS (annunciations on screen, not discrete, for example).

I think EDM is a significant safety feature. 3 of the last 4 560 fatal crashes are related to hypoxia and EDM plus envelope protection would have a reasonable chance of avoiding all of them.

Garmin doesn't view the autopilot work as an "autopilot STC". They see it as a "panel overhaul" like what they do for XLS and KingAirs. That is, they rip out everything you got and put a new panel in with all new wiring harness, basically redoing everything, including the EIS (engine indication system). If you already have an STC by JetTech, Columbia/Blackhawk, that gets blown away and the boxes reused. Your old STC ceases to exist, it is now an all encompassing Garmin STC. If you don't have a previous STC, then your old stuff gets replaced.

My estimate is $200K if you have everything but the Garmin AP (like me), or $400K if you have nothing to start with. Garmin did not discuss pricing at all, but these are my guesses from hints they dropped.

They did say the EIS would be an option, early indications were that it would be required.

The Genesys/STEC 5000 STC is seemingly more of an autopilot STC, not a panel overhaul. They are also focused on the 560 market initially and have that flying, but no clear indications when it will be done. Last I heard, the install kit was $65K so figure $80-100K fully installed. I believe it will require dual Garmin EFIS so a non Garmin panel will require JetTech or Columbia/Blackhawk STC as well.

Garmin could take Genesys's market, but they have clearly left a sizable opening for them due to cost and philosophy, plus lack of near term coverage of 501, 550 models. Even for the 560 owners, it may be a viable option due to cost and other factors, it all depends on if they can get the STC to the finish line soon and have a decent product.

The FAA makes autopilot STCs so hard that it is negative safety. Forces planes to fly around with old outdate autopilots. If it was easier, cheaper, faster to do an autopilot STC, maybe 3 of the last 4 560 fatal crashes wouldn't have happened. Bureaucracy and regulation kills sometimes.

Mike C.

That cost is basically take everything out, build new panel and wiring harness, put everything back but with new AP instead of old one. The plane will be stripped down to the bones to put in the new wiring harness and panel. Previous STC disappears.

That appears to be the Garmin methodology.

Mike C.

The GFC600 kits for the 525 and 525A are $60K and $64K. If the kits for the 560 are a lot more, likely due to being a Part 25 aircraft.

I would expect the 500/501/550 series to be less since Part 23.

A lot of labor involved in autopilot installs.

I figure the AP kit to be about $90-100K for 560, so not hugely off base.

The $200K price comes from the STC repanel and rewiring of the entire avionics setup.

Garmin sees this as a panel overhaul, not an AP STC. Basically, everything gets rewired, remounted. There is some value in this, consistency in the fleet for example, but also some cost.

Mike C.

I figure the AP kit to be about $90-100K for 560, so not hugely off base.

The $200K price comes from the STC repanel and rewiring of the entire avionics setup.

Garmin sees this as a panel overhaul, not an AP STC. Basically, everything gets rewired, remounted. There is some value in this, consistency in the fleet for example, but also some cost.

Mike C.