The correct name is the Garmin GFC 700, but most buyers think of it as the built-in autopilot for the Garmin G1000 flight deck. Youll find essentially the same system installed on aircraft from Citation Mustangs to Diamond DA40s. That could mean that the jets have an inadequate system or that the light pistons get jet-level equipment. Its the latter. The GFC 700 is, in a word, impressive. Because the system is deeply integrated into the G1000 flight deck itself, its hard to simply describe the autopilot. Its also tough to make global statements because the exact implementation varies with different makes and models. we’ll focus primarily on how the GFC 700 works in a piston-powered airplane, but understand that its performance is largely similar for the kerosene crowd.
Rock Solid
In our own flight tests and talks with others, everyones experience is that the new autopilot flies with greased-rail smoothness. This comes partly from the physical systems and servos that use the latest technology, but also from the data thats available to the system. It gets inputs not only from the Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS), which is the digital equivalent of an attitude gyro, but also the GPS and air data system. This yields a degree of attitude sensitivity impossible with an iron gyro or a turn-coordinator rate-based system and it delivers the ability to anticipate control scenarios rather than react to them.
Small deviations between where the wind is drifting the aircraft and the correct track on an ILS approach are corrected before theyre detectable to the pilot, for example. Light turbulence did get the system making quick and aggressive corrections, but no more than was necessary. We also had some fun with a Cessna 182 we were flying by alternately extending and retracting 20 degrees of flaps while flying the approach. Pitch corrections were immediate and perfect.
The system is also capable of flying holds and procedure turns with perfect rollouts every time. Since it knows the precise winds drifting the aircraft it can apply exactly the right correction. This is more a function of the newer G1000 software than the GFC 700, but the autopilot hardware flies the commands of the navigation software as we’ll as we could hope.
The system uses the flight director/autopilot logic thats familiar to pilots of high-performance aircraft, but can be confusing to pilots transitioning from Skyhawks and Archers. Heres a quick review: The flight director is a system that tells the pilot where to fly to stay on course. The pilot can follow the commands of the flight director by handling the yoke and pitching or rolling the airplane to put the