Cessna Citation Ascend has officially achieved announced that its aircraft will be now equipped with the latest enhancements to the Garmin G5000 avionics suite.
Talk about the Ascend program on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how it packs together two test articles i.e. Prototype (Proto) and P1, which have accumulated nearly 600 flight hours through more than 200 flights.
Anyway, the Ascend aircraft is designed to bring a new cockpit, improved performance, and a luxurious cabin to the midsize business jet market. More on the same would reveal how its state-of-the-art avionics, autothrottles, high payload capacity, impressive range offer customers reduced pilot workload, as well as the ability to do more and go farther.
As for what you can expect once this aircraft is equipped with the latest Garmin G5000 avionics suite, it will feature an array of new advanced features and technology, including Synthetic Vision Guidance System (SVGS) shown on the primary flight displays, that couples with Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT) to support approach minima as low as 150 ft (46 m). In case you weren’t aware, SVGS provides a continuous, geo-spatially correct depiction of the external scene topography, including obstacles, augmented by the display of the runway.
Next up, the upcoming SVT enhancements for this aircraft include a 3D exocentric view of the SafeTaxi® airport environment to aid situational awareness during taxiing. Furthermore, these upgrades will make a point to display 3D building footprints including hangars, terminals and towers, taxiways, aprons, signs, and other markings, to help reduce runway incursions by providing guidance while taxiing at airports contained in the SafeTaxi database. Not just that, the enhancements also bring forth support for pilot situational awareness, and it does that by increasing topographical clarity, sharpening water and terrain boundaries, improving obstacle and powerlines display, and enhancing runway and airport sign depictions.
We also need to mention how SVT introduces multiple viewpoints for the first time and integrates with the new Taxiway Routing feature, which on its part, allows the flight crew to use the touchscreen controller to enter taxi routes. This then goes on to provide guidance on the 2D navigational maps or 3D SVT depictions, particularly at large, unfamiliar, and complex airports during low visibility conditions.
“Citation business jets are renowned for their superior performance and productivity,” said Lannie O’Bannion, senior vice president of Global Sales & Flight Operations at Cessna Citation Ascend. “Including the Garmin G5000 in the Citation Ascend demonstrates our continued commitment to designing and delivering the best aviation experience for our customers.”
Moving on, as a part of Garmin integration, Ascend will also be able to leverage the standard Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) In capability for Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) Assisted Visual Separation (CAVS). You see, CAVS is basically designed to scale up pilots’ traffic awareness, while simultaneously assisting in the maintenance of separation from preceding aircraft equipped with ADS-B out during visual approaches to landing. Beyond that, there is a chance to access Runway Occupancy Awareness (ROA) which utilizes Surface Indications and Alert (SURF-IA), as well as ADS-B data to provide alerts when attempting a takeoff or landing on an occupied runway.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the fact that, for qualifying regions, GDL 60 Datalink offers high-bandwidth data exchange and connectivity options, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and LTE networks. In essence, GDL 60 provides the ability to complete automatic wireless database downloads over network connections while the aircraft is powered off. To go along with it, a collection of updates is expected around optional GDL 69A to let the Garmin G5000 suite access more SiriusXM Weather products.
Among other things, we ought to acknowledge how the G5000 integrated avionics suite features three landscape-oriented flight displays with split-screen capability. This makes it possible for pilots to simultaneously view maps, charts, checklists, Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS), Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), flight plan information, weather, and more, thus increasing situational awareness for the flight crew.
