G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

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NickBudd
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by NickBudd »

Thanks to all contributors for the useful resume. The holy grail is retrofit of the G1000 to NXi P2. This is available for King Airs and some jets, but not for less costly and less numerous aircraft. The certification process requires cooperation between Garmin and the OEM, and OEMs of the smaller models would prefer to sell new airplanes or at least, in the case of DAI, new engines. Maybe this is an opportunity for someone like Dr Crosby to create a retrofit STC independently of the OEM, as was done for the Continental 2.0s. How hard can it be? The boxes exist and are ready to ship.
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ememic99
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by ememic99 »

NickBudd wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 6:09 am Maybe this is an opportunity for someone like Dr Crosby to create a retrofit STC independently of the OEM, as was done for the Continental 2.0s. How hard can it be? The boxes exist and are ready to ship.
I don't have any idea how hard and costly this could be. But let's say it's less than $1 million. Then it's peanuts for DAI and I'm asking myself why they haven't already done that. If it's more than $1 million than it's too much for independent investor with no committed buyers and it hardly can be recovered.
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Keith M
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by Keith M »

I wonder if it would be in Continental's interest to fund the STC, tying it to their CD-155 engines? :D
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ememic99
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by ememic99 »

Keith M wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 12:05 pm I wonder if it would be in Continental's interest to fund the STC, tying it to their CD-155 engines? :D
It's not bad idea because I seriously doubt that any DA42 TDI owner is interested to switch to Austro at current price of over $500k. When engines of DA42 TDI reach TBR it seems pretty reasonable to stay with Continental and go for CD-135 ($90k for two engines) or CD-155 ($140k for two engines and upgrade parts). I guess the situation is similar with DA40 TDI (for a half of these prices).
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by NickBudd »

I have no clue what costs are involved but ideally the STC holder would own the STC for the whole spectrum of certified piston aircraft with legacy panels (the ones the OEMs are ignoring). Maybe this would involve an investment of millions but it could be much less, depending on the FAA certification requirements and technical issues to be resolved. We are not inventing equipment here after all, we are inventing connectivity to existing Garmin equipment. But whatever it costs to produce, I am sure that the STC would be worth several thousand dollars to a significant portion of the thousands of owners flying around with legacy Garmin panels who are craving the advantages of NXi and see the upgrade not only as a safety issue but as insurance against loss of market value of their pampered low-hours birds. If there is someone out there with the necessary resources who is willing to take the risk and do the work, as did John Crosby with the Continental 2.0s STC, they could end up making a lot of well deserved $$ (and be inducted into the Garmin Hall of Fame).
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by ememic99 »

NickBudd wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 1:24 pm John Crosby
I can ask him and check if he's interested and under which conditions.
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ememic99
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by ememic99 »

BTW Here’s latest Garmin announcement:

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/aviat ... -expanded/
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by NickBudd »

Thanks for that Emir. The good news is that this is moving far faster than any of the commentators had expected. The bad news is that Diamond Continental owners, alas, remain orphaned. But still this illustrates that there may not be that much work involved,and sets the guide price for the STC at $4000, which does not seem unreasonable. It seems though that the NXi panel on offer is not connectable to the GIA 64W, which is a big limitation. Hopefully this is temporary.
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by ememic99 »

NickBudd wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 3:06 pm Thanks for that Emir. The good news is that this is moving far faster than any of the commentators had expected. The bad news is that Diamond Continental owners, alas, remain orphaned. But still this illustrates that there may not be that much work involved,and sets the guide price for the STC at $4000, which does not seem unreasonable. It seems though that the NXi panel on offer is not connectable to the GIA 64W, which is a big limitation. Hopefully this is temporary.
Total price of upgrade is $28,995 but I assume this comprises only replacing PFD and MFD, since the announcement states that eligible ones are "aircraft currently equipped with a WAAS G1000 integrated flight deck". That is much less than "thousands of additional aircraft owners and operators" as Mr. Carl Wolf stated in obvious excitement. :D
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Re: G1000 and GIA63W WAAS Upgrade Issue (mid-2019 update)

Post by NickBudd »

That’s right, it is disappointing that the GIA64w is not included in the upgrade and presumably is not compatible with the NXi boxes on offer. In this case I doubt that many non-WAAS owners will step up at these prices. Maybe the strategy is to try to move as many NXi P1 units as they can before offering an STC for P2, that is compatible with 64w, i.e., WAAS capable.
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