Garmin Gets Green Light For Piper Autopilot STCs

Garmin announced earlier this week that it had earned FAA approval for the installation of its popular GFC 500 autopilot into four models of Piper aircraft. The approvals add to those already in the books for a number of popular Cherokee-branded planes. The latest batch of approvals are for the PA-28 201T and PA-28 236 models known as Dakota, among other monikers, and both major flavors of the iconic Cherokee Six, the 300 and 260 models.

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Introduced earlier this year, the GFC-500 is one of the new products from Garmin that adds great value to older airframes at an affordable price. A digital, two-axis autopilot with altitude hold, vertical speed and heading capabilities as well as available altitude pre-select and airspeed hold, approach coupling, and others, depending on the installed equipment, the GFC-500 is an extremely advanced unit. At the same time, because of its low price of $6,995 (or $10,000 with a G5 electronic flight instrument) it makes sense for many models of aircraft that before now had values too low for most owners to justify the purchase of an autopilot, let along an advanced one.

For more information on the GFC-500, visit Garmin's website.

Plane & PilotStaff