Product Review: Husky A-1C and Garmin G500 and G600

This article is a companion piece to complement my Trends Aloft column that appears beginning with the January 2010 issue of EAA Sport Aviation magazine. EAA members started receiving the print edition of that magazine today. If you're not an EAA member (and why aren't you?) you can view an online digital version of the issue in early January; I will post a link to it when it becomes available. 

EAA is the organization that brings you the world's greatest air show, AirVenture, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin each year. If you have never attended, you owe it to yourself to go in 2010—put it on your calendar now! I’m a huge fan of AirVenture and attend every year, primarily to network with aviation friends from around the country. EAA asked me at AirVenture 2009 to write a monthly technology column for their magazine and I was happy to accept. The result is Trends Aloft, an aviation technology column in EAA Sport Aviation and complementary pieces appearing in this blog. 

This year, EAA's 2010 Share the Spirit Sweepstakes airplane is a G500-equipped Husky A-1C. I was lucky to fly a similar, factory new Aviat Aircraft Husky in October that had just been ferried from the factory. You can view many photographs from that flight here. 

While I spend most of my time flying high and fast, I still love the joy of flying low and slower. When I owned a Cessna T210, I argued to my partner that we also needed to own a Piper Cub so that we didn't miss out on some of the true joys of flying. So I was delighted to fly the Husky—an aircraft that in some ways resembles a Piper Cub—to see how glass cockpits are trickling down to other aircraft. 

As I mentioned in the January column, the Husky is a good-looking airplane that can turn heads on any ramp. The magazine included photos of the red Sweepstakes aircraft; the one I flew was a bright yellow, which looked perfect on the airplane. 

The Garmin G500 was announced in July at AirVenture as a slimmed down version of the Garmin G600. For the most part, the G1000 is not retrofitable except in high-end aircraft like King Airs and Cessna Citations. Therefore, the G600 has been Garmin's solution for retrofitting glass cockpits into smaller aircraft. 

However, Garmin faced stiff competition in that arena from Aspen Avionics, whose product I reviewed earlier this year. Whereas the G600 sold for nearly $30,000, the entry-level Aspen avionics PFD sells for less than $7000 and a PFD + MFD combination sells for less than $15,000. Enter the G500. The G500 retains all of the important capabilities of the G600, yet has an entry price of less than $16,000. That's remarkable when you consider that the G500 includes all of the important features found in the Garmin G1000 but for a fraction of the cost. 

If you’re flying a single or twin-engine piston aircraft weighing less than 6,000 pounds, you can save a bundle by choosing the G500; aircraft over 6,000 pounds require the more expensive G600. To keep the G500 price low, Garmin unbundled several features found standard in the G600. For example, Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT), an onboard radar interface, and the GAD 43 autopilot interface are optional in the G500 but standard in the G600. TAWS-B terrain alerting is optional in the G600 but unavailable in the G500. 

If you have an older aircraft and are considering retrofitting a G500, G600 or the Aspen Avionics products, you owe it to yourself to take a test flight. Glass cockpits dramatically improve situation awareness by displaying nearby terrain, traffic, and weather. System reliability is also enhanced and when failures occur, it’s immediately obvious since a large red X replaces a portion of the instrument display. 

Glass cockpits make sense for just about every plane. A pilot of an open cockpit WACO recently told me he loves his glass cockpit since he no longer worries about paper charts blowing out of the plane! I certainly fell in love with the G500-equipped Husky that I flew. 

If you haven’t yet joined the glass cockpit revolution, consider jumping on board soon. Manufacturers continue to provide increased value at ever decreasing costs. Even a tail dragger like the Husky is more fun to fly with a glass cockpit. Consider getting your own piece of glass in 2010!

Comments

[Patrick Flannigan]

This article highlights one of my concerns about glass cockpits: there is too much variety. There's the G500 and G600, or you could have the good old Avidyne Entegra, or perhaps the Aspen Evolution, or maybe you've got the standard G1000. Let's not forget about the G3000 coming around the corner.

Although all glass adheres to the same principles as far as PFDs and MFDs go, the button layout and functionality vary greatly.

I fear we're getting to the point where you can't jump from airplane to airplane without some serious ground study.

There needs to be some standardization in this area.

[Mike Kobb]

Thanks for the article! I'd sure be interested to read your impressions of the differences and tradeoffs of the G500 versus the Aspen suite, since you've flown both.

For example, the Aspen suite provides a backup ADAHRS that will (supposedly, with a forthcoming software update) allow complete removal of the old "steam gauge" backup instruments. It also provides an option for a third screen, which provides for more information to be available without flipping pages.

But, the Garmin's two screens are physically larger so the airspeed and altitude tapes impinge less on the AI. The AI is larger, which may improve orientation in IMC and will probably be better for SVT. And, approach plates are probably more usable on the G500's larger MFD than they will be on the Aspen.

Those are some of the differences I've gathered from reading, but I'm interested to know what you think!

(PS: I enjoyed your Aspen PFD article, and hope you'll write one for the PFD/MFD combination, now that they're available.)

[Max Trescott]

Mike, I did fly the new Aspen MFD last month at the AOPA Aviation Summit in Tampa, FL. I got lots of pictures and plan to write an article. My recollection is that by having 2 Aspen panels (PFD + MFD), each with an ADAHRS, that you no longer need a standby attitude indicator. I flew a 3 panel setup which I really liked--lots of real estate for viewing different things and lots of redundancy. Writing that article is still on my very long To Do list! Cheers, Max

[Mike Kobb]

Thanks for your comments!

I'm glad to hear you liked the 3-screen Aspen setup, and I'll sure look forward to your article. I've got a 3-screen installation in the works for my SNJ-6, so it should be a pretty capable old bird when it's all finished.