Piper Aircraft, Inc. is incorporating the Garmin G1000 avionics suite into new twin-engine Piper Seminole and single-engine Piper Archer aircraft models available in 2013.Launch customer for the new Garmin G1000-equipped Pipers is the Florida Institute of Technology.

Piper made the announcement at the company's 75th anniversary celebration and fly-in here earlier. Garmin's G1000 is a seamlessly integrated all-glass avionics that makes flight information easier to scan and process. G1000's design brings new levels of situational awareness, simplicity and safety to the cockpit.

The Florida Institute of Technology's College of Aeronautics will take delivery of eight single-engine Piper Archer TX training airplanes equipped with the G1000 during 2013 and also has options on 16 additional trainers (Archer TX or twin-engine Seminole) for future delivery, bringing the total potential new aircraft under the agreement to a fleet of 24 aircraft.

"Piper President and CEO Simon Caldecott said, "Building on the system's success in our M-Class aircraft, the G1000 will put a wealth of flight-critical data at the finger tips of Seminole and Archer pilots." Caldecott said Piper is the only airplane manufacturer to offer proven durable all metal single and twin-engine training aircraft.

An added benefit is commonality of the flight deck, maintenance and parts for Piper's single and twin-engine training aircraft. Additionally Piper offers a single point of contact for customer service, operational and training practices in low-wing aircraft that are ideally suited for pilot learning.

The G1000 flight deck presents flight instrumentation, navigation, weather, terrain, traffic and engine data on large-format, high-resolution displays. It replaces the G500 suite currently on Seminole and Archer aircraft. Garmin's reliable GRS77 Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) provides accurate, digital output and referencing of aircraft position, rate, vector and acceleration data.