Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC) today announced that Garmin's Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT) and other associated avionics improvements will be included as standard equipment on its piston-engine Beechcraft Baron and Bonanza aircraft. Following the receipt of Supplemental Type Certificates covering both models, the upgraded offerings will be introduced on production aircraft beginning in August. This improvement will also be available as a retrofit to WAAS-equipped G1000® aircraft beginning in August through Hawker Beechcraft's Factory-Owned Service Centers.

"These significant improvements in the standard avionics packages for the Baron and Bonanza will add new levels of safety, redundancy and connectivity to both airplanes," said Keith Nadolski, HBC president, Beechcraft Americas. "The Baron and Bonanza already set the standard in their market segments when it comes to capability and technology. These improvements further separate these two aircraft from the competition and make them the airplanes of choice among owner/pilots."

The newly configured aircraft will include Garmin's SVT™ for G1000 as the centerpiece of the enhanced panels. Using sophisticated graphics modeling, it recreates a visual topographic landscape from the G1000 system's terrain-alerting database. The resulting virtual reality display offers pilots a supplemental, color enhanced 3-D depiction of ground and water features, airports, obstacles and traffic – all shown in relative proximity to the aircraft.

Additional equipment added to the Baron and Bonanza standard equipment list includes the GTS 820 Traffic Advisory System and related hardware, the GTX 33ES Mode-S transponder with ADS-B out functionality (replacing the existing GTX-33), an upgraded GDU 104x Multifunction Display that adds an auxiliary video port and provides for potential third-party Enhanced Vision System certifications, and GRC10 and GRT10 wireless remote control systems for XM satellite radio – all supported by Garmin's FliteLevel five-year warranty.

With the new equipment, pilots will be able to import and export flight plans from services such as Seattle Avionics Voyager, Jeppesen FliteStar, flightplan.com, and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Additionally, they will be able to log data on SD cards, crossfill and synchronize data such as Airport Directories between SD cards from one GDU to the other, and input temporary data such as construction zones from SafeTaxi and user waypoints and specific approach information.