Garmin's GI 275 electronic flight instrument has received EASA approval, allowing installation in over 1,000 single-engine and multi-engine aircraft models. Several variants of the GI 275 are available to meet the needs of business and general aviation aircraft. The GI 275 is suitable as a direct replacement for a variety of legacy primary flight instruments in the cockpit such as the attitude indicator, attitude-direction indicator (ADI), course deviation indicator (CDI), horizontal situation indicator (HSI), multi-function display (MFD) and engine indication system (EIS). In addition, the GI 275 can also be installed as a standby attitude indicator when paired with large format electronic flight displays.

“We worked closely with EASA to bring the popular GI 275 to thousands more cockpits with ageing flight instruments,” says Carl Wolf, Garmin VP of aviation sales and marketing. “With this approval, the modern GI 275 electronic flight instrument gives pilots the opportunity to take an economical and scalable approach to their avionics upgrade while realising tremendous potential with the extraordinary capability of the versatile touchscreen GI 275.”

Lightweight and compact, the GI 275 is a reliable flight instrument intentionally designed to take advantage of the common 3.125-inch flight instrument size, reducing installation time and preserving the existing aircraft panel. Its bright, high-resolution touchscreen display and wide viewing angle offers superior readability in the cockpit. A dual concentric knob allows pilots to access a variety of key functions within the flight instrument, such as adjustments to the baro setting or the airspeed bug. Highly scalable, aircraft owners can start with a single GI 275 and add up to a total of six in a single panel, paving the way for incremental upgrades and an array of individualised panel configurations.

When installed as a primary attitude indicator, the GI 275 offers improved reliability, potential weight savings and reduced maintenance compared to less reliable, vacuum-driven attitude indicators. When the GI 275 serves as primary for attitude information, pilots can, with an optional magnetometer, also view altitude, airspeed and heading on the instrument. Optional Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT) overlays a rich, 3D topographic view of terrain, traffic, obstacles, airport signposts and more, all within the GI 275 attitude display. Additional features include the display of outside air temperature, groundspeed, as well as true airspeed and wind information on the attitude indicator.

The GI 275 flight instrument is also approved for installation as a dedicated standby flight instrument to Garmin glass flight displays and is capable of serving as a back-up to a variety of third-party flight displays on the market. When installed as a standby flight instrument to the G500 TXi, the GI 275 is capable of displaying additional multifunction display features. In installations where the GI 275 is installed as a primary or standby flight instrument, a 60-minute back-up battery is included.

When installed as a course deviation indicator (CDI) or horizontal situation indicator (HSI), the GI 275 is designed to accept a variety of GPS and navigation inputs, allowing up to two GPS sources and two VHF navigation sources. The GI 275 features an omni bearing resolver that allows the flight instrument to interface to a variety of legacy navigators on the market without the need for an expensive adapter. With an optional magnetometer, it is also capable of providing magnetic-based HSI guidance. Selecting the CDI source is simple and can be accomplished through the touchscreen interface, while course and heading selection is completed using either the touchscreen or dual concentric knob. When aircraft owners replace an older mechanical CDI or HSI, the GI 275 doubles as a modern digital indicator and adds MFD-like capabilities such as a moving map, weather, traffic and terrain.

A single GI 275 electronic flight instrument can be used as the attitude source to drive the GFC 500 autopilot, while also displaying mode annunciations and flight director indications. For added redundancy in aircraft equipped with a dual GI 275 installation, the secondary GI 2753 is capable of coupling to the GFC 500 autopilot, as well. In the unlikely event of a primary GI 275 failure, the autopilot remains fully functional when paired with the secondary GI 275. Additional redundancy is extended to include the G500 TXi and G600 TXi flight displays, which also allow the GI 275 to couple to the GFC 500 autopilot if needed when serving as a standby instrument. Unique to the GI 275 and TXi, pilots will receive a mis-compare annunciation if the AHRS sources between the two do not align. GI 275 is also compatible with the GFC 600 digital autopilot, as well as a variety of third-party autopilots and does not require a separate interface adapter, further reducing overall costs and installation labour. The GI 275 can replace the primary attitude indicator installed with these autopilots.

Depending on the configuration and installation, the GI 275 is also capable of displaying additional page functions and features beyond a traditional flight instrument.