Garmin International has made its G1000 NXi flight deck available for integration with the Blackhawk Aerospace XP67A Engine+ upgrade for the King Air 300 and King Air 350. Additionally, Garmin has expanded its STC approval to now include King Air 350 aircraft with a max gross weight of 16,500 lbs, bringing enhanced capability to operators looking to maximise payload and efficiency.

“We are pleased to offer this new Blackhawk engine interface with the G1000 NXi flight deck for the King Air 300 and 350 models,” says Carl Wolf, Garmin VP of aviation sales and marketing. “In doing so, we've answered our customers' requests to include this engine upgrade interface to our system, which will even further improve performance for the King Air 300 and 350 models. Additionally, we have now certified the G1000 NXi flight deck in the high gross weight configuration for the King Air 350, which will significantly benefit special missions operators, or any other operator that has been seeking this higher gross weight capability, along with G1000 NXi in the cockpit.”

The Blackhawk Aerospace XP67A Engine+ upgrade for the King Air 300 includes two factory-new Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67A engines and Hartzell five-bladed composite propellers, combined to deliver maximum cruise speeds as high as 343 knots true air speed with an initial rate of climb up to 4,000 ft per minute. This performance increase results in only 19 minutes to climb from sea-level to flight-level 350, half the time compared to a King Air 300 without this upgrade. Blackhawk Aerospace is a popular provider of King Air upgrades, already offering an engine upgrade for the King Air 350 that integrates with the G1000 NXi.

“There are so many advantages in upgrading legacy King Air's with modern engineering marvels from Garmin and Blackhawk,” states Edwin Black, Blackhawk senior VP of sales and marketing. “The Garmin G1000 NXi is arguably the most sophisticated, user-friendly and lightweight avionics masterpiece ever certified for the King Air market. It is rewarding to work closely with the Garmin team to empower our mutual customers with the most compelling investments an operator can make to maximise performance and safety.”

With the latest G1000 NXi approval, King Air 350 owners and operators can now take advantage of an increased payload, providing significant performance enhancements that can prove to be particularly beneficial to special missions operators. Along with the separate STC modifications, support for G1000 NXi equipped King Air aircraft is now available via an enablement.

The G1000 NXi integrated flight deck upgrade for existing G1000-equipped King Air 300 and King Air 350 is available immediately through select Garmin dealers. King Air 300 and 350 owners and operators can easily upgrade to the G1000 NXi with minimal aircraft down time and panel disruption as the displays preserve the same footprint and connectors, so panel modifications are not required. The upgraded components of the G1000 NXi also come with a two-year warranty, which is supported by Garmin's award-winning avionics product support team.

The Blackhawk Aerospace XP67A Engine+ upgrade for the King Air 300 and King Air 350 is available through Blackhawk Aerospace, and the increased gross weight STC for the King Air 350 is available from Textron Aviation.