Earlier this year I posted about the idea of mixing glass-cockpit and touch-screens. Call that chance, talent or vision, but Garmin announced the G3000 recently, which includes two touch-screen control units. Bad news: the issue I talked about, having the controls far from the display, is not solved. The G3000 is made of two PFDs, one MFD, and two touch screen control units. The PFDs and the MFD are not touch screens… yet. May be the G5000 will integrate that…
The G3000 is a big step forward. Compared to the G1000, the softkeys below the screens are still present, but there are no knobs on the side. The screens are bigger, and of a different aspect ratio. The touch-screen control units seem to be like bigger versions of my iPhone. Lists scroll smoothly, and the infrared technology used by Garmin reduces the risk of error in turbulence. Actions are not triggered when your finger touches the display, but when you remove it. If turbulence makes your finger shift, the impact and end of contact points won’t be the same and the controller will take no action.
Garmin presented the G3000 at NBAA, and several reports are available from there. Click here to read more from AOPA. As mentioned in this article, the G3000 will initially be certified for light turbine aircraft, read King-Airs and light jets. With the G1000, Garmin used a different approach, starting with light aircraft to step up into turbine. I’m not sure why they use a different approach this time, but I guess the cost of the two controller units – required for multi-crew and redundancy – as well as the required space make less sense in a light aircraft. They could gain some room by using touch screens the PFD and MFD. Got it, guys ?
It’s not easy to describe a glass cockpit system with words, so I selected for YouTube videos for you.
Finally, from the GarminBlog, a spectacular but short history of glass:
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*drool*
I’ve been begging for this technology in the flight deck ever since I first laid eyes on the iPhone. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for a new airplane roadshow featuring the G3000…
My only concern is how it handles turbulence. I know it has some sort of logic built in to keep the touch interface from going crazy when your finger is bouncing around, but I’m still a bit skeptical. It’s hard enough to turn a physical radio knob in moderate chop. I can’t imagine the difficulty in manipulating a featureless bit of glass.