4 October 2017
Garmin has launched a new weather radar, the GWX 80, that includes automatic atmospheric threat assessment to help reduce pilot workload in the cockpit.
It’s intended for business, commercial and military aircraft but we’ve seen Garmin technology make its way through to light aircraft in the past.
The Doppler-based GWX 80 has automatic 3D volumetric scanning, predictive wind shear detection, hail and lightning prediction, and advanced ground clutter suppression.
This is what the GWX 80 unit looks like. Top photo shows the weather threat on a cockpit screen.
The GWX 80 has been selected by Textron Aviation for the new super-midsize Cessna Citation Longitude, working with the business jet’s G5000 integrated flight deck.
“With the GWX 80, we’re excited to bring a virtually zero-effort weather radar to the cockpit of thousands of new and existing aircraft on the market today,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin vice president of aviation sales and marketing.
“The GWX 80 goes beyond hail and lightning prediction to also display severe cells that may contain wind shear or turbulence. With these tools, pilots achieve greater situational awareness so they can more confidently navigate around severe weather threats and provide passengers with a better in-flight experience.”
