17 July 2025
Garmin has announced a raft of new products and updates ahead of the annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh fly-in including two new DMEs – Distance Measuring Equipment.
The US avionics company says the GDM 4500 and GDM 450R are digital, state-of-the-art, remote-mount DME radios that can replace outdated DMEs and offer modern features.
A DME is a navigation aid to measure the slant range (distance) from a suitably equipped beacon. They have two main uses: as part of an instrument approach to give distance to the ground-based DME, and two DME beacons can give a crosscut and an accurate position fix.
The GDM 450R is designed for Part 23 general aviation aircraft, while the GDM 4500 is for turbine aircraft and helicopters.
Both products can allow pilots to track two separate DMEs simultaneously. Compatible Garmin avionics can also automatically scan up to three additional DME frequencies.
Garmin’s Carl Wolf said, “Given the increased interest among aircraft owners for alternative navigation sources, we are excited to now offer a ground-based DME solution. While DME technology has been available for decades, these new Garmin solutions will help modernize the capabilities on many aircraft, and we look forward to seeing pilots leverage these features around the world.”
The GDM 450R can display distance information on select Garmin integrated flight decks, as well as TXi flight displays. Up to two separate DME frequencies can be tuned by the pilot via the navigation radios, providing slant-range distance relative to DME ground stations.
For additional flexibility, the DME hold capability maintains the active DME distance indication when tuning the associated NAV radio to a different frequency.
Compatible Garmin avionics can automatically scan and tune up to three additional DME frequencies. Pilots can leverage this multi-channel capability for DME-DME Area Navigation (RNAV), using distance calculations from two or more DME ground stations to determine the aircraft’s position for RNAV routes.
Additionally, the Free Scan Capability allows the system to search for DMEs in range. For integration with legacy distance indicators and navigation radios, GDM 450R also supports legacy databus connections.
Garmin’s new 12.1in TXi display. Photo: Garmin
Garmin has also announced its largest TXi touchscreen flight display yet: 12.1 inches. The new display joins the existing 10.6in, 7in portrait and 7in landscape TXi flight displays.
The 12.1in touchscreen provides a 33% larger active display area while the thin bezel design keeps the overall unit width the same when compared to the 10.6-inch model.
There are also multiple updates for Garmin Pilot, the flightplanning and moving map app, also available online at Garmin Pilot Web. They are:
Traffic displayed on Garmin Pilot app
Available worldwide for all Garmin Pilot subscribers, a new internet traffic layer is available on Garmin Pilot mobile and shows aircraft traffic in real-time. The traffic can be overlaid on the map via a layer setting, similar to existing ADS-B traffic.
An updated feature for Garmin Pilot Web, and now in the mobile application, internet traffic flight tracks are now colour coded, so aircraft are depicted based on altitude for easer visual identification and tracking.
New to SmartCharts, the Final Approach Fix to Missed Approach Point (FAF to MAP) timing table helps pilots time their leg from the FAF to the MAP and more easily identify when to execute a missed approach during applicable procedures.
Additionally, pilots flying to Oshkosh for AirVenture 2025 can now take advantage of the recently added FISK arrival into Oshkosh in Smartcharts.
