By Bill Forbes – Director of Avionics Sales for Elliott Aviation
In the fall of 2016, Garmin announced their next major aircraft retrofit, the G5000 for the Citation Excel and XLS, giving an excellent long-term avionics solution to operators of the nearly 700 airplanes in the fleet. This aircraft has a spacious cabin and capable range of over 1,800 nautical miles, but it has an outdated avionics system that is expensive to maintain. This makes it an excellent airplane for the Garmin G5000 avionics system.
Produced from 1998 through 2008, the Citation Excel and XLS are equipped with the Honeywell Primus II radio package. Throughout this production run, the basic avionics package is essentially used the same parts that were popular in the mid-1990s, which are now facing obsolescence. With the introduction of the Garmin G5000 system, Excel and XLS operators now have an excellent long-term solution to extend the useful life of this highly versatile aircraft.
About the G5000 for the Citation Excel and XLS
A welcome addition for the Citation Excel and XLS, the G5000 combines a new autopilot and all the charts, maps, and latest avionics technologies in one fully integrated avionics suite. The three 14” LCD displays give the crew WAAS/LPV, XM Weather, electronic charts, ADS-B, MFD range rings (including reserve rings), engine indication, and options like synthetic vision, turbulence detection, SurfaceWatch, under-speed protection, Chartview, and lightning & hail prediction.
The Garmin G5000 also includes ADS-B In, SafeTaxi, NOS charts (geo-referenced), and a display that shows integrated terrain, obstacles, and navigation displays in the moving map system in addition to the standard TAWS-A terrain display. As an option, Chartview is available for pilots that prefer georeferenced Jeppesen charts. The G5000 system gives you a safer, lighter, and more reliable solution at a cost that is not much more than maintaining your current system.
The High Cost of Maintaining Outdated Avionics
With the Garmin G5000 for the Citation Excel and XLS, you not only get all the benefits of the upgrades, but you also eliminate the high cost of maintaining your outdated system. High-dollar items like HAPP costs of $30,000 per year are completely eliminated. High costs of $162,000 (including the USB data loader and traditional ADS-B upgrade) just to get your system compliant are already included in the avionics suite.
Adding Value to Your Aircraft
The average installed cost of the Garmin G5000 for the Citation Excel, and XLS is around $500,000, depending on options and equipment trade-in value. Based on value increases to other major Garmin retrofits, the G5000 is expected to retain 80% of its value, at nearly $400,000, so you get a much higher return on your investment for your avionics than maintaining your current system.
Hundreds of Garmin Full Cockpit Retrofits Completed
At Elliott Aviation, we have completed well over 400 Garmin full cockpit retrofits. This is more than all other dealers in the world combined. Throughout the industry, there are over 500 Garmin full cockpit retrofits in King Air C90’s, 200’s, B200’s, 300’s, 350s, Beechjet 400A’s, and Hawker 400XP’s. When selecting a facility to install your G5000 retrofit, find one that is highly experienced to ensure minimal downtime and the highest quality of work. Keep in mind that all of the wiring of your old avionics system is replaced, which goes from tip to tail of your aircraft. This requires not only the expertise of highly-trained avionics professionals but interior and maintenance technicians as well.
Certification for the Garmin G5000 Citation Excel/XLS is now available. You can find out more about the program here.
About the Author:
Bill Forbes is an Avionics Sales Manager for Elliott Aviation. Bill has been with Elliott since 2018. He started his career in aviation as a crew chief in the Air Force in 1985. He has been associated with Beechcraft Aircraft and Service Centers since 1996. He has been involved in avionics sales and management since 2003 and has been involved in several STC projects with Collins, Honeywell, and Garmin before joining Elliott Aviation. You can reach him at bforbes@elliottaviation.com.