Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

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ememic99
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by ememic99 »

NickBudd wrote: Sun May 12, 2019 9:30 am Diamond and Austro, which are now under independent ownership.
Where did you get this from? I'm pretty sure that Wanfeng Aviation owns everything including Austro Engine.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... ft-444596/
The purchase, which also includes the company's Austro Engine division, comes a year after the Wanfeng Auto Holding subsidiary acquired a 60% stake in the Canadian operation, and is intended to assure the company's "continued long-term future".
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by NickBudd »

I understood that the Dries family retained some ownership interest in Austro. Anyway, someone has a huge investment in Austro and re-engining the TDI fleet must be part of their strategic objective. But you may be right. If they are deluged with orders and if they are developing a working relationship with their countrymen at Continental maybe they will decide to give us a break. That would be terrific!
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by cptndavid »

I am wondering how many 1.7 engines are still flying and how many part 91 owners are going to continue flying them after the 12 year 1000 hour T.B.R. time limit?
I am going to fly my 1.7s until the oil samples come back poor and or there is low compression.
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by NickBudd »

My 2007 2.0 engines are 12 yrs old and there are no signs of fatigue after 750 hrs. But my big worry is lack of parts and retrofit capabilities for the G1000 boxes. These are no longer being manufacturered by Garmin and without certification of retrofit options, I will be stuck. This is already a problem with the GTX330ES, which Garmin has discontinued.
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by Keith M »

Are my fears exaggerated, or could we end up with a generation of certified aircraft, not just from Diamond, eventually being grounded if Garmin stop manufacturing parts for the G1000? Any newer technology would have to be certified in these older airframes, which depends on the largess of the aircraft manufacturers to do something which is not necessarily in their financial interest.
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by TimS »

Keith M wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 2:27 pm Are my fears exaggerated, or could we end up with a generation of certified aircraft, not just from Diamond, eventually being grounded if Garmin stop manufacturing parts for the G1000? Any newer technology would have to be certified in these older airframes, which depends on the largess of the aircraft manufacturers to do something which is not necessarily in their financial interest.
Short answer is yes.

Tim
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by CFIDave »

TimS wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 2:29 pm
Keith M wrote: Mon May 13, 2019 2:27 pm Are my fears exaggerated, or could we end up with a generation of certified aircraft, not just from Diamond, eventually being grounded if Garmin stop manufacturing parts for the G1000? Any newer technology would have to be certified in these older airframes, which depends on the largess of the aircraft manufacturers to do something which is not necessarily in their financial interest.
Short answer is yes.

Tim
The "longer answer" is this is unlikely to be an issue anytime soon.

Even after Garmin stops manufacturing avionics, they continue to repair existing units for decades. As a good example, Garmin will still repair GNS430 and 530 navigators, despite these being introduced in 1998. (There are more than 20,000 of these units installed in various aircraft including DA20s and steam gauge DA40s.) Eventually Garmin will run out of parts, since electronic chip and screen technology changes over time, but their track record of supporting old avionics has been pretty good.

For the G1000, "obsolete" LRUs like GIA63s will continue to be repaired by Garmin. They can ship replacement LRUs overnight if you ship your failed unit back to them (so Garmin can maintain an inventory of repaired units).

As long as an aircraft model remains in production it should be possible to replace groups of legacy G1000 components with their corresponding G1000 NXi components that can run the latest software. For example, this year Diamond Canada is restarting production of Lycoming DA40s, and these will ship with G1000 NXi. This means there will almost certainly be a way for legacy G1000 Lycoming DA40 owners to retrofit their aircraft to NXi, albeit at a high cost that may be prohibitive for many owners.
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by Boatguy »

Beyond the factual knowledge of each owner's avionics status (e.g., no WAAS, no GDU updates, GIA63/W obsolete, etc.), this thread is driven by FUD - fear, uncertainty and doubt, generating volumes of speculation. Then the speculation triggers further FUD and further speculation.

Diamond could reduce the FUD and speculation by simply announcing an avionics policy; an operating commitment for existing and future customers.

They could put an end to the FUD and speculation by announcing programs which implement those policies.
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by Rich »

Garmin no longer repairs GNS 530/430 units, but does support their conversion to 530W/430W, which they will repair. And the count of the GNS units, collectively, is generally accepted to be around 100,000.
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Re: Outdated Garmin G1000 software - petition sign-up

Post by TwinStarScott »

Yesterday Garmin's OEM manager and I spoke for the first time since he had returned from aero friedrichshafen. He has been extremely busy getting caught up and has been assigned some additional accounts, so he's stretched even more thin now.

Obviously there is not much anyone at Garmin can share until DAI makes an official announcement, which would include any timetable of when their legacy plans might even be forthcoming.

However, the best news to report is the G1000 petition (and verification numbers contained therein), were discussed at Garmin's recent meetings in Canada and Germany. He went on to say this information was both helpful and useful to the meeting participants in making important inventory decisions, by supplementing / contrasting with their own internal data. He sincerely thanked all of us who participated.

Here are the other big takeaways from my conversation with Zach:

1) The legacy aircraft have not been forgotten, far from it. Even leaving me with the impression Diamond values these aircraft and their owners. Which upon further reflection I took this as a very positive sign that this is coming straight from the top, such as CEO Scott MacFadzean.

2) He also reassured me the two companies are working diligently to examine possible solutions, and mentioned it's not easy given the multitude of equipment and engine combinations.

3) When passing along the annual subscription idea (for software updates & hardware upgrades) it seemed to be well received. Although it wasn't clear to me if this was already being considered or not.

Six and half months into this project, I fully realize the continued waiting for official news is tough on anyone who has been closely following this thread. Yet after this conversation, I believe patience is still the operative word and the best path to follow. As difficult as this is to do (myself included)!

Finally, I failed to mention recently, when Jean Mardaga (N446DC) added his aircraft, he bumped the total DA40 count up to 100! While the total aircraft number stands at 154.
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