Garmin announces upcoming retrofit certification of GFC 600H flight control system for Airbus H130 helicopters

Garmin announced upcoming Supplemental Type Certificate approval of the GFC 600H Helicopter Flight Control System for retrofit in Airbus H130 helicopters, providing operators with an advanced flight control solution that reduces pilot workload and improves mission effectiveness. The GFC 600H provides a number of helicopter-tailored features, including attitude hold with speed stability, the innovative hover assist mode, Garmin Helicopter Electronic Stability and Protection, dedicated return-to-level mode, as well as overspeed and low-speed protection, and more.

Carl Wolf, Garmin Vice President of Aviation Sales and Marketing commented: "We are very excited to bring the highly capable GFC 600H to Airbus H130 owners and operators. This flight control system can significantly reduce inflight workload while also providing many advanced and safety-minded capabilities to better assist pilots in conducting their missions." 

Jerome Ronssin, Head of Light Helicopters Program at Airbus Helicopters stated: "This innovative autopilot further extends the outstanding operational capabilities of the H130, offering advanced stability and precise control for safer, more efficient and more productive missions."

The GFC 600H features a console-mounted mode controller with push-button controls and a night vision goggle compatible display. Integrated smart servos provide pitch and roll inputs as commanded by the system, while the collective sensor adds proactive commands to provide smoother, more predictable flight control adjustments when the pilot moves the collective. Digitally controlled, high-performance servos allow for faster, crisper, more powerful response, which enables the GFC 600H to perform with smooth efficiency and advanced capability.

Innovative hover assist mode can automatically detect a hover condition and also allows for flight control inputs to help maintain position over the ground. In addition, with the yaw axis control, the GFC 600H can maintain position over the ground and hold heading in hover. With the GFC 600H in H130 helicopters, aircraft navigation works in conjunction with the G500H TXi and GTN Xi to automatically fly approaches, providing en route navigation guidance and fully coupled missed approach procedures including holds, as well as search and rescue patterns.

The advanced attitude and heading reference system technology and redundant, cross-checking sensors of the GFC 600H support smooth handling throughout the flight envelope. Further, attitude retention mode reduces pilot workload by maintaining a specified attitude, while providing inputs to help stabilize the helicopter when hand-flying. Designed with the pilot in mind, the GFC 600H incorporates cyclic-mounted trim controls to allow for seamless control of the system without taking a hand off of the flight controls during basic operations. Additional modes include altitude hold, altitude select, vertical speed, indicated airspeed and heading select.  

The GFC 600H offers safety-enhancing features, including overspeed protection and low-speed protection as well as Garmin H-ESP that can help the pilot remain within a safe flight envelope when hand-flying the helicopter. H-ESP works in all modes – even when the system is not engaged – and can be manually disabled to allow for maneuvering flight. A dedicated LVL button is included on the GFC 600H and can be engaged by the pilot to return to straight-and-level flight, helping to avoid potential disorientation in degraded visual environments, such as inadvertent entry into instrument meteorological conditions. With low altitude protection, the GFC 600H provides alerting and an automatic pitch mode change to assist the pilot in recovery to safe altitude.