Stevens accomplished a significant first with the recent installation of the new Garmin G5000 Integrated Flight Deck Upgrade on a Citation XLS. This upgrade was part of a major comprehensive and custom refurbishment project on the recently acquired 15-year-old aircraft.
Executed at the company’s Greenville, SC facility, the project included custom exterior painting and complete interior refurbishment, as well as the installation of the highly anticipated avionics suite from Garmin.
The project is one of the first ten North American G5000 retrofits for the Citation Excel/XLS with Garmin’s recently approved supplemental type certificate (STC).
“Stevens is one of a select few MROs trusted by Garmin to install the new G5000 avionics suite for the Citation Excel and XLS,” said southeast region sales manager Terry Hawkins. Stevens was involved with Garmin well before the STC release, which helped to facilitate a very successful first aircraft completion.
According to Hawkins, “the long-term collaboration with Garmin was excellent, the results were spectacular, and our customer couldn’t be happier.”
The G5000 integrated flight deck features three high-resolution flight displays with split-screen capabilities, a digital Automatic Flight Control System, Emergency Decent Mode, and a host of other highly useful features. The technology offers pilots extraordinary situational awareness, reduced cost of operation and enhanced safety features.
The interior refurbishment included a fully customized cabin featuring premium leather seating, cabinetry, galley reconfiguration and passenger amenities.
Stevens will begin its second G5000 installation on a Citation XLS in January 2020. The company had previously installed the G5000 Integrated Flight Deck on a Hawker 400XP, as well as dozens of G1000 Integrated Flight Decks in King Airs.