Garmin Aviation Team
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2020
- Messages
- 43
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Hi everyone,
I’ve seen a couple of threads now that have reported pitch oscillations or ‘porpoising’ concerns with their GFC 500 installations in their Piper aircraft. The team took those concerns seriously, secured a PA-28R-200 and did some additional flight testing to further evaluate pilot reports.
We determined the oscillations experienced were caused by the static port in the pitot mast. Some Piper aircraft have since updated this design and have installed static ports on the fuselage of the aircraft.
To help realize the autopilot performance that Garmin expects to deliver, we have found a solution to improve performance with additional gain tuning without the need for the aircraft owner to relocate their static system.
We issued Service Bulletin 2107 earlier last week to address this with your Garmin dealer.
The other models mentioned in other threads, that were not included in this Service Bulletin, like the PA-28RT-201T and the PA-32R-300 were addressed with this solution as a part of their original certifications.
Best regards,
-Joey Ferreyra
Garmin Sales & Customer Experience Manager
I’ve seen a couple of threads now that have reported pitch oscillations or ‘porpoising’ concerns with their GFC 500 installations in their Piper aircraft. The team took those concerns seriously, secured a PA-28R-200 and did some additional flight testing to further evaluate pilot reports.
We determined the oscillations experienced were caused by the static port in the pitot mast. Some Piper aircraft have since updated this design and have installed static ports on the fuselage of the aircraft.
To help realize the autopilot performance that Garmin expects to deliver, we have found a solution to improve performance with additional gain tuning without the need for the aircraft owner to relocate their static system.
We issued Service Bulletin 2107 earlier last week to address this with your Garmin dealer.
The other models mentioned in other threads, that were not included in this Service Bulletin, like the PA-28RT-201T and the PA-32R-300 were addressed with this solution as a part of their original certifications.
Best regards,
-Joey Ferreyra
Garmin Sales & Customer Experience Manager
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