[hayesjaj]

While attending Airventure today we spoke with a number of Garmin engineers, one of which who is in charge of the autopilot decisions, the GI-275 lead, and one who works in testing/compliance. The outcome was:

Monday, Garmin extended the GI-275 EIS system to cover 337s. The only two requirements he quoted were 1) they need to be located in the panel one above another and 2) the prop sync display has been removed. I asked regarding penny cap systems and they are not supported so one would need to use CIES senders (they recommended them) if you have a pennycap system (73 and on).

Regarding autopilots, we spoke with Max U. at great length regarding the autopilot program. He says Skymasters aren't at the top of the list but they are maybe 15-20% down. They have started a Turbo Commanche program with the GFC 500 autopilot already, which opens the door. He asked our opinion 500 vs 600 and when we responded the 500 is much more likely to be accepted he agreed but said that the aircraft weight may be an issue. The heaviest aircraft they have certified is the P210 at 4100lbs. At up to 4600 lbs the 337 may be at the top end of their servo capability.

We were EXTREMELY impressed with how honest and open these guys were with us during the discussion. Their parting point was that, unlike STEC, Garmin's management works on the squeaky wheel principle: if we keep asking we are more likely to get it. One thing to consider is to have your dealer or you contact their aviation product support and ask if these things are possible...eventually they end up on the right guy's desk.