FAA Issues Safety Notice on Garmin GFC 500 Autopilot

▤ Summary

The FAA notified pilots and aircraft owners about an issue with Garmin’s GFC 500 autopilot equipped with optional auto trim. This condition could result in a sudden and significant deviation from the intended flight path.” This does not affect Cirrus aircraft equipped with the GFC 500 autopilot, according to Garmin. For experimental aircraft with the GFC 500, Garmin Service Bulletin 22112 REV A explains how to update the autopilot’s software, which resolves the problem. Disabling trim control will allow for continued use of the autopilot as a temporary option until new GFC 500 software is certified,” Garmin said. “Customer safety and product quality and reliability are Garmin’s top priority,” the Olathe, Kansas company said.

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