October. 04/07

Diamond Aircraft Announces Garmin Software Upgrade and WAAS Retrofit Program

At the unveiling of its new Diamond Stars, the DA40 XLS and DA40 CS, at AOPO Expo, Diamond Aircraft also announced a retrofit program for the Garmin upgrades for its recent DA40 customers. All DA40s with the GFC700 autopilot are eligible to select from several upgrade options:

– A software upgrade which enables Garmin FliteCharts, SafeTaxi, Victor Airways programmable in to flight plans, auto-pilot flown holds and procedure turns, and other functionality improvements such as a ground track indication on the PFD,
– ChartView by Jeppesen geo-synchronized approach plates,
– A standard WAAS upgrade, and
– A WAAS upgrade, including VNAV en-route descent capability.

The upgrades will be available for retrofit in November 2007 for GFC700 equipped aircraft. KAP140 equipped aircraft require a separate STC effort, which is planned to be completed in early Q2, 2008.

Diamond is pricing these options aggressively, and is offering a special, limited time introductory price of $395 for the software upgrade, which includes FliteCharts and SafeTaxi capability. This offer is available exclusively to owners of DA40 XL aircraft, as well as other DA40 owners who have a GFC700 autopilot installed.

“We know that many pilots who have bought a G1000 equipped plane in the last year or so have been waiting eagerly for these upgrades, especially the digital chart option. We have chosen to introduce these features near simultaneously on production aircraft and for the retrofit market, and to offer an aggressive price, as a ‘thank you’ to our past customers, and to ensure that this safety-enhancing technology finds its way into as many cockpits as possible,” explains Heike Larson, VP of Sales and Marketing at Diamond. “At Diamond, we are proud of our industry-leading safety record, and dedicated to enabling our customers to keep flying as safely as possible, by providing them with the best technology available on the market.”

For more information on Diamond Aircraft, please visit www.diamondair.com