Cirrus Aircraft has been incrementally updating the flight deck in the popular SR-series (SR20/SR22/SR22T) airplanes and now Garmin has an upgrade for planes with the original Garmin Perspective integrated avionics to the more capable Perspective+ suite. The upgrade—retrofittable in the field via a pending STC—is fair game for Cirrus SR Series G3, G5 and some G6 models through qualified Cirrus factory service centers.
Garmin says the upgrade is designed to be easy by swapping the existing displays with the Perspective+ LRUs (10- or 12-inch screens) that have newer multi-core processors. The Perspective+ upgrade includes a new keypad with a QWERTY keyboard, new HOME key for jumping to the main navigation functions with one button push. There’s also a new autopilot controller with automatic yaw damper functionality. Having flown with it a fair amount, we think the Perspective+ upgrade is a big shot in the arm from a feature and safety system standpoint.