Garmin G1000 non WAAS Upgrade alternatives...

Darkfixer wrote:

Can it be upgraded with WAAS now, or what are the alternatives?

There are “books” written about this subject in places like Mooneyspace. The gist is, if it can be done at all (you need to find the parts for it, which are no longer available new and which are quite expensive if you can locate them at all) you need the support of the factory and all in all it is a very expensive thing to do. The going rate was between 20 and 30 k $ if I recall correctly, that was when the parts were still available directly from Garmin.

Darkfixer wrote:

Can I keep it non WAAS and is it usable in future?

That is the big question. For now, it works just fine but lacks ability to do certain types of RNAV approaches, which however are going to be increasingly replacing conventional stuff. What happens in a few years is anyone’s guess, but I personally would not touch an airplane without WAAS or without the capability to installing WAAS easily, e.g. by swapping a GNS430 to an IFD440 or GTNseries navigator.

Can I keep it non WAAS and is it usable in future?

Depends on where you fly. I fly with a KLN94+KMD550 and have never had to plan a trip differently, but that’s partly because, out of the UK, the first airport always needed Immigration, and most of those have an ILS, and all LPV equipped airports have an LNAV approach anyway which is just higher minima than LPV. I would not spend tens of k on LPV. I just make sure that I can reach an alternate with an ILS, to cover the worst case scenario (a zero-zero landing with an autopilot). Also the UK has been blocked from LPV internally.

There are some people who fly in areas where there is LPV and no ILS for a large distance. I believe this is possible within France and maybe some pilots who fly IFR and never leave France may be in that situation.

The resale value is something else, but you never recoup money spent on avionics anyway, unless the existing kit is from the 1970s/1980s.

Flying on the G1000 non WAAS in France is not currently a problem. It could become more of a problem if ILS fields change to LPV. At the moment that is not planned in the near future.
So all you will miss out on is the ability to do LPV approaches.
However, many smaller airfields which did not have an ILS approach are being encouraged to extend their LNAV approaches to LPV and those without an IAP are being encouraged to go direct for LPV if they are thinking of an IAP.
As @Peter has said the LNAV approach will still be available to those who do not have WAAS.

It is rather unfortunate that most of these boxes, integrated or not, don’t do Baro-VNAV. They have all the data for that (for the non-integrated ones, when connected to an air data computer), don’t they?

The only exception I know is (some of?) the G1000 variant of Cirrus aircraft, don’t they?

This situation is probably similar to the DA42 one. Very expensive to do.

Peter wrote:

This situation is probably similar to the DA42 one. Very expensive to do.

I think the best case scenario is you replace 2×GIA63 with 2×GIA63W, which (if priced as new) is going to cost 30K+ (reportedly).
Worst – an STC to install a new GIA64?
Or replacing everything with G500TXi+GFC+GTN?

Does the information from the static ports go into the air data computer or are they kept separate?
In the G500 handbook they reckon that the GPS altitude is more accurate but one should always cross check with the Barometric reading.

Worst – an STC to install a new GIA64?

Mooney did not want to STC WAAS for integrated cockpit (same for SRxx, TBMxx, DAxx, C182.. built between 1998-2008 with no upgrade paths on G1000W via STC), you need to buy the next edition of factory model with G1000W built-in

When you look at pricing of other STC not owned by manufacturers they are > 60k, I doubt it is worth it? unless aircraft is 600k or 1.2m?

Modular aircraft from pre-1995 as easier to emable WAAS or integrated aircraft after 2010 will have G1000W but the ones in the middle are stuck forever

There is a similar story about TKS retrofit vs factory FIKI from factory between 2000-2010 when FAA rules changed, altough, no one cares about these distinctions as both systems are functionally equivalent and icing is usually pilot interpreted

For WAAS, I gather it is a real limitation? I like to have 3D LNAV+V even when flying 2D LNAV and LPV is a must if it’s available at home airfield

These tiny manufacturers (like Mooney is now, and Robin too) don’t have the resources to develop complicated STCs. And the bigger firms want you to buy a new plane.

Is it possible to do a G1000 LPV update off the books ? Let’s face it, nobody will discover it.