Garmin announced its newest flagship aviation portable GPS series, the aera 796 and aera 795. These new devices have all of the great features you have come to know and love from a Garmin aviation portable like a 5 Hz GPS receiver, the patented Panel Page and XM weather integration, plus the aera 796/795 is enhanced with even more features that make it Garmin’s most capable aviation portable yet! Some new additions include a touchscreen user interface, pilot-selectable screen orientation and 3D Vision.
What is 3D Vision?
3D vision is a unique 3D view of the surroundings outside the aircraft. It uses GPS position and the terrain-alerting database to recreate a behind-the-aircraft perspective view of the topographic
landscape. The resulting virtual reality display offers pilots a supplemental 3D depiction of land and water features including terrain, obstacles, runways and airport signposts all shown in relative proximity to the aircraft. With the flick of a finger, the 3D view can be rotated around the aircraft to easily view the surrounding terrain.
A path to a paperless cockpit
Because of the comprehensive offering of electronic charts, the aera 796 may be qualified for use as either a Class I or Class II Electronic Flight Bag (EFB). Geo-referenced IFR Enroute charts and VFR Sectional charts come pre-loaded, and the aera 796 also includes geo-referenced Garmin FliteCharts®, an electronic version of the AeroNav U.S. Terminal Procedures Publication. For pilots who prefer Jeppesen charts and diagrams, Garmin also offers a ChartView enablement option. Garmin ChartView utilizes Jeppesen’s extensive library to provide global charting capabilities. More “paperless” offerings include a digital document viewer, scratch pad and pre-loaded geo-referenced AeroNav IFR and VFR enroute charts.
Plus a large touchscreen display
The large icons on the high-resolution 7-inch touchscreen display make this device so easy to use. Using your finger,
you can quickly pan across the map, pinch zoom and quickly access information. The icons along the bottom row of the display are even customizable, so you can pick your favorite features and anchor them at the bottom of the display for even faster access.
The aera 796/795 will be on display and available for purchase next week at the AOPA Aviation Summit in Hartford, Connecticut. Come by and visit us! If you can’t make it to the show, but want to get your hands one one, visit your local Garmin authorized dealer.
Garmin Victor’s Vectors: GTN PC Trainer Lite Online Download
There were hundreds of people who came by the Garmin booth at Oshkosh to get their hands on the GTN series 
touchscreen avionics. If you didn’t get a chance to come by or you didn’t get to spend as much time with it as you wanted, we’ve got you covered. Garmin recently released a downloadable version of the GTN trainer on Garmin.com called the GTN PC Trainer Lite. This trainer functions just like the real GTN, giving you the opportunity to interact with the intuitive user interface and explore the robust capabilities in more depth.
The database coverage on the PC Trainer Lite version is limited to North America and the G500/G600 integration is not available. If you are interested in the full trainer with G500/G600 integration, it is available on disk and can be purchased online. But if you’re just interested in getting to know the GTN and getting a feel for the rich features this system has to offer, then the GTN PC Trainer Lite is for you. You can also learn more by watching our series of GTN familiarization videos, which are all available online:
Garmin pilot school
It’s that time of year. The time when children are up early to wait at the bus stop. The time when groans about homework are echoing around the house. The time when yellow buses always seem to stop in front of you when you are late for work. Yes, it is time for school.
But for a pilot, school (or at least the education) never really stops. We are always reading new information, or practicing approaches to refine our skills. Going into the school year and fall thunderstorm season is a great time for a little
education. To that end I recommend Garmin’s online training course for the G1000. There is a VFR and IFR course available to help you get up to speed. Each training course has examples and demonstrations that walk you through the basic to the advanced. Visit flyGarmin.com for more information and pricing, and don’t forget the #2 pencil.