If indeed you are knowledgeable about Garmin software internals, I
appreciate your courage and your input on this topic.

On 5 Oct 2006 17:57:21 -0700, "g1000_eng"
wrote in . com:

I won't delve into the actual debate issues of whether to go glass,
realtime reliability vs. features demanded, benefits vs. risk of
various situational awareness methods, or anything like that.

Of course, the real issue is whether it's rational to rely on an
electronic system with a failure mode that is capable of leaving the
pilot with little else than three steam gages (AI, AS, Alt) and
magnetic compass, and taking out all communications, navigation,
engine instrumentation, and autopilot when it goes.

Perhaps you can confirm the loss of autopilot functionality when the
Garmin system goes off-line. If so, perhaps you can explain why the
autopilot is incapable of switching to being driven by the steam-gage
AI, and functioning as a wing leveler in that event. After all, if
the pilot is able to use the autopilot to keep the aircraft right side
up in the event of the Garmin system failure, he will be able to focus
much more of his attention on diagnosing the cause of the failure.