Garmin G2000 PRIME 🎛️, ForeFlight SkyPlay 📱, AI NOTAMs 🤖
Garmin Introduces G2000 PRIME (3 minute read)
Garmin launched the G2000 PRIME, an all-touchscreen integrated flight deck for high-performance Class I and II piston and electric aircraft that adapts technology from its G3000 PRIME platform. The system pairs 14-inch edge-to-edge primary displays — with more than twice the processing power and up to 100× faster connectivity than earlier systems — with 7-inch secondary displays that can double as standby instruments, and recognizes up to 10 simultaneous touch inputs plus hand-stabilization for turbulence. It supports Garmin Autoland, Smart Glide, Smart Rudder Bias, Electronic Stability Protection, autothrottle, Runway Occupancy Awareness, and 3D SafeTaxi, with LTE/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/SiriusXM/Connext connectivity; aircraft manufacturers will announce the first models to receive it.
Jeppesen ForeFlight and uAvionix Introduce Sentry SkyPlay (3 minute read)
uAvionix and Jeppesen ForeFlight unveiled Sentry SkyPlay, a connected avionics-and-mobile ecosystem that brings the ForeFlight experience into the panel. The centerpiece is the Sentry SkyPlay Mini, a sunlight-readable, knob-controlled 3-inch display that runs the ForeFlight app natively, installs in a standard instrument opening, and keeps routes, charts, and weather synchronized with ForeFlight on the iPad. Aimed at legacy singles, Light Sport aircraft, and owners who want panel capability without a full redesign, it is pitched as a new category of connected display — with the companies planning larger form factors and software-driven capability upgrades over time. It debuts at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
Jeppesen ForeFlight Simplifies Flight Planning With AI-Powered ClearNOTAMs App (3 minute read)
ForeFlight's new ClearNOTAMs uses AI to translate raw, all-caps NOTAMs into plain-English summaries that convey each notice's real operational impact without altering its meaning, letting pilots tap to view the original coded text alongside. In development for over a year with extensive automated cross-checks built in for accuracy, it adds customizable filters (airport, airspace, runway, issuing body) plus sorting, pinning, and collapsing. Individual users get a complimentary three-month trial after AirVenture (July 20–26); afterward the feature requires ForeFlight's Premium (individuals), Business Performance (flight departments), or MFB Performance/MFB One (military/government) plans, while the filtering and sorting UI stays free on every plan.
Jeppesen ForeFlight Introduces ForeFlight Scheduler (3 minute read)
Jeppesen ForeFlight introduced ForeFlight Scheduler, a platform that unifies aircraft and instructor scheduling, digital billing and invoicing, maintenance and inspection tracking, and reporting into one system for flight schools, flying clubs, and aircraft managers. Built in collaboration with flight schools, it eliminates duplicate data entry across disconnected tools, centralizes inspection and maintenance deadlines with automated tracking, and offers flexible billing for aircraft, instructor, fuel, and service rates alongside fleet-utilization and profitability reporting. Future plans extend tracking to instructor qualifications, medical certificates, and student documentation; the platform is in Early Access now, with demos available at takeoff.foreflight.com.
Head-Up Display Glasses for General Aviation Debut (2 minute read)
Three companies — EyeLights (head-up display hardware), Adventure Pilot (iFly EFB), and AURA AERO (aircraft integration via its INTEGRAL platform) — are bringing HUD glasses to general aviation with APEX HUD. The connected glasses project customizable flight-planning and navigation information into the pilot's forward field of view to cut heads-down time, drawing data from the iFly EFB, and are compatible with the Garmin G3X. Still in development with a targeted 2027 release, APEX HUD is available for pre-order at an AirVenture launch price of $3,992.76 (regular $4,986.66) during the July 20–26 event.
FAA Accepts New MOSAIC Light-Sport Standards (3 minute read)
The FAA accepted new ASTM consensus standards for light-sport category airplanes, gliders, powered-lift aircraft, and gyroplanes — effective July 16 — giving manufacturers a means of compliance under the MOSAIC rule that takes effect July 24. The accepted standards (ASTM F3815-26a for airplanes, F3836-26 for gliders, F3840-26 for powered-lift, and F3841-26 for gyroplanes) each bundle functional standards covering design, structures, engines, propellers, electrical systems, and night and IFR operations. Aircraft certificated on or after July 24 must comply with Part 22 and FAA-accepted standards; the agency has not yet accepted a standard permitting simplified-flight-control light-sport aircraft, and AOPA — which helped develop the standards — welcomed the move.
7 iPad Settings to Check Before Your Next Flight (5 minute read)
This iPad Pilot News guide walks through seven iOS settings that prevent in-flight EFB frustrations, whether you fly ForeFlight or Garmin Pilot. Recommendations include setting Auto-Lock (Settings > Display & Brightness) to Never on ship's power or 15 minutes on battery, disabling Background App Refresh (Settings > General) for non-aviation apps like Instagram and ESPN to save battery, and creating a dedicated "Flying" Focus mode to pause texts, work email, and Slack alerts while still allowing critical contacts. It also covers taking manual control of screen brightness to reduce heat and battery drain in the cockpit.
How to Flight Plan Around Thunderstorms Using Your iPad (7 minute read)
A summer convective-weather tutorial showing how ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot outclass a basic Flight Service briefing for storm avoidance — noting the FAA's Advisory Circular fully endorses the self-briefing process. It walks through ForeFlight's Imagery charts for long-range planning: Prog Charts (red cross-hatching flags thunderstorm areas and locates highs, lows, and fronts), the 12-Hour Probability of Precipitation product (issued 3–7 days out with color-shaded percentages), and the 6-Hour Quantitative Precipitation forecast. The emphasis is on using several-day-out forecasts to pick a storm-free departure time and route, since GA's flexibility is the best defense against convection.
Garmin Pilot Enhances Oshkosh FISK Arrival Features (3 minute read)
Garmin's latest Garmin Pilot update for Apple devices builds the FISK VFR Arrival into the navigation database and SmartCharts ahead of EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, adding waypoint labels, the ATC colored runway dots and squares on the Oshkosh airport diagram, and a direct flip-flop link to the arrival page in the AirVenture NOTAM. The FISK procedure is now loadable as a STAR in the July database cycle, so pilots can couple the autopilot for lateral guidance while keeping their eyes outside. The update also debuts the redesigned Flights page — route, weight-and-balance, fuel, and briefing in one hub — and expands SmartCharts to Canada and Mexico for Premium users in August 2026, including CDFA vertical guidance for non-precision approaches.
Embraer Launches Phenom 300EV With Emergency Autoland (2 minute read)
Embraer launched the Phenom 300EV ("Evolution"), calling it the largest business jet equipped with Garmin Emergency Autoland, which can trigger automatically or manually after pilot incapacitation to complete a landing. The single-pilot light jet adds autobrake, a new electronic rudder-by-wire controller, and a Garmin G3000 Prodigy Touch flight deck gaining 3D taxiway routing, runway-occupancy alerts, synthetic vision, FANS 1/A+, and RNP AR 0.3. It lists a 2,055-nm maximum range (up from 2,010 nm), roughly 430 lb more payload, a Mach 0.80 top speed, and factory Gogo Galileo LEO connectivity with Starlink available later via STC; deliveries begin in 2028.
