G1000 screen flickered out during preflight this morning

I was doing a routine preflight on a Citation Mustang around 7 AM, and the PFD just started flickering like crazy before going dark. Tried the usual reset cycle with the avionics master, no luck. Ended up pulling the LRU and reseating the backplane connectors, which fixed it for now, but I'm not confident it'll hold. Anyone else seen this on the G1000 NXi systems or is it just mine that's acting up?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_ruby7d agoMost Upvoted

Pulling the LRU and reseating the backplane connectors" - man, I had a similar thing on a Garmin 430 in a 172 a few years back. Was doing pattern work and the map just froze, then the screen went all rainbow static. I ended up just smacking the side of the unit with my hand and it flickered back on. The mechanic said it was probably a loose ribbon cable inside, but I still don't trust it on long trips.

christopher_flores467d ago

That "rainbow static" thing you mentioned is exactly what I saw too before mine crapped out completely. Ended up sending mine to Garmin for a bench check and they said the display driver chip was failing from vibration fatigue over years of hard landings. I put a shock mount tray in mine after that and its been solid, but I still carry an iPad backup on any flight where I'm going outside of radio range.