Where’s the Nighthawk Guardian?

That’s what some of our readers have been asking about this in-development avionics system from California-based Nighthawk Avionics. We’ve covered the product in reports here at AvBrief for nearly a year, and based on what we’ve seen during a few demos and discussions with Nighthawk CEO, Paul Martin, we’re impressed with its bold and smart hardware and electrical interface, plus its gee whiz graphics that excel at synthetic vision.

The Guardian’s design (in particular the interconnect) is like nothing we’ve seen, with panel displays connected to LRUs (line replaceable units) that Nighthawk calls the NEST—a centralized hub containing all the functions required for a full suite of flight instruments and other onscreen and supporting data. The NEST concept is supposed to lower the system’s weight and simplify the initial wiring effort because it connects the LRUs to the display with a single cable, plus planned upgrades like integrated WAAS GPS promises a simpler upgrade. Aside from initially playing with third-party avionics including legacy autopilots and radios, the company has plans for multiple display options once the first version of the Guardian earns STC. Nighthawk has been proving the system to the FAA in its Cessna 340 twin. I can envision a version of the system on drones, too.

To us, support behind the product is as important as performance and so far through Martin’s leadership, Nighthawk has done a good job of marketing the Guardian and communicating with the press. That’s the right start. Last, we welcome the competition in a healthy avionics market and in our estimation, there will be buyers willing to give the Guardian a try, and Martin said there’s a committed dealer network in place. Can’t have one, yet.

This past April was the company’s targeted time for certification and first deliveries, but not surprisingly given the process, the Guardian’s certification slipped. Since we said we would keep tabs on the product and check back in with an update, we reached out to Guardian for an explanation.

We were told the Guardian is still close to FAA certification, and that Nighthawk won’t be exhibiting at AirVenture Oshkosh next month because it doesn’t have the staffing to deal with the show (essentially a two-week commitment) and look after certification matters. We were told there will be more updates around the time of the show, and we’ll report on them.

Worth mentioning is that while the Guardian is new, Nighthawk has been selling and supporting the Sandel Avionics line of flight display products, which have been at market for years before Nighthawk bought the company. Sandel tried to bring the Avilon integrated flight deck to market, which was aimed at King Airs to start, but it never made it through certification.