Search Results for: Garmin G1000

While the HSI was a game-changer for the instrument pilot by raising the bar on situational awareness, it introduced more avionics complexity, especially when connected to multiple nav sources. In failure mode, and for the pilot who doesnt know how to operate it, the instrument can be a killer. When I was a new avionics technician, Narcos DGO-series HSI system was the ground breaker. But, not all pilots fully understood what an HSI would do, and fewer yet understood how they worked. Thats somewhat true even today.

As a brand, “Cessna Citation” conjures up a sense of solidity, of reliability, of conservatism, tradition and value. Utility trumps flash, the tried-and-true takes precedence over the new, and proven service wins out over promises. For decades Citations have sold themselves to customers who were looking to get a great value on an airplane with […]

One of the greatest aircraft compromises — in a good way — in history is Cessna’s franchise model, the 172 Skyhawk. The iconic Kansas-based airplane maker has turned out more than 40,000 of the sheet-metal birds since the model’s debut in 1956, and the utilitarian singles continue to roll down the line and out the […]

On the heels of Piper’s introduction of the Meridian M500 earlier this year, the company on Monday unveiled two additional models to its M-class lineup, the M350 and the Garmin G3000-equipped M600, at an event attended by hundreds of customers and dealers. In addition to its touchscreen G3000 avionics, the big news with the M600 […]

Piper announced the latest iteration of its Meridian turboprop single, which it now calls the M500. I’ll admit up front that my initial reaction upon hearing the news was this: Whenever a company makes a name change to a product and that new name includes a number (in this case, the number 500) I have […]

Where all aviation has its classic ABC of aviate – navigate – communicate, instrument flying has its own twist. We could call these maneuvers – procedures – communications. They are the building blocks of instrument flying and they atrophy just like any other flying skill. While you cant practice them completely at your desktop, you can keep at least the first two basically in tune. That is, so long as you treat this non-loggable desktop time as serious IFR practice.

The vast majority of my flying has been east of the Mississippi. However, the end of last year found me traversing the other coast from Mexico to the Canadian border during a two-day evaluation of a VLJ pilot based outside San Francisco. Our second leg of the trip had us in Santa Monica, ready to depart for San Diego, when ATC pitched us a nasty curve.My clients call to Clearance Delivery was answered with the query, Do you have the Santa Monica November routes onboard? My client looked at me with a puzzled glance. After my own initial confusion (The what?), followed by a smart-aleck impulse (Well if we do, whats it worth to you if we let them go?) I just shook my head to indicate I didnt know what the controller was talking about either.You could hear the exasperation in the controllers voice as she realized we were going to have to do this the hard way, and proceeded to read us one of the most complex clearances Ive received in quite some time. Once my client had read back the clearance, I asked the controller what that was about November routes. Theyre canned routes, sometimes you have them in the beginning of your book, she enigmatically responded.

On page 14 of the February issue (Glass Panel Scans), you state that a case can be made for flying track instead of a heading assigned by ATC. This I have to hear. When a controller assigns me a heading, that is what he wants me to do, and doing something else would seem to constitute failure to follow an ATC instruction. Your thoughts?

In the December 2014 issue, I answered a question from Tim, a reader, regarding filing an IFR flight plan. DUATS flight planner computer accepted the flight plan but the FSS planner rejected it. That was disconcerting, so we dug into it. This article will explain whats happening and Ill illustrate how different flight planning tools can behave differently with some less common routing elements.

ATC offered Tim a clearance that read KAGC AGC073 HOMEE JST300 JST SEG. ATCs intent was to have Tim depart Allegheny County, PA, join the AGC VORs 073 radial and fly it to HOMEE. Then he would fly southeast on the JST VOR 300 radial to JST. Neither route is an airway and this was not a preferred route. Tim has only VOR and DME (with a VFR GPS) aboard and filed accordingly.

Good intentions notwithstanding, ATC gave Tim a flyable clearance but not one that FSS or Center would accept if you were to file it. A clearance you cant file isnt worth much, and this one fails in two respects.

Quest Aircraft delivered 30 Kodiak turboprop singles last year, posting its strongest year since certifying the utility airplane in 2007. Last year also saw the Sandpoint, Idaho, start-up manufacturer achieve several milestones, including the certification of a new interior, new avionics, FAA approval for a TKS Tank installation in the Kodiak’s cargo pod, and an […]