I have an Aera 796, which worked fine for years. Over the past year or so it has developed an issue where it inaccurately displays altitude (and issues terrain warnings) at altitudes near the ground.
I compare it with the GPS altitude of a GNS 530W (as well as a pressure altimeter which is within 100 ft. of GPS altitude).
The altitude on the Aera lags far behind actual GPS altitude on climbout to the point where it is showing 1400 MSL, when actual GPS altitude is nearly 2200 MSL.
When taking off from a valley, this creates a ton of "Terrain! Pull up!" alerts - kind of creepy, especially at night.
Once I'm a few hundred feet AGL, the Aera's altitude seems to become accurate. (Maybe it can't keep up with calculating altitude and processing terrain?)
I've consulted with multiple avionics techs about this. We've tested both internal and external GPS antennas. The Aera has a good GPS signal and reports lateral position correctly, just not altitude.
The issue may have appeared when I downloaded one of the firmware or database updates. Online research shows that some other Aera 796 owners experience this same issue. I have the latest firmware version installed (v5.60, I believe)
Does anyone else have this issue? Have you figured out a solution?
Thank you.
Al
