Marauder

Hey! You fixed your bullet holes! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Well, I was based at KILG for years. A towered field. And at 11:01 PM every night, it became an uncontrolled field. I was pretty sure they didn't take the tower down for the night.

When I installed my GTN 650, I looked at the GI-106 since my old CDIs would not support the GPS input. They are expensive. You didn't say what you already have in the panel (HSI vs. DG, etc.). I would go the route of a G5 or an Aspen and get a true HSI if you don't have one. The GTX-345 is a good solution if you run either ForeFlight or Garmin Pilot to display the traffic on. If you are limited on panel space, you can get the GTX-345R remote unit. You can control the transponder through the 650. A 345 will also show traffic on both the GNS 430 and the GTN. The screens will get a bit cluttered but you can always run one unit in traffic mode and have your Nav stuff on the other one. I have the PS Engineering 450A unit. The latest unit is the 450B. Solid audio panels and good features.

And I echo Paul's comments that seeing this in real life would be an exception rather than the rule.

I guess this leads to the question, is this okay? I think it was Anthony who mentioned that flying that loop could put you into conflict with traffic if ATC is expecting you to make the turn towards the new waypoint (airport in your case) rather than fly the loop. It also makes me wonder why the Garmin GTN series does depict this differently and shows the curved route. I fly later this afternoon and see if I can duplicate this on my GTN and STEC.

I think we are all coming to the conclusion that something isn't behaving correctly. As Paul suggests above, it may be related to the Avidyne GPS database. The STEC 60-2 that Ken & I have in our planes don't have GPSS built into them like the STEC 55 series. We both get our GPSS from the Aspen. I have flown a number of sharp angle turns with my STEC. If there is a waypoint involved, the autopilot will always make a turn early to intercept the next course. If I intercept a leg, there is no lead in and the autopilot, if in normal GPSS mode, it will turn as much as standard rate if the turn is steep. If I have the autopilot in APR mode, the autopilot will fly through the final approach course a bit.

Hmmm indeed. From what the Avidyne simulator is showing, the AP flew it as posted and then did the circle to get back to the route to KAVQ. Wonder if this is a programming error. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Well, with PICLI in the simulator, it is doing the same thing. Does Avidyne have a simulator? Wonder if you can duplicate it on their simulator. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

I’m running another simulation with PICLI. I’ll see what that comes up with. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Well, I think we need to go back to the drawing board. I loaded your flight plan up in the GTN Trainer and it flew it like I expected it would. This is the way I see it handle any course, it will turn before the actual point in space. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Ken -- maybe I am not following your thread correctly. I read it over again and saw you mentioned the 270 degree loop. I have never had my 60-2 using GPSS do that turn for either a waypoint that is part of an approach or just a waypoint in space. If I were using my GTN, Aspen and 60-2 to fly what you shown, what I would see is a curve on the GTN and just sharp angles on the Aspen. It will follow what the GTN is depicting. The autopilot will always begin the turn before the waypoint and it will be standard rate. If the turn is sharp like your photos, the turn starts really early. I'll shoot a video of this tomorrow.

I know! Strange isn't it? I heard rumors the wild wild west was also uncontrolled!

Mine will. I am going out tomorrow to shoot some approaches and will bring my GoPro with me and make a video of an approach fully coupled. I often wondered how the intercept angle feature worked (or not work) with GPSS. Before I had the Aspens, I could do an intercept using this method (pushing both HDG and NAV at the same time). It would always do a standard rate turn at the right time.

The Aspen has GPSS built into it, so I am guessing that is where he gets it.

When you do turns without the GPSS (just using the heading bug) does it do standard rate turns?

The AIM is filled with the word "uncontrolled" and it clearly reads to mean they are uncontrolled. From the AIM: "Use of the appropriate CTAF, combined with a visual alertness and application of the following recommended good operating practices (section 4.1.9), will enhance safety of flight into and out of all uncontrolled airports." Look up AIM section 4.1.9 https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/AIM.pdf

It will sell faster with any improvements in the avionics stack. Just ask Tom how long it took to get an offer on his Aspen equipped E model.

For those of us with active non-towered airports, it is a way of life to "squeeze" out between the multiple trainers and gliders peppering the pattern. I don't do a rolling entry because I want to do once last check to make sure my heading is aligned with the runway. I also do my last LIFT to make sure I am good to go. Another thing that complicates things is any IFR departures. Since we are served by Philly approach, forget about picking up your clearance in the air. This has led to several arguments with the airport management about IFR departures needs and the steady stream of training and glider activities. I guess looking at the bright side, at least I'm not based at an airport where half of the planes don't fly.

I have an Aspen setup with the 60-2 and a GTN driving it. One thing I have noticed is that the STEC as an analog AP is dependent on input for winds aloft to make the correct guess for when to begin the turn. Here are two approaches (apologize for the busy track log). The turn at Certs intersection was done completely with the AP. The track shown between Certs and Efeco was hand flown. Just like the AP I guess wrong too.

Seth -- see I used "Line up and wait" -- 7:25 minutes N57-Oct-14-2018-1500Z.mp3 The sequence went from my line up and wait call to the tow plane & glider transmitting clear of the runway and base simultaneously at 7:51. I heard the tow plane's "clear of runway" and called departing at 8:03. The glider called base again at 8:31, the golf cart for the glider club calling crossing the runway at 8:35, followed by the glider calling final at 8:48. If I had waited until 7:51 and it took me 30 seconds to line up and begin departing, I would have been on the runway at roughly 8:21 minutes with the glider making his "on final" call at 8:31. Why do we do this? Simple, pretty active airport and you don't have the time to spend 30 seconds to move from the hold line to enter the runway and depart because someone is always on one of the legs to the airport. In this case, the tow plane had just landed and one of the gliders was entering the base leg to the grass recovery strip. The approach end of my airport's runway 24 is slightly downhill and when you are sitting on the runway you can't see if a plane has exited the runway on the other end. So it is pretty common for a number of us to line up and wait until we hear the plane that landed has cleared. There is a chance that you could abort and forced a power plane to go around, but that is why we have radios.

What I loved about your post was that subtle little line at the end. Yearly costs... that's where the real investment is.

Chris -- financially EXTREMELY conservative and airplane ownership are two phrases you just don't see together. Your other comment that you want to determine investment value, also indicates that you think you can sell later for a profit. Even for the guys who said they made money selling, there is the caveat on the annual ownership costs. Danb's response above should be noted. Dan is a CPA. Yeah, he sold for more, but he also said he spent $20k to $40k annually. I am not a CPA, but can tell you that my F is running $23k to $28k to operate. I have owned my plane for 28 years. So do the math, averaging 28 years at $25k is $700k. You want to buy my F for a killer deal? I'll sell it to you for $650k!! Look at what you get. It's so SHINY! Early in my ownership, money was tighter and I saved money by doing owner assisted annuals, not upgrading anything and spending available $ resources to make sure the plane and avionics were kept up. If you don't maintain the plane, the value goes down and the risk goes up. You need to be mentally prepared to write big checks, shaky hands and all. Sorry for my cynicism. We have seen a number of potential owners come on this site, buy and then are dealing with costs they didn't expect. Can it be done? Sure, but don't think that buying an airplane is an investment. It is not. A number of owners have the financial means to deal with whatever comes their way. They do or don't track expenses. They do or don't carry reserves. There are others who know how much it is costing them and make it work despite having less disposable income. And then there those who get in over their heads and eventually sell for a loss. If you want to know whether this activity fits your conservative financial outlook, try to fill this table out for your area (hangar costs differ around the country, same for fuel and other costs). Once you total up those ranges, see if you are comfortable laying out that kind of money.

Looks exactly like my loose probe issue. Check the connector between the probe and the harness.

I can help you with #1. Go to a department store and pick out a nice belt that matches your color scheme and cut two grab handles from it. Keep the rest of the belt for replacements. Bruce Jaeger showed me that one.

You snoozed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro