Century III Auto Pilot with a Garmin 430W

[mschmuff]

OK - does anyone have a great working knowledge of these two units?  Will the CIII fly a WAAS approach? Glide slope and all?  Or do I need GPSS?  I know it will fly a LOC or ILS but I don't know if it will sync up with an LPV.

[aaronk25]

I got a 650 and century 3 and it will fly gpss wass approaches to mins on GPS approaches.

[M016576]

Shouldn't need a GPSS to couple to the 430's glideslope

[John Pleisse]

For the C-3, all the AP info will come from your nav head or HSI. Is it a C3-Coupled (C model)? If so, you'll love how smooth the Century 3 is (when it works), which brings up my next point. The pin connectors to the AI often vibrate loose of will become disconnected. Also, the board and computer are suseptable to corrosion. If you experience any issues, start there.

 

C-3-C, with standby vac, when working and in top shape is a great AP. Smoothest intercepts. Better than KFC 200.

[mschmuff]

It will capture an ILS glideslope - should it also capture the WASS LPV glideslope.  I'm going to take it out tomorrow and try everything.

[Piloto]

I have a Century 31 connected to a G530W and I can confidently fly an LPV approach down to 100ft AGL were I disconnect the A/P. It is right on the cross hair from FAF to 100ft AGL. I just reduce power as I get closer. It compensates for flaps and gear extension. I cross check the approach with my Aera 560 in HSI mode.

 

José 

[mschmuff]

Thats a good point Jose!  I have a 696 linked to the 430 and didn't even think about the HSI mode on that.

Going out at 1500 today - hope it works!

[Piloto]

I found the Aera 560 HSI to be more accurate and easier to use than the King KCS 55 HSI. I have it behind the yoke to cross correlate with the CDI. Unlike the KCS 55 were you have to find a correction angle to compensate for wind on the 560 you are flying a ground track that inmediately tells you when you have the proper ground path. This keeps you from overshooting the path angle like when using a KCS 55. At one time I though about having a KCS 55 but after seeing the 560 HSI in action I am now conviced the 560 is the way to go. Besides the HSI you have the VSI with the VSR bug on the 560 to help you maintain proper descent. 

 

But the beauty of it is when doing approaches for runways that have no approaches at all. Just set the OBS to line up with the runway and the 560 will give you approach guidance (vertical and horizontal) to the runway. Very handy for uncontrolled fields. Try that with a KCS 55.

 

José 

[mschmuff]

OK - I definitely think I have a problem.....Placed the A/P in LOC Norm mode on a 45 degree intercept at 2000'.  Everything sync'd up - captured the LOC and the G/S.  Everything was good until I hit 800' and the nose just dipped and went well below G/S.

Any ideas?

I went around and did it again on a GPS LPV approach and it did the same thing......

[Marauder]

OK - I definitely think I have a problem.....Placed the A/P in LOC Norm mode on a 45 degree intercept at 2000'. Everything sync'd up - captured the LOC and the G/S. Everything was good until I hit 800' and the nose just dipped and went well below G/S. Any ideas? I went around and did it again on a GPS LPV approach and it did the same thing......

Is this the first time you are using the AP? On my STEC, I need to be on the localizer, below the GS and in HDG/ALT mode when I hit the NAV button. Once I hit it, the capturing for both horizontal and vertical guidance begins. Are you sure it captured the glideslope?

[Piloto]

OK - I definitely think I have a problem.....Placed the A/P in LOC Norm mode on a 45 degree intercept at 2000'.  Everything sync'd up - captured the LOC and the G/S.  Everything was good until I hit 800' and the nose just dipped and went well below G/S.

Any ideas?

I went around and did it again on a GPS LPV approach and it did the same thing......

Looks like the elevator servo is dropping out. Check the VNAV page on the 430. Verify you have set it for 0ft and 0nm from the destination wpt. I am not sure about this but if you have an offset on the VNAV page the vertical guidance may stop and cause the Glide Slope to flag thus causing the autopilot to disengage the vertical servo. Never experimented with other VNAV settings. Try this next time. It kind of make sense. 

 

José