Garmin Pilot mystery

[MooneyBob]

I don't believe anybody has any input on this but I will post it anyway. And I will call Garmin tomorrow.

I never had really any issue with the Garmin Pilot on my iPad mini.

While ago I was flying Hudson River NYC exclusion. My Garmin pilot app just closed itself without any warning or error message. I have tried to restart it few time and it always closed after few seconds. I have restarted iPad as well only with the same result. Then I forgot about it as it didn't happen again.

Last week as I am flying the same route and right around the Freedom Tower my Pilot shuts down. Ohh, I remember that happened last time.

Today flying Hudson River I was expecting the same behavior and sure enough exactly same thing happened.

I use the Garmin Pilot all the time and everywhere all over Noth East but that's the only spot where I can experience that strange phenomenon. I have no idea why this is happening.

[Hank]

Maybe it's a reminder that you're in busy airspace and need to be looking out the window?

[ArtVandelay]

Do you have the latest IOS and GP software? Are you using an external device? Do you have other apps running?

[LANCECASPER]

Another example of how reliant we've become on tablets (I'm as guilty as anyone - I have a iPad Air 2 and an iPhone 6+ running Garmin Pilot). iPads and Android tablets are amazing devices with great apps which are wonderful toys in the cockpit. But a Garmin 796 which is a dedicated aviation backup is much more reliable since it runs only aviation software and doesn't have conflicting apps running in the background.

 

I used a 396, then a 496, then a 696 and then a 796 since about a year after they came out and never had it re-boot randomly in flight. The software updates in the past two years just keep making it more useful all the time. Every time I've upgraded I've always been able to get a good percentage of my money back on the used market since they are in high demand and hold their value.

[Marauder]

I don't believe anybody has any input on this but I will post it anyway. And I will call Garmin tomorrow.

I never had really any issue with the Garmin Pilot on my iPad mini.

While ago I was flying Hudson River NYC exclusion. My Garmin pilot app just closed itself without any warning or error message. I have tried to restart it few time and it always closed after few seconds. I have restarted iPad as well only with the same result. Then I forgot about it as it didn't happen again.

Last week as I am flying the same route and right around the Freedom Tower my Pilot shuts down. Ohh, I remember that happened last time.

Today flying Hudson River I was expecting the same behavior and sure enough exactly same thing happened.

I use the Garmin Pilot all the time and everywhere all over Noth East but that's the only spot where I can experience that strange phenomenon. I have no idea why this is happening.

This past Pilot update reset something with the "shutoff" feature. In the settings you can decide how the unit will shut off. I leave mine on "always on". But after the update, it would shutdown on the ground. Settings were correct.

On another topic, anyone ever see the error where you try to do a flightplan for less than 30 minutes and will get an error saying the ETE is not acceptable and won't give you the DUATS weather? Put in 30 minutes and it works. Just reported this to Garmin.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MooneyBob]

Do you have the latest IOS and GP software? Are you using an external device? Do you have other apps running?

That's why I call it mystery. I have a dedicated iPAD mini just for the plane. No emails, no photos, no apps. iOS is up to date, Pilot is up to date. I use GDL88 as a external source ( which is for my GTN750 as well and that works fine all the time).

And it happens ONLY as I approach Manhattan and it works normally right  after I leave the Hudson River corridor. It lasts 20 minutes. Before that and after that is totally fine.

[MooneyBob]

This past Pilot update reset something with the "shutoff" feature. In the settings you can decide how the unit will shut off. I leave mine on "always on". But after the update, it would shutdown on the ground. Settings were correct.

On another topic, anyone ever see the error where you try to do a flightplan for less than 30 minutes and will get an error saying the ETE is not acceptable and won't give you the DUATS weather? Put in 30 minutes and it works. Just reported this to Garmin.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes. The same thing is on my list when I will call them. You can't get the briefing after 30 mins ETE. 

Also I don't get the confirmation email with my IFR flight plans anymore.

[ArtVandelay]

That's why I call it mystery. I have a dedicated iPAD mini just for the plane. No emails, no photos, no apps. iOS is up to date, Pilot is up to date. I use GDL88 as a external source ( which is for my GTN750 as well and that works fine all the time).

And it happens ONLY as I approach Manhattan and it works normally right after I leave the Hudson River corridor. It lasts 20 minutes. Before that and after that is totally fine.

There is a lot of RF, microwave and who knows what else in that area, the iPad Bluetooth, wifi, circuitry may not be able to handle it. There is a reason they don't certify iPads. I would hope for a little better error reporting, handling but...we have other members that run the corridor, maybe they can chime in.

[Bob - S50]

Could also be something to do with the data being displayed.  Maybe something in the data of one of the charts you are displaying.  Corrupted data, too much data, who knows.  I'm guessing you are displaying sectionals or TAC's.  Did you have the same range scale each time?  Can you display the area on the iPad while at home?  Does the same thing happen when you are displaying low altitude IFR charts?

 

So many possibilities.  It will be interesting to hear what Garmin has to say.  I'm guessing they will say delete the charts for the area and then download them again.

 

Bob

[flyboy0681]

I have experienced the same thing a few times, out of the clear blue it decides to shutdown with no rhyme or reason. This is the primary reason that I still subscribe to paper plates.

[Marauder]

I have experienced the same thing a few times, out of the clear blue it decides to shutdown with no rhyme or reason. This is the primary reason that I still subscribe to paper plates.

I've never had either of my iPad shut down in flight. I got to believe with the amount of stuff that can be put on an iPad, there can be some compatibility issues with iPad resources like memory. When I use my iPad for flight, I shut down all of the apps other than Garmin Pilot, turn off Wifi and just leave Bluetooth on for the GDL-39.

Another thing I periodically do is a hard reboot of the iPad. At the end of the day, it is a computer and like all computers, it needs a "damn good thrashing" once in a while to remind it who is boss.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[flyboy0681]

I've never had either of my iPad shut down in flight. I got to believe with the amount of stuff that can be put on an iPad, there can be some compatibility issues with iPad resources like memory. When I use my iPad for flight, I shut down all of the apps other than Garmin Pilot, turn off Wifi and just leave Bluetooth on for the GDL-39.

Another thing I periodically do is a hard reboot of the iPad. At the end of the day, it is a computer and like all computers, it needs a "damn good thrashing" once in a while to remind it who is boss.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Just like Bob, my iPad mini is dedicated only for use with Pilot. The only other application I have loaded is full screen calculator. Let me reiterate that it shut down only a few times over the years, it's not as if it occurs during every flight.

[ryoder]

Apple became more aggressive with auto release memory management in 8.3+. In the app my team supports, we had some crashes that never happened until 8.3. In our case we had a button that some code was trying to set a style on that had been inadvertently released from memory. iOS immediately kills your app when this happens. I bet it's a Garmin bug exacerbated by iOS updates.

[Piloto]

I have the Garmin Pilot on my Samsung S3 Cell phone and never experience the shutdown problem. Mine has no connection to an ADS-B receiver. I get weather via the internet. 

 

José