My birds toys.
- From: Pope Secola VI <jamesed@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 10:08:37 -0700
I just had to go out and fly the new bird around the pea patch. It's got some really nifty toys that while I like them I don't really know about.
The main toy is the GARMIN MX20 flight Director.
This thing is a liquid crystal display that is readable in bright sun light and shows the whole world on it. (I still don't know if I like all this computer generated stuff)
The display sits in the middle of the Pilots instrument panel and is 6 inches wide and 5 inches high. It is slaved to the GPS and the NAV/Glide slope, mode S transponder as well to other stuff.
The way it operates is; There is a moving map (FAA electronic sectional that can be uploaded and updated as necessary) as the back ground and a little airplane shows the location over the moving map. The moving map can be zoomed in or out, shows the the speed of the aircraft, the the course of the aircraft, the altitude, both actual and relative above ground of the aircraft, barometric pressure, the identification of the VOR station as well as the bearing to that VOR station, that I am tuned to, and the location of any other VOR in the neighborhood along with pilot entered way points.
It also shows the towns and cities as well as the airports and other features such as lakes, rivers, swamps, highways, roads, cow paths, power lines etc. (Kind of neat seeing all that stuff below you even on pitch black nites.) It shows both low and high altitude IFR charting as well as the ILS fan of instrument landing system equipped airports.
It also show in color relief the change in altitude of the terrain under the air craft and has a window that shows the delta of the change of altitude of the ground as well as a lightning bolt to show where you are going to hit the ground.
Another neat feature is It shows me all the other aircraft traffic, their course, altitude, and speed, at a range up to 35 miles away from me.
When shooting an instrument approach I can display the aircrafts position over the Jeppesen instrument approach plate and airport surface plot.
I can even split the screen shown the airport jepp plate on one half and the Flight director screen on the other half.
I can even over lay the data linked uploaded Ground based NEXTRAD color weather radar information over the moving map to show where the active storm systems are.
This thing takes all the work out of aircraft operation and navigation. My only problem with the whole dammed thing is what happens if it breaks.
-- 3rd Commandment of the Church of Pope Secola VI
If thine enemy smite thee on the left cheek, offer him up, 8 inches of cold steel in his belly. .
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