Re: Garmin 530 Fatal Error

I guess I'm in the minority, but I still think I'm right. The box ought to
do the job and not leave the pilot hanging. It should not draw a magenta
line straight into terrain or a tower, regardless of when the pilot decides
to hit the blinking SUSP button.

The instructor said every one of some eight pilots made the exact same
error. Calling them all "idiots" does nothing to address a very real
problem. This is sloppy TSO regulations and lazy programming on the part of
the FAA and Garmin.




"Peter Clark" <Invaldi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:bu9rk1tr7ucmqooqak4pvap69hl4gecvqg@xxxxxxxxxx
> On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 02:39:58 GMT, "Wyatt Emmerich"
> <wemmerich@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>My flight instructor is quite upset. He says every single one recurrent
>>pilots is making the same potentially fatal mistake. When they reach MDA
>>or
>>the MAP, they hit the OBS/SUSP button as soon as it lights up. The Garmin
>>530 immediately paints a magenta line to the hold waypoint. Unfortunately,
>>often the full approach plate lists specific altitudes to which to climb
>>before making this turn. The instructor says eight out of eight of his
>>recurrent pilots are just hitting the SUSP button as soon as it appears
>>and
>>heading to the hold, which could take them smack dab into terrain or
>>towers.
>>We look up in the Garmin manual and it says nothing about making sure to
>>reach the proper altitude before hitting the OBS/Susp button. His point is
>>this: Garmin should have some type of display message that warns the pilot
>>to reach the proper altitude before turning to the hold fix.
>
> I'm not sure why he's upset, that's what the manual says to do. See
> page 67. Reach MAP, press OBS, follow plate's heading/alt
> instructions, go to holding point.
>
> You do have a responsibility to know the gear you're flying behind,
> and having a GPS doesn't remove the responsibility to have plates, or
> fly the plate as charted.
>
> Admittedly, I don't hit OBS until I'm ready to go direct to the
> holding point after climbing and turning as charted, but hitting OBS
> right at the MAP doesn't appear "wrong" if you're reading the
> procedure from the manual.


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