On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 02:39:58 GMT, "Wyatt Emmerich"
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.