Aaron Coolidge wrote:

In rec.aviation.owning wrote:

: I think you meant to say light aircraft GPS market. No high end biz
: jets or airliners have Garmin equipment. Compared to what the big boys
: use, the Garmin 530 is a stubborn toy.

Hmmm, I'm not sure what you mean by airliner, but most airliners today
are flying with DME/DME RNAV (like a KNS-80). The stuff that makes a lot
of takeoffs - commuter airliners - probably has 2 VORs and a DME, no
autopilot.

The King unit is a VOR/DME rho/theta unit. When the first glass cockpit
airliners came out circa 1980, they had triple IRS units as the primary
platform with DME/DME as the primary update in domestic airspace. When
DME/DME update is available it is vastly superior to VOR/DME update. Also,
although GPS was not part of this LNAV/FMS suite until perhaps 10 years ago,
these early systems had full airway databases, and the ability to input data
without turning knobs.

The later systems use GPS as the primary sensor, and many of them can use RF
legs, etc, etc.

But, to compare a full IRS database system with DME/DME updating to the King
gludge is major apples and oranges.





One of my friends was flying with a major east-coast commuter in the
San Juan area. Their ATR72's had KLN89B GPS units.
--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)