Altitude Call Out is COOL

Jay Honeck wrote:
I did a flight shortly after getting the 396 installed. I had the
altitude voice on, and had a multi-leg route programmed into it as the
active flight. I decided to land at an intermediate airport that wasn't
at the end of the flight plan. The voice came on during final approach
with terrain warnings and demands to "pull up". Thought it was rather
amusing but it is probably a good feature to have.

That's a neat feature -- although I'm glad you told me about it
*before* it surprised me.

Can you imagine flying a newbie somewhere for lunch, diverting to a
different, nearby airport, and having THAT come over the intercom
turning base to final?

Hi Jay,

You can get the same warning even at the destination airport. I talked
to a Garmin engineer who explained how they decide whether you are
landing or just too close to terrain.

At the destination airport, there is a virtual surface that is lower
along the axis of the *primary* runway at the airport. If you break that
surface, you get the warning. Landing on some runway other than the
primary runway, the virtual surface is higher and you are more likely to
get the warning.

For example, I get it all the time when landing on runway 32 at RDU
(Raleigh/Durham, NC). The primary runways at RDU are 05/23 L and R.

There seem to be some other anomalies where you can get the warning. I
used to get it all the time when turning final for runway 21 at TTA
(Sanford, NC). I never could find anything unusual about the terrain or
obstructions there. I think another r.a.o poster also mentioned this
anomaly. Come to think of it, I just did that landing the other day, and
didn't get the warning, so maybe they've changed something in the later
versions of the firmware.

I try to remember to warn my Angel Flight passengers that they might
hear the warning. It's quite alarming if you're not prepared for it.

Dave