G1000 Check out

Well now I know why it is called the G1000 because that is how much it
costs to get checked out in one.

This afternoon I finished my checkout in a G1000 equipped Diamond Star (
180 HP four place). That was my excitement for New Years Eve. After
finishing this posting I will be headed to bed.....

I attended a two hour ground session on the G1000 and associated KAP140
Auto Pilot, then scheduled the necessary flights. I must say the G1000
is a joy to fly and the KAP 140 is a pain in the ass.
Situational awareness is awesome. One problem, too much head in the
cockpit. There is a lot to look at and comprehend. Very different from
flying steam gauges.

My first problem flying the airplane was the airspeed tape. It was
counter intuitive. The Altitude tape is intuitive. Raise the nose to get
higher on the scale and lower the nose to get lower on the scale.
The airspeed tape you need to lower the nose to get to a higher
indication on the tape and raise the nose to get a lower indication on
the tape. Yeah I know raising the nose to slow down and lowering it to
speed up is basic. However when your are looking at the tape it is not.
Setting up flight plans and approaches is strait out of the 430/530.

Once set up in cruise you can play with all the other toys. XM weather
and radio, all the info available about the destination airport or any
other one you choose. The destination one is automatic.
Auto Ident on nav frequencies. TIS, Terrain warning, Topo, airways it is
all there and much more.

The Auto-pilot is another story.
The HDG,NAV and APR button work as one would expect. However altitude
navigation is confusing. I am still not sure i have it all figured out.
The ALT button toggles between alt hold and Vertical speed modes but not
all the time.
The auto-pilot seems like it is on but is really in standby mode. It
should indicate it is in standby mode but it does not. I started pushing
buttons and nothing happened.
Several times during our approach into Charlottesville,VA the autopilot
kicked off line. Too much trim operation. We were getting tossed around
a bit and it was working hard. i left it offline the last time and hand
flew the rest of the approach. This was my first time flying a coupled
approach.

A few more flights with someone to look for traffic and cumulus granitus
and I should be all set. Anyone want to be scared to death and ride shotgun?
Michelle

A few more flights with someone to look for traffic and cumulus granitus
and I should be all set. Anyone want to be scared to death and ride shotgun?
Michelle

If I wasn't 400 mile away, I would ask "What time do I have to be at the
airport?"

I think you meant to say, Hand flew a flight director on
approach... a coupled approach is with the autopilot flying.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Michelle" wrote
in message
k.net...
| Well now I know why it is called the G1000 because that is
how much it
| costs to get checked out in one.
|
| This afternoon I finished my checkout in a G1000 equipped
Diamond Star (
| 180 HP four place). That was my excitement for New Years
Eve. After
| finishing this posting I will be headed to bed.....
|
| I attended a two hour ground session on the G1000 and
associated KAP140
| Auto Pilot, then scheduled the necessary flights. I must
say the G1000
| is a joy to fly and the KAP 140 is a pain in the ass.
| Situational awareness is awesome. One problem, too much
head in the
| cockpit. There is a lot to look at and comprehend. Very
different from
| flying steam gauges.
|
| My first problem flying the airplane was the airspeed
tape. It was
| counter intuitive. The Altitude tape is intuitive. Raise
the nose to get
| higher on the scale and lower the nose to get lower on the
scale.
| The airspeed tape you need to lower the nose to get to a
higher
| indication on the tape and raise the nose to get a lower
indication on
| the tape. Yeah I know raising the nose to slow down and
lowering it to
| speed up is basic. However when your are looking at the
tape it is not.
| Setting up flight plans and approaches is strait out of
the 430/530.
|
| Once set up in cruise you can play with all the other
toys. XM weather
| and radio, all the info available about the destination
airport or any
| other one you choose. The destination one is automatic.
| Auto Ident on nav frequencies. TIS, Terrain warning, Topo,
airways it is
| all there and much more.
|
| The Auto-pilot is another story.
| The HDG,NAV and APR button work as one would expect.
However altitude
| navigation is confusing. I am still not sure i have it all
figured out.
| The ALT button toggles between alt hold and Vertical speed
modes but not
| all the time.
| The auto-pilot seems like it is on but is really in
standby mode. It
| should indicate it is in standby mode but it does not. I
started pushing
| buttons and nothing happened.
| Several times during our approach into Charlottesville,VA
the autopilot
| kicked off line. Too much trim operation. We were getting
tossed around
| a bit and it was working hard. i left it offline the last
time and hand
| flew the rest of the approach. This was my first time
flying a coupled
| approach.
|
| A few more flights with someone to look for traffic and
cumulus granitus
| and I should be all set. Anyone want to be scared to death
and ride shotgun?
| Michelle

Jim Macklin wrote:
I think you meant to say, Hand flew a flight director on
approach... a coupled approach is with the autopilot flying.


Jim,
It was fully coupled. I managed the power only.
LOC and GS were flown by the autopilot.
Michelle

Thought you said you had turned the AP off, auto-throttles
are not too common on small aircraft. It is fun to watch
just how good a good autopilot can fly the airplane.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Michelle" wrote
in message
k.net...
| Jim Macklin wrote:
| I think you meant to say, Hand flew a flight director on
| approach... a coupled approach is with the autopilot
flying.
|
|
| Jim,
| It was fully coupled. I managed the power only.
| LOC and GS were flown by the autopilot.
| Michelle

Jim Macklin wrote:
Thought you said you had turned the AP off, auto-throttles
are not too common on small aircraft. It is fun to watch
just how good a good autopilot can fly the airplane.


Jim,
I did disengage the autopilot because it could not keep up with the
oscillations caused by the wind. This was after it kicked off line twice
because it went outside it limits. I had to manually manage the power
the entire time.

Michelle

Plase I went to just put you under the hood solved & the problem of to much
time inside the cockpit.

One problem, too much head in the
cockpit. There is a lot to look at and comprehend. Very different from
flying steam gauges.

Huh?

"NW_PILOT" wrote in message ...
Plase I went to just put you under the hood solved & the problem of to much
time inside the cockpit.

One problem, too much head in the
cockpit. There is a lot to look at and comprehend. Very different from
flying steam gauges.

John Clonts wrote:

Huh?

One problem, too much head in the
cockpit. There is a lot to look at and comprehend. Very different from
flying steam gauges.

Sorry, John, but too much head in the cockpit can be bad, even dangerous
under some circumstances. Not to worry, though, as it is much less of a
threat now than in the good old days.

Or were you inquiring about the meaning of the term, "steam gauges" (the
round analog instruments) as opposed to "glass" (the digital CRT and
flat-panel displays)?


Jack

"Jack" wrote in message m...
John Clonts wrote:

Huh?

One problem, too much head in the
cockpit. There is a lot to look at and comprehend. Very different from
flying steam gauges.

Sorry, John, but too much head in the cockpit can be bad, even dangerous under some circumstances. Not to
worry, though, as it is much less of a threat now than in the good old days.

Or were you inquiring about the meaning of the term, "steam gauges" (the round analog instruments) as opposed
to "glass" (the digital CRT and flat-panel displays)?

No, I was inquiring of NW_PILOT. I was just mildly curious what in the WORLD he meant when he wrote "Plase I
went to just put you under the hood solved & the problem of to much time inside the cockpit". Or whether
perhaps he is a descendant of James Joyce

--
Happy new year,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ