Garmin 430/530 Questions

Can you program in a radial off of a VOR to use as a GPS course?

For example, say your cleared from your present position to intercept a
given radial inbound. Up to this point you've been flying direct, or flying
a set of GPS waypoints. You're navigating off of GPS, not VOR. When this
happens to me, I always have to dial in the VOR freq. on the Garmin, set the
OBS to the proper radial and then switch the GPS from GPS navigation to VOR
navigation. In this situation, it's not too much of a problem and doesn't
really bother me. However, when I'm issued an IFR clearance that includes
an outbound radial on one VOR to an inbound radial on the next VOR it would
be nice to be able to program those into the flight plan. I haven't read
anything about it the manual and didn't think it was even possible until I
read an earlier post about a guy programming his flight plan into his Garmin
after an unusual IFR clearance (using radials).

Another similar question. Lets assume your being radar vectored on
departure, departure instructs you to intercept an airway to resume your own
navigation. What's the best way to intercept an airway with a 430? I've
been having to lookup the radial for the airway on the nearby VOR and then
enter into the Garmin to track inbound using VOR mode. It seems to me you
could easily enter the two VOR's or nav points that define the airway and
have the Garmin create a route overlying the airway. If you try this, you
end up with a route from your present position to the first VOR and then to
the second VOR. You don't end up with a route to intercept the airway
between the two VOR's. You could fly a manual course using GPS mode and
when you think your on the airway (by looking at the display on the Garmin)
you could hit direct to the second VOR. Doesn't seem ideal. There's got to
be a better way to do it?

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 20:38:57 -0600, "Steve Coleman"
wrote:

Can you program in a radial off of a VOR to use as a GPS course?

Do a direct to the VOR. Press OBS. Dial the desired radial. Fly the
desired intercept to the radial.

Thaks for the info, that works great if that VOR is your next waypoint, but
what if the radial you want to use is two or even three waypoints away?
i.e. you're in the runup area programming your IFR clearance before
departure.

"ArtP" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 20:38:57 -0600, "Steve Coleman"
wrote:

Can you program in a radial off of a VOR to use as a GPS course?

Do a direct to the VOR. Press OBS. Dial the desired radial. Fly the
desired intercept to the radial.

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 21:39:43 -0600, "Steve Coleman"
wrote:

Thaks for the info, that works great if that VOR is your next waypoint, but
what if the radial you want to use is two or even three waypoints away?
i.e. you're in the runup area programming your IFR clearance before
departure.

You could create a user waypoint at the intersection of the 2 VOR
radials. But I have never seen a clearance where that intersection was
not already named.

Can you program in a radial off of a VOR to use as a GPS course?

For example, say your cleared from your present position to intercept a given
radial inbound. Up to this point you've been flying direct, or flying a set of
GPS waypoints. You're navigating off of GPS, not VOR. When this happens to
me, I always have to dial in the VOR freq. on the Garmin, set the OBS to the
proper radial and then switch the GPS from GPS navigation to VOR navigation.
In this situation, it's not too much of a problem and doesn't really bother me.
However, when I'm issued an IFR clearance that includes an outbound radial on
one VOR to an inbound radial on the next VOR it would be nice to be able to
program those into the flight plan. I haven't read anything about it the
manual and didn't think it was even possible until I read an earlier post about
a guy programming his flight plan into his Garmin after an unusual IFR
clearance (using radials).

Another similar question. Lets assume your being radar vectored on departure,
departure instructs you to intercept an airway to resume your own navigation.
What's the best way to intercept an airway with a 430? I've been having to
lookup the radial for the airway on the nearby VOR and then enter into the
Garmin to track inbound using VOR mode. It seems to me you could easily enter
the two VOR's or nav points that define the airway and have the Garmin create a
route overlying the airway. If you try this, you end up with a route from your
present position to the first VOR and then to the second VOR. You don't end
up with a route to intercept the airway between the two VOR's. You could fly a
manual course using GPS mode and when you think your on the airway (by looking
at the display on the Garmin) you could hit direct to the second VOR. Doesn't
seem ideal. There's got to be a better way to do it?


Steve:
Me thinks you have not really learned the software or the benefit of flight
plans. If you were told to fly the XYZ vor 180 radial inbound, thence join V123
as filed. What would be wrong with having the airway in your flight plan,
select the XYZ vor as your current waypoint either thru the flight plan page or
the FPL box after you press DIRECT. Then move the cursor down to the course box
and dial in 360. You're done. You have defined a 360 course line to the XYZ
vor, then resume the flight plan.

In your second problem (or misunderstanding) I would suggest bring the cursor
down to the waypoint you want on the flight plan, press DIRECT twice which
tells the Garmin 400/500 series that you want to fly the leg XYZ-ABC. Again
problem solved.

What instructor did your training on the Garmin 400/500 series? That would be
my question. I think you have not been taught the concept of using the DIRECT
button to define course lines nor how to activate selected legs on your flight
plan. A very convenient feature to master if you are doing GPS approaches.

I would strongly suggest that you evaluate the quality of your training on the
Garmin 400/500 series.


paul k. sanchez, cfii-mei
on eagles’ wings
2011 south perimeter road, suite g
fort lauderdale, florida 33309-7135
305-389-1742 wireless
954-776-0527 fax
954-965-8329 home/fax

Without going into your particulars, as a general statement the only accurate
way to fly an airway is by creating a flight plan with the VOR stations as
waypoints and any turn-point named fix at a minimum included into the airway
flight plan.

Using the OBS mode, although fine for short distances, introduces errors of
magnetic variation tables in the 430, and possible declination adjustments to
the station unknown to Garmin.

Steve Coleman wrote:

Can you program in a radial off of a VOR to use as a GPS course?

For example, say your cleared from your present position to intercept a
given radial inbound. Up to this point you've been flying direct, or flying
a set of GPS waypoints. You're navigating off of GPS, not VOR. When this
happens to me, I always have to dial in the VOR freq. on the Garmin, set the
OBS to the proper radial and then switch the GPS from GPS navigation to VOR
navigation. In this situation, it's not too much of a problem and doesn't
really bother me. However, when I'm issued an IFR clearance that includes
an outbound radial on one VOR to an inbound radial on the next VOR it would
be nice to be able to program those into the flight plan. I haven't read
anything about it the manual and didn't think it was even possible until I
read an earlier post about a guy programming his flight plan into his Garmin
after an unusual IFR clearance (using radials).

Another similar question. Lets assume your being radar vectored on
departure, departure instructs you to intercept an airway to resume your own
navigation. What's the best way to intercept an airway with a 430? I've
been having to lookup the radial for the airway on the nearby VOR and then
enter into the Garmin to track inbound using VOR mode. It seems to me you
could easily enter the two VOR's or nav points that define the airway and
have the Garmin create a route overlying the airway. If you try this, you
end up with a route from your present position to the first VOR and then to
the second VOR. You don't end up with a route to intercept the airway
between the two VOR's. You could fly a manual course using GPS mode and
when you think your on the airway (by looking at the display on the Garmin)
you could hit direct to the second VOR. Doesn't seem ideal. There's got to
be a better way to do it?