approaches in G1000 - vertical part

[olasek]

I have been playing lately with G1000 PC trainer for Cirrus Perspective. Last night I was shooting approaches to Cortez airport in Colorado coming out of Telluride. Very high terrain, even the LPV approach to Cortez's rwy 21 has a few step down fixes on the initial and intermediate segment of the approach. I was using VNV to guide me through this labyrinth of fixes. But here is the question. Say you wanted to fly this approach purely manually but using the Flight Director bars. How would you do it? I found that if I stop using ALTS (VS, FLC) or VNV the flight director bars simply depart (usually in the upward direction) and then it becomes impossible to follow them in the horizontal direction (in a double cue FD it would be easier to follow one axis but not the other) . So how would you do it or this aircraft is really meant to be flown as an airliner - always with well defined vertical mode all the way.

 

[Areeda]

I'm not proficient with the G1000 but the Avidyne Cirrus setup requires that you have all the settings to run the autopilot to use the flight director. AFAIK the command bars are a graphical representation of the inputs to the autopilot.

Joe

 

[TMetzinger]

In the G1000, you just set the proper mode (and for an approach, whether it's a GPS/ILS/VOR, it's the APPR mode) but don't engage the autopilot. You'll get flight director guidance. This is true for the final approach segment. If the approach is an RNAV with vertical guidance, you'll get it.

On the initial and intermediate segments, you can use a VS, FLC, or VNAV mode as you desire. I tend to use VS or VNAV for descents, and FLC for climbs, unless I have a specific climb profile to maintain (then I use VS).

 

[taters]

you should be able to "keep" the FD guidance if you turn off the AP at the AP button, not on the yoke switch