Moth
Filing Flight Plan
Greetings from the "Upper Left Edge" or as we know it Astoria, OR. I hope all is well with you and that you've been flying as much as possible.
I fly EC135P2+ SPIFR out of KAST for The LifeFlight Network. We're the largest non profit Air Ambulance Company in the USA base in the PNW.
My base LF14 is currently flying the best SPIFR machine in the company equipped with a GTN 750/650 stack. I'm still not sure if I'm a fan of touch screen technology (I'm a little old school) but I'm enjoying the many features of the GTN750 in the IFR world.
We have been battling an on going issue with this navigator not successfully flying the ODP's from a couple of our bases. My base @ KAST and another of our bases down South @ KONP. Both have published ODP's that are quite simple in design. Both bases have a VOR located on the airfield~although this should have no bearing on the DP as it's a satellite based GPS departure.
The ongoing issue we're having is that the GTN 750 will not fly the DP correctly and appears to be "lost and confused" while attempting to NAV the departure. Most of the pilots flying the A/C have simply given up and hand fly or bug the DP. I can't accept this as the answer for such a sophisticated piece of navigation equipment and need to get an answer/fix to the problem. Our other machines with GNS430/530 set-ups fly the DP with no issues at all.
So here's the scenario: line up on the appropriate departing runway (we use RWY 32 most of the time) set up the DP in the GTN750 AST03 and insure the first waypoint 414AGL is highlighted magenta. Fly runway heading to VMIN, begin climb, bug heading engage ALT acquire and upon reaching 414 AGL NAV up to the DP. Should be very simple for this machine to carry out the DP. The navigator should make a left turn and acquire the AST 294 radial outbound. This does not happen and we end up bugging the outbound heading. From here on out the GTN750 really does not fly anything correctly. Even when reaching the required ALT of 2000 MSL and unsuspending the GTN750 will not drive the A/C left turn to the VOR and if allowed will continue on present course out to sea! It's interesting to watch the course line on the EHSI go left then right then the needle pointing back towards the VOR then back on course with an indiscernible pop up message on the GTN. You never get a warm fuzzy that this navigator knows what the hell is going on.
There have been times where the navigator will make an incorrect turn (right instead of left) back to the VOR and once again the pilot says "I guess you want me to fly it" and we end up manually turning or bugging the A/C around to the VOR.
This is all completely frustrating as in my mind this sophisticated piece of technology is being out flown by a '90's era GNS430/530 system.
I've tried to get support for this issue from Garmin and they gave my the idea they have no idea what I'm talking about.
If you have any insight as to what may be causing the issue or what we're doing wrong I would appreciate greatly your experience and input.
Thanks for your time and have have a magnificent day.
Cheers,
Daniel
I fly EC135P2+ SPIFR out of KAST for The LifeFlight Network. We're the largest non profit Air Ambulance Company in the USA base in the PNW.
My base LF14 is currently flying the best SPIFR machine in the company equipped with a GTN 750/650 stack. I'm still not sure if I'm a fan of touch screen technology (I'm a little old school) but I'm enjoying the many features of the GTN750 in the IFR world.
We have been battling an on going issue with this navigator not successfully flying the ODP's from a couple of our bases. My base @ KAST and another of our bases down South @ KONP. Both have published ODP's that are quite simple in design. Both bases have a VOR located on the airfield~although this should have no bearing on the DP as it's a satellite based GPS departure.
The ongoing issue we're having is that the GTN 750 will not fly the DP correctly and appears to be "lost and confused" while attempting to NAV the departure. Most of the pilots flying the A/C have simply given up and hand fly or bug the DP. I can't accept this as the answer for such a sophisticated piece of navigation equipment and need to get an answer/fix to the problem. Our other machines with GNS430/530 set-ups fly the DP with no issues at all.
So here's the scenario: line up on the appropriate departing runway (we use RWY 32 most of the time) set up the DP in the GTN750 AST03 and insure the first waypoint 414AGL is highlighted magenta. Fly runway heading to VMIN, begin climb, bug heading engage ALT acquire and upon reaching 414 AGL NAV up to the DP. Should be very simple for this machine to carry out the DP. The navigator should make a left turn and acquire the AST 294 radial outbound. This does not happen and we end up bugging the outbound heading. From here on out the GTN750 really does not fly anything correctly. Even when reaching the required ALT of 2000 MSL and unsuspending the GTN750 will not drive the A/C left turn to the VOR and if allowed will continue on present course out to sea! It's interesting to watch the course line on the EHSI go left then right then the needle pointing back towards the VOR then back on course with an indiscernible pop up message on the GTN. You never get a warm fuzzy that this navigator knows what the hell is going on.
There have been times where the navigator will make an incorrect turn (right instead of left) back to the VOR and once again the pilot says "I guess you want me to fly it" and we end up manually turning or bugging the A/C around to the VOR.
This is all completely frustrating as in my mind this sophisticated piece of technology is being out flown by a '90's era GNS430/530 system.
I've tried to get support for this issue from Garmin and they gave my the idea they have no idea what I'm talking about.
If you have any insight as to what may be causing the issue or what we're doing wrong I would appreciate greatly your experience and input.
Thanks for your time and have have a magnificent day.
Cheers,
Daniel
