AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2011 - 79

Let’s fly My introduction to the GTN took place in Garmin’s Mooney Ovation carrying the somewhat ironic N-number 430G. The aircraft was equipped with a 650 and 750 in the center stack and a G500 PFD/MFD in front of the leftseat pilot. After engine start and powering up the avionics, Grant Wittenborn, a Garmin flight test engineer, let me find my way through the process of locating the ATIS frequency at New Century Airport (IXD) in Olathe, Kansas; get a taxi clearance; and enter a flight plan for a VFR trip around the local area on a brilliantly clear and cold (16 degrees Fahrenheit) winter morning. I set the 650 to display traffic within two miles and used the larger 750 to navigate and communicate. A touch of the Airports icon brought up a list of radio frequencies at IXD, and as a creature of habit, I immediately started

it to the list. I entered a half-dozen waypoints that described a triangular path west of IXD. After takeoff, I engaged the autopilot and tried to comply with Wittenborn’s simulated ATC commands. When he gave me a routing shortcut, I’d find the Flight Plan icon, touch the name of desired waypoint to highlight it, press the Direct-To button, then Activate, and we were on our way. Adding a new waypoint could be done on the screen by touching the letters that popped up (in alphabetical order, not QWERTY), or using my beloved dual concentric knob. I’m deeply suspicious of touch-screen keyboards, and my batting average for hitting the right letter or number is frustratingly low on products such as BendixKing’s AV8OR or Garmin’s portable aera. But the GTN provides a bigger target, bezels to steady the hand, and a “capacitive” screen that requires an elec-

“Jeez, another 430 guy. Crank away on the knob if you absolutely must. But you’re really creating busywork for yourself.”
pushing and twisting the dual concentric knob to enter the ATIS frequency in the Comm 1 standby window. “Jeez, another 430 guy,” Wittenborn groaned. “Crank away on the knob if you absolutely must. But you’re really creating busywork for yourself.” His point was well taken. Simply touching the ATIS frequency listed on the screen moved it to the standby window. And touching the standby window switched it to the active position. Another touch of the ground control frequency on the screen moved it to the standby window, followed by tower and departure control. Pretty slick. Entering a flight plan was a simple matter of going back to the home page, touching the Flight Plan icon, and adding a series of waypoints. Once again, the waypoints could be entered manually using the dual concentric knob, or by spelling out the letters on screen, or graphically on the map by simply touching a VOR, intersection, or user-defined waypoint and adding trical charge between finger and target to make a connection. I don’t know enough about what goes on behind the screen to give a technical explanation, but I can say that it performed perfectly on our hour-long demo flight. There were no inadvertent screen activations, and at no point did I touch an icon that failed to activate. Garmin makes no guarantees about how the GTN will work when pilots wear gloves. But I wore a pair of Nomex flying gloves for a portion of the demonstration flight, and the GTN performed normally. Entering a GPS approach to Runway 18 followed a process familiar to 430/530 users. Hit the Procedures icon, select an approach, and load or activate it. With Wittenborn still acting as ATC, I chose the Vectors option, joined the final approach course, and followed the LPV vertical guidance on the MFD to the snowy runway. Along the way, Wittenborn called up the Charts page and the appropriate approach plate popped up on the 750 screen. Garmin offers geo-referenced
AOPA PILOT • 79 • MAY 2011

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2011

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