AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 96

AVIONICS
Since the 796 isn’t connected to an onboard Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS), it’s incapable of providing primary flight data such as aircraft pitch attitude, indicated airspeed, or barometric altitude. Instead, it operates much like a turn coordinator by sensing the rate of heading change and estimating the bank angle, all the while graphically depicting the symbolic airplane in its geographic surroundings. Like SVT, 3D Vision is especially comforting on IFR approaches when

the airport appears as it would on a clear day, even when the facility itself isn’t in view. The 796 gives pilots the ability to customize the touch-screen keyboard in the way they prefer (QWERTY or alphanumeric). Switching between portrait and landscape views requires pressing a sequence of icons since there are no internal accelerometers as on an iPad. The list price for a new 796 is three times as much as that of an iPad, and $1,100 less than the GPSMAP696— the original “MFD on your knee” that Garmin introduced in 2008 and will

continue to support. (The company also lowered the price of a new 696 to $2,199.) A subscription to geo-referenced Flite Charts for the 796 is $199 a year, and a database bundle that includes all charts and navigation data is $499. Garmin’s SafeTaxi system and AOPA Airport Directory are included at no additional charge. Updated data can be downloaded to the 796 via SD card. The 796 has the same seven-inch (diagonal) screen as the 696 and identical resolution and pixel count, but a narrower, lighter frame with no external

ALTITUDE!

An ATV with

The 796 screen is bigger and brighter than many panel-mounted GPS navigators.

I learned how to ﬂy in and expected to buy a Cirrus. When I saw all my buddies ﬂying Huskys I didn’t want to be left out of the fun. So, I bought a Husky and never looked back. I mentioned to a Cirrus pilot that I got my initial training in a Cirrus. He said, “Then you bought a Husky to really learn to ﬂy?” I said, “Yes”. Once you ﬂy a Husky you buy one, they speak for themselves. Dennis Hourany (Proud owner of one of the 6 Huskys pictured above this fall at Bernard)

Husky. America’s Favorite Taildragger.
Log on to http://husky.aviataircraft.com. Check out the video, get inspired and call to schedule your own Husky Experience!

307.885.3151 AVIATAIRCRAFT.COM
HUSKY PITTS EAGLE
Post Ofﬁce Box 1240 Afton, WY 83110

knobs or buttons. Battery life has been extended to three hours at full brightness with the XM receiver attached compared to two hours for the 696. The 796 also offers a “scratchpad” screen that pilots can use to write clearances Etch-a-Sketch-style by dragging a fingertip. No pen, pencil, or stylus is needed or desired (although my own fat-fingered scrawling could be nearly impossible to decipher). A separate document viewer allows downloading aircraft manuals and checklists. The 796 uses a capacitive screen like Garmin’s panel-mount GTN750 and 650 that sense electrical charges from the user’s finger. A resistive screen such as the kind found on the aera 500-series senses pressure instead of electrical current. Pilots who fly with gloves may elect to cut off the tip on the index finger of the glove they wear on the GPS hand in order for the 796 to work properly. Pilots accustomed to other Garmin products will find the shallow menus with familiar icons easy to navigate. The home
AOPA PILOT •

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NOVEMBER 2011

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011