Joe Cogan's View of the Garmin GNS 530

Introduction

I am a general aviation pilot based in Torrance, CA. I am also the proud owner of a Cessna Skylane, which I purchased 23 years ago. A few years ago after updating my Jepp charts with umpteen new GPS approach plates, I decided that either I'd better get an IFR approach certified GPS or cancel my Jepp subscription. Naturally the decision to purchase a GPS won out. This article summarizes my experience with the selection, installation, learning curve, and opinion of the Garmin 530 GPS.

When I first started looking at panel mount GPS units, the Apollo 2001 was the hot item. Since I already had a II Morrow Apollo 604 Loran, I was partial to the Apollo. To make a long story short, I procrastinated until I saw an advertisement for the Apollo MX20 Multifunction Display. I decided that I would purchase the Apollo MX20 and an Apollo GX60 GPS. That was until I determined that my entire stack would be hogged by the MX20 and GPS. Then the Garmin 430 began to ship. I calculated that the Garmin 430 would fit in the stack. I would then have three Nav/Comms, two G/S, one DME, one ADF, and one Loran. (i.e. avionics heaven) But on further investigation, I felt I would not be happy with the small Garmin display. Of course this was after looking at the Apollo MX20. Then came the Garmin 530 announcement. It was perfect. It had a large display and it fit in the stack after I removed my number 2 Narco MK12D. It was a Nav/Comm/GPS all in one. It gave me redundant G/S receivers and allowed me to keep the DME, ADF and Loran. Of course the price of $14,995.00, uninstalled, caused one or two coronaries. Comments in the Cessna Pilots Association Atis and Forms notwithstanding, I long ago determined that my airplane was not an investment, it was a money sink. So to insure it stayed a money sink and did not accidentally become an investment, I decided to pop for the Garmin 530. (You guys who still think that your airplane is an investment and therefore won't buy a Garmin 530, "Eat your heart out!")

The next item on the agenda was selecting a avionics shop. I started calling shops in March of 2000. Several shops gave quotes and wanted deposits, but none advised me that the 530 was not even shipping yet. One guy wouldn't even give me a quote because "nobody is dumb enough to put a Garmin 530 in a Skylane". Another guy quoted me $25,000 in labor alone for the installation. IFR certification is expensive you know. Finally in May, the 530 began shipping. I called around again. This time the response I got was "We need a deposit, but the earliest we can install is in October, there are a lot of guys in front of you." Then I stumbled on Tom Rogers at Avionics West in Santa Maria, CA. He was the only guy who said he had a 530 coming in next week and could install it immediately. Later I received calls from all those guys who couldn't install until Oct. Funny thing, now they had a unit and could install it next week. Go figure. I thoroughly checked out Tom and his references. All references were glowing. I also read all Tom's avionics articles on the Web and needless to say was impressed. I said to Tom "Tom your prices are too high." Tom said "Yeh, but we do good work." I said "Ok, when can you start." Well Tom started and Tom finished right on schedule. He and his crew did a magnificent job. I am a happy customer.

I had read that the Garmin 430 and 530 were complicated to master because of the complexity of having a Nav, a Comm, and a GPS in one box. I was determined not to look like an idiot when I test flew the airplane with Tom. So while the installation was in progress, I read the 530 manual cover to cover. Then I down-loaded the 530 PC simulator from Garmin. I spent about four hours on the simulator and went through all the functions. I must say that Garmin did an outstanding job in putting that simulator together. Of course, reading manuals and using a PC simulator is not quite the real thing. So on the day I went to Santa Maria, CA to pick up my plane, I spent another hour on the simulator. I made darn sure I new how to use the Nav and Comm features of the 530, enter a simple flight plan, and switch between GPS and VLOC mode.

Since the installation was completed in late June, I have put about 60 actual flight hours on the Garmin. I have found the 530 functions to be extremely logical and well organized. The use of the Garmin is almost intuitively obvious. The Nav and Com functions are controlled by the knobs on the left side of the unit. The screen functions (e.g. range, direct-to, menu, clear, and enter) are controlled by the knobs on the right side of the unit. The important GPS functions (e.g. gps/vloc, obs mode, flight plan, vnav, procedure) are controlled by buttons on the bottom of the unit.

The four primary GPS functions (NAV, WPT, AUX, NRST) are selected by rotating the large knob at the lower right of the unit. Within each primary function, a secondary function is selected by rotating the small knob at the lower right of the unit. Once a secondary function is displayed, pressing "menu" causes a list of actions to appear. For example, on the flight plan screen, which lists the way points of your current flight plan, pressing menu will display a list of actions such as "Activate Flight Plan", "Invert Flight Plan", etc. After a few hours of cycling through each of the Garmin functions, I found that I could easily figure out how to use any function without referring to the manual.

Having the Nav, Comm, and GPS in one box has its advantages. The one of them is the ability to load both Nav and Comm frequencies from any display into the Nav and/or Comm standby frequency simply by selecting the frequency with the cursor and pressing "Enter". The 530 has the annunciator functions built in, so there is no need for an external annunciator. With the 530, I also installed a Garmin GI-106a indicator. The indicator also displays whether the 530 is in GPS or VLOC mode, as an extra reminder.

All the Garmin displays are customizable to some extent. For example, I set up the flight plan screen columns to display Waypoint Name, Bearing to Waypoint, Nautical miles to Waypoint, and ETE to Waypoint. At a glance I know when I will arrive at each way point. Great for position reporting in non radar environments.

I could go on and on about features. Instead, let me continue with my experiences.

I used the flight back to Torrance from Santa Maria to test the operational readiness of all the Nav and Comm functions of the Garmin 530. I checked my Garmin CDI in VLOC mode against my Narco CDI at RGZ, SMO, and SLI. All checks were less than 1 degree difference. Back at Torrance, I shot several ILS approaches in VFR conditions using my Narco MK12D as my primary radio and the Garmin for comparison. The localizer sensitivity and deviation on both indicators were identical. The glide slope indicators also matched each other. Both marker beacons lit up at the same time at the outer and middle markers. I also checked that I could receive the VOR station IDs on the Garmin. I now had enough confidence in the Garmin in VLOC mode to use it in IFR conditions.

My first real test of the Garmin 530 and its owner was the week following installation on a trip from Torrance to Monterey. As usual, Monterey was 800 overcast and one mile. My plan was to use my Narco for primary Nav and the Garmin in VLOC mode for comparison. Well, I couldn't help myself. As soon as we were airborne, I switched the Garmin to GPS mode. I had filed KTOA LAX VTU RGZ PRB WIGGL intersection (IAF) MRY. After PRB I copied a routing change from Oakland Center. Proceed direct BSR Vortac, PEBBS Intersection, MUNSO Compass Locator/Outer Marker. Ok so I set my Narco to BSR and proceeded direct. Then I fumbled with my enroute chart and located PEBBS intersection. Then I calculated the ADF bearing from PEBBS to MUNSO. But wait, why I am I inflicting all this brain damage on myself. So I pressed the FPL button on my Garmin to display the flight plan screen. I inserted BSR, PEBBS, and MUNSO and deleted WIGGL and watched all bearings, distances, and ETEs get calculated for me. I pressed FPL again switching back to the NAV Screen and saw my new course laid out in brilliant color.

I figured I would be vectored for the ILS 10R approach after PEBBS, so I said "What the heck, I might as well test the whole banana.". I pressed PROC on the Garmin. The ILS 10R approach was the first on the prompt list, so I pressed enter. I was then prompted for "Vectors to final?" I pressed enter. Then "Load?" or "Activate?". I selected "Load" since I was not yet cleared for the approach. Sure enough after PEBBS I got vectors to the ILS 10R final approach course. When cleared for the approach, I pressed PROC, selected "Activate?" and pressed enter. Lo and behold the extended centerline of the ILS approach appeared on my moving map NAV screen. I remember thinking "Even though I am duplicating effort by comparing two radios, my work load is significantly decreased and I know exactly where I am." PROC enter enter. Then when cleared for the approach PROC twist enter. This was all that was required to completely set up a GPS assisted ILS approach.

Remember, I am still using my Narco for my primary navigation, so I switched it to the localizer frequency when I copied the vectors to final clearance. When I got the vector to intercept the final approach course, I started to set the localizer frequency in the Garmin standby to once again compare the two Nav radios on the ILS. Then I observed that the localizer frequency was already set in the Garmin standby. Activating the approach caused the Garmin to transfer the correct localizer frequency into standby. In addition, when I intercepted the localizer the Garmin automatically switched from GPS to VLOC mode and reminded me to activate the standby frequency (the localizer frequency) for the ILS approach.

The outstanding situational awareness was never so evident as when I watched my Narco CDI needle center as I intercepted the final approach course, while simultaneously watching my airplane intercept the magenta approach course on the huge Garmin screen which also depicted the shoreline, the outer marker, and Monterey airport.

Conclusion: A guy could really get dependent on this thing. Should one have a back up Garmin 530 in case this one fails?

My wife Sandy and I had been planning a trip to the Yukon Territory and Alaska for early in August. So I was very pleased that Tom Rogers was able to complete the Garmin 530 installation on schedule. I now had about 4 weeks to get familiar with it. The trip to Monterey was a good introduction to the IFR functionality.

I planned to make the Alaska trip entirely VFR, if at all possible, because rain and severe icing in clouds were the predominant forecasts. Also in some places the MEA's are a tad too high for my Skylane. So this trip would be a good test for the mapping functions of the Garmin.

I don't want to bore you with the trip details, so I will simply summarize our itinerary below:

Abbotsford, BC for Canadian customs
Fraser River drainage to Prince George, BC
McLeod Lake to Fort St. John, BC,
Alaska Highway to Fort Nelson, BC
Alaska Highway to Watson Lake, YT
Whitehorse, YT
Yukon River to Dawson City, YT
Direct to Northway, AK for US customs
Tanana River to Fairbanks, AK
500 AGL to Kluane Lake to Whitehorse, YT for Canadian customs
Skagway, AK
Whitehorse, YT
Watson Lake, YT
Price George, BC
Fraser River to Bellingham, WA for US customs
|Home

As luck would have it, the weather was CAVU from Torrance all the way to Watson Lake, YT. We didn't even see a cloud, so I had lots of time to fiddle with most of the Garmin 530 functions. This was the first time I had ever flown over the San Juan Islands and been able to see them. To top that, the Garmin map depicted each island and spelled out its name. Talk about being able to impress uninformed passengers.

At Watson Lake, YT the law of averages caught up with us. There were rain showers and ceilings topping the mountains all the way to Whitehorse. This would be a good test of the Garmin. (and the pilot.) We got our weather briefing and departed for Whitehorse. I dialed in the map mode of the Garmin 530, set the range to 15 miles, and observed Watson Lake in blue, the Alaska Highway in white, and some power lines I had not noticed also prominently displayed in white. In case I forgot where I had just departed, the letters "Watson Lake" were displayed in blue on the map next to the lake. Not bad.

I began following the Alaska Highway until the rain got too heavy. We then deviated north looking for lower mountain passes and lighter rain. The Garmin moving map displayed rivers and lakes, together with their names, which made for an easy cross check with my Whitehorse sectional. In addition, the Garmin lat/lon display was dead on accurate. We worked our way through the rain and mountain passes winding up about sixty miles north of our intended course. We were too low for VOR reception. The loran geometry was not good, so it was almost useless. Although the ADF work pretty well most of the time, the Garmin 530 became the primary VFR navigation reference. Frequent use of the "direct-to" key updated the course from our present position to Whitehorse with a bright magenta course line on the Garmin map to further increase our positional awareness. As we got closer to Whitehorse, the Alaska Highway reappeared on our display, long before I could see it visually. It increased my comfort factor tremendously to know that "Yes, this is the mountain pass I think it is and the Alaska Highway is just over that ridge."

I used the Garmin in Map mode for a good part of the trip in the Yukon Territory and Alaska since it rained almost every day with ceilings at 1000 AGL. The good news was that the visibility underneath was 10 to 15 miles. Because many VFR reporting points in Alaska and the Yukon are unfamiliar lakes and rivers, the Garmin was invaluable in making accurate position reports and updating ETA's with Flight Service.

I have now used the Garmin 530 as a back up on several IFR trips and as a primary navigation instrument for some serious VFR in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. The large Garmin 530 screen is worth every penny. Not once did I have to squint because of direct sunlight. Even during all the turbulence and rain in the Yukon, the big screen was easily readable. The large knobs permit a firm grasp even in turbulence. The functions of the Garmin are very easy to learn and very logical. Throughout the entire Alaska trip, the 530 performed flawlessly. I did not get one RAIM integrity check on the entire trip.

My next task is to become proficient in using the Garmin for instrument approaches, procedure turns, holding patterns, etc. I still a lot to learn. Any difficulties in this endeavor will certainly not be the fault of Garmin.

I could go on and on extolling the virtues of the Garmin 530 and the extra dimension of pleasure it adds to the general aviation flying experience, whether it be IFR or Alaska/Yukon VFR. But, I just noticed that my master card bill has arrived, so I must get back to work.