the airplane we decided that Ben would
leave me to figure out how to operate the
new systems. I have been flying with GNS
430/530 since early 1999, so I know those
systems cold. If Garmin succeeded in retaining the best features of the 430/530, while
adding more capability that is easier to use, I
should have needed very little help to operate the GTN. Garmin succeeded. If you know
how to use a 430/530, you will be up and
running with a GTN in minutes.
Both a GTN 750 and 650 are installed in
Garmin’s Mooney Ovation, and it is the first
non-test installation. The audio panel and
transponder are remotely mounted, so all
you see in the radio stack is the 750/650 and
the autopilot. Even with the huge 750 display there is lots of room left in the
Mooney’s radio stack.
There are two dedicated “hard” buttons
on the GTN—one to fly direct to a waypoint
or airport just like in the 430/530, and the
other to return to the main menu. On the
main menu page are all of the functions you
find in the 530/430 including the flight
plan, procedures, activate the approach,
and so on. The icons are intuitive and
exactly the same as Garmin is using in its
turbine systems. There is a “back” soft key
on the lower left of the screen that is useful
to move in and out of menus, but I found
that I used the menu hard key most often to
call up the main menu.
A tap on any fix or airport brings up
available information for that point, so one
tap on KMKG brought up the frequencies I
needed to get going. A tap on the frequency
moves it into the comm window. With my
530 and 430 I do the same thing, but I have
to use the cursor to highlight the frequency
and then push the enter button. I estimate
the touch screen and shorter menus cut the
time in half to enter the flight plan, call up
the frequencies, and be ready to taxi.
I am sure the controllers thought we
were a little weird for wanting to fly to the
Muskegon VOR, and then fly V-450 to
GIBER to join V- 26 to the Lansing VOR, and
then to the Lansing airport, but they didn’t
say anything and cleared us as filed.
Nearing Lansing I tapped the screen to
select the ILS approach from the menu of
procedures, and the controllers cleared us
The Garmin 650 is the same size as a GNS 430
and fits nicely in panels with restricted space.
The unit has a list price of $11,495, and it's
possible to upgrade from a GNS 430 without
adding more wires or changing the antenna
and cable. If you're upgrading from a 430
that is not WAAS-capable, however, you'll
need to install a WAAS antenna and cable.
for the option, flying the published miss to
the hold over the VOR. The GTN 750 knew
the missed approach procedure was to fly
runway heading to 2,500 and then direct to
the VOR, so as I reached 2,500 feet on climb-out, the course automatically changed
directly to the VOR. Nearing the VOR the
750 announced that the published procedure is to make a teardrop entry into the
hold, and it used a series of arrowheads on
the moving map to unmistakably show
where and in what direction to turn. Of
course, I let the autopilot handle all of that
while I watched.
Back at Muskegon I entered the LPV
approach using the same actions as you
would with a 430/530W system, but again,
there are fewer steps to call up and activate the procedure, and the screen tapping
takes less time than the knob twisting and
cursor pushing.
GET TING ONE
The list price for the GTN 750 is $16,995
and $11,495 for the 650. Those list prices
are higher than the list for the 430/530W,
but only by a few hundred bucks. The
street price for the GTN boxes will
undoubtedly be considerably higher than
for a 430/530 because of demand. However,
Garmin had 650/750 units in inventory
and ready to go when the systems were
announced. The FAA has granted full TSO
approval, and Garmin recently received the
multi-model STC that covers just about all
production airplanes.
J. Mac McClellan, EAA 747337, has been a pilot for more
than 40 years, holds an ATP certificate, and owns a
Beechcraft Baron.
