Here Comes the Garmin 1000

More and more general aviation airplanes are what's known in the industry as Technologically Advanced Aircraft (TAA's). Not too long ago that meant you just had a moving map GPS, like a Garmin 430 or maybe its bigger cousin, the 530. If you flew a new Cessna single, you probably got exposure to the Bendix/King family of GPS navigators, like the KLN89B or the KLN94. Combine either of those units with a multi-function display, and you had yourself a TAA. I logged a number of hours in airplanes with the KLN series units, enough to where I'd be comfortable shooting a GPS approach in the soup.

Oh, how things change, and how quickly. Garmin came out with the G1000 integrated avionics system for general aviation airplanes, and it's a completely different system. The traditional instruments are gone, and they're replaced by two LCD screens that combine yesterday's flight instruments and today's moving maps, GPS navigators, satellite weather/radio, and lots of other goodies. Now, that's a TAA that makes yesterday's TAA's seem pale in comparison. With the two LCD's comes an array of buttons and knobs - sometimes even knobs within knobs - that the pilot has to push in just the right order to get the units to do the right thing. So, of course, additional training is required to fly those aircraft, and even more training is required to fly the aircraft safely under IFR, where there most of the time, there is little margin for error.

The FBO where I fly out of had a G1000 Cessna 182 for about a year now, but the fact that it costs significantly more than the Skyhawks and the Piper Arrow that I usually fly has deterred me from getting a checkout. That, plus the knowledge that a lot of my flying is IFR - and from the literature I read, it seemed like one has to fly the plane pretty often to maintain a suitable level of proficiency.

But, one day, I actually took the right seat on a flight in the G1000 Skylane. It was kind of by accident. A pilot buddy of mine and I were going to split some Cessna 172 time, but it happened that we got to the airport early, and the 172 wasn't back from its previous flight yet. Of course, the Skylane was there, and my friend was checked out in it, so we hopped right in...

First impression in the cockpit: "wow, I'm sold!!" The amount of situational awareness was impressive - with a 10.4" moving map to supplement the paper charts, nobody should be getting lost, at least not with the system fully operational. The number of buttons on the LCD displays and the audio panel was, let's say, more than what I was used to. Plus, the fact that we could listen to XM radio as we were cruising on the West side of the Olympic Peninsula at 7,500 feet... So, after that flight (now about a month ago), I bit the bullet, signed up for the required one day G1000 ground school, and decided to get checked out! Stay tuned for a blog entry (or two, or three...) describing that transition!