G1000 Transition, Part 1

I promised before that I'd write about my training experiences in a G1000 equipped aircraft... Time has come for the first installment.

The first step in getting checked out in the technologically advanced 182 was G1000 Ground School. It was just over 5 hours in length, and it ended up with a 1:1 student to instructor ratio, as there were two instructors and only two of us in the class (I'm told that normally the ratio provides for a good learning atmosphere, but it is not THAT good). The syllabus covered the G1000 systems, and then it focused on scenario-based training on the PFD and MFD. It was great that we got to use computer simulators for the G1000, as this made scenario-based training much more realistic. On this system, it's one thing to watch the buttons being pushed, and entirely another to do the button pushing yourself!

Some interesting quirks about the G1000 came out during the class - some are specific to the Cessna 182 and some are not. For example, why is the active frequency for the NAV on a different side from the active frequency for the COM (yes, people will be quick to point out that it's always the "inside" frequency that's active, but to me it doesn't make that much sense as the traditional active/standby arrangement on the Bendix/King KX165 radio). Why is the glideslope indicator up on the attitude indicator portion on the PFD, and not on the HSI display, like in a traditional HSI instrument? And, why is the audio panel's split-com (where the pilot talks on COM1, and copilot on COM2) functionality disabled on Cessnas? I'm told that Cessna blames Garmin for not engineering the COM boxes correctly, thereby causing bleed-over from one radio to the other. Garmin blames Cessna for placing the COM antennae too close. Go figure... But in the meantime, split-com is disabled. Not that you need split-com that often, but it does somehow drive me crazy that the standard Bendix/King KMA28 audio panel in our 172's allows for this functionality, while the advanced Garmin boxes do not.

An interesting fact about the Cessna 182 installation is that it still uses a Bendix/King KAP140 autopilot, as Garmin's autopilot unit was not yet certified at production time. This particular autopilot is a rate-based unit, meaning that it needs a turn coordinator to derive its input from. So, if you take out the Garmin MFD display from the Cessna 182 panel, what do you see? You guessed it, a turn coordinator! Not a big deal, just an interesting piece of information to know.

Next time I'll cover my first IFR flight and some approaches! Stay tuned. :-)