Disappearing Flight Plan Screen
In a recent software upgrade, Garmin fixed the G1000 behavior of jumping to the end of the flight plan any time you entered cursor mode on the Primary Flight Display (PFD) with the flight plan inset window. It's soooo nice to have it fixed. Now they need to fix the problem of the disappearing flight plan window.
Here's the setup. ATC tells you "When able, proceed direct Linden," so you press the FPL button and scroll with the big knob to select LIN.
Next, you press DIRECT.
Press ENT two times to confirm and you're in business. Unfortunately, the very act of proceeding direct to a waypoint makes the inset flight plan window disappear.
You can press FPL again, but why should you have to?
Hidden Baro Minima
In new G1000 units, you can set the minimum descent altitude or decision height for your approach. When you reach that altitude, you'll hear an aural annunciation "Minimums, Minimums!" (sic). This is a very cool feature, but guess where you access this feature? Press the TMR/REF (timer/reference) softkey and you'll see this inset window.
The TMR/REF window is quite the catch-all because this is where you can change the V-Speeds that are bugged on the speed tape, access a count-up timer, and set the minimum descent altitude. Forget for a moment that changing the bugged V-speed in most light GA aircraft is stupid. How is a pilot supposed to know that he or she can set their minimum descent altitude with this softkey? You need to memorize and remember it's location. If your minimum descent altitude is several thousand feet (like at South Lake Tahoe), you're going to have to twirl that little knob quite a bit to dial in the desired altitude. Actually, the altitude setting is probably optimized for the most frequently occurring altitudes and isn't so bad. Some of the other G1000 altitude inputs make you select one digit at a time, starting with tens of thousands of feet.
Inset Window Amnesia
A related behavior with all the PFD inset windows is that the G1000 does not remember what you were last doing. Press the FPL button to display your flight plan. Then press the TMR/REF softkey to set your Baro Minima. Press the TMR/REF softkey again to dismiss that inset window and ... voila! Instead of displaying the flight plan inset window, there's no inset window displayed at all. The same thing happens if you press NRST, PROC, MENU or any button that displays an inset window. Being able to preserve the last window (or windows) should be child's play for programmers who understand linked lists and the basic concept of LIFO.
Reversionary Mode
Nav Source Change
This is a biggie. The G1000 will automatically (and silently) change navigation source for the HSI (and consequently the autopilot) from GPS to Nav 1 when a ILS approach is loaded. This behavior is generally a good thing, but with the Cessna 172's KAP 140 autopilot in NAV mode, it can be treacherous.
Next, you press DIRECT.
Press ENT two times to confirm and you're in business. Unfortunately, the very act of proceeding direct to a waypoint makes the inset flight plan window disappear.
You can press FPL again, but why should you have to?
Hidden Baro Minima
In new G1000 units, you can set the minimum descent altitude or decision height for your approach. When you reach that altitude, you'll hear an aural annunciation "Minimums, Minimums!" (sic). This is a very cool feature, but guess where you access this feature? Press the TMR/REF (timer/reference) softkey and you'll see this inset window.
The TMR/REF window is quite the catch-all because this is where you can change the V-Speeds that are bugged on the speed tape, access a count-up timer, and set the minimum descent altitude. Forget for a moment that changing the bugged V-speed in most light GA aircraft is stupid. How is a pilot supposed to know that he or she can set their minimum descent altitude with this softkey? You need to memorize and remember it's location. If your minimum descent altitude is several thousand feet (like at South Lake Tahoe), you're going to have to twirl that little knob quite a bit to dial in the desired altitude. Actually, the altitude setting is probably optimized for the most frequently occurring altitudes and isn't so bad. Some of the other G1000 altitude inputs make you select one digit at a time, starting with tens of thousands of feet.
Inset Window Amnesia
A related behavior with all the PFD inset windows is that the G1000 does not remember what you were last doing. Press the FPL button to display your flight plan. Then press the TMR/REF softkey to set your Baro Minima. Press the TMR/REF softkey again to dismiss that inset window and ... voila! Instead of displaying the flight plan inset window, there's no inset window displayed at all. The same thing happens if you press NRST, PROC, MENU or any button that displays an inset window. Being able to preserve the last window (or windows) should be child's play for programmers who understand linked lists and the basic concept of LIFO.
XPDR Code, Where Art Thou?
A frequent occurrence when calling ATC to get into the system is being told "Standby for a transponder code." So you press XPDR softkey, the CODE softkey, and wait, ready to punch in the four-digit code.
The problem is that after a few seconds, the G1000 assumes you're done and helpfully dumps you out of the transponder code mode. Gee, thanks ...
The problem is that after a few seconds, the G1000 assumes you're done and helpfully dumps you out of the transponder code mode. Gee, thanks ...
Reversionary Mode
As an instructor, I use the reversionary mode a fair amount to simulate the failure of one of the displays for training - the equivalent of partial panel in a steam gauge aircraft. To do this, you press the RED button at the bottom of the audio panel to make both screens display the same basic data - Attitude, Speed, Altitude, engine gauges, and so on. Then press the MENU key and the fun begins.
Using the big knob, you select the brightness setting for the display you wish to make dark and change it from AUTO to MANUAL. Then you select the percentage brightness field and twist the small knob to lower that value to 0%. You must twist, and twist, and twist, and twist, because one complete revolution of the small knob reduces the brightness only about 5%. I'm certain that one day that knob will come off in my hand or just quit working altogether.
One solution would be to have three basic settings: AUTO, MANUAL, OFF. Without some improvement in this interface, Garmin will eventually get sued by some enterprising instructor claiming the G1000 caused repetitive strain injury to their wrist!
Nav Source Change
This is a biggie. The G1000 will automatically (and silently) change navigation source for the HSI (and consequently the autopilot) from GPS to Nav 1 when a ILS approach is loaded. This behavior is generally a good thing, but with the Cessna 172's KAP 140 autopilot in NAV mode, it can be treacherous.
If the KAP 140 autopilot senses the NAV source has been changed, it reverts to the wings level, ROL mode. There's no beep, no chime, no aural alert of any kind. The KAP 140 just flashes ROL for several seconds on the autopilot control panel, but that panel is too low and out of the pilot's primary field of view to be of much help. If the pilot doesn't catch what has happened, the autopilot might just fly him or her into oblivion. One fix for this would be for the G1000 to provide an aural warning "Nav source change" or some other helpful phrase.
Of course, aural alerts can be distracting. A pilot I fly with showed me how to enable aural alerts on an older Garmin GNS480 unit. Unbeknownst to me, this unit was set to a female voice and as I was turning final I heard a very sultry voice say "Five hundred." For a second, all I could think was "Tell me more!"
