I cannot see the point of automatic switching, because clearly you need to make sure it has switched to flying the ILS using the ILS receiver, so you have to sit there watching it to make sure it does it, but while you are watching it you may as well switch it over manually. Nearly always one is (or can easily be) flying in HDG mode, so you can select the ILS as far back as you want.
I think stuff like this auto switching is just pointless automation on which the pilot workload saving does not exceed the pilot monitoring workload (to make sure it has switched).
Totally agree. Couldn’t have said it any better.
Alexis, why are you focussing so much on this auto-switch thing? I suggest you just switch to VLOC as soon as the GPS-sourced indication on the PFD is no longer needed. End of story. That’s how I’ve always been doing it and I think it is a good procedure.
Hey Achim,
I have tried it for 7 months now. And if I tell you that it does not work ALWAYS, then i have a reason for that, believe me. We flew EXACTLY the same approach 4 times and it did not work always. And the criteria were exactly the same. One time it did, the next time it didn’t..
And IF it was true that any criteria was not met – then after 7 months of trying to find out it is ALSO A FAULT OF THE CONCEPT/SYSTEM – and not the user.
Peter, Bosco,
while I – of course – agree and DO IT as Bosco says, maybe it’s understandable that I try to understand the complete system and that I want to find out why and when it does or when it doesn’t work. I simply want to understand how it works.
These super experienced mega pilots with airforce, B747, etc. ….
Achim, let me clarify. This friend is not only a LH captain and Bizjet pilot, he also owns two Cessnas with GNS430. He flies Cessnas and Senecas every week, for three decades. So i bet he has enough experience.
You get the same stuff when intercepting a LOC.
You have to watch it, because if it doesn’t intercept then by the time you realise it didn’t, you have to work like a one armed bandit to recover the situation. Going through the LOC may be easier, with a grovel to ATC…
So I set up the OBS to show the LOC so I can see where exactly the LOC lies, and watch it like a hawk at that point.
Alexis – in this situation it might be fun to tell Garmin that you will raise it with the FAA. That will get attention.
Alexis, I have to say the Avidyne, DFC90 and GTN 650 always seemed slightly flaky on this autoswitch stuff in the Mirage. G1000 I have never had a problem. So I retract my earlier comment and maybe it is system driven.
Jason,
thank you :-)
COPA is FULL of postings where pilots asked why this sometimes doesn’t work.
And in the end (i think) if the criteria are made in a way that nobody understands them or can reproduce them regulary – then that’s just the same as a system bug.
Actually I think the Avidyne PFD is the problem. Also sometimes when I was on a procedural (full ILS) it would not activate in front course mode but in back course.
Peter, i have absolutely no intention to create any trouble (for myself). I only want to find the perfectly safe way to use these systems. And I can only develop these skills if I (also) understand why it doesn’t work as described in the manual (!).
After all for an IFR pilot like myeelf with less experience than Bosco, Peter, Jason (and especially less than Krister :-)) it can be a problem and CONFUSE him if he has STUDIED all those manuals and then it doesn’t work as described.
Why is it confusing? It is confusing and bad becasue (of course) you always have dounts about yourself first and start to mistrust your own abilities to understand these boxes.
Jason, yes, I had that too … but I think i found that one out. If you switch to VLOC while you are still on the outboiund track twds the procedure turn then it can happen that BACK COURSE is shown. You have to switch to VLOC flying twds the Loc at the right angle …. I think!
