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Garmin 430 in the 152?

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MFRskyknight

Don't F with Chuck
Joined
Jun 28, 2004
Posts
315
The school I'm finishing my instrument at just installed the Garmin 430 unit in their 152. I'll be the first to sing the praises of GPS and all its wonders, but this has come along relatively late in my training and I'm worrying a bit about how this will affect my imminent checkride, since I'm taking it in the same plane.

The actual flying and shooting approaches couldn't be easier, but it's the setup involved -- fiddling around with the cursor, knobs, database, etc. I flew today just over an hour with this new stuff in the plane, and found myself compromising the aviating part to get the navigating sorted out. I'm sure if I had more time to become adept at using the interface it wouldn't be that big of a worry, but still... this seems like a system you'd usually find in planes with autopilots where you can divide your attention more easily.

Thoughts? Does this seem a bit like overkill for a 152, or should I just shut up and eat my beans? :)

MFR
 
The 430 is really a great system. Give it about 2 hours, and you'll see there's isn't anything much better on the market. Go to Garmin and download the simulator:

http://www.garmin.com/software/simulators/TRAIN430.EXE

A similar thing happened to me on my commercial multi add-on. The Seneca I had been flying went down for MX and I finished up in a new Seminole with dual 430's. I was a little overwhelmed the first hour with the Garmins, but was fine after a little while.

Now for the bigger question: A NICE 152 cost around $27,000. A Garmin 430 installed is about $9000. Seems a bit overkill to me.

Good Luck
 
Where did they mount it, where the passenger seat used to be? I'm surprised a one-filthy can even provide enough juice to run one of those things!
 
I think it's akin to putting a $50 saddle on a $10 horse but if someone else is paying the bill- more power to 'em.

Make sure the GPS was installed properly so that it's IFR certified. If someone just pulled it out of a Seneca and slapped it into the 152 it probably isn't certified. It's been a few years since I was teaching a Garmin class so I can't remember everything that's involved.

Good luck on your ride!
 
aviator1978 said:
The 430 is really a great system. Give it about 2 hours, and you'll see there's isn't anything much better on the market. Go to Garmin and download the simulator:

http://www.garmin.com/software/simulators/TRAIN430.EXE

A similar thing happened to me on my commercial multi add-on. The Seneca I had been flying went down for MX and I finished up in a new Seminole with dual 430's. I was a little overwhelmed the first hour with the Garmins, but was fine after a little while.

Now for the bigger question: A NICE 152 cost around $27,000. A Garmin 430 installed is about $9000. Seems a bit overkill to me.

Good Luck

Thanks for the replies.

I got the simulator CD and am getting pretty comfortable with it. I guess it's more of an issue of getting used to scanning the GPS along with the other instruments, as well as tuning it, etc. while keeping the plane where I want it.

I asked the same question about the value of the 152 vs. the Garmin... I think it was ~$7500 for them, installed. But, hey, it's a cheaper way to some GPS time!

MFR
 
Welcome to the future,,,, I mean,, now! I applaude the owners that invested that kind of dough into a 150. Reality is that the old Cessna 328's or whatever NavCom was there is a dino, and probably used the same amount if not more amperage. And,, reliabilty was a crap shoot at best.
Yes, you do have to learn to program the thing, be glad you are doing it at 80 knots and not at 300 knots like some of us learned. Yeee- Haaa!!!
(do I hit enter now,,, no, that just cleared everything,,,crap!!)
It is the way of navigation,, and I love it. Best of luck on the checkride,, and welcome to the "real"world of travel!
 
Navigation?

Hung Start said:
It is the way of navigation,, and I love it. Best of luck on the checkride,, and welcome to the "real"world of travel!

Just follow the pink line!

E6B? Plotter? WCA? Checkpoints? Sectional Chart? A/FD? IAPs? All that is just too much mental gymnastics! :confused:

MFRskyknight said:
Thoughts? Does this seem a bit like overkill for a 152, or should I just shut up and eat my beans?

Yes very much so! C152/150 are not XC machines. Student pilots shouldn't even have their eyes inside the cockpit. In IFR training it would be nice alternative to paying for a C172 with the same equipment, but you going to be hard pressed to keep a 90 knot groundspeed in a C152.

As for your beans....... beans, beans good for the heart!

What's going on with Airman now? Any new news?
 
well its a great system but like its said above a 152 is not really a cross country machine. Well looks like your useful load is large enough to hold you full fuel and a travel john lol
 
When they start talk about adding boots and a hot plate, you know they're goin overboard....

For now though, enjoy the 430...the Garmin 530/430 GPSs are fantastic! I haven't been able to work with a 480, but I'm sure the 430 is just as nice.

Great features...winds aloft, ETA, frequencies, etc....

Good luck with the checkride!

-mini
 
ePilot22 said:
What's going on with Airman now? Any new news?

Nothing really. The building looks like any other old hangar... as if Airman never existed. I haven't been on the field at Westheimer for awhile now, so I don't know about the planes, but I think the bank has sold/is selling them.

The Attorney General is looking hard at them, so that could be a ray of hope. Who knows...

MFR
 
minitour said:
When they start talk about adding boots and a hot plate, you know they're goin overboard....

Ha...that reminds me of a Simpsons episode...

I still have room to plug in a fax machine, a coffeepot, a deep fryer, a LiteBrite, a DVD player and a karaoke machine!!!

MFR
 
HMR said:
I think it's akin to putting a $50 saddle on a $10 horse but if someone else is paying the bill- more power to 'em.
On the other hand, why not. I went out one evening for night currency. Didn't care much which airplane I flew, so long as the lights worked, so I took one of the least expensive and oldest 172N's on a flight line that is 90% P R and S models.

When I got to it, I did a double-take when I saw it had a 430 and an HSI! My first impression, like yours, was that it seemed to be a bit of overkill, but when I asked around I found that the owner figured that if it had advanced equipment it was more likely to compete with the newer models and be =the= step-up trainer.
 
minitour said:
When they start talk about adding boots and a hot plate, you know they're goin overboard...
Mini...
You don't need boots and a hot plate to fly in ice, just knowledge and skill.

Signed,
You know who
 
uh -oh......no, not again!!!!! I hope the tree fell in the forest and nobody was around to hear it!

Remember the old article "Ice Without Fear"?

Written by the guy who flew Hale Boggs in Alaska and their airplane disappeared without a trace. But I'll bet there was more than "a trace" when it did!
 
UAL78 said:
uh -oh......no, not again!!!!! I hope the tree fell in the forest and nobody was around to hear it!

Remember the old article "Ice Without Fear"?

Written by the guy who flew Hale Boggs in Alaska and their airplane disappeared without a trace. But I'll bet there was more than "a trace" when it did!
UAL78...
Not to worry. I forgot to mention that you also need to be flying a Turbo 182. ;)

'Sled
 
Discovery Channel

UAL78 said:
Written by the guy who flew Hale Boggs in Alaska and their airplane disappeared without a trace. But I'll bet there was more than "a trace" when it did!

I think I saw something about him on the Discovery Channel. Wasn't he flying a Cessna 310 when he went down?

How ironic, he writes the article, then crashes and dies before the article is even published.
 
The 430 is wonderful to have and will actually make instrument flying much easier. Dont be intimidated by all of the features, they become very resourceful once you've gained an understanding on how to use them. The 430 simulator is a very helpful too.

Here's some exercises you should practice on the simulator.

Set your starting point by dialing in the airport you're at airport.

Once airborne, go direct to the airport you wish to do approaches at. Do this by pushing the D button and dial inthe destination.

Once you've obtained a direct course, push the PROC button. This will pull up the apporaches available at the destination airport. Select the manner in which you plan to execute the apporach. You can go direct to a IAF or to receive vectors. At this point you can load or activate it. Activiate it. This will create a course to the fix. Make sure the CDI button is correctly set to GPS or LOC. After you have a course in the upper right window, set the HSI or OBS to that course and bug it.

From here, the GPS unit will make all course changes and prompt you with the MSG feature as to what heading you neeed to set and fly including holding pattern entries for PT's.

When you've passed the MAP you'll have to hit the button to unsuspend the course. Once you do this you will be given the course to the published missed.
 

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