iPad Garmin Pilot + GDL39: Performance Evaluation
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| Dallas - Plainview - Albuquerque - Deming - Andrews - Dallas: Start at rightmost node and proceed counter clockwise |
Weather on days 1 and 3 was difficult, thus forcing full use of the system. The performance evaluation below consists of four parts: The Good, the Not-so-good, the Unexpected, and Further Thoughts and Recommendations.
The Good
The Garmin Pilot supplies many useful pieces of data, carries out tasks that previously were difficult or impossible to do, and generally helps to make flight safer. Four aspects stand out for pilots restricted to VFR flight.
1. The Weather option of the map overlays delivers the VRF/MVFR/IFR/LIFR classification for each airport reporting weather. For example, in the above picture, KAEG is VFR, while KTKI is MVFR. This information is essential for VFR flight when ceilings are coming down and visibility drops. It is particularly important when the route must be changed to avoid blundering into IFR conditions.
Note that the MVFR classification may have both blue (VFR) and green (MVFR) in the color coding, as done for E11 above. This happens when just one of the VFR ceiling/visibility conditions is violated.
Tapping on any airport produces a circular window where, in turn, tapping on the field with the weather code produces a window with the complete weather information for the airport. Here is a VFR example for the Decatur airport as we approach the Dallas area around noon on day 3.
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| Decatur Muni Airport weather information |
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| Detailed information of brown SIGMET overlay |
3. The TFR option displays all current TFRs, a godsend in this age of ever-present restrictions on flights due to fire fighting, VIP trips, stadium events, car racing, or Balloon Fiestas. It seems that almost any event can trigger a TFR.
4. When airports turn unexpectedly from VFR to IFR and alternate airports must be selected, the relevant information can be called up for each potential choice, including NOTAMS. Thus, we have all information for safe landing at the selected alternate airport.
The Not-so-good
The Garmin Pilot system is a complex beast that takes some getting used to. There are ten major parts, of which four or five, depending on how one counts, are critically important for flight. With some effort, this material can be mastered.
But there are items that have nothing to do with the complexity of the system, yet may threaten safe flight.
1. The Garmin Pilot software may run into an error, and indeed may itself detect that an error has occurred. Both types of errors occurred during day 1.
One time, the entire screen turned purple. With some effort--I don't know which button did it--the start up screen appeared again. Later, the iPad jumped unexpectedly to the home page, and the Garmin Pilot apologized that an error had occurred. We simply restarted the app.
2. The iPad quickly overheats when the screen is exposed to direct sunlight. This happens even in moderate ambient temperatures. It likely isn't an issue in high-wing airplanes. But in our plane with bubble canopy, it is a huge problem that rules out continuous use whenever the sun is overhead.
There is no warning that the iPad is getting too hot. It simply goes blank and requires 15-20 minutes to recover. Heaven forbid that this should happen during a critical phase of flight!
3. Zooming into details of sectionals, which are our main maps, is less than perfect. Grey rectangular areas may pop up suddenly and wipe out portions of the map. For example, we could not zoom into details of the El Paso class C area far enough to read details. Clearly more work is needed on the zoom feature.
4. The GDL 39 is linked to the iPad via a Bluetooth connection. Supposedly, the pairing needs be done only once, at that time of installation, as long as the iPad is always turned on before the GDL 39 is powered up. We learned otherwise, even though we always follow the rule to turn on the iPad first.
Taking off from Deming, NM, the GDL 39 indicated by blue and green lights that it was working and linked to the iPad via the Bluetooth connection. But the iPad clearly did not receive any GDL 39 output. Indeed, a blue dot on the Garmin Pilot map, which indicates the airplane when the iPad is not connected to the GDL 39, remained stationary on the map at the Deming airport as we took off and proceeded east.
To analyze the problem, we turned to the Settings page and on the GDL 39 subpage examined the connection for the GDL 39. It said "GDL39 Not Connected."
There are instructions on the subpage for pairing the GDL 39 with the iPad. But they are for the case where there is no pairing, indicated by absence of the green light. But we seemingly had a pairing.
What to do? We simply pressed the off switch of the iPad until the "slide to power off" page appeared. But instead of sliding the switch, we tapped Cancel on that page. Bingo, we had the desired pairing.
Why did this work? No idea. Had the simple process failed, we would have tried the pairing steps described on the GDL 39 subpage of the Settings page.
We do not know what triggered the problem. But based on a discussion with Garmin service personnel about the pairing during the original installation, we recommend the following:
- Always turn the iPad on before the GDL 39 is powered up, and check the processes running on the iPad. Turn off all of them except for the Garmin Pilot. This frees up the iPad from useless activities.
- If the GDL 39 only shows the green light, or if it shows both blue and green lights but the Garmin Pilot map does not display the airplane icon: Use the above described process to re-establish the Bluetooth pairing.
5. On day 1, the iPad was used for extended periods. When the charge level dropped below 80%, we recharged the iPad using the 12V charger on board. That process produced annoying radio interference. Details and the remedy are covered in another post.
The Unexpected
1. When we installed the sytem, we anticipated that it would make VFR flight under adverse weather conditions safer. We were surprised how much the safety margin is increased.
Indeed, the combination of radar weather data and airport weather reports gives a comprehensive picture not only of the weather along the route ahead, but also supports reasonable forecasts. For example, how visibility and ceilings will change as the sun rises into the morning sky and burns off low level clouds, or when adverse weather moves in. In particular, we can monitor the temperature/dew point spread at airports far ahead and anticipate when these airports will turn from IFR to VFR or vice versa.
There is one caveat. Do not assume that the airport information supplied by the ADS-B system is identical to that broadcast by ASOS/AWOS stations. To check how old the ADS-B information is, check the timing information at the bottom of the weather window.
For example, in the second screen shot above, the weather shown for Decatur was obtained at 17:15 Zulu and is 22 minutes old. Conclusion: Rely on ADS-B weather information for tactical decisions, and listen to nearby ASOS/AWOS stations for operational choices.
Similarly, the ADB-S radar picture may be up to twenty minutes old, and should only be used for tactical and not operational decisions.
2. A pleasant surprise was the ease with which we could operate the Garmin Pilot once we had mentally absorbed its structure and rules. To get to that point, we practiced about fifteen minutes per day for several days, before committing to the long trip without copilot.
There were some glitches, mostly since our fingertips apparently do not have quite the properties demanded by the iPad. But mostly, we could do everything quickly while flying through demanding weather, such as selecting new routes that avoid IFR conditions ahead, selecting different airports for refueling, and verifying that they indeed could be used.
3. Truly unexpected was a feeling that surfaced late on day 1, when we cruised in CAVU weather: The flight felt slightly boring, like a commercial flight.
As we probed our mind for the reason, the thought surfaced that we had automated so much of the flight that we longer participated and had become observers. Missing was pilotage, that ongoing scanning of the terrain below and matching of its features with the map symbols.
That process, we discovered, makes us look carefully at the world below, gets us to think about it, and to experience it. In meditation, this is called mindfulness. The combination of Garmin Pilot and autopilot eliminates that experience. Why match up terrain features with map symbols when the airplane symbol is displayed right on the map?
The cure is simple: We now view the system as an important tool to enhance safe flight. But we do not use it to monitor the flight. Instead, we close the iPad whenever not really needed, and use maps and pilotage to control the flight.
Curiously, use of the autopilot does not interfere with enjoyment of the flight, as long as we rely on the rule that the autopilot does not follow a flight plan, but simply enforces a selected magnetic course that is modified as needed.
Further Thoughts and Recommendations
1. Work load in the cockpit is high in adverse weather. Given the additional workload introduced by the Garmin Pilot, an autopilot seems mandatory.
2. The first-time user may want to practice use of the Garmin Pilot at home, and in the air on short local flights with a rated copilot, before committing to a long solo flight under difficult weather conditions. The learning program should include various what-if scenarios.
Current weather information of airports is in plain English, but forecasts, NOTAMS, and briefings contain lots of acronyms. If you are not familiar with the abbreviations, a review of frequently used acronyms should help. For a complete list of contractions and acronymns, see pages 14-6 -- 14-19 of Aviation Weather Services AC 00-45E produced by the NOAA and FAA.
3. The FAA Advisory Circular for use of systems such as the Garmin Pilot recommends that back-up charts be available in the cockpit. We consider back-up charts mandatory given possible Garmin Pilot software errors, unexpected shut-downs of the iPad, and possible charging problems.
4. Keep the iPad away from direct sunshine. When that is not possible, use the iPad intermittently.
5. Last and by no means least, consider the option of old-time pilotage to enrich the flying experience. We consider it a must, given that we fly for fun and enjoyment of the world around us. In fact, we still navigate as before using sectionals, pilotage and, if needed for verification, GPS equipment. Intermittently we consult the iPad for weather, airport information, TFRs, AIR/SIGMETs, all of which are welcome additional data in the cockpit.
Addendum 2017
Garmin stopped updating the Garmin Pilot for the iPad 2 in 2017. In response, we replace it with an iPad Pro 9.7. It has the same screen size as the iPad 2 but weighs less, handles sunshine with less glare, and has better resolution. At the same time, Garmin has improved the Garmin Pilot in many ways. By now, it is a truly great system for navigation and weather analysis.
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