Garmin G900X

Master CFI

FLYING WAAS with Garmin G1000, Garmin 430 530 and Avidyne Entegra
Garmin is currently the only manufacturer providing GPS receivers that general aviation aircraft can use to fly WAAS instrument approaches. We?ll talk about the different WAAS capable receivers, including upgrading of older receivers, and then about the four different type of minimums that you can use when flying instrument approaches with WAAS. But first a brief product mention!

New Max Trescott's WAAS and GPS CD-ROM Course
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Garmin G1000
You might expect that most glass cockpit aircraft, such as those equipped with the Garmin G1000 or Avidyne Entegra, are able to fly WAAS approaches, and while that may be true in the future, it's not true today. The Garmin G1000 is a case in point. If you're lucky enough to be flying one of the new Cessna Mustang jets that started shipping in December, 2006, then you won't have to do much checking, as all of the G1000 systems shipped in this jet are WAAS capable. Also, beginning in January, 2007, all Cessna 172, 182 and 206 aircraft shipped were equipped for WAAS. However, if you're flying a G1000 glass cockpit in any other aircraft, or in older Cessnas, you'll need to check to see if your system has been upgraded to WAAS, by checking the start-up screen on the MFD.

To upgrade the systems with WAAS capability, you'll need to work with your aircraft manufacturer, as each of them is working with Garmin on different schedules to provide updates to their customers. As you might expect, the aircraft manufacturers and Garmin are giving priority to shipments of WAAS capable units for new aircraft, and at present, no manufacturer has committed to a schedule for when they?ll provide upgrades for existing G1000 systems.

To upgrade a G1000 system, at a minimum, the two GIA63 units need to be upgraded to GIA63W units. The GIA63 is essentially a Garmin GNS 530 without a front panel. It contains one COM receiver, one NAV receiver, and one GPS receiver. It's possible that you might also have to replace one or more of the antennas on the aircraft, since the WAAS receivers have a much tighter specification on the amount of loss that's permitted in the coaxial cable that connects the antenna to the receiver.

Our course if you want to learn more about the Garmin G1000, we?d be remiss in not mentioning the wide range of training materials available. Glass Cockpit Publishing offers the widest range of training materials available including books, online courses, and a CD-ROM course. Our Max Trescott?s G1000 Glass Cockpit Handbook was ranked by Aviation Consumer as the ?overall winner? when they evaluated G1000 training materials and is available for $34.95. VFR and IFR G1000 courses are available online for $59 each. The Aero-News Network listed the book and our Max Trescott?s Garmin G1000 CD-ROM Course as one of the ?Top Dozen Best Products of 2006.? The CD-ROM course includes over six hours of training on using the G1000 in VFR and IFR and sells for $99.95. Call 800-247-6553 to order the book and CD-ROM.

Garmin 900X
The Garmin 900X is essentially a Garmin G1000 glass panel that can be installed in some experimental aircraft. You can learn more about this unit on our Garmin G900X page.

Avidyne Entegra
The other major glass cockpit is the Avidyne Entegra, which ships in Cirrus and Piper aircraft, and previously shipped in Columbia aircraft. Most of these installations use Garmin 430 GPS receivers. While there is an upgrade available for those receivers, Avidyne has not released revised software to permit communication between the upgraded Garmin 430W receivers and the PFD. The software will be included in what Avidyne is calling Release 7. Although no release date or pricing are available, we don?t expect it to become available until at least mid-year 2007.  

People flying older Cirrus aircraft, with the Sandel display, may be able to get an immediate upgrade, because there is an analog workaround that enables the Garmin 430W to talk directly to that display. Only a digital data path is available to the Avidyne PFD, so there is no analog workaround available for that display, and owners will have to wait for the PFD software upgrade from Avidyne.

If you have two Garmin 430 or 530 receivers in your plane, you may be thinking about saving some money by just upgrading one of them to WAAS capability. While you can do that, you should note that if you upgrade just one Garmin 430 receiver, you'll lose the capability to cross fill flight plans from one GPS receiver to the other. This is a very handy feature, since if one receiver were to fail, you would already have a copy of your flight plan in the second GPS receiver. If you want WAAS capability and you want to retain the ability to crossfill flight plans from one receiver to another, you'll need to get the WAAS upgrade for both receivers.

Garmin 480
The first WAAS capable receiver capable of flying instrument approaches is the Garmin GNS 480, which was originally known as the CNX80, when it was first released by UPS. Subsequently, Garmin purchased UPS?s aviation division and later re-branded the CNX80 as the GNS 480. According to FAA documents, more than 4000 of these receivers have been sold. The unit has had WAAS capability since 2003. Earlier purchasers needed to upgrades to get WAAS capability. Users of this device will find that the user interface is substantially different from the Garmin 430, 530, and G1000. So if you're familiar with loading approaches in these other Garmin units, you may need some additional study before using the GNS 480.

Garmin 430W Garmin 530W
In December, 2006, Garmin started shipping the ?W? versions of the Garmin 430 and 530, known as the Garmin GNS 430W and Garmin GNS 530W. This is an easy way to add WAAS capability to most any aircraft. Also, the older Garmin 430 and Garmin 530 can be upgraded for $1,500 to the WAAS capable ?W? version. You?ll find all of the details on these units on our Garmin 430W Garmin 530W page.

Handheld WAAS
Millions of portable GPS receivers have been sold, and many of those sold since 2000 are WAAS capable. So you might reasonably ask whether the aviation GPS unit for which you paid perhaps thousands of dollars, can be used to fly instrument approaches. Hopefully, you already know that the answer is an emphatic No. Portable units are not certified under TSO?C129a or TSO?C146a, which specify the requirements for GPS receivers authorized to fly approaches.

WAAS Minimums
We have as many as four types of minimums that we can fly when using a WAAS receiver, and five ways that we can fly an approach. LPV and LNAV/VNAV minimums are for near-precision approaches and have decision altitudes. After analyzing signal quality, our receiver will authorize the best minimums available, and then we can fly the glide path to the decision altitude. At present, the lowest decision altitudes available for these approaches is 250 feet, though the FAA has announced that they will start charting some LPV approaches with 200 foot minimums later in 2007.

Typically, LPV minimums will be lower, and those are the ones to which you?d typically fly. Note that if your system authorizes LPV minimums, you can still choose to descend to just the LNAV/VNAV minimums. However, if you don?t see the airport when you reach the decision altitude, you must initiate the missed approach procedure. You are NOT permitted to fly level at the decision altitude to continue looking for the airport. You could of course continue further down the glide path to the LPV minimums, if your receiver is showing the LPV annunciation.

LNAV minimums for traditional, non-precision GPS approaches have been available for a number of years. You cannot go below the MDA or minimum decision altitude when flying these approaches. On some older approach plates, such as those which don?t have ?RNAV? in the title of the approach, the LNAV minimums are still listed as ?Minimums,? with no reference to the term LNAV.

Many LNAV approaches also have an advisory glideslope from the final approach waypoint to a visual descent point (VDP), and when this is available, your receiver will show LNAV+V. You won?t see LNAV+V listed on approach charts; you just use the same minimums as you would use for a traditional LNAV approach, while referencing the advisory glide path.

You can fly LNAV minimums in two ways. ?Diving and driving? to get down to the MDA as quickly as possible is now strongly discouraged by the FAA. The preferred technique is to fly non-precision approaches in a stabilized fashion, using either an advisory glideslope or descent rate tables that let you estimate the descent rate you?ll need on your VSI to reach the MDA at the VDP or missed approach point, while descending at a constant rate. Regardless of how you choose to fly LNAV approaches, the minimums are the same and you can never go below the MDA.

We mentioned that there are four types of minimums you might find on a RNAV (GPS) approach chart. The first three are LPV, LNAV/VNAV and LNAV. Note that LNAV+V uses the same minimums as LNAV. The fourth type of minimums that you might find are circling minimums. These are used if you need to circle to land on a different runway than the one with which the instrument approach is aligned.

Summary
So there you have it! There are already hundreds of LPV and LNAV/VNAV approaches available in the U.S. and the FAA is committed to creating 300 new LPV approaches each year. Garmin provides a wide array of panel mounted and glass cockpit solutions for flying these approaches, though not all upgrades are available yet. For Garmin G1000 and Avidyne Entegra upgrades, you?ll need to contact your aircraft manufacturer (you might start with your local authorized aircraft dealer) to find out details for upgrading your G1000 or Entegra to WAAS capability.  

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