View Full Version : Terrain on GNSx30
How does the Terrain upgrade do on the GNS530 (or 430)?
Specifically, does it include obstacles or just ground heights (in the UK and rest of Europe)? What is the resolution of the ground heights? How does it annunicate terrain warnings? On the 530 can the terrain warnings be shown in the lower left corner of the screen the way traffic ones can? Do you pay extra for database updates if you have the terrain system installed?
And finally, overall, do you find it useful?
S-Works
2nd Sep 2006, 13:15
On my GNS430, it appears as a screen after the traffic screen. It is colour coded red and yellow following the terrain contours. As you approach within the terrain parameters in anymode a pop up window appears and offers to take you to the terrian display. It has the obstacle databse which can be updated on a regular basis but at the moment it does not cover Europe. It does not display as a sub window on the moving map page.
I have found it a very usefull update for flying approaches when coming off the airways in IMC especially at high airports!
Overall yes I have found it usefull.
Thanks Bose-X. Does
It has the obstacle databse which can be updated on a regular basis but at the moment it does not cover Europe.
mean it doesn't have obstacles for the UK?
S-Works
2nd Sep 2006, 21:11
yep! not at the moment but due.
derekf
3rd Sep 2006, 13:46
IAE upgraded our 530 and I've found it very useful
Tinstaafl
3rd Sep 2006, 20:03
I'm resident in the USA now and we have it in one of our aircraft using 430s. I don't like that the terrain warning occupies most of the nav display window & requires user intervention to return to a useable display. It really interferes with using the display for navigation. A right pain during approaches.
I would have preferred a setup option for it to default to only the small advisory box flashing the terrain warning. It currently has both a small advisory window in the lower left hand corner + the overly intrusive main window.
Mostly I find it superfluous unless scud running in min. VMC. Then it's quite handy due to the numerous radio masts in the country. Some near here are up to 1500' and they're not the tallest in the country...
Adrian N
4th Sep 2006, 12:38
I'm resident in the USA now and we have it in one of our aircraft using 430s. I don't like that the terrain warning occupies most of the nav display window & requires user intervention to return to a useable display. It really interferes with using the display for navigation. A right pain during approaches.
You can inhibit the terrain alerts. They are a pain in the neck when flying VFR, but it's easy to avoid them. Select the terrain page (which is the one the system displays after you have cleared the terrain alert), press MENU and choose "Inhibit terrain alerts". In my case I am happy for them always to be inhibited, but depending on the type of flying you do you may well want to remember to enable them again - using the same menu option.
If the GNSx30 terrain feature does not cover Europe, how does anyone in Europe find it useful?
The other Q is how does this compare with the GBP 13,000 GPWS system from Honeywell. What does this huge extra cost give you? It is only a GPS after all and - to put it crudely - one could run the exact same functionality on a cheap PDA with a GPS in it and with enough FLASH to hold the obstacle database...
Perhaps the Honeywell system does performance based avoidance i.e. it knows your best climb and turn rate at that altitude and will warn of obstacles which are getting close to being unavoidable.
Tinstaafl
4th Sep 2006, 15:22
Tried the inhibit function. The function cancels each time you switch off ie it's not permanent.
If the GNSx30 terrain feature does not cover Europe, how does anyone in Europe find it useful?
The other Q is how does this compare with the GBP 13,000 GPWS system from Honeywell. What does this huge extra cost give you? It is only a GPS after all and - to put it crudely - one could run the exact same functionality on a cheap PDA with a GPS in it and with enough FLASH to hold the obstacle database...
Perhaps the Honeywell system does performance based avoidance i.e. it knows your best climb and turn rate at that altitude and will warn of obstacles which are getting close to being unavoidable.
My reading of Bose-X's comment is that it's the obstacle database which isn't available in Europe, but terrain is.
As for the PDA idea, I have a Garmin 296 which has terrain, but I am looking to cut down on the number of devices, not increase them!
As for the difference with more expensive systems, I think the main difference is that they are certified: FAA regs say anything operated Part 91 with 6 seats and over needs TAWS. The $500 Garmin version doesn't meet the requirements, but the $6000 version turns the GNS530 in to a TAWS Class B device apparently, which does. So there is the cost of certification and the fact that the people buying it are running big expensive planes and bingo, add a zero.
Looks like I don't really need to wonder whether it is any good or not because all new GNS530's come with the basic terrain system built in these days.
Tinstaafl
5th Sep 2006, 19:30
Should have added that I want the terrain & obstacle warning *but* I don't want it to obscure the navigation information with the large warning overlaying the information I want to see.
Inhibiting the alerts removes even the lower left corner window alert, not just the main screen area annoyance.