Garmin updates for obstacles

[grumpytroll]

Ladies and Gents,

I have identified a couple of towers in my area that do not show up on my GMX 200 moving map display. I have the lat/longs for the towers and want to notify Garmin of the locations so they show up. I went to the Garmin site and as per usual, its a gobbled mess of advertising/marketing/info babble for the general Garmin world. I could spend all day trying to find a place where an actual professional person from Garmin would look at my info and respond, but I thought I would use the mass brain power of Rotorheads and see if anyone here has the answer I seek. Anyone?

Thanks in advance

Cheers

[grumpytroll]

I went to that link and from there I was able to find a place that at least seemed like it might get to someone. I also found out that I was a registered user of the site although I don't recall ever signing up.

Thanks again. Safe flying

[ClearedHot28]

I don't know where to let garmin know about the obstacles, but a couple of weeks ago I called up garmin to find out where they get their obstacle database from since my organization was looking to purchase either ForeFlight or Garmin Pilot. Our main concern is obstacle avoidance since we fly 300 ft and below for spraying.

I talked to someone that deals with the databases in Garmin and he couldn't tell me where they get the obstacle database. I also looked up Garmin's Database for obstacles and it was last updated in Feb 2015.

[krypton_john]

Just curious as to whether any pilots with TAWS/Obstacle avoidance have ever felt lulled into a sense of security or felt they worry less and look less?

[roulette]

Krypton: Good comment!

Grumpytroll & others: The State civil & military aviation authorities are usually the ones ultimately responsible for obstacle data (ensuring it's captured, verified or appropriately qualified, and then distributing to third-party users such as providers of charts, digital terrain & obstacle databases, TAWS etc.
So it's most likely Garmin buys their data & updates from one of the 3rd party database prep organisations (eg, probably someone like Jeppesen) if not directly from the country's main civil aviation authority (like the FAA).

Assuming you're in the US, you should contact the FAA.
These sites will probably lead you to the right place or contact:

-- nfdc.faa.gov/tod/public/tod_faqs.html
From that you can select the Areas of Responsibility Map which will also give lead you to relevant contacts in your state.
-- oeaaa.faa.gov

[Gomer Pylot]

How high are the towers? The obstacle database doesn't include anything below ~300' AGL. It's also rather unreliable. There was a 500' tower in our area that was removed several years ago, and it still gets very excited when I fly over the spot where it used to be. There is another that triggers a warning that was lowered to about 100' years ago. I would never, ever depend on the Garmin database alone to protect me.

[grumpytroll]

I used the oeaaa.faa.gov link and it took me to the exact place I needed. I forwarded the letter I had sent to Garmin and I am expecting to hear back from one or both of them soon. Thanks for the info.

As far as using the obstruction info on the GMX 200, I find it extremely useful. I have had very few if any reliability issues with its accuracy. No pilot but an extremely foolish one would rely solely on the presentation and it certainly does not lull me into any sense of security while using it. In fact the entire point of the system is to alert you to a possible safety issue. In other words to heighten your concern, not put you at ease. It is a tool, along with TCAS etc to assist pilots in becoming aware of possible safety issues. I would rather have a warning of a tower that no longer exists than no warning of one that does exist. If I am landing near a tower presented on the system, of course I put eyes on the actual tower (s). Sometimes there are multiple towers in the same area, some too short to be in the data base. I have noticed that tower builders like to group their creations together, tall and short.

If there are towers in your area that need updating, even if you are unsure of the height of the tower, take a proactive approach and let the right people know. It will help you and may save someone elses life in the future. Or you could wait for the gubment to take care of it all for you ;) I know they are supposed to take care of it and tower builders and wire stringers are supposed to report their stuff, but we are all human and things can happen.

Here are the two I am reporting for scrutiny:

First location is: N35.23.55 W110.52.90. There are a couple of low comm towers together. This location is 205 degrees, 2.7 miles from Tolani Lake, AZ

Second location is: N 34.38.180 W 111.06.546. This is a tall comm tower just north of the Blue Ridge Fire Department, AZ. If you find the helipad, look .1 mile north and you will see the tower on google earth.

cheers