Garmin 530/430 Missed Approaches
Flying a missed approach can be stressful enough. When you haven’t done one in a while and your GPS isn’t showing you how to get to the missed approach point and you can’t remember which button to press, that adds a lot more stress. Recipe for disaster? Quite possibly!
No need to fear, we are here to help. The procedure for getting a Garmin 530 or 430 to give you missed approach guidance is actually simple and straightforward, if you know what to do!
Note: Because of the variety of different autopilot configurations in different airplanes, this article will focus solely on the GPS.
What the GPS is Thinking
The way Garmin designed the Garmin 530 and Garmin 430 is to be as helpful to pilots as possible. Their thinking was, 95% of the time, a pilot will make a landing on an instrument approach. This is pretty accurate as most of the time, this is what happens. Most general aviation pilots don’t fly approaches to minimums all that often, thus negating the need for a missed approach.
Garmin designed their software with this in mind. When an airplane crosses the missed approach point, the GPS will go into what’s called suspend mode (a SUSP annunciation appears above the OBS key). It will keep the missed approach point as the active waypoint because it assumes the pilot is going to land.
This can be confusing to pilots. This is what happens when software engineers and pilots come together. Engineers often believe they are smarter than pilots! (See the Airbus fly by wire roll out)
The Procedure
In the case of a missed approach, the button pushing on the GPS is actually relatively simple. There is no SUSP key to take the GPS out of SUSP mode (thanks Garmin!). Instead, you press the OBS key. This will take the GPS out of SUSP mode, making the first waypoint on the missed approach procedure the active waypoint. Your GPS will now give you guidance on the missed approach procedure.
If you are going missed off an ILS, LOC, or VOR approach, then there is one more key you’ll have to press. Your CDI needle (whether it is digital or analog, an HSI or just a CDI gauge) will be reading off the NAV radio and your CDI indication on the GPS will be VLOC. After you press the OBS key, press the CDI key on the GPS so you will start getting course guidance from the GPS again.
That’s it. Button pressing on the different autopilots will vary, but if you are familiar with yours, you’ll be able to tell it to follow the GPS and climb to the proper altitude.
Most VFR pilots only do instrument flying on flight reviews. That doesn’t lead to a very high level of proficiency, so go out and grab your instructor and tell him to put you under the hood once a month. You’ll be a better pilot overall for it.
Thank you! For this in depth answer to a problem I have been perplexed with… Just press the OBS button for the missed on an RNAV or the OBS and then the CDI for a VLOC approach. Simple as that… Thanx
I blew my IFR check ride because I hadn’t seen this article!! Now I know and am much better prepared for my retest….now if only my wallet was as prepared!
Good article, thanks. I know it’s several years later, but here are my two cents. The GNS480 (Apollo CNX-80) did it better by assuming the pilot would do a missed approach and having everything set for a missed. If the pilot lands, then so be it… nothing is lost.
But why force the pilot to push more buttons on their GPS when they have a bunch of more important stuff to do with the plane to go missed (power, flaps, gear, pitch, etc). Garmin got it wrong, imho. I’ve been flying the 480 for years and am using a simulator that has a 430. I much prefer the 480 for every aspect of flight.
What if you don’t want to do the published miss but are getting vectors for another “try” – same ILS approach?
Martha, you have a couple different options. If it is the exact same approach you just flew and you are getting vectors to final, all you have to do is press the PROC key, then highlight Activate Vectors to Final and press Enter. Then everything resets and the final approach course will be your active leg with your FAF as your active waypoint.
If you are flying another approach to the same airport, use PROC and Select Approach to select the new approach.
If you are flying an approach at another airport, the quickest way to set things up is press the Direct To key, dial in the new airport, then use PROC from there.
All of these options will take the GPS out of SUSP mode.
Hi Martha, it’s very simple. If you go missed on one approach and want to try the same approach again, just press the PROC key, then activate the approach again to go to the same IAF that you just flew the approach with. If you are going to get vectors, then use Activate Vectors to Final.
So on the 430/530waas can you just do the 1st 2 steps for the missed? Say climb 2000 then climbing right turn to 180 degrees. Then the gps will depict the radial or the other part to the hold and then give you the heading to fly?
Yes, that is correct.
One of my aircraft with a dual 430/530 setup actually won’t go in to suspend mode on a missed approach. Instead it just over fly’s the waypoint and then starts counting up whilst it then directs you to the next nearest waypoint… I assume it must be a setting issue but as yet I have been unable to work it out. Any ideas?
Hi Grant, I haven’t heard of that one before. The Flight Plan doesn’t go to the next leg (or the first fix on the missed approach)? That would be an avionics shop question.
On an LPV aprch when removing the hold, the Garmin 530 goes into suspend mode, also.Should the suspend mode be removed to fly the aprch? I know you could activate vectors to final but I am curious as to what happens if you leave it in suspend mode. Thanks all.
Hi Tony, I’m assuming this happens when you are on the wrong side of the IAF that the hold was drawn on? Meaning, the FAC is 180, but you are headed 360 and you haven’t passed abeam the IAF yet. IF that is the case, then once you go direct to the IAF that you deleted the hold from, the 530 will go out of suspend. If you are getting vectors, you are correct and can activate vectors to final, or could press OBS to unsuspend manually.
When flying a GPS approach and navigating directly to a way point on the approach ,How do I configure my Garmin 400 to hold at fix that say center wants me to hold At . For example, I’m flying into Sun Valley on The GPS 31 and center says “ fly direct to Presn” hold as published make one circuit then cleared for approach.
Hi Scott, I’m assuming a Garmin 400 is a Garmin 430 without the Nav/Com. I looked at the approach plate and PRESN is the Missed Approach point as well as one of the IAFs. If Center gives you the above instruction, you have to jump through a few hoops to get this to work. First, load the approach into the Garmin with PRESN as the transition. Then, when Center tells you to go direct to it, since the published hold is part of the Missed Approach, on your Flight Plan page, go down to the PRESN missed approach waypoint, press Direct To, and enter twice. This will cause the GPS to go into the hold. Then, on your inbound leg back to PRESN, go back up to the PRESN IAF in your GPS flight plan, highlight it, press Direct To, enter twice, and then it will cycle over to the approach.
Great article! I found the explanation of Garmin 530/430 missed approaches easy to understand, thanks for breaking it down!