Garmin Perspective Tips & Tricks

ByHank Gibson December 29, 2019December 29, 2019

The Garmin Perspective and Perspective + are awesome pieces of equipment. There is so much a pilot can do with this system that it can sometimes get overwhelming. There are two very important features of the Garmin Perspective that all IFR pilots need to know, but are tricky to do if the correct buttons aren’t pushed.

The two features of the Garmin Perspective I want to focus on today are the “Load Airway” feature and the “Hold at Waypoint” feature. The “Load Airway” feature is especially handy when flying IFR long distances with several airways as part of the clearance. Here’s how to utilize both on the Garmin Perspective.

Load Airway

On your flight plan page, insert the waypoint where you will be joining the airway, or, if your clearance was radar vectors to join an airway, then insert the waypoint on the airway that begins the leg you will be joining on
Press the Menu key on the keypad
A menu will pop up. Scroll down to highlight Load Airway
Highlight the Airway you want from the next menu that pops up then press Enter
Then, a list of waypoints will display to exit the airway. Highlight the waypoint where you will be exiting the airway and Press Enter
The cursor will then move down to Load at the bottom of the menu. Press Enter to load the airway
The Airway and all the waypoints in between your entry and exit waypoints appear in your flight plan
If you are getting vectors to join the airway, you’ll need to use the Activate Leg function to activate the leg you will be joining the airway on
- On the Flight Plan page, highlight the waypoint that ends the leg you want to activate
- Look for the ACT LEG soft key on the lower right hand side of the MFD and press
- This Activates the leg on the airway. Then, just simply fly the heading assigned by ATC until the CDI needle centers showing you are on the airway

Hold At Waypoint

The Garmin Perspective allows pilots to place a holding pattern at any waypoint that is in the Nav Database (or any user created waypoint). Here’s how to do it.

On the Flight Plan page, highlight the Waypoint that you want to hold over and press Menu on the keypad
On the menu that pops up, highlight Hold At Waypoint and press Enter
On the next menu that pops up, input either the inbound or outbound course, right or left turns, leg time or distance, and the EFC time, then highlight Load and press Enter
You will see the hold now as a Waypoint in your flight plan

Cirrus SR22 Partnership in Houston
ByHank Gibson June 3, 2015June 3, 2015

Ever wanted to be a Cirrus owner, but the economics of being a single owner just don’t make sense for you? If you’re in the Houston area, you now have a chance to join a Cirrus SR22 partnership at the West Houston Airport, KIWS.

The group, CirrusShare, is a 4 member group, but one of the members is looking to sell his share. The airplane is a 2007 G3 SR22. It is in excellent condition, with dual WAAS 430s and air conditioning.

If you would be interested, please contact Texas Top Aviation for more information.
Flying the Piper Malibu
ByHank Gibson November 21, 2014

Looking for an airplane with more seats, more useful load, and good speed? Look no further than the PA-46-310P Piper Malibu. It feels like a corporate airplane, but this turbo charged piston single is good owner/pilot airplane for taking the family on vacation or using on business trips.

The original Piper Malibu, which was manufactured between 1984-1988, is a great next step airplane for Cirrus owners, Saratoga or Lance owners, and Mooney owners looking to move up to a pressurized, 6 seat piston. The pressurization has got to be one of the best parts of the Piper Malibu. The ability to climb up to the low flight levels (the service ceiling is FL250, but the airplane performs great between 16,000 and FL190) to catch better winds and get a better true airspeed (the airplane gains about 2.5 KTAS for every thousand feet) without having to wear oxygen makes the ride much more enjoyable.

Equipped with six seats and a 4,100 pound gross weight, the Piper Malibu allows for a lot more carrying ability than a Cirrus or even a Saratoga. Now, like most piston airplanes, you can’t take 6 average adults, bags, and full fuel, but here’s the great part: the Continental TSIO 320 only burns 16.5 GPH in cruise at 75% power. The plane will still fly 200 KTAS at 16.5 GPH. With 120 gallon capacity, even taking half tanks still allows for a 2.5 hour range with an hour reserve. At 200 KTAS, that’s 450 miles. And, you gain an extra 360 pounds useful load at half tanks. That’s not too shabby.

The Piper Malibu was designed to be comfortable, fast, and be able to carry some baggage. There are two baggage compartments, one in the nose behind the firewall and one in the rear behind the rear seats. The nose baggage is wide enough to fit golf clubs in, while the back baggage is large enough to fit rolling suitcases in (the front baggage has no problem with roller bags either). Lots of weight in bags? Again, no big deal. Just plan on taking less fuel and still flying for 2.5 hours.

From a pilot’s standpoint, the Piper Malibu is a pretty straightforward airplane to fly, though it does require some specialty training. A lot of PA-46s on the market right now have upgraded glass panels and digital engine monitors, making piloting the airplane that much more streamlined. Most Piper Malibus are equipped with the KFC 150 autopilot. Some have a yaw damper installed, others don’t. Some have the vertical speed and altitude capture installed, others don’t. It just depends on that specific airplane. They aren’t like a Cirrus where they are all made the same.

Looking to upgrade to something with more seats, a higher service ceiling, but not a significant increase in fuel costs? Look into the Piper Malibu. You can get one in good shape from about $300,000.
Flying the RDD LX7
ByHank Gibson October 10, 2022October 10, 2022

I get to fly a lot of different airplanes in my chosen career. There aren’t many airplanes that I take off in, then say “Wow,” and have a big smile on my face. The RDD LX7 was definitely one of those.

I wrote about the RDD LX7 in the past, bragging about everything I read about it. The blogs all advertised 250 KTAS and 17 GPH and FL250, all of which are eye popping numbers.

Lo and behold, those numbers are true.

I got to go up to RDD’s Redmond, Oregon facility in April 2021 to get my initial training in the RDD LX7 and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The 3 screen G3X Touch layout is very impressive and not crowded like I thought it would be. Being familiar with the G500TXi, there are some G3X specifics that take a little getting used to, but overall, it’s a good system. The main GPS and number 1 radio is a GTN 750Xi.

We took off from RDM and proceeded to climb at 140 KIAS, which equated to 2,000 FPM. We only had half tanks (which is still 90 gallons of fuel!), but it climbed with no problem. It’s extremely responsive as I learned while doing the basic flight maneuvers. The stall speed of the airplane (the biggest problem with the Lancair 4P, the airframe that the RDD LX7 is derived from, was the terrible wing design and extremely high stall speed), was in the low 60s or high 50s, with the stall being extremely docile.

The airplane handled very similarly to a Columbia 400, but seemed even more responsive. The glide ratio isn’t as good as some, but it’s still better than a Cirrus (plus it still has a BRS system to boot).

The big test was the flight to San Antonio from Redmond to bring the plane home. The new owner and I departed RDM with the tanks full of Avgas (180 gallons), then got up to a cruise altitude of FL210. After setting power and leaning, the numbers came out true to spec: 252 KTAS, 17.5 GPH.

The greatest part? We stopped in Santa Fe to stretch our legs and we didn’t need fuel. We still had 100 gallons left! That left us plenty to get to San Antonio with 40-50 gallons left over. Another RDD LX7 owner flew his piston direct from Redmond, OR to Jacksonville, FL, non-stop. It was over 9 hours. That’s impressive.

You can’t beat the purchase price, either. A new Cirrus SR22T runs a little north of $1.2m. A piston engine LX7, that is pressurized, 70 KTAS faster with a much longer range, and still has a BRS, is between $850,000-$900,000. An LX7 starts to make a whole lot of sense when you weigh all that. There is also a PT6 option with several different sizes and horsepowers to choose from, which costs more, but you see 300 KTAS.

To learn more about the RDD LX7, check out the company’s website: RDD LX7.
MMOPA Safety Foundation Training Videos
ByHank Gibson October 14, 2021November 1, 2021

The Malibu and M-Class Owner’s and Pilot’s Association (MMOPA) announced new Safety Foundation Training videos in September. The videos are aimed at both new Piper PA46 pilots and existing Piper PA46 pilots, all in the effort to fly the Piper PA46 to the highest and safest standards.

Six videos have been released thus far, with the promise of more to come. The topics of the first videos are:
- Instrument Approach
- Visual Approach
- Manual Gear Extension
- Emergency Descent
- Descent Planning
- Takeoff and Climb
Eventually, the goal is to release high quality training videos encompassing all aspects of Piper PA46 flying.

To view the videos, you will need an MMOPA membership. The link to the MMOPA Safety and Education Foundation video page is: https://www.mmopasafety.org/education/
That Pesky Rudder
ByHank Gibson July 20, 2015July 27, 2015

Whenever I get in an airplane with a pilot for recurrent training, I can assure myself that I will mention rudder usage more than once during the flight. If it is in a tailwheel (or if the pilot is doing tailwheel training), I’m going to mention the rudder a lot. How do I know this? Because basic rudder skills are actually one of the most difficult things to master in flying.

Let’s start simple. What does the rudder do? The dictionary definition is it controls the movement about the vertical axis of the airplane. If you stick a pole down through the CG of the airplane and rotate the airplane around that pole, this is the vertical axis. Looking at it another way, the rudder moves the airplane’s nose left and right. Keep this in mind as we move on.

Every pilot thinks about the rudder during the takeoff roll. Because of the torque effect, the pilot must add right rudder during the takeoff roll to stay on the runway centerline. Depending on the airplane’s horsepower, more rudder pressure is needed in higher powered airplanes. The problem usually shows up once the airplane gets in the air.

In the worst situation, after takeoff, the pilot will set both feet on the floor and completely disregard the rudder. Torque effect and now P-factor are continuing to cause the airplane to yaw left, causing the need for right rudder. With his feet on the floor, though, the pilot is allowing the airplane to yaw. It’s not terribly noticeable for him in the front seat, but the back seat passengers (especially in a six seat or larger airplane) are certainly feeling it.

One particular problem spot on the climb is the climbing left turn. In a climbing left turn, training says to add left rudder since it is a left turn (see below for the reasoning). But, since the airplane is climbing and therefore experiencing left yawing tendencies due to the aforementioned effects, the pilot needs to continue pressing the right rudder, though the pressure won’t be as much as in a straight climb. Watch the ball the next time you make a climbing left hand turn and it’ll make a believer out of you.

I find only a handful of pilots are this egregious. Most pilots have rudder problems in turns and in turbulence. We’ll tackle turns first. As we all learned when we first started flying, due to adverse yaw, a pilot must add rudder in the turn’s direction. Again, this isn’t usually where the problem shows up. During the rollout is the problem area.

Let’s take a turn to the left. The pilot rolls in, adding left rudder, arrives at his heading, then begins to roll out with the ailerons. Left adverse yaw is now being experienced and right rudder is needed to smoothly transition back to level flight. Need some visual assistance? Watch the nose the next time you make a turn. If you are working the rudder properly, the nose will pivot on one point in the horizon. If you aren’t using the rudder properly, the nose will draw a U shape on the horizon. Try making some turns without rudder, see what it looks like, then use the rudder properly. You’ll notice a big difference.

Finally, let’s talk turbulence. As we all know, turbulence in the hot summer afternoon is quite pronounced. When the airplane experiences a bump, it usually doesn’t bounce straight up in the air. There is usually some kind of rolling motion involved. As the pilot corrects this rolling motion by moving the ailerons, adverse yaw is experienced (just like rolling into and out of a turn that we talked about above), so rudder is needed. There isn’t a need to stomp on the rudder or you’ll cause the airplane to severely yaw in the other direction, but rudder pressure is needed.

Final approach is where this gets most pilots. By controlling the nose and not allowing it to move around on final by using the rudder, this will make your approaches a little more stabilized leading to a more successful landing.

Feeling lost when it comes to the rudder? Ask your instructor the next time you go fly to do some rudder exercises. Most instructors don’t emphasize these basic stick and rudder skills which leaves pilots lacking as they move on in their aviation lives. So make it a point to do some basic rudder work the next time you fly with your instructor.
2018 Houston, TX CPPP
ByHank Gibson October 9, 2018October 9, 2018

The Cirrus Pilot Proficiency Program is once again returning to Houston, TX the first weekend in November. Henrickson Jet Center at the Houston Executive Airport (KTME) will be the host FBO this year. If you are a Cirrus owner in the South Central US, the Houston CPPP weekend is definitely worth your while.

What is it? The Houston CPPP is a combination ground and flight training weekend. With ground classes ranging from engine management, to loss of control prevention, to avionics best practices, an attendee will not lack a better Cirrus education by the time he or she leaves.

The flight training side of the weekend gives an attendee several options. A Houston CPPP attendee can do 1 or 2 flights with a highly qualified Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot (CSIP), one on Saturday and one on Sunday (if the 2 flight option is selected). The Cirrus Owner’s and Pilot’s Association (COPA) brings in exceptional instructors for each of the CPPP events, so the training is top notch. Folks who want to take in more ground school, but still want to fly a little bit have the option of just doing 1 flight, either Saturday or Sunday, in order to increase their Cirrus knowledge.

The Houston CPPP event will be November 2nd, 2018-November 4th, 2018, a Friday through a Sunday. The weekend kicks off with a welcome dinner Friday night, then ground sessions and flying on Saturday and Sunday, plus a dinner on Saturday night.

For those who want to challenge themselves, there are simulator sessions available with a challenging instrument approach that doesn’t quite meet up with the normal, ho-hum type of approach.

The Houston CPPP also provides a Partner in Command course for those right seaters out there wanting to learn more about what to do in an emergency situation.

Hank Gibson of Texas Top Aviation will be at the Houston CPPP as a flight instructor. For more information and to sign up, please click here.

Hope to see you there!