My dad had a dual failure a week ago today, around 10am. AK time. Both the 296 and the panel mounted Apollo would not acquire the satellites. Came home around 2pm and all was well. I've seen that with marine units, but this was a first time in the airplane.

gb

c180bill wrote:Hector is just south of Goldstone, the big "deep space communications center" in Fort Irwin, and just east of the mirror farm boiling water. ....

I worked for a couple days on that "mirror farm" when it was under construction about 30 years ago. The mirrors weren't mounted yet-- looking at all those poles made you feel like you were standing in the world's largest drive-in movie. Quite an impressive project, but I have often wondered if Rube Goldberg was part of the design team.

Eric

I kinda know how you guys feel, I had my map blow out the window one time... .. Never did find my way home.

gbflyer wrote:...Both the 296 and the panel mounted Apollo would not acquire the satellites....

bmurrish wrote:My old 396 has shut off several times on me...

RDUStinson wrote:My 296 went TU twice on me, both times over busy metropolitan areas. It came right back as soon as I flew away from the area....

patrol guy wrote:My 696 "locks up" and will not shut off or anything else every once in a while....

hmmm it's a good thing the government is moving completely to GPS with NexGen, what could go wrong?

Coyote Ugly wrote:I kinda know how you guys feel, I had my map blow out the window one time... .. Never did find my way home.

So that's how you homesteaded in Austin??

Interesting stuff. We just got a 496 installed in the 182 last week. Took it out for a spin during a short break in the wx 2 days ago. Really looking forward to having the entertainment while on long flights. I haven't used it much (one transcon flight bringing a plane from CT to UT) but haven't ever had any problems with it or any other GPS I've used.

hmmm it's a good thing the government is moving completely to GPS with NexGen, what could go wrong?

I don't know what you guys are talking about. GPS is completely reliable. Unless you happen to be anywhere near New Mexico...

******** Navigation NOTAMs ********
!GPS 02/038 ZHU NAV GPS IS UNRELIABLE AND MAY BE UNAVAILABLE WITHIN
A 427 NM RADIUS OF 330742N/1061943W, THE BWS VOR 319.34 DEGREE RADIAL
AT 24.33 NM AT FL400 DECREASING IN AREA WITH DECREASE IN ALTITUDE
TO 371 NM RADIUS AT FL250, 295 NM RADIUS AT 10000 FT MSL, AND
292 NM RADIUS AT 4000 FT AGL. THE IMPACT AREA ALSO EXTENDS INTO
THE MEXICAN FIR WEF 1002200200-1002201200
!AUS 10/070 CWK NAV VOR UNUSBL 124-175 BYD 10 BLW 6000

I learned to fly in the age of GPS so I am kind of lazy when it comes to flight planning. I bought a Lowrance Colormap 2000c at the end of 07. I like the unit and it has terrain. Last year I was flying not too far from home and the "exit" button quit working. I had an airspace alert showing and I couldn't get rid of it so the unit was basically worthless. At the time it happened, the unit had only been used about 10 hrs. I sent it in and they confirmed it was messed up. Cost me $275 + shipping because it was just out of warranty.

I knew the area so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience, but I was glad it didn't happen on a dark night far from home. I have two in the plane now. All my flight planning stuff is organized and I promised myself to get proficient again on navigation using a compass and a chart only.

I was with 2 other cubs in PA and all three 396s quit almost at the same time.Good thing I am old school and I was using a chart also.I NEVER rely on just my GPS.

Bill

Hmm, and I remember my Narco Omnigator working flawlessly in my '52 C-170B. But numerous times my 496 would freeze and go crazy for 30 seconds at a time and that's with a remote antenna on the glare shield.

Is an Omnigator a member of the reptile family and if so, how did you get him in the plane

Jaerl wrote:Is an Omnigator a member of the reptile family and if so, how did you get him in the plane

It was a dinosaur, for sure, and weighed almost as much as one ~ but it always worked. Had a huge appetite for amps, too.

I have the ultimate solution for all you guys whining about faulty GPS units: Package up all your GPS units and send them to me. I'll make certain that they are disposed of in an "environmentally friendly" manner.....

MTV

I had it happen to a Garmin 396 when going to Death Valley for a fly in. It just crapped out completely near Trona, CA. I mentioned it at lunch, and lo and behold, a bunch of us coming in the same way had it happen to our GPS. I couldnt even get mine started, so I called Garmin on the next business day.

They were aware of th=e problem and told me that Edwards Air Force base was doing high energy tests that day (no notam or announcement when talking to them).

All I had to do was a master reset which involved holding down more buttons than I had fingers when powering it up.

Hector is kind of close to Edwards, so ???????

willyb wrote:I was with 2 other cubs in PA and all three 396s quit almost at the same time.Good thing I am old school and I was using a chart also.I NEVER rely on just my GPS.

Bill

I'll add this same thought to my earlier post. I never use just the GPS either. Traced every mile across this great country with me finger when we brought one of our planes from CT to UT. I fly regularly with a friend that soley uses his 395. I keep telling him how screwed he is going to be the day it goes TU on him. He agrees and admits he needs to do a better job...yet to see it though. Maybe that is why he keeps taking me with him. I also insist that my primary students do their flight plans with a chart, E6B, and a plotter. I figure that they are better off with a good foundation. Once they get their license, they can use what they want, but at least they will have learned the basics at one point in their flying life.

Grasstrip,

Amen. First thing that happens in a stage check I conduct with a student is that the Garmin 430 gets turned to the satellite information page, which is useless for navigation. Then, when they don't have that pink line to follow...they demonstrate their navigational skills.

It is somewhat disturbing to fly with an instrument student who can't navigate with a VOR, I might add.. But, they WILL before they get signed off.

MTV

My first trip ever to Alaska was to deliver a Cub from Kalifornia to Barrow over 30 years ago. In March. Thing had no radios and a busted compass. I had a wristwatch, stack of WACs and sectionals, and a stubby pencil I always carried, that lengthwise worked out to about an hours flying time in that Cub on a sectional (still got that pencil). That was about 30 hours flying in three days, and my fingertip never left that map. Scared isn't the right word, but I was very alert on that trip, and didn't do a lot of relaxing or sight-seeing.

My last trip up the highway was a couple of years ago in the Mighty 172TD to work a while for Yute Air. I had the 396 in the Gizmo mount, XM providing music the whole way, and the maps were in a bag on the backseat, and I never looked at a single chart the whole way. Navigating never even crossed my mind and even in some shit weather spots I didn't really pay much attention.

But... I always know in the back of my head that I CAN navigate several old fashioned ways, and if the GPS fails I am not going to get lost or die because of it. VFR or IFR.

Gump

I guess I am gonna have to cause some trouble some where so you guys got something else to talk about this techno s@#t is getting out of hand.

mr scout wrote:I guess I am gonna have to some trouble some where so you guys got something else to talk about this techno s@#t is getting out of hand.

Hell Floyd, you got more computing power in that Commander that the first space shuttle did. Of course you gotta be able to find the on/off switch to make it work.

Gump

Ha Gump, me and my daughter flew my old J-3 to Oshkosh one time the same way, the compass read the same heading all the way over there, and all the way back...Ha ha. No GPS, no radio, she learned how to navigate on that trip, and did a great job of it too. Finger on the map all the way, even did her first solo, on a little strip in Wis. called Log Cabin. We were talking on the way how when ya get away from the mountains, it's kinda hard on a cloudy day to figure out, with no compass, which way to go after ya take off. She said "Dad, it's easy, there are usually great big numbers right there on the end of the runway, to tell ya your heading, and from that you figure out how much to turn left or right"... Damn smart ass kids....