We have been doing some G3X Touch testing with the new GTN software flying autopilot coupled visual approaches on our test bench to get proficient - and to have a little fun.
It is really quick and easy to load/activate one of the visual approaches for an airport. In this example the tower gave us straight-in to RWY 36 and you can see what the flight plan looks like on the GDU 460 after activating on the GTN. The V3NM is a waypoint showing the initial fix 3 nm from the runway end on the Visual approach.
After activating the visual approach, we just pushed the NAV, APR (approach), and AP buttons on the GMC 307 to engage the autopilot laterally and arm for the glidepath (GP) capture. We are inbound at pattern altitude in ALT hold in this example. If we were hand flying and just wanted flight director guidance, we could have pushed the FD button instead of the AP button and left the servos disengaged.
In this image we are nearly to the runway and are centered both laterally and vertically on the visual approach. You wouldn't normally have the autopilot engaged at this point, but it was a test bench!
One additional tip. The Visual Approach button shows up on the lower left of the GTN map page when a Visual Approach is available for use at the destination airport. By default, this button becomes visible at 10 nm from the destination airport. I found myself wanting to see if a visual approach is available to use sooner than 10 nm out, so I went into the Map Setup page, selected "Visual APPR Selector" and changed the setup to show this button at 15 nm from the airport which seems about right. You can also choose 25 nm if you like.
Thanks,
Steve
Garmin? adds visual approach guidance to the GTN? 650/750
Linear Mode
