Earlier this week I flew into Hailey, ID (KSUN) late one night. It's essentially tucked into a valley with high mountainous terrain on three sides surrounding it.
While on the visual approach 10 miles out, all three of my GPSs lost their signal. This includes the 530W, 430W, and the 696 which is mounted on the panel with velcro. Surprised...yes. Fortunately we were VFR and landed without issues.
On the ground, all three GPSs regained their signals. OK. Great. Intermittent problems are always easy to troubleshoot...
The next night, on approach into Willows, CA (KWLW), we again lost all three GPSs. Landed without issue in VFR conditions.
To get to the end of the story, the 530 antenna went south with a vengeance. It ended up sending out some kind of 'signal' that blanked out the other two antennas.
Could this have been an issue while on an approach while IMC? A strong YES. I have never heard of this scenario before so I'm just trying to get the word out of this being a possibility.
The antenna was approximately four years old from when we upgraded to WAAS. The avionics shop that made the repair had seen this scenario once before in a King Air. All the other approximately 30 antennas they have seen had just 'died' and stopped working.
Be careful out there.
While on the visual approach 10 miles out, all three of my GPSs lost their signal. This includes the 530W, 430W, and the 696 which is mounted on the panel with velcro. Surprised...yes. Fortunately we were VFR and landed without issues.
On the ground, all three GPSs regained their signals. OK. Great. Intermittent problems are always easy to troubleshoot...
The next night, on approach into Willows, CA (KWLW), we again lost all three GPSs. Landed without issue in VFR conditions.
To get to the end of the story, the 530 antenna went south with a vengeance. It ended up sending out some kind of 'signal' that blanked out the other two antennas.
Could this have been an issue while on an approach while IMC? A strong YES. I have never heard of this scenario before so I'm just trying to get the word out of this being a possibility.
The antenna was approximately four years old from when we upgraded to WAAS. The avionics shop that made the repair had seen this scenario once before in a King Air. All the other approximately 30 antennas they have seen had just 'died' and stopped working.
Be careful out there.