GTN 650 Visual approach - No Vertical Guidance

[Latech15]

I have had my 6A for a few months now and when I first got it, the Visual approach was working with vertical guidance. Now when I activate the visual approach, it gives me the message that it is providing no vertical guidance. I have dual dynon screens and use them for my mail mapping source. I only update the Nav Data on the GTN. I am fairly sure that was the only "up-to-date" database when I got the plane and that I am doing all of the same updates as the previous owner.

I called Garmin and they said that I needed to activate the visual approach further out than in the pattern. I have tried it at pretty much all distances and am not getting any different results. Anybody got any suggestions?

[jwilbur]

I have the same setup and did a few of these over the past few days. I activated in the pattern (or on the 45 to downwind at least) and it worked fine. I think the GTN may need to be in GPS mode feeding the Dynon. I wish I could remember clearly but on one of my landings I was in NAV mode after tracking radials and I don't think I saw the vertical guidance pop up -- but I was focused on something else at the time and might just be forgetting about it.

Also, I have v6.5 in the GTN with all databases about 9 months old.

[Latech15]

Yeah I pretty much stay in gps and nav mode. I?m more of a traveler than a fun flyer. Although this plane is a lot of fun to fly.

[Latech15]

So I finally got in touch with Garmin again yesterday and after waiting on hold for about 20 minutes, I finally got on with a guy who had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Back on hold... waited another 20 minutes before giving up and calling back. This time I waited 20 minutes and got someone who didn?t know what I was talking about, but this guy was nice enough to allow me to sit in silence for a while (like 10-15 minutes) while he read about it. Dude was very rude, interrupting numerous times and assuring me that he was right and that what I, and others, were experiencing was not correct.

Long story short, I believe we did figure out the issue. When I first signed up for the fly Garmin account, I deleted the old (not current) terrain database off the memory card. Apparently even though the simulated glide slope does not ensure terrain and obstacle clearance, it does require a terrain database, even an outdated and not current one.

I spent the $150 to buy a terrain database and will load it and give it another shot tomorrow. I did not do the obstacle database yet. Hoping I don?t have to since I pay for both of those databases already through Seattle avionics for the Dynon skyview.

[Carl Froehlich]

Jeff,

It sounds like you got the normal Garmin TSO side after the sale customer service.

All the databases for the SkyView are free on the Dynon website. Never pay for them: http://dynonavionics.com/databases-overview.php
The SkyView does a better job for obstacle and terrain display than the GTN-650, so don?t waste money updating them in the 650.

I only buy the one overpriced nav database for the GTN-650, updated to be IFR legal.

Carl

[g3xpert]

Originally Posted by Latech15

So I finally got in touch with Garmin again yesterday and after waiting on hold for about 20 minutes, I finally got on with a guy who had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Back on hold... waited another 20 minutes before giving up and calling back. This time I waited 20 minutes and got someone who didn?t know what I was talking about, but this guy was nice enough to allow me to sit in silence for a while (like 10-15 minutes) while he read about it. Dude was very rude, interrupting numerous times and assuring me that he was right and that what I, and others, were experiencing was not correct.

Long story short, I believe we did figure out the issue. When I first signed up for the fly Garmin account, I deleted the old (not current) terrain database off the memory card. Apparently even though the simulated glide slope does not ensure terrain and obstacle clearance, it does require a terrain database, even an outdated and not current one.

I spent the $150 to buy a terrain database and will load it and give it another shot tomorrow. I did not do the obstacle database yet. Hoping I don?t have to since I pay for both of those databases already through Seattle avionics for the Dynon skyview.

Latech15, I am sorry you had a less than desirable experience in your interface with Garmin. It sounds like in the end you were able to solve your problem. You may have better results emailing us directly, see email address in the signature below.

The GTN Pilot's guide is quite large, so I understand it can be challenging to sort through the large amount of information. It is often helpful to use the search or find feature to navigate to the relevant section of the document. The Pilot's Guide has the following note:
"NOTE: If the GTN does not have a valid terrain database, advisory vertical guidance is not available for visual approaches".

Based on this note, you should not need an obstacle database and you should now find your feature working as you expected. Please let us know if we can help in any other way.

Thanks,
Levi