Hey Brantel,
Do you get the Glide Slope indicator on your Dynon (EFIS) side when a VNAV profile is enabled on your x96? The user guide "seems" to indicate you will if everthing is setup properly. Not a true GS I know and not to be used as such but on my FlightDeck D180, if I enable the CDI+GS it displays nicely from the SL-30 in the left info area. I fly with the 496 in moving map mode mostly and don't often switch to the HSI on the Dynon. Recently however I've been looking for ways to squeeze a bit more info out of the gear to reduce cockpit workload. My SL-30 NAV is considered "backup" navigation so I'm flying more off of the 496 than ever before and may start sourcing the HSI and CDI needle from the GPS more often.
Chris,
You
will get a GS on the EFIS display if you have an active target waypoint and an active VNAV profile on an X96.
My technique has been to set my 396 VNAV profile to a 500 fpm rate of descent, and also set it put me 1-3 miles from the destination (target) waypoint at 1000' above that point's elevation (depending on what angle I'm coming at the active runway from, and whether I want to come into the break, or I want to have some space to slow down to enter the pattern, etc. Surrounding terrain can also impact how I set the VNAV parameters, or whether I follow the VNAV guidance or just fly the airplane and put it where it needs to be.) You can set any rate of descent and any altitude above the target elevation, down to zero. Those settings are in the Setup menu, under the VNAV tab (Menu, Menu, scroll to Setup, look for the VNAV tab to the right).
I also have my Dynon AP set for a 500 fpm climb/descent. When I see the GS needle on the EFIS and HSI approaching the center, I roll in the new altitude with the AP-74, and the AP starts a descent. It's been pretty good at keeping the needle centered. Not IFR good, as the VNAV info and the VSI rate on the AP are completely separate, so there is drift (mine usually goes a bit high, but its all in VMC conditions, so I'm OK with that, and I'm still wringing out the AP testing). Now if we could get the "VSI to target" info on the X96 to drive the VSI rate on the AP, that would be pretty cool! I don't know if that data is even part of an output sentence from the x96, and asking Dynon to put in a coupling feature to a VFR piece of gear may be asking a bit much...but it'd be kinda neat!
One thing I've noticed is that if, due to terrain, I ignore the GS needle and fly past top-of-descent, or if I descend at a lesser rate than 500 fpm and let the aircraft drift too high above the profile (needle down), at some point the GS needle goes away, rather than just park at full deflection down. Not sure if that happens at full deflection, or if it happens at a certain number of feet above profile, but just wanted to pass it along. As I play with it more, I'll see if I can see when the needle appears as I approach the VNAV profile, and when it dissapears as I fly past TOD. Guess I could RTFM again, but didn't see it before, and test flying
is fun!
Cheers,
Bob
