Got the GI 275 discrete Heading/GPSS switch installed this week and it works great. Just flip the switch to get in or out of GPSS. I had the switch installed in a narrow sub panel at the bottom of the avionics stack where the autopilot master and Nav1/Nav2 selector switch were already located. If anyone is considering GI 275s I would definitely not do it without the discrete switch. Very easy install.
I became committed to the discrete switch option recently coming off of a GPS approach with vectors to an approach to my home field. Conditions were IFR with turbulence and heavy rain. Leaving the approach I was given a vector and wanted to use the autopilot to follow it. In the process of twisting the knobs on the GI 275 HSI to change from GPSS to heading for the autopilot a big bump caused me to twist the inner knob I was holding onto too much which turned the HSI into a second ADI. So I couldn't accomplish the switch to get the autopilot to heading and didn't want to monkey with the menus on the GI 275 any further. I put the airplane on the heading using the ADAHRS and engaged stabilization on the autopilot which sort of kept me on the vector. After a few minutes I figured out that I could use the third GI 275 MFD HSI screen to control the switch to Heading from GPSS and then back to GPSS for the approach. The experience convinced me that even the improved top menu level routine to get into our out of Heading/GPSS was too involved when things get bumpy.
At the same time I had the avionics shop at KOSU swap my Aera 660 for an Aera 760. Its on the right side of the panel above the transponder and ADF is large enough to convey understandable information without having to decipher the small screen on the Aera 660. The Aera 760 works just like the GTN650xi and even has approach plates. In fact, the Pilots Guide for the Aera 760 helped me to understand some of the functions of the GTN that were still a bit opaque to me.
The Aera 760 is hard wired into the GTN650xi and the GTX345 so it knows everything that is happening. It's not feasible to use wireless or bluetooth connections as those are limited and I want those options to be reserved for my Ipad on the yoke and my wife's Ipad in her lap.
I became committed to the discrete switch option recently coming off of a GPS approach with vectors to an approach to my home field. Conditions were IFR with turbulence and heavy rain. Leaving the approach I was given a vector and wanted to use the autopilot to follow it. In the process of twisting the knobs on the GI 275 HSI to change from GPSS to heading for the autopilot a big bump caused me to twist the inner knob I was holding onto too much which turned the HSI into a second ADI. So I couldn't accomplish the switch to get the autopilot to heading and didn't want to monkey with the menus on the GI 275 any further. I put the airplane on the heading using the ADAHRS and engaged stabilization on the autopilot which sort of kept me on the vector. After a few minutes I figured out that I could use the third GI 275 MFD HSI screen to control the switch to Heading from GPSS and then back to GPSS for the approach. The experience convinced me that even the improved top menu level routine to get into our out of Heading/GPSS was too involved when things get bumpy.
At the same time I had the avionics shop at KOSU swap my Aera 660 for an Aera 760. Its on the right side of the panel above the transponder and ADF is large enough to convey understandable information without having to decipher the small screen on the Aera 660. The Aera 760 works just like the GTN650xi and even has approach plates. In fact, the Pilots Guide for the Aera 760 helped me to understand some of the functions of the GTN that were still a bit opaque to me.
The Aera 760 is hard wired into the GTN650xi and the GTX345 so it knows everything that is happening. It's not feasible to use wireless or bluetooth connections as those are limited and I want those options to be reserved for my Ipad on the yoke and my wife's Ipad in her lap.
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