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So You Wanna Fly Victor Airways...With No Nav Radio

Tony_T

Well Known Member
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Starting a new thread here and the reason is to hopefully generate some discussion on using the RV-12 avionics to it’s capabilities. Since we don’t have a nav radio, we’ll have to make do for a lot of nav functions with just GPS. There is a lot of capability though, and that includes the D-180 panel as well as the SkyView. This thread can apply to either, the Garmin X96 GPS have a lot of capability, even some that SV does not.

For instance, the Garmin 496 that I had in my D-180 panel could load approaches, although they were truncated; they did not include procedure turns. The approaches only gave the options of flying vectors to the extended runway center line or flying a flight plan to the approach fixes. With SkyView there are no approaches unless you have a IFR navigator installed. Also, with the D-180 panel, the Garmin SL40 radio could automatically get airport frequencies from the Garmin 496. As you came within radio distance to an airport the various frequencies would be available on the standby side of the radio by just turning a knob. With SkyView, the Garmin GTX 200 cannot get that data automatically from the SV GPS I guess because Garmin proprietary policy does not allow it. You can push frequencies manually from SV to the radio, but thats not as quick. The disadvantage is, that to keep the 496 data up to date, is expensive, the SV nav data updates are free.

So this post is to talk about flying VOR radials without the need for a nav radio. Quite useful if you want to file a flight plan flying the airways rather than going GPS direct. Flying the airways in cases where you are going over hostile territory makes sense. You would be easier to find if they had to come looking for you and you probably would have better com and radar coverage. We had one experience coming west from eastern Washington, GPS direct, where we could not be seen on radar for flight following until we were half way across the mountains. In those situations having filed a flight plan might be a life saver.

To fly a VOR radial with SV only requires that you establish an OBS course line to a VOR. The VORs are in the data base and one way of getting one is using NEAREST function, selecting the VOR tab and scrolling down to find the one you want. Press and hold the D-> button for 2 seconds and presto, there will be a magenta line from the VOR. That line can then be swung to any radial using the left joystick (CRS) knob.

In this screenshot, ready to depart runway 20 with an OBS line from the SEA VORTAC already established and set to radial 240/060, and the HDG bug set for an intercept.
i-dWRtJXc-L.png


Then once airborne the autopilot is engaged to fly the intercept HDG and ALT HOLD, NAV is armed.
i-xJ3JRBf-L.png


Here the ship has turned onto the 060 heading to the VOR, nice.
i-N8P352f-L.png


You can do exactly the same thing with the D-180 panel. There is a procedure within the X96 GPS for setting up an OBS course line to a VOR or other navigation fix and setting it to any radial.

Comments on RV-12 flying welcome. This is intended to be a fun learning thread with comments by anyone who loves learning their RV-12 capabilites.
 
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Well Tony, you are scoring 100% with me, I sure appreciate what you are sharing with us.
I have a Skyview Touch coupled to an SL30, so some of the stuff I will do differently, but your posts give some valuable guidance that does not seem to be available elsewhere.
Thanks again!!
On top of that, I am taking training with Jetguy in his D180 equipped plane with a Garmin 793 (or is it 796, I forget), so when I go up in mine it will be another learning experience.
 
Well Tony, you are scoring 100% with me, I sure appreciate what you are sharing with us.
I have a Skyview Touch coupled to an SL30, so some of the stuff I will do differently, but your posts give some valuable guidance that does not seem to be available elsewhere.
Thanks again!!
On top of that, I am taking training with Jetguy in his D180 equipped plane with a Garmin 793 (or is it 796, I forget), so when I go up in mine it will be another learning experience.

Actually, it's all in the Manuals. It rains a lot here, so I spend a lot of time reading. ;)
 
Actually, it's all in the Manuals. It rains a lot here, so I spend a lot of time reading. ;)

Tony ... I too want to thank you for the recent SkyView functionality posts you have been contributing to the forum. As you said, it is all in the book ... but it is nice to have the interactions explained and visuals putting it all together. Thanks for taking the time to post your SkyView tutorials.

Happy flying,
 
I recently discovered this too, using the skyview to track a radial that is. The only way I know to switch to obs mode is via the flight plan page..is there another way too?
 
Thanks for help

Tony; Thanks for sharing this with us, I know my skyview has tons of capabilities I'm not using..this will be fun to try and a great learning experience.
 
Also, if you have Seattle Avionics' chart subscription, you can overlay the Lo-Alt IFR charts on the Map screen and follow the course information displayed there.
 
Thank you Tony for your great, descriptive posts. I am very familiar with many of the Skyview system and have read the manual a few times but the more I use it, the more features I learn.

Your "Tutorials" are top notch. Keep them coming!
 
I recently discovered this too, using the skyview to track a radial that is. The only way I know to switch to obs mode is via the flight plan page..is there another way too?

After selecting any navigable point using a variety of methods, nearest, flightplan, info, it will go into OBS mode if you press and hold direct-to for 2 seconds.
 
Compared to the US, Australia has far fewer IFR trained pilots, so as your typical VFR pilot I find this kind of post very interesting. Thanks Tony.
 
It's even easier on WingX or one of the other apps with the L charts in it. Just put the little airplane on the airway keep it there. Same thing for approaches with geo-synched charts. The only thing you don't get from the app is vertical guidance.
 
After selecting any navigable point using a variety of methods, nearest, flightplan, info, it will go into OBS mode if you press and hold direct-to for 2 seconds.
And to remove the OBS mode . . . just select the "direct to" command momentarily, without the 2 second press. That removes OBS mode and flies you direct to the fix again.
 
It's even easier on WingX or one of the other apps with the L charts in it. Just put the little airplane on the airway keep it there. Same thing for approaches with geo-synched charts. The only thing you don't get from the app is vertical guidance.
Roger that! Foreflight and the other apps are marvelous. I used the iPad apps extensively when I was flying my D-180 panel. Much less so now with the SV, there is almost no need to have the iPad open especially if you have the Sea Avionics chart subscription for SV. I don't as yet so I carry the iPad for reference to the sectionals and plates. An iPad with GPS is also a backup...

And to remove the OBS mode . . . just select the "direct to" command momentarily, without the 2 second press. That removes OBS mode and flies you direct to the fix again.

Good, thank's for adding that.
 
If you plan the flight on ForeFlight and tell it the approach and then export the flightplan into SkyView you will have all the track information you need loaded. Then you let "nav" fly the course and manage altitude yourself. Sort of semi hand flying. You can even use the alt hold to step down the approach by changing the altitude bug and then commanding "down" on the autopilot screen.
 
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