I love my GRT EFIS. It is a great unit with a tremendous amount of capability. However, with that capability/flexibility comes some complexity and responsibility to configure it properly. Pete and I went out the other weekend to do a little IFR intro ride, and I couldn’t get the approaches from my fancy new GTN650 to show up on my GRT screens, so I was flying them from the 650, which is not the best.

Well, when I got the 650 I’d configured my HX displays to use that GPS source as the #1 GPS input. I had not set them to accept the external flight plan. It was a simple fix, and it now dutifully displays every leg of the approach in WAAS certified beauty. I did note, however, that the setup manual says that the DME arc, procedure turns, and holds will not be displayed, so I’ll still peek at the face of the 650 for that.

Next, I need to make sure that the 650 is properly configured for VOR and localizer tracking on the EFIS, and that the glideslope indications work properly, and then I can start learning to fly the airplane precisely enough to satisfy those procedures – I’m still having a devil of a time trimming it in pitch. I seem to, no matter how short I ‘blip’ the trim, to end up with 100 fpm up or down. I may need to install a resistor to slow it down, but I really, really would like to avoid that, so I’m going to try to learn a technique to get what I want. Then I will need to get the autopilot configure. Hopefully I talk Carlos into helping me with that….