Simple Steps to Master the GNS 530
By J. Mac McClellan
August 2001
The Garmin GNS 530 and its smaller sibling, the GNS 430, are, I think, the optimum bridge between the old IFR navigation system and the future. If you choose, you could operate the Garmin navigators as nothing more than navcoms. That would be a terrible waste of capability; nav and comm functions are there and you can dial the frequencies just like any other radio.
You can also use a 530 in the same way as a conventional GPS navigator for guidance direct to the destination airport, or any other point on the globe. Many pilots find it easier to separate direct guidance from the airways, intersections, SIDs, STARs and approaches that make up the complete IFR system. Those who feel that way can fly the direct part of the trip using the 530 as a GPS and then revert to raw VOR/LOC data in the terminal area. But when you become comfortable and familiar with a Garmin 530 or 430, you will find that you have complete mastery of the total IFR system in a single source. You will find that the "procedure" key and the flight plan button allow you to fit perfectly into the IFR system without ever dialing a frequency into the nav receiver.
I recommend that pilots new to the Garmin equipment first familiarize themselves with the flight plan function. A press of the flight plan button calls up the function no matter what other modes are selected. You can easily insert, delete or modify in any way the flight plan as your clearance changes, as it does on virtually every flight. Learn to use the flight plan function on every flight, even when it is a short VFR "direct to" trip that could be flown by pushing the "direct to" button. And if you have two 530s, or a 530 and 430, everything you enter or change in one flight plan can be automatically crossfilled into the other navigator. This is crucial in IFR flying because you can have only one clearance just as you can have only one assigned altitude or heading, no matter how many different navigators or displays are in the panel.
Once you have the flight plan function mastered, you are most of the way toward fully using the 530 in your IFR flying. For example, if you are cleared to fly an airway you simply enter the points that define the airway into the flight plan. If the airway bends at an intersection, that point must be entered in the flight plan; otherwise you need only the VORs that define the airway. When the controller hands out a shortcut, you can simply call up the flight plan page and go directly to the new clearance point further down the page.
The next feature to study to use your 530 for IFR is the "OBS" button. When you press the OBS button you have transformed the 530 into a super precise VOR with no need to dial the actual VOR frequency. Not long ago the controllers at Akron Canton Airport cleared me to intercept the 092 radial off the Findlay VOR after takeoff. Findlay was the first point on my clearance route, so the FDY identifier was already in the 530's flight plan. By flying direct to FDY, pushing the OBS button and setting the 092 radial on my HSI exactly as I would with a VOR, I was on my way. If you remember that the OBS button converts the Garmins into virtual VOR receivers, you can use the equipment in any phase of IFR flying, though intercepting and tracking specific radials is becoming less common every day.
The next essential capability to use in the Garmin 530 is the "procedure" function. The name describes what you get—any IFR terminal procedure associated with the airport you are departing from or that is shown as the destination in your flight plan. A press of the procedure key displays a menu of SIDs, STARs and approaches. If you press procedure before departure, the procedures are for the departure airport. Once out of the departure terminal area, the procedure key shows what's available at the destination airport.
Using the procedure function is as simple as operating a cash machine. Read the menu and select what you want to fly. When you select an approach, for example, the 530 will show you a diagram of the procedure. It will ask if you want to fly the full procedure or will be vectored. It will then ask if you want to load the procedure and all of the necessary fixes that define the procedure into the flight plan. What could be easier? However, some pilots waste time or get tripped up by the reminder that if you are flying an ILS or localizer approach you must use the raw data signals for the final segment of the approach. Just mumble thanks to the lawyers and press the enter key when you see this notice because the 530 will take care of that situation automatically.
Your selection of the approach to fly based on the ATIS or controller allows you to load the procedure into the flight plan in advance. When the controller gives you the first vector for the approach or clears you to the first fix in a full approach procedure, you press the procedure key again. This time the 530 asks if you want to activate the approach, and the answer is "yes." If you are flying an ILS or localizer approach, or if there is underlying VOR guidance for the approach, the frequency will automatically be called up in the VOR/ILS preselect window of the 530. A press of the transfer button flip-flops the frequency and tunes the 530 to the ILS or VOR, and you're ready for the approach. The navigation guidance will still be coming from the 530's GPS receiver, but you are set to complete the approach no matter what signal is required.
I fly many more ILS approaches than any kind of non-precision approach. And—except for the annual recurrent training sessions—almost all approaches are radar vectored. On an ILS with a 530 the localizer is drawn in magenta on the map page, the inbound localizer course is shown as the desired track and the distance is to the final approach fix, which is automatically entered when you activate vectors to final. It's easy to see the controller's plan reference the localizer line on the map as I'm vectored to intercept. A late turn onto final isn't much of a problem because I see it coming well in advance.
As you intercept the localizer and near the final approach fix, the 530 automatically shifts to raw data signals on your HSI or nav indicator. The magenta line on the moving map is still being calculated by the GPS receiver. If you want to see the raw data from the ILS earlier, push the CDI button to change from GPS to VOR/LOC on your indicator. I have both a Garmin 530 and 430 in my Baron, and I sometimes switch one of the navigators back to GPS while flying an ILS so I can compare the guidance from the actual ILS signal with that from the GPS. They always agree perfectly, but the GPS guidance is rock steady while the localizer moves around a lot. Of course, the navigator showing GPS guidance can't show the glideslope, but I think you'll be surprised to see how hard we work to keep a localizer needle centered when it is the signal that gyrates much more than our flying.
Non-precision approaches are handled the same as an ILS. Press procedure, make the selection, it loads in the flight plan and you're ready. The nav picture looks the same as the ILS even though the procedure may be named VOR or NDB. If it is a VOR approach, the 530 calls up the VOR frequency, but most of the time there will be no need to actually use the VOR signal. The 530 knows which VOR approaches—and it is nearly all—are approved "overlay" approaches where GPS guidance is a certified alternative to the raw VOR guidance. And GPS is one heck of a lot easier to fly with its constant rectilinear course guidance. Even if you choose to look at VOR guidance on your nav indicator, the 530 will show the moving map and distances to each fix in the approach based on GPS. And when you fly an NDB approach with a 530 you don't even need to have an ADF receiver in the airplane. Good riddance to that 1940s technology.
Once you have become comfortable with the flight plan and the procedure functions—with the rare use of the OBS function—everything else about using the 530 becomes one of personal preference. Dick Collins has described how he uses many of the features of the 530, and you won't be surprised that we don't fully agree. I have the basic map page in my 530 set up to show distance to go, desired track, track and groundspeed. Desired track is the path over the ground that you have told the 530 you want to fly. It is the course you set in the HSI or nav indicator. It is also the airway or approach course that is part of your clearance. I think it's important. Track is the path you are actually flying over the ground. When desired track and track are the same, you are on course.
With the fix I'm flying to at the top, distance to the fix, the desired track to take me there, the track I am flying to tell me if I'm on course and groundspeed, I have all of the essential nav information at a glance. A switch to the first 530 nav page brings up a compass arc, all of the info above, plus bearing. Bearing is simply the direction to the fix. Bearing points like an ADF and says "the fix is thataway," which can be useful, particularly when being radar vectored.
The ideal is to have two Garmins so that you can see so much information at once but only have to enter flight plans, direct to commands, or any other navigation directives once in either unit while the crossfill link keeps them working together. The 530's display is about twice the size of the 430's. The 530 uses a different technology flat-panel display that has better resolution than the 430. Some pilots find this display quality difference quite noticeable, but I don't. The controls, functions and operation of the 530 and 430 are essentially identical, particularly when using the flight plan and procedure functions, so there is no need to change your thinking or actions no matter which box you reach for to enter new commands.
The Garmin GNS navigators can greatly simplify your flying if you take a methodical approach to their operation. Get comfortable with the flight plan page, understand the rare occasion for use of the OBS mode and know what the procedure key does, and the equipment fits perfectly and logically into the IFR system. After that you can push the buttons and twist the knobs and slowly uncover the almost limitless amount of information Garmin has built into these boxes. But don't try to fully understand it all at once.
When you go out to practice IFR procedures on a sunny day, don't take shortcuts, because the 530 and 430 are designed for use in the real IFR world. For example, if you turn inside the final approach fix—something a controller will never vector you for—the navigator won't sequence correctly and you'll be confused. The Garmin navigators know how the IFR system functions and fit perfectly into that routine. If you, too, understand IFR flying, the 530 and 430 will be as close to intuitive as any sophisticated flight management system can ever be.