I was watching TV with my wife this last week and she stopped the channel surfing on a movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan called You’ve Got Mail.  One thing that stuck in my head about the movie was the scene where Meg Ryan’s character was going online and you can hear the dial tone that people who had internet in the late 90’s remember so well.  I remember thinking about how a 56 k modem used to be high speed.  Now we live in a world advertising cable internet at 15 MBPS and fiber optic download speeds of 20 – 50 MBPS.  Unfortunately, not everyone can have the benefits of the state of art internet speeds.  I even occasionally hear that same dial up sound on the phone when talking to customers in remote areas.  For these customers I can imagine the angst they must experience when downloading large files.  Especially large files like the FliteCharts database which at the current cycle is almost 700 MB.  Well Garmin feels your pain and recently released regionalized FliteCharts.  The full US is still available for those of us with good download speeds but for those customers who don’t want to let the computer run all night the regional updates are about half the size of the full US.  These regions significantly reduce download times and get you flying that much sooner. 

The FliteCharts and other databases are available to purchase and download through fly.Garmin.com.

GPSMAP 696 Eastern US FliteCharts Database

The following areas are covered:
Alabama, Conneticut, Deleware, Florida, Georgia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virgina, West Virgina, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands

GPSMAP 696 Western US FliteCharts Database

The following areas are covered:
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming, and some Pacific Territories

GPSMAP 696 Central US FliteCharts Database

The following areas are covered:
Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin

 
 

Pilots who own an iPhone or iPod Touch are rejoicing now that Pilot My-Cast by Garmin is available in the App Store. Pilot My-Cast for the iPhone and iPod Touch has been available for a few months, but today we launched a new video that shows it in action — from customized flight plans and weather reports to flight filing. Pilot My-Cast for the iPhone and iPod Touch is available in the App Store for a monthly fee of $9.99, or an annual subscription of $99.99. And if you don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch, Pilot My-Cast is also available for countless other phones including BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices.

Today we announced two new helicopter products — the G500H and HTAWS. Garmin has been in the helicopter market for awhile with products like the GNS 430W/530W, but the G500H and HTAWS are our first helicopter-specific announcements. The G500H has been optimized for rotorcraft and offers features like helicopter synthetic vision technology (HSVT™), helicopter-specific databases with over 7,000 heliports and nearly 30,000 additional low-altitude obstacles, XM WX Satellite Weather with NEXRAD, and the ability to display video from a forward looking infrared (FLIR) camera or other video sources. Our Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System (HTAWS) is for the GNS 430W/530W series navigators and is available as an option on newly purchased systems or as a field upgrade for current owners. When added to the GNS 430W/530W navigators, operators will receive graphical and audible alerts of potential terrain and obstacle conflicts along the flight path. Get more info here or watch the video.

 

Last week I talked about two of the databases available for
the G1000 through Jeppesen, and this week I’ll explain some of the other
available databases. The aviation databases available through Garmin are
available through www.fly.garmin.com.  Below I have listed the databases, and a
little information about each.  These
databases are loaded to the bottom SD card slot for the PFD and MFD, which
should be the Garmin supplemental database card.  These cards should have a Garmin part number
ending in a -40, -41, -42, or -43.  If
you have -40 cards then you will only be able to download the Terrain
database.  The -41 cards use the Terrain
and Obstacle.  The -42 can use the Terrain,
Obstacle, Flitecharts, and SafeTaxi.  The
-43 cards contain all the databases in the -42 card plus the enhanced Terrain
(9 arc second) required for SVT, and the AOPA airport directory.  (AOPA will only work with GDU software 10.0
or higher.  For more information on the
AOPA or GDU 10.0 click here.) 

FliteChart – This database is Garmin’s approach charts which
include the airport diagrams, approach plates, SIDs, and STARs.

AOPA – This database includes an airport directory providing
information such as FBO’s on field, phone phones, restaurants, transportation,
and more.

Obstacles – This database contains all man made structures
above 200 ft above ground level, and it includes buildings, towers, and
bridges.

SafeTaxi – This database includes the airport diagram for
over 800 airports in the US
and displays them on the moving map on the MFD. 
It also includes shaded HotSpot areas on the airports that require extra
attention or caution.

Terrain – This database is a little obvious.  It’s the ground, so all of those mountains,
hills, and valleys.

I hope this information has helped to clear up any
confusion.  For additional information
refer to the Pilot’s Guide for your G1000 in the Appendix section under the
title SD Card Usage.