How to fly with the Garmin GFC 500 Autopilot - Sporty's Flight Training Tips

autopilots for light airplanes are typically classified as single axis or dual axis a single axis system controls role only to fly a heading or a gps course a dual axis system controls both role and pitch adding the ability to climb or descend and hold a specified altitude larger airplanes typically have a three axis autopilot which adds a rudder control system known as a yaw damper this prevents excessive yawing in larger airplanes when flying in rough air and provides a more comfortable ride for the occupants for the scenarios that follow we are going to use the garmin gfc 500 autopilot to demonstrate normal ifr operations the gfc 500 is an aftermarket system which connects to a garmin flight display for control information like the g5 electronic flight instrument the interface on the gfc 500 autopilot features a series of buttons and knobs and displays mode status and enunciations at the top of the g5 flight display in the autopilot status in most installations the red autopilot disconnect button on the control yoke serves two purposes first you can press it one time to disengage the autopilot it can also be pressed and held down to temporarily interrupt the electric trim should the electric motor start operating on its own and trimming the airplane to an uncommanded flight attitude when the button is released the faulty trim system would continue to operate again this is designed to give you time to follow the checklist and remove power from the electric system typically by pulling the autopilot circuit breaker the autopilot status box at the top of the g5 flight instrument includes three separate sections lateral mode autopilot status and vertical mode when the flight director and autopilot are disengaged this status box will be blank when you engage the autopilot the letters ap will appear in green in the status section indicating the autopilot is flying the airplane garmin uses green and white coloring for the various mode enunciations to show active versus armed status the active lateral and vertical mode will always be shown in green in the innermost position if you were to program the autopilot to capture a gps or approach course while on a specific heading those armed modes will always show in the outermost position in white the first thing to understand with any autopilot is what will happen when it is engaged after pressing the ap button on the controller the gfc 500 defaults to roll and pitch modes you will see the letters ap and green at the top of the g5 indicating the autopilot is engaged along with rol and pit enunciations to indicate that these modes are active roll mode will maintain the current bank angle when flying from 6 to 30 degrees if you were in a bank of less than 6 degrees it will roll to wings level activation at bank angles greater than 30 degrees will be returned to this upper limit pitch mode will maintain the current pitch angle provided that your current attitude is within a range of 15 degrees nose down to 20 degrees nose up activation of the system outside of these limits will return the pitch to the respective limit for additional control during the climber descent you can select a specific rate of climb or descent for the autopilot to fly using the vertical speed function the vertical speed mode which is activated with the vs button will hold the current vertical speed when the mode is selected the current rate will appear in the vertical speed reference box below the altimeter and in the autopilot status box you can adjust the rate of climber descent in 100 foot increments by using the pitch wheel on the autopilot controller if desired you can also have the autopilot pitch for a particular speed during the climb using the air speed hold function for example you hold v y for the best rate of climb to activate this press the ias button short for indicated airspeed and use the pitch wheel to select the desired air speed on the g5 flight instrument you will see the selected air speed in the reference box above the air speed tape and in the autopilot status box while flying in route you can use the altitude hold function to maintain a specific altitude with the autopilot engaged press the alt button and the autopilot will make pitch changes as necessary to maintain the current altitude the vertical mode enunciation will show alt and the captured altitude value in green it's a good practice to also set the current altitude on the g5 in the window above the altimeter for reference the gfc 500 can also level off at a pre-selected altitude after a climb or descent first make sure the desired altitude is entered in the g5 at the top right of the altimeter tape you'll see the enunciation alt-s in white at the top of the g5 indicating altitude hold mode is armed as you near the selected altitude during the climb the autopilot will command a level off and hold that altitude the vertical mode enunciation will change to alt in green and show the selected altitude value in the status box confirming altitude hold is now active another function you'll use often when flying ifr is heading mode to use this first set the heading bug using either the knob on the g5 directional instrument or the heading knob on the gfc 500 to the desired heading and press the hdg button the status bar will show the enunciation of hdg in green indicating that mode is active the autopilot will then command a bank and turn as necessary as you change the heading bug to a new heading you

Channel: Sporty's Pilot Shop

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Id: _6AFqG5RunA

Length: 6min 53sec (413 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 28 2021