Friday, March 18, 2022

Garmin 480 - Stuck in the Hold

I received an email from a YouTube viewer asking a question about the Garmin 480 and dealing with a hold. I am going to give this scenario a shot and try to work through the issue and show the fix, or correct steps it will take to come out of the hold. 

You've helped me before and I'm hoping you can do it again. So, here's the scenario...

The airport we were approaching is KAWO (Arlington) and intending to execute the RNAV GPS 34 approach. 
You'll notice on the plate that the Procedure is N/A for arrivals on PAE VOR/DME airway radials 298 CW 329.  I'm not actually sure this is pertinent to the question at all as we were approaching SAVOY from about the 330-340 direction.  We entered the hold at SAVOY and at some point the Garmin went into "MANUAL HOLD"  I'm not actually sure why it did this. After flying a hold at SAVOY, I proceeded on the approach to YAYKU.  The Garmin, however, stayed on the "MANUAL" hold at SAVOY.  I hit the SUSP button thinking suspending the Garmin and then un-suspending the Garmin would put me on the next leg.  But, that didn't happen.

Funny thing, though, the correct NAV information was sent to the CDI so I was able to fly the needles to the runway.  All the while, the Garmin showed a "MANUAL HOLD" at SAVOY.  Any help is greatly appreciated.
Let me preface this with I'm NOT a CFI, CFII, and I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn. I tried to tackle this scenario in the Garmin 480 Sim and had mixed results. Each time I entered the Procedure Turn (PT) at SAVOY the sim did one loop and then on to the next leg. I could not recreate the pilots issue with the Garmin 480. 

Eventually I tried entering the PT at SAVOY and hit SUSP which kept me in the PT/HOLD. Now I could have went into the flight plan and selected the next leg SAVOY - YAYKU and went on my way or hit SUSP and continue with the next leg. The Pilot that sent the question hand flew the remainder of the approach from SAVOY which was an excellent call. Obviously he was on his game and situational awareness was not an issue. Good job!

Pilots that don't stay ahead of their plane would have had an issue trying to recover. Keep those hand flying skills sharp and train as often as you can for these what if scenarios. 

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