Instrument Approach

[dstclair]

I renewed my Garmin 795 annual database subscription and they now include IFR charts and approach plates for $50 less than last year's VFR only subscription ($199 vs $149/year). So, of course, yesterday I had to dust off a lot of rust and practice a couple instrument approaches.

Selecting an approach at the destination airport automatically puts the appropriate waypoints in your route and the geo-referenced approach charts give a great visual. I did the GPS 17 Approach for KGLE, initially approaching the FAF (Final Approach Fix) from the southeast.

The first one was done with the autopilot and worked OK although coming from 120 degrees off from the final course caused a couple over-corrections to finally get on the correct heading. My AP does not follow altitude from the GPS so I manually set the altitude bug which worked pretty well. I hit the MDA a little later than I would've liked but not bad. Lesson learned would be to manual fly to the FAF when approaching from more than ~45 degrees off the required heading.

The next one was 100% manual and went well. Very straight-forward to follow the geo-referenced chart. I was little faster than ideal when I crossed the threshold but still touched down close to the glideslope.