The Birth of Button-ology

by Michael J. “Mick” Kaufman
© Copyright 2023. All rights reserved!
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine April/May 2023 Digital Issue

In thinking back to the days of rotating a knob to change a frequency, and rotating the azimuth on a VOR indicator, it really was simple. All VORs were the same regardless of the manufacturer, whether it was King, Narco, Collins or Bendix. I think “button-ology” came upon us gradually. First, there were flip-flop radios with buttons, then CDIs that had digital readouts with buttons to select to or from on. The Loran era is where big changes took place. I installed an Apollo 618 in my Bonanza and, wow, what a device that was. I flew home from the avionics shop thinking I had the world’s most sophisticated airplane.

My next flight with the box was in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) and I could hardly wait! All went well until ATC called “Bonanza 38 Yankee, we have an amendment to your routing… Advise when ready to copy.” After several failed attempts to amend my routing on the Apollo 618, I switched off that marvelous box, set in the proper VOR frequency, and rotated the Omni Bearing Selector (OBS) and it worked! After that embarrassing situation, I spent many hours on the ground learning the box which then served me well for many years to come… I should say instead, until the government decommissioned the Loran system in the U.S.

In a previous issue of Midwest Flyer Magazine, I wrote about working with a BPT client at a clinic. We could not find a menu to switch from GPS to the VOR Localizer (VLOC) to do an ILS approach, and the unit was not configured to auto switch, which is a user selectable item. We finally found the menu item several layers embedded in the Garmin GI-275 Indicator – not in the Garmin 750 Navigator as might be expected. When we talk about button-ology, it must be understood that we have hard keys and soft keys that can be used to change functions or menus.

On the legacy Garmin 430/530, we had a hard key to switch between GPS and VLOC. Having a hard key means there is one dedicated button that does one function. On the new Garmin 650/750 radios, the GPS/VLOC button is a soft key. So, why soft keys? As more menus and functions are added to a device, there is not enough room on the device for more buttons or space is limited on the touch screen display.

The first time I was faced with making the switch from GPS to VLOC on the Garmin 650, I had an issue finding the button as it was not present on its many menus. This is a function that is used a lot, and if Garmin decided to make it a soft key, it should be accessible from every menu page on the radio.

When we were introduced to Loran navigators several decades ago, we started seeing soft keys appearing and many functions were only available from certain menus.

My Bonanza has a Garmin 480 installed, and it has many soft keys and requires a totally different flow when programming, compared to the Garmin 430/530 structure. The 430/530 structure pretty much carried over to the newer 650/750 navigators. The programming structure of the Garmin 480 is based on the Flight Management System (FMS) used in the heavy iron aircraft and is difficult to use by people who normally use the Garmin 430/530 programming structure.

We see pilots continue to upgrade their avionics and to this day, I wonder what they are trying to achieve, aside from bragging rights for having the newest and coolest avionics. The Garmin 430/530 has almost everything that is useful, in my opinion, except for airways and custom-built holding patterns. (The Garmin 480 in my aircraft also has these functions.) We have found that round gauges are easier to use than tapes when hand-flying – a fact that cannot be disputed. So, what are those special items that entice pilots to upgrade their avionics?

First, there is support from the manufacturer. One hates to have a box that cannot be repaired, and we know from experience that this does happen. The Garmin 480 had the end-of-life support from Garmin several years ago. I purchased and still have a spare box in my closet should my unit fail. The Garmin 430/530 boxes are also end-of-life avionics.

There are some true avionics shops that will do field repairs on end-of-life avionics IF parts are available. I owned and operated a two-way radio shop for several years, working on public safety radios, so I have a lot of respect for those shops that can still repair our legacy avionics. Currently, there is a major chip shortage, however. With computer chips in short supply, our avionics shops cannot get radios. This is true with the automotive industry as well. Kenwood, a major manufacturer of public safety and amateur radio equipment, is almost out of business due to the chip shortage. According to a friend of mine who designed chips for a living, it takes about 6 weeks to set up for a chip run at the factory, so a lot of proprietary chips for custom projects are too expensive to duplicate.

Another reason we find pilots upgrading their avionics is for features they “think” they need. Many of these items were available as add-ons to their current avionics, such as “altitude preselect.” I do not have altitude pre-select as I have seen them fail way too often, mostly because of not being set up correctly by the pilot.

Many avionics packages cannot be updated, such as the Garmin G1000 package, which is a system designed to operate together and only minor firmware changes can be made. The advantage of this system is that all components have been time tested and play very well together. The airlines are the last ones to do updates to their fleet and, surprisingly, many of the airlines do not have GPS.

A pilot flying a Boeing 737 MAX can go from one 737 MAX to another, and all of the equipment will be the same. The Southwest Airlines fleet is identical as the airline only flys the Boeing 737, so they do not have the problem many airlines have with larger fleets of both Boeing and Airbus aircraft. Airlines with aircraft from the same manufacturer, like Southwest, greatly simplify training and training costs.

Aircraft owners who do those $100K avionics upgrades, also need to get trained on their new equipment. Where are those menus hidden? How do I do this and that? Did the avionics shop set it up properly? Did I keep that old legacy KFC-200 autopilot to save money, only to find out it does not interface well with my two Garmin G-275s?

Keep in mind from my previous columns in Midwest Flyer Magazine, do not fly in IMC until you totally understand your new equipment or when firmware has been updated.

In my experiences with modern avionics, I do not recall seeing any equipment that has more than four (4) layers of menus. This means when we hit a soft key, it brings up a new menu, and if we push that same button, it brings up another menu. A soft key can be an actual button or an icon on a touch screen.

By using touch screen technology, the avionics manufacturer can display more functions per page, thus requiring fewer layers to find the desired menu. I love touch screen technology for programming on the ground, but during flight in turbulence, it is almost impossible to make changes to a flight plan. Thanks to Avidyne for giving the pilot a choice between dedicated buttons in turbulence and touch screens on the ground.

Once while flying in turbulence, I descended 1000 feet below my assigned altitude while attempting to insert a new waypoint on a touch screen display. It was my determination and frustration to get that waypoint added that got the best of my thought process.

Buttonology is here to stay and as pilots, we need to learn our navigators and autopilots well. Look for a flight instructor who really knows his/her stuff, to help you train on your new equipment, as it is difficult and takes many hours to become proficient enough to fly in hard IMC. The problem is, there are so many boxes and autopilots with different setups on the market, that most flight instructors cannot know all of them, and most avionics shops provide limited instruction.

Please don’t jeopardize safety until you thoroughly know your equipment!

EDITOR’S NOTE: Michael J. “Mick” Kaufman is a Certified Instrument Flight Instructor (CFII) and the program manager of flight operations with the “Bonanza/Baron Pilot Training” organization. He conducts pilot clinics and specialized instruction throughout the U.S. in many makes and models of aircraft, which are equipped with a variety of avionics. Mick is based in Richland Center (93C) and Eagle River, Wisconsin (KEGV). He was named “FAA’s Safety Team Representative of the Year” for Wisconsin in 2008. Readers are encouraged to email questions to captmick@me.com, or call
817-988-0174.

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this column is the expressed opinion of the author only, and readers are advised to seek the advice of their personal flight instructor and others, and refer to the Federal Aviation Regulations, FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, and instructional materials before attempting any procedures discussed herein.

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