Last night I practiced with the Garmin simulator and successfully entered and flew a flight plan based on VORs. Today in the real world, the flight plan entered ok (I think) showed on the Garmin and Arnav with lines that changed color appropriately, but unlike the AP in the simulator, the STEC did not make the turns to follow the magenta line. Any idea what I missed doing?
Thanks,
Gaynor
In reply to:
Last night I practiced with the Garmin simulator and successfully entered and flew a flight plan based on VORs. Today in the real world, the flight plan entered ok (I think) showed on the Garmin and Arnav with lines that changed color appropriately, but unlike the AP in the simulator, the STEC did not make the turns to follow the magenta line. Any idea what I missed doing?
Thanks,
Gaynor
Gaynor, did you possibly overlook switching the autopilot from HDG (heading) mode to NAV mode? If you switched to NAV mode, did you activate GPSS?
I have an Stec 30 with GPSS with is suppose to turn with a course change, but mine never works. It fails to anticipate, and make a turn. I also know of an SR20 with the same a/p behaving like mine.
I have the same setup in my SR22 430 and stec30.
If I am correct the setup does not come with the GPSS which is gps steering.
Although it is an option and if your plane has it, it is a little button above the altimeter.
I would ask anybody out there if they have this setup because I have the same question.
If the gpss is activated shouldnt the STEC30 autopilot anticipate and make the turns.
Otherwise what is the use of purchasing this feature?
I had the AP in LO-TRK mode, and the Garmin CDI button on the VLOC setting.
GPSS? - not familiar with that and have seen no reference to it in my manuals.
Thanks,
Gaynor
With that serial number and an STEC30, this plane may not have GPSS.
Did you change the OBS setting to the new course at each waypoint?
In reply to:
With that serial number and an STEC30, this plane may not have GPSS.
Did you change the OBS setting to the new course at each waypoint?
No, I didn’t. On the Garmin simulator that was not required, so I figured I did not need to do it. Perhaps that is not true for mine.
Gaynor
Gaynor,
The STEC 30 (at least as installed in your plane and mine [#1116, so roughly the same age as yours]) does not come with GPSS, although you can add it aftermarket for a fairly reasonable price.
Without GPSS, the Stec 30 will not track major course changes in the GPS track - in other words, it might happen to track a 5 degree heading change okay (if the OBS is adjusted accordingly), but you can’t expect it to track a 30-45 degree or more change.
With the stock STEC 30, you’re supposed to hand-fly on course, and then once established, you can activate NAV tracking. (You can’t even have the A/P intercept a course like the System 55/55X.)
GPSS is a worthwhile investment and will make the A/P work more similarly to the Garmin simulator (but there are still important differences that you’ll want to read up on.)
I did not mention that I have the Century NSD-1000, in case that makes a difference.
In reply to:
Without GPSS, the Stec 30 will not track major course changes in the GPS track
Likewise a VOR track, then. How close to the correct heading do you have to be for it to acquire the track? I tried so many different things that I think I tried hand flying onto the track, then activating the AP, and that may have worked. I should just not expect it to make the turns.
Thanks,
Gaynor
could your problem be the same as mine that took me months and finally a call to my stec 30 installer to figure out??..GPSS is a “heading function” and won’t anticipate turns when on “tracking” function. I don’t understand the engineering rationale for it being a “heading function” on the a/p but it locks on and follows course changes rock solidly now. So even if you’re tracking VOR’s on the gns 430 flight plan with GPSS on, you have to have the a/p on “Hdg” mode, not “trk” for it to work
In reply to:
Likewise a VOR track, then. How close to the correct heading do you have to be for it to acquire the track?
According to the S-Tec System 30 POH:
Maneuver the aircraft to within +/-1 needle width and within 10 degree HDG of the selected radial.
The same verbiage is present for sections describing VOR, Localizer, and GPS tracking.
Thanks for the information and the link to the manual. I’ll be looking into the GPSS, though Mario’s post makes me wonder.
Gaynor
In reply to:
I’ll be looking into the GPSS, though Mario’s post makes me wonder.
It sounds like there may be a problem with Mario’s installation (Mario, have you had it looked at?) Many/most of us with GPSS find that it does a good job of tracking the course, although there are a fair number of people who feel that it anticipates turns just a little bit late so it overshoots a little bit.
In reply to:
If I am correct the setup does not come with the GPSS which is gps steering. Although it is an option and if your plane has it, it is a little button above the altimeter.
If GPSS is added aftermarket, the button can be placed anywhere. Some of us have installed it above the altimeter, but others have installed it near the flap switch (and probably other places as well.)
In reply to:
I would ask anybody out there if they have this setup because I have the same question.
If the gpss is activated shouldnt the STEC30 autopilot anticipate and make the turns.
Otherwise what is the use of purchasing this feature?
In order to activate GPSS, the external button you mentioned must be set to GPSS, and then the main STEC30 head (i.e. turn coordinator) must be set into “HDG” mode. Then the autopilot should anticipate and make the turns which are in the flight plan of the #1 430. Does this not happen in your setup?
Thank you steve!
Yes I always have it in track mode I will try it in hdg mode this makes perfect sense and saved me a trip to the sc.
Thanks again!!!