On Oct 16, 3:01*pm, Mxsmanic wrote:

I am indeed using a simulator, but it works exactly like the real unit

No it doesn't. Close, but a real Garmin 430 is easier to set up. I'm
not sure about FSX. For reference, I'm using FS2004 and I teach on a
Frasca Tru-Flite with a Garmin 430, a Garmin 430 training system and a
C-172 with a G430. The flightsim Garmin is the most cumbersome to
program and some of the features don't work quite as well. If
everybody plays nice, I might post the lesson plan I'm working on for
teaching/learning the Garmin on the PC versus in the cockpit.

For the moment, I'm creating user waypoints as I enter a route, then deleting them when I no longer need that route, but it's tedious.

I think it's less tedious on the actual device. Legally, to use a GPS
overlay for an existing VOR or NDB approach, the waypoints must be in
the database and not manually entered.

Some fascinating trivia that the FAA and the AOPA have shared is that
since so many people are flying GPS on autopilot now, instead of being
spread out across the airways, airplanes are automatically flying
themselves right down the center of the airway which means it's only a
matter of time before somebody flying a route by GPS at 120kts gets
overtaken and chewed up by somebody flying the same at 220kts. Kinda
scary if you think about it.

In fact, I did a flight review for a pilot recently who had a GPS and
he spent so much head-down time in the cockpit with it that he'd lose
his situational awareness. Everytime he looked down, he'd lose 200
feet but he didn't look at his altimeter enough to realize how much
altitude he was losing. He might be banking 20 degrees, approaching
the yellow arc and losing 300 fpm or climbing up to 1000' AGL pattern
altitude after a cross country, but, dammit, he stayed RIGHT ON that
pink line.

A great Flight Sim exercise is to launch your cross country into IFR
by GPS and, at some point when you're enroute, turn the GPS off to
simulate a failure. If you lose situational awareness in actual IMC,
you'll be wanting diapers.

-C
CFI