Chuck wrote:
I called my Garmin dealer and he didn't know anything about it. In
fact, he was putting in a 330 to read out on a 530.
I called Garmin and the man answering didn't know about it and would
"pass it up the line".
I called AOPA and they knew and said it was true. They are on it and
have no further info re how many or which ones. The will post info on
epilot.
I am writing AOPA, Garmin, and FAA. We have to stop this as it is one
of the best things for GA in a while. If you have seen and flown with
it, you will get it.

Chuck Mealey
Archer 2185B

Thanks for checking up on this Chuck. TIS is indeed a great advantage
for GA.

In fact, it saved our ass just the other day. On departure, we got TIS
reception at about 800 feet AGL and it imediately gave us a traffic
alert for an aircraft at 12 o'clock, well less than a mile. I initially
thought it was a phantom (TIS has one flaw...it will sometimes show
one's own aircraft as a target), but I ruled that out because the
phantoms always show "+00" (same altitude), yet this target was shown as
200 feet below altitude, and climbing. We quickly turned 45 degrees and
my copilot saw the aircraft pass just under us on his side. I never saw it.

TIS-B / ADS-B will be MUCH better, but we have to protect TIS until
those systems are fully operational with equivalent coverage. Heck, if
I can get another 5 years of service on our new 330 transponder before
we're forced to buy a UAT, I'll consider the extra $2500 spent on the
330 worth it.

-Doug

--
--------------------
Doug Vetter, CFIMEIA

http://www.dvcfi.com
--------------------