Sling Pilots Forum

Having a G3X and GNX375 makes a very nice basic IFR platform, but you loose the option of an ILS approach if ever needed.

Or, you get one of these for your “flight bag” and then you can still do an ILS approach.

Yaesu FTA-750L NAV-COM Aviation Transceiver with GPS

Just sharing, though this was a good solution. Thoughts?

Has anyone used one yet?

We have a GNX375 in the Cardinal of the Flight club I'm in coupled to two Garmin G5's.

It's just a little bit smaller than the 650, so entering the flight plan is a bit more cumbersome as you can't use the qwerty keyboard, but otherwise it works. I flew an RNAV approach with it the other day.

But for my plane I'll go for the 650 as I like the ILS capabilities as backup.

Here is a image of the ILS on the handheld screen for backup.

Here is an example of testing the unit on an ILS approach. Simply place it in a phone mount when needed...who doesn't have a phone mount in their plane anyway. Fly your ILS approach.

Don't you want a hand held backup radio in the plan anyway....why not have ILS nav built into it isntead of an extra $7,000+ for a 650?

I'll probably go with a Garmin 375 or Garmin 750. Seems crazy, but use the Garmin 750 for your Navigator and 2nd screen. You can get them for $15k if you look around and then this only a couple thousand more for the large 750 screen which can be your MFD also. Just food for thought.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the thinking here. I'm all for having backups in place for the rare emergency, but IMHO if you're in a situation where you're in IMC and needing to shoot an ILS and now having to depend upon a hand-held unit that seems like it's asking a lot. So now not only do you need to hold the hand-held unit and the stick and manage the radios, but you're likely going to be in a challenging environment to manage everything. I can only see trying to pick up/set down, re-orient myself to the hand-held unit and then trying to fly a glide slope...?

At that point in time I'm thinking, is your life worth saving a few thousand bucks or are you going to wish you had bought the necessary hardwired equipment?

I'll be going with the 650 as well and not skimping on avionics that I'll used for flying approaches...

As an airline pilot who's used to a lot of redundancy, it was hard for me to let go of feeling that I "need" VHF Nav. But, after reading and thinking a lot about it, I'm going with the GNX375. I won't rehash all the reasoning here, but for a good read on the subject, check out the article titled "To VHF Nav or Not" in the December 2019 issue of Kitplanes magazine.

I do plan to buy a handheld Nav/Com like the OP posted, but mostly to have a com backup. (If you did want to shoot an ILS with it, you'd better have some kind of mount for it, because you don't have enough hands to hold it and fly! ) (Hopefully the autopilot is still working.)

However, it would have to be a really bad day to "need" an ILS approach with no alternative. Would take the failure of multiple onboard GPS receivers (or the entire GPS system), solid, widespread, low IMC with no ability to obtain vectors to reach VMC, and no ability to get an ASR or PAR approach from ATC. Honestly, I'd be a lot more worried about having only one engine and it failing vs the other Black Swan event.

Agreed.

Most of my approaches are ever increasing GPS approaches. More than adequate for most airport operations. I can see a not to distant future of only CAT II/III ground based systems being around for airports that really need it (SEA,ATL, DEN etc.)

After all, if a GPS is more than adequate why spend the money maintaining ILS systems?

Just the ravings of a madman..

I was just looking at what avionics I might want, and although I have no immediate plans to fly IFR I'm intrigued by the GNX375. Since it replaces the ADS-B in/out transponder and dedicated ADS-B GPS source, the extra cost of a GNX375 ($7400) + GAD29 ($500) over a GTX45R ($4295) + GPS20A ($895) is $2700. So you basically get IFR capability for less than three grand. Seems like a bargain.