Danny,
It stinks to have to spin the knobs. So what I do is load enough to get started down the road and fill in the rest as I get along. Also, I only put the points where turns are required and skip many of the in between points. I gamble that having my iPad on my leg to look at the route I can call one of the points up quickly if ATC pings me to go direct.
But you are correct that Garmin provides a method of pre loading flight plans, but at a cost. See below what I copied in:
From GNS430W pages 80 & 81.
Flight Plan Transfer Feature (optional with
software V 3.20 or later)
The Flight Plan Card feature is available for trans-
ferring flight plans to the unit via a Garmin proprietary
data card. The flight plans may be created on a PC
using flight planning software that is compatible with
Garmin equipment (Jeppesen FliteStar is an example).
In addition to the flight planning software, it is neces-
sary to purchase a flight plan transfer kit from Garmin.
The kit contains the required hardware (including a
blank data card and card programmer) and Garmin
software that must be installed on the PC. Up to 19
flight plans and 1,000 user waypoints, created using
the flight planning software, can be loaded on to a
data card via the PC software and then transferred to
the 500W Unit using the procedure described below.
The process can be repeated as many times as desired
using the same card with different flight plans and user
waypoints loaded. If additional data cards are desired,
they can be purchased from Garmin separately.
NOTE: Flight plans are not verified by Garmin,
it is the pilot’s responsibility to verify all flight
plans.
Using the Flight Plan Card to load flight plans into
the 400W Unit:
Turn the small right knob to select the
flight plan file to transfer and catalog
number to use. Turn the large right knob
to move between fields. Press ENT to con-
firm selections and initiate transfers.
NOTE: If a user waypoint with the same name
already exists in the 500W and is more than 10
meters from the imported user waypoint, the
imported user waypoint will be automatically
renamed by adding a digit (0-9) to the end of the
waypoint’s name. Also, a message will appear
to inform the user that a waypoint has been
renamed.
NOTE: Flight plan files that contain only user
waypoints (with no flight plan route) may be
transferred. In this case, only the user waypoints
will be transferred and no flight plans will be
modified. A message will appear to indicate this.
With the unit powered off, remove the Terrain
Card, located in the right slot.
Place the Flight Plan Card in the empty right
slot.
Apply power to the unit.
Once initialization has completed, the unit
will default to the third FPL page (this third
page only exists when the Flight Plan Card is
in use).
Once all flight plans have been loaded, power
off the unit.
Remove the Flight Plan Card from the right card
slot and place the Terrain Card back into the
empty card slot.
NOTE: The Flight Plan Card is only to be used on
the ground. It must be removed prior to flight.
Apply power to the unit.
To activate a newly transferred flight plan, refer
to Section Four “Activating Flight Plans.”
I find loading my flight plans into the GNS 430W to be tedious at best and taking WAY too much time. Is there a better way? I’ve read there’s a way to do my flight planning on my computer and then transfer it to the aviation database card with a USB connector of some sort (but not the same one used to update the database). When I talk to my local Garmin dealer, their response is along the lines of, “Huh, we haven’t heard of that.” So, they called Garmin Support and got me a non-existent part number for an “Aviation Data Card Programmer Kit” to the tune of $449. Does anybody have info on how this is done, or even IF it can be done? Danny LNC2-360 Mk-II AOPA 04856278 EAA 647062 NRA 156453324 Nothing is foolproof to the sufficiently talented fool.
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