Part 1 - Taxiing

The SN3308 ColorMap HSI has generated a lot of excitement. And a lot of questions. Was it designed for a fixed-gear single or a cabin-class twin? Is it compatible with my airplane? Why did it win Aviation Consumer's Gear Of The Year award? Whatever your question, whether you're already an owner and you're looking for tips to become a power user or if you're just wondering what all the fuss is about, we've decided to run a multi-part series on how to use it, and let you decide if the SN3308 is right for you.

We begin by talking about the first phase of flight, the taxi. It may seem like overkill to use an EFIS to taxi and we're certainly not recommending that you taxi while staring at the panel. But airport environments can be complicated, runway incursions are on the rise, and a pre-taxi or post-landing glance at an unfamiliar airport environment can really help by answering the basic question: Where am I?...

Here's a display of Long Beach, California, which has many complex intersecting runways. Notice how easy it is to visualize the taxi direction to any runway. And remember, unlike multi-function displays, the entire SN3308 airport diagram turns in real time along with the compass card, presenting the correct view no matter which direction you turn.

For these situations we want to display the airport on a one mile scale and for taxi we don't want to display our flight plan course line or our two bearing pointers. So here's how we set it up.

The MAP key is used to step through screen views until airports are shown and the GPS courseline and waypoint data are off, since we're not ready to show our flight plan just yet - we just want to see the airport diagram. The VUE button is set to show the 360 degree compass rose or ARC view. The DOWN ARROW zooms in to the 1 mile range.

Even when the runway and taxiway layout isn't that complex, taxiing to a distant FBO can complicate the journey. Add a little rain or blowing snow and it can start to get interesting. Shown at left is the 3308 set to 1 mile scale at Du Page, Illinois. Once again we've set MAP to display the airport without our course line. This time the VUE button is set to display the 90-degree arc mode for more screen area and resolution ahead.

And what about the SYNC, SHFT and A-B? We don't need these advanced feature buttons yet until we're ready for takeoff. So now that you've had a glimpse of the SN3308 capabilities on the ground, in part-II we'll get airborne and set up for an IFR departure, and preset the display using the A-B function for an emergency ILS back to the field.

Next: Part 2: Departure Scenarios.