Repeated NAV mode disconnects while VFR hopping
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Lately I seem to be having trouble keeping NAV mode engaged while VOR hopping. It will fail over to ROLL mode several times during a flight. I know there is VOR signal degradation logic under the hood, and this is likely the cause, but it seems a bit excessive, and I just wanted to double check.
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I would imagine that would largely depend on what VORs/type of VORs and your distance to them.
You can check if you're still receiving them in the SDUs on the outer edges of the panel, are you reverting to roll mode when you're still receiving the tuned VOR?
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My real world experience flying with VOR navigation and autopilots in the 70's with my father and myself in the 80's we would much more often utilize the OMNI needle for verification of being on course and heading mode since VOR's will sometimes want to hunt and you'll get a gentle shallow turn right to left that increases in amplitude as you near the station. I know my father would sometimes use NAV mode if we had departed a VOR that was known for being more stable and fly outbound. The advent of GPS for this type of navigation was not only easier for flying a flight plan, it was much more stable in regards to intercepting and staying very smoothly on course since the way the signal is handled is not reliant on that sometimes finicky radio signal.
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I would imagine that would largely depend on what VORs/type of VORs and your distance to them.
You can check if you're still receiving them in the SDUs on the outer edges of the panel, are you reverting to roll mode when you're still receiving the tuned VOR?
@jmarkows said in Repeated NAV mode disconnects while VFR hopping:
are you reverting to roll mode when you're still receiving the tuned VOR?
Yes. In the most recent case, the FMS / VOR Status page showed the VOR in all three slots plus the DME. It was listed with a 130 nm range, the dropouts occurred on inbound and outbound legs beyond 50 nm. Inside 50 nm it's generally been fine.
@DrZGard said in Repeated NAV mode disconnects while VFR hopping:
we would much more often utilize the OMNI needle for verification of being on course and heading mode
Thanks for the tip, I will give that a shot.
