FAA Issues SAIB on Garmin Nav Radio Auto-tune Feature

On August 7, 2009, FAA issued a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) to owners and operators of aircraft equipped with Garmin G1000, Perspective, and Prodigy Integrated Flight Decks installed with a Garmin GFC 700 autopilot. The SAIB addresses the autopilot’s navigational radio auto-tune feature while performing a VOR or ILS approach. Changes to navigation frequencies that occur between navigation database cycle distributions may cause a mismatch of frequencies between what is tuned automatically on the LOC/ILS and what is shown on the approach chart or applicable NOTAM. If there’s a mismatch of frequencies, FAA recommends the pilot manually tune to the correct LOC/ILS frequency and assure the correct inbound course is selected, then manually fly the approach or choose a different terminal procedure. Garmin says it plans to resolve the issue in a new software release. For more details, you can access SAIB CE-09-47 on

http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/safety/alerts/SAIB/ .