Equipment suffix

Aviation General Aviation
1

As I was following cfijames from the Tracking fellow members threadI noticed something curious in the Equipment Suffix (P180/L) under Aircraft Type. Help me out here cfijames…From my familiarization and training with the Collins FMS-3000/6000 (with the FMS-3000 being installed in the P180) these systems are RNP (Required Naviagational Performance) certified by Tso, and use DME/DME as their primary positioning source using GPS secondary, unless GPS is selected primary via the default pages or, DME/DME becomes unreliable/unavailable, or an approach is coded in the database as GPS navigation only, whereby then it navigates with GPS to meet the RNP of the procedure.

So… my question of curiousity is how come your trips have been filed as an L rather than a K or a Q? In regards to a Q designating RNP, is it a matter of the authorization letters not being issued by Piaggio…or something dictated by Avantair’s OpSpecs…? Or is there something else my feeble mind is missing?

For those who may read this and be unfamiliar, below is an explaination of the codes:

FAA Flight Plan Aircraft Suffixes
Effective September 1, 2005

Suffix Equipment Capability

  NO DME

/X No transponder
/T Transponder with no Mode C
/U Transponder with Mode C

    DME

/D No transponder
/B Transponder with no Mode C
/A Transponder with Mode C

TACAN ONLY
/M No transponder
/N Transponder with no Mode C
/P Transponder with Mode C

AREA NAVIGATION (RNAV)
/Y LORAN, VOR/DME, or INS with no transponder
/C LORAN, VOR/DME, or INS, transponder with no Mode C
/I LORAN, VOR/DME, or INS, transponder with Mode C

ADVANCED RNAV WITH TRANSPONDER AND MODE C (If an aircraft is unable to operate with a transponder and/or Mode C, it will revert to the appropriate code listed above under Area Navigation.)
/E Flight Management System (FMS) with DME/DME and IRU position updating
/F Flight Management System (FMS) with DME/DME position updating
/G Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), including GPS or WAAS, with enroute and terminal capability.
/R Required Navigational Performance. The aircraft meets the RNP type prescribed for the route segment (s), route(s) and/or area concerned.

Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM). Prior to conducting RVSM operations within the U.S., the operator must obtain authorization from the FAA or from the responsible authority, as appropriate.
/J /E with RVSM
/K /F with RVSM
/L /G with RVSM
/Q /R with RVSM
/W RVSM

2

To quote the GEICO caveman, “uhhh…what?”
:wink:

If the nav radios are not set for auto tuning, we get a “GPS only” message. We can still fly along just fine with that, but I usually set it to auto (auto is not the default :confused: ) to get rid of the message. As far as what we file, I dunno, I never really gave it much thought I guess. I usually just use /L as the default, but I suppose you might be right with the /Q or /K.
I’ll ask captain what he thinks.

3

I get your point about “auto tune”. We always fly in “auto tune” as well until it transitions in approach mode…ILS or VOR-A. I’d have to get the book out, or wait till I get my fingers on the box again to be exact on where to go in the sub-menus to manually select DME/DME, GPS.

I just try to understand and learn something from the thinking of others. When I fly the occasional contract job I sometimes question this issue because I have found that it makes a difference with ATC and the assignment of new RNAV procedures based on RNP capability. The Pro Line 21 is a very capable system why not use it to its fullest…

4

It’s probably one of the submenus under the IDX softkey. Either “GPS control” or “LRN control” I think.

5

I couldn’t help myself… Index pg. 1/2 VOR/DME CTL, Index pg. 2/2 GPS CTL, Defaults pg. 3/3 DME usage, VOR usage.

According to the User Guide for the FMS-6100 that I use the most, in the Principles of FMS Navigation chapter the following statement is made:
FMS-6100 navigation is based on using all of the available navigation
sensors on the aircraft to fly from waypoint to waypoint along a flight
plan route. Further, To determine the present position, the FMS uses all of the installed and enabled navigation sensors available. The FMS uses data from each sensor to determine position, as long as the data is valid or the sensor has not been specifically disabled.

This would seem to contradict my earlier statement regarding sensor prioritization that was interpreted in the classroom. :confused:

However, as we have been issued authorization letters for RNP capabilities by the OEM, and have them listed on our RVSM LOA, we always file “Q”.

I do see how in your ops either a “K” or “L” works.