Select the Navigation Source

I wanted to go back to PTW to see if I really understood all aspects of the system. I had learned a lot from my last adventure over there and I hoped it was all coming together.

I was fortunate to pick a day between storms, fronts and other weather makers. The Northeast is still being hammered by ugly weather, so picking a time in the afternoon has a really a low percentage of getting airborne. I got out to the airplane as soon as possible, got the preflight done and buckled in. The CFII came out in a few minutes and told me a new Cirrus had just arrived. It is always good news to hear about additions to the fleet, and I look forward to taking advantage of flying a brand new airplane.

The ground procedures flowed normally, and the takeoff went well. As I started puching the buttons on the GNS430 the CFII stopped me. I had chosen direct-to GOOGL..why? Why not just activate the approach? His question was aimed at establishing standard procedures, not the functioning of the box. It was then that another puzzle piece fit into place. I had been studying the manlas for the GNS430 looking to find out why I fumbled seeting up navigation. Sometimes its the simple stuff and the CFII finally got it into my skull, you must have the correct source slected on the PFD BEFORE hitting the the autopilot NAV button.
My eagerness to engage George made me skip that key check. Hopefully a lesson well learned (again). Additional points were made in holding and setup, breifing and execution of the approach. This resulted in a full stop and taxi back for takeoff.

The weather check showed some interesting activity over at Wings. A little purple surrounded by red and yellow on the map didn't look inviting. The buildups were beautiful, but not anything I wanted to get close too. Listening to ATC confirmed that they were overloaded with traffic around the Philadelphia area trying to get around this nasty stuff. We decided to find a clear spot and wait for a few minutes. So I decided to 'hand fly' this pretty lady and relax a bit. Eventually the controller was able to fit us in for a GPS 24 back at LOM. By that time the trouble had moved south and it allowed a nice clean approach and landing.


SR20
Time = 1.9