G5 failure anyone? I just did

Indiana_Pilot

Indiana_Pilot

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Nov 2, 2013
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802
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Connersville, IN
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Flying "B"
I was flying in IMC at 5000 on a short trip and my G5 just went to a pretty mesh of colors.. (like what recycled paper looks like). I immediately held the power button down until it turned off.. then turned it back on.. of course it would not align perfect because it was bumpy.. began my decent below the cloud bases at 4000 and then called ATC... I have over 50 hours on the G5 install and no issues until today. I feel it was software related and not heat ect.. I did just update to the latest firmware a few weeks ago..





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Indiana_Pilot said:
I was flying in IMC at 5000 on a short trip and my G5 just went to a pretty mesh of colors.. (like what recycled paper looks like). I immediately held the power button down until it turned off.. then turned it back on.. of course it would not align perfect because it was bumpy.. began my decent below the cloud bases at 4000 and then called ATC... I have over 50 hours on the G5 install and no issues until today. I feel it was software related and not heat ect.. I did just update to the latest firmware a few week
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There is way to download logs, I would contact G service and see what they say.
 
Interesting. My partner had it it lose its alignment due to mod-severe turbulence once. Never re-aligned. He was VFR. Not been replicated since. Since Dec. we have only had one other issue where the HSI didn’t turn on with the AI that was Friday the 13 departing Stella Maris in the Bahamas.

We did the update at the beginning of the month. It was pretty bumpy on the way back from FL to CO, mostly light chop no alignment issues in 10 hours of flying in one day.

Certainly reportable.
 
Landing Fees said:
Interesting. My partner had it it lose its alignment due to mod-severe turbulence once. Never re-aligned. He was VFR. Not been replicated since. Since Dec. we have only had one other issue where the HSI didn’t turn on with the AI that was Friday the 13 departing Stella Maris in the Bahamas.

We did the update at the beginning of the month. It was pretty bumpy on the way back from FL to CO, mostly light chop no alignment issues in 10 hours of flying in one day.

Certainly reportable.
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I wasn’t able to get it to realign in the air.. it showed a bank of about 10 degrees to the left... never had an issue in turbulence before.. I will report back what Garmin says..


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Indiana_Pilot said:
I wasn’t able to get it to realign in the air.. it showed a bank of about 10 degrees to the left... never had an issue in turbulence before.. I will report back what Garmin says..


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Please do report back. Interested to hear what they say. I have a dual G5 set up in my Comanche and no back up other then the IPAD.
 
Flavius Renatus said:
Please do report back. Interested to hear what they say. I have a dual G5 set up in my Comanche and no back up other then the IPAD.
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All I have as a backup sort of is my C1 autopilot that shows bank... luckily I only needed to drop 1000 feet to get below the bases.. I will definitely report back


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Just off the phone with Garmin... They said this is the first one they have heard of doing that (lucky me) and they want me to go back through my dealer and exchange it (Spruce).

They told me it is weird that the bank was off as it does not re-allign enough to throw off the bank 10 degrees when powered on but only during the initial setup. So guess my next call is Spruce!
 
There's a guy over on the Beech board that's been having problem with his in turb, but it hasn't yet turned into Joseph's technicolor dreamcoat.
I was thinking about replacing my AI with this thing. I think I'll wait.
 
Chip Sylverne said:
There's a guy over on the Beech board that's been having problem with his in turb, but it hasn't yet turned into Joseph's technicolor dreamcoat.
I was thinking about replacing my AI with this thing. I think I'll wait.
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Guess I need another G5 for backup now :) use the G5 DG for a backup AI
 
All these people that ditched their reliable old steam instruments just to have something flashy and pretty ;-)
 
Grum.Man said:
All these people that ditched their reliable old steam instruments just to have something flashy and pretty ;-)
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"Reliable"; I've had three mechanical AIs fail in the last 18 months, and they're by no means the only ones in my flying career. One was brand new. Gyro instruments are junk.
 
Katamarino said:
"Reliable"; I've had three mechanical AIs fail in the last 18 months, and they're by no means the only ones in my flying career. One was brand new. Gyro instruments are junk.
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Interesting. I’ve never had one die.
 
Fwiw, I don't do MEMS-based attitude indicators as primary. RLG or mechanical for me. I've already posted about the nuances behind MEMS-based attitude information. Do a search.

Now, where I have to admit I'm really eyeballing for my upgrade airplane, is the DG/HSI replacement. For that mission set, the MEMS-based consumer grade is absolutely the way to go. Garmin really hit it right with the G5 HSI + Gad 29 or /B for legacy autopilot mating, especially those of us who fly with GNS boxes. That beats the hell out of mechanical HSI suites all day every day on both cost and lack of complexity/mx. Aspen needs to get their head out of their rear and unlock that HSI on their "VFR" E-whatever offering.
 
I was also thinking about upgrading to a G5. New prop put an end to that line of thought. $13K and they don't even include a tube of KY jelly!
 
hindsight2020 said:
Fwiw, I don't do MEMS-based attitude indicators as primary. RLG or mechanical for me. I've already posted about the nuances behind MEMS-based attitude information. Do a search.

Now, where I have to admit I'm really eyeballing for my upgrade airplane, is the DG/HSI replacement. For that mission set, the MEMS-based consumer grade is absolutely the way to go. Garmin really hit it right with the G5 HSI + Gad 29 or /B for legacy autopilot mating, especially those of us who fly with GNS boxes. That beats the hell out of mechanical HSI suites all day every day on both cost and lack of complexity/mx. Aspen needs to get their head out of their rear and unlock that HSI on their "VFR" E-whatever offering.
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The G5 HSI is awesome. I love mine
 
Although the occasional news of G5 problems is disheartening I think it's fair to consider the number of these being installed. They have been a hit since they hit the market. My (relatively slow) shop is installing them nearly every day. With numbers like that for a relatively new device it is to be expected to have some glitches along the way. I think the take home message should be to have a backup no matter what your primary AI looks like. Whether a 40 year old vacuum AI or a new G1000 or Aspen. Have a backup and know how to use it and when to recognize errors. Anything and everything on your panel can and will fail eventually. Be ready for it.

Personally I'm still very happy with my dual G5's. They were a great value and provide tons of utility to my PA32. I do have backup to both of them and am prepared for the unlikely (yet possible) event they will let me down.
 
arkvet said:
I think the take home message should be to have a backup no matter what your primary AI looks like. Whether a 40 year old vacuum AI or a new G1000 or Aspen.
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Yeah, this. When I had steam, I had at least one other independent AI to get me out of trouble (Dynon D2 and Foreflight).

Now that I have G5's (which are infinitely better than anything steam related), I still maintain independent AI's (again Dynon D2, Foreflight and then the *other* G5).

Steam will fail. Electronics will fail. Safety through redundancy.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Fwiw, I don't do MEMS-based attitude indicators as primary. RLG or mechanical for me. I've already posted about the nuances behind MEMS-based attitude information. Do a search.
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So, I searched your ID and "MEMS" and these are the most detailed posts I found:

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...ution-vs-dual-garmin-g5s.108603/#post-2453929
https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/icing-encounter-your-thoughts.107123/#post-2407278

Now, I think you're spot-on when it comes to Aspen, and it's well known that losing airspeed messes them up.

But, I don't think everyone is using the same technology. There exist MEMS gyroscopes as well as MEMS accelerometers. When I researched all this stuff in detail (about 8 years ago) and looked into S-RLGs and MEMS-based AHRS systems, it seemed that either could use additional inputs and Kalman filters to help solve for the attitude.

Do you work for one of the GA glass companies (Garmin, Avidyne, Aspen, etc)? How do you know what tech they're using (or not)?
 
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