That might be true for VFR, but I found it necessary to attend a couple of seminars, take an online course, and fill in some gaps with Trescott's book in order to become sufficiently competent on the G1000 for IFR.
Supplement it with the videos. Do the video exercises on the actual G1000 unit.
I have one in X-Plane. Sort of. I'm pretty basic - no hardware additions so I use the X-Key add-in, moistly to make it easier to put in numbers. But one of the side benefits was being able to set up a button to turn on TOGA.Not sure about the trainer he's using, but the PFC G1000 ground trainers combine X-Plane with the Garmin trainer software and a physical replica of the G1000 panels to produce a faithful representation of G1000 operation. (Still no go-around button, though.)
This is a really "different strokes" type of thing. It's like computers in general. We know people who can hop around from Windows to Mac to iOS to Android to Linux without much thought. And others who, after years of using a single operating system, still haven't figured out how the menus work. I see the same thing with avionics all the time. Nothing to do with intelligence or ability. I once mentioned to a very smart, accomplished, high time pilot and instructor that all the Garmin GPS units, going back to at least the 196 handheld, followed the same basic flow, so moving to something new should not be difficult. He just couldn't see it.
I agree for the most part My first G1000 experience was as a safety pilot. The pilot flying asked me to load the approach, saying it was the same as with a 430. It was. OTOH, some of the differences between the Garmin and Avidyne flow suggest the need for at least some instruction when moving from one to the other.
Some of that depends on the G1000 vintage and whether the G1000 us WAAS or not. But the basic sequence is, the unit suspends automatic sequencing at the MAP. After all, you might land, you might fly the published missed, or you might fly an ATC directed missed. To fly the published missed, you need to unsuspend at the appropriate point. Single button, no need for the menu.
Since your BATD doesn't have a go-around button, the first thing you're going to have to do is turn off the autopilot. At the same time, you will of course need to push in the throttle and pitch to a climb attitude. I've noticed that the unit may not go into suspend mode right away, in which case you will have to wait for it to do so and then unsuspend it. And as Trescott points out, if you were flying something other than a GPS approach, you will need to switch the CDI back to GPS. What you do next will depend on whether the missed approach starts with a heading leg or a defined course. In any case, once you have the course and target altitude appropriately defined, you can re-engage the autopilot and put it in the proper mode.
Good description and subject to differences within systems. For example, while TOGA switches off the autopilot in some, it doesn't in others. Same for whether (and when) the CDI switches back and forth from GPS to VLOC and back.
If you're using X-Plane there is a toga command... you just then connect that command to a key or button.
I practice at least one go around per month on my club's PFC AATDs.
I think they would have been better off requiring recurrent training and testing on missed approach procedures.
Gary Reeves has made a career and national presence doing this. And avionics transitions is a lot of what I do with aircraft owners too, but on a much smaller scale.
I can't think of a situation in which it is necessary to use the "activate approach" command instead of D→ to an approach waypoint or activating a leg.
I don't remember why I felt it necessary to reactivate the approach after passing the IAF on the final approach course, but something must not have been going right. I found out later that "activate" means something totally different than it did on the early non-Garmin IFR GPS receivers.
The standard in the Garmins is, "Activate Approach" means "go direct to the transition you selected and begin sequencing for the approach there."
It was probably five years ago, and the only thing I remember is the thing telling me to do a 180 on final! Fortunately, I was only flying approaches in good VFR weather until I got a better understanding of the equipment.
It's all contextual. The downside of using a sim by yourself is the absence of ATC. In the real world, if ATC gives you an instruction to go direct to a fix on the loaded approach, you do direct to it and you're fine. If they give you a vector to intercept a leg, you activate that leg.
Yep.
ATC is not supposed to give you direct to the FAF. Direct to an IF or IAF is OK.