AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019 - 32

PILOT BRIEFING
PILOT PRODUCTS |

Weather, traffic at your fingertips
Garmin GDL 51, 52 connect easily to ForeFlight
B Y A LY S S A J. C O B B

GARMIN, SIRIUSXM AVIATION, and ForeFlight have
been working together to create an easy way for
pilots to access weather and traffic information on
their mobile devices in flight. The portable options
they have developed worked seamlessly for me on
two flights. I use ForeFlight on an iPad Mini 4,
and when I launched the newest version of the
electronic flight bag, the SiriusXM Aviation subscription appeared, and I connected to the GDL 51
and 52 (on separate flights) via Bluetooth.
Garmin's portable GDL 51 and 52, launched in
July 2017, are small-4.9 inches wide by 1.3 inches
tall by 3.4 inches deep-and weigh less than a
pound. They can stow nicely in a flight bag and
don't take up much room when sitting on top of
the instrument panel. The GDL 51 is a SiriusXM
receiver, so a subscription is required to pull weather information
into ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot, or other Garmin portable devices. I
tested the GDL 51 on a flight from Florida to Maryland in my Cessna
170B. The skies were perfectly clear, so I didn't use the Nexrad
imagery, but the time-stamped METAR information proved useful. I like to check the winds at my planned destination to see if they
remain as forecast or if they have changed in direction or velocity
so that I can find an alternate with more favorable winds. The GDL
51 does not provide traffic data.
I used the GDL 52 during a flight in the Cessna 170 from
Maryland to Tennessee. The GDL 52 pulled in free Automatic
Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) weather and traffic as well as subscription-based SiriusXM Aviation weather, and
ForeFlight labeled the source of the information displayed. For
example, METAR data for airports near the airplane were provided by ADS-B In, while data for airports farther away on my route
were provided by SiriusXM Aviation. (ADS-B weather data relies
on ground-based stations that have limitations, including line of
sight, based on altitude and the aircraft's location, but SiriusXM
Aviation's data is delivered by satellite and can show data from locations farther away.) The weather information from both sources
was time-stamped.
I had planned a southerly route to Tennessee to have more
favorable surface winds, which I kept an eye on with the GDL 52.
The southerly route also kept the flight in clear skies. Marginal
VFR ceilings over the mountains just north of the route matched
what was shown on ForeFlight's flight category overlay. Up-to-date
winds aloft information made altitude planning en route easy as I
crossed mountains and then descended over lower terrain.

32 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

Traffic information is helpful, as long as ForeFlight's "hide distant traffic" function is enabled so that your screen isn't covered by
black targets (airliners) that are tens of thousands of feet above you.
The flight to Tennessee took six hours, and the GDL 52 lasted
about five hours, matching the battery operating time listed on
Garmin's website. A warning pops up on the ForeFlight screen when
the unit's battery is down to 20 percent. It wasn't a problem to continue without the GDL 52 because I was in VFR conditions, with no
weather between me and my destination near Nashville. However,
had I been deviating around weather, I would have needed to alternate charging the GDL 52 and my iPad Mini 4 in my Cessna 170's
one power port.
Both units provided a level of luxury in the Cessna 170 that I'm
not used to. Being able to check weather changes while en route,
plan alternatives, and spot traffic (with the GDL 52) provides more
time to make decisions and alter plans as needed. After flying with
the units, particularly on long routes, it's hard to go back to a cockpit without that information.
The GDL 51 costs $699, and the GDL 52 costs $1,199. (SiriusXM
Entertainment subscriptions are sold separately but work with both
units.) In addition, AOPA members can enjoy a two-month trial of
SiriusXM Aviation Weather and Entertainment through December
31, 2019. Members who buy a new SiriusXM Aviation subscription
or eligible receiver can receive a free one-year AOPA membership;
that offer has been extended through December 31, 2019, as well.
PRICE: GDL 51 $699; GDL 52 $1,199
CONTACT: www.garmin.com
EMAIL alyssa.cobb@aopa.org

http://www.garmin.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2019

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