A lot of new avionics buyers stress over the steep learning curve, but not all do their part with structured training. There is good knowledge to be had if you’re willing to pay for it. A few years ago I went out to Garmin’s Olathe, Kansas, training center and completed one of its multiday retrofit avionics pilot training courses. And shortly before that, I took the G1000 pilot and also the maintenance course. All were favorable experiences, and I left exhausted and more savvy than when I arrived. So when COVID-19 put the brakes on any in-person learning, I was anxious to see how Garmin’s latest virtual pilot training compared. As expected, it was like drinking from a fire hose, and covered a lot in a short amount of time, just like the in-person training did.
During the pandemic, Garmin adapted to the virtual world and created a variety of training opportunities, both professional instructor-led and eLearning courses. The latter are ones that pilots can take on their own, while the live instructor-led interactive courses are taught over the GoToMeeting platform. The good part about virtual training is you don’t spend money on travel, or have multiple days away from work, although don’t plan on doing anything but the training on the day you’re scheduled. It occupies the entire day, and you will interact with the instructors. That means no sleeping (I’m dreaming about several of my favorite beverages in the photo during one 10-minute break), and you better have a solid internet connection. It’s easy to fall out of the discussion if you miss even a few minutes. You follow along, with fingers pushing the buttons on either Garmin’s GTN Xi trainer (the focus of my course) for Apple, or the PC trainer, which has more features and is what the instructors are essentially leading with. I don’t have a PC, so I used the trainer app on my iPad. One prerequisite for my class was completing (ahead of time) the GTN Essentials eLearning course, included in the price of the live course.