Raising the ante in the full-featured loran market
Loran has been the darling of general aviation for several years now, and with each new model introduced comes an escalation in the battle to produce a unit with every feature and function that might be imagined. With the latest offering, the Bendix/King KLN 88, in your panel, it is difficult to imagine what the next step might be. The folks at Bendix/King waited a long time to get into the loran business; when they did, it was with complete enthusiasm for performance and features.
The book you get with a KLN 88 is intimidating by its size, but it quickly wins you over with clear explanations. And it recognizes that the first thing you want to do with your new loran is go home-direct-so it gives you a quick and simple explanation of how to do that. The only real confusion (shared with other loran manuals) is the continuing reference to the "inner" and "outer" knobs. The big knob is the outer knob and the smaller knob is the inner knob. The first time you use one, think in terms of "outer" meaning big and "inner" meaning small.
Technically, the KLN 88 is a whiz. It does not latch onto or have to be set on one loran chain. Instead, it is capable of using eight stations in four chains, and anytime you want, you can look at what it is tracking and what it is using. It is this "multichain" operation that virtually eliminates the infamous "mid-continent gap," where most loran units do not work accurately.
Flight plans are fun to use with the KLN 88. It will store nine plans with 20 waypoints each, and an active plan can be input for the flight at hand or drawn from one of the nine stored plans. If you fly nine trips a lot, they can be stored. Or if you are a real gadabout, you can store the usual beginning outbound and inbound routes to home plate and then build on those for flights to various locations. It is possible to invert a flight plan for a return trip, which is quite handy except in areas where they use different inbound and outbound routes for IFR traffic.
The flight plan starts at the airport of departure. When you crank up and the loran comes on line, all the frequencies -- ATIS, clearance delivery, ground, the works -- are available for viewing on the KLN 88. Because a monthly update is available (free the first year, $600 a year thereafter), these should be current. It also gives runway lengths and bearings for all the runways, and if you wish, you can add remarks to the database on any of the airports.
Before going, you can make a few selections on what the KLN 88 will be doing. Warnings of regulated, restricted, or special-use airspace would likely be deselected for an IFR flight. These warnings are given without reference to height. For timing functions, it can be set to start timing when the power comes on or when the groundspeed reaches 30 knots. And you can choose time zones for all the displays of current and estimated times of arrival. The KLN 88 likes to know whether you'd prefer your graphic navigation display north up, desired track up, or actual track up. For nearest airport operation, you set in a minimum runway length and whether you want other than paved runways included.
Once off and flying, the KLN 88 gives steering commands in three different ways. It can play through an HSI or other nav indicator. Or it has an expanded display that goes all the way across the screen and gives the identifier of the selected waypoint, distance, groundspeed, estimated time enroute, and bearing to the waypoint. Finally, this can be compressed into half the screen to make the other half available for information on virtually everything you might imagine. Sunset at the destination a concern? The sunrise/sunset time for any point in the database (airports, VORs, NDBs, and intersections) is there for any date you desire between now and December 31, 2087-which is a good illustration of how much sheer information this box contains. Also, appropriate frequencies for your present position are always available.
The KLN 88 gives time information for everything. It gives the estimated time enroute to all waypoints in a flight plan. On another page, it tells you what time you will reach each waypoint. And it tells you what time you took off, what time it is now, the estimated time of arrival for the destination, the length of time that you have been flying, and the remaining estimated time enroute.
It can go on a calculating spree and figure true airspeed, density altitude, and wind aloft and keep a running tab on time and fuel required to get to an alternate. Vertical navigation advice (match the altimeter to the height displayed in the loran) is available.
The KLN 88 knows where ARTCC boundaries are located and will conjure up a waypoint for when you cross a boundary. Or if a controller asks you for an enroute waypoint, it will develop one based on bearing and distance from a vortac along the way.
Minimum safe altitude for your present position is given, along with the minimum safe altitude for the total selected flight plan. I thought I caught it in a mistake here, when flying to Florida. It said the minimum altitude would be something over 17,000 feet. Wrong! No. Right! One of those tethered radar balloons designed to look for smugglers goes up to over 15,000 feet just south of Cape Canaveral.
All these good things are available through six buttons and four knob controls. Basically, the big knobs on either side are used to select through the various modes-navigation, flight plan, mode (enroute or approach), trip planning, other, setup, status, and calculator on the left side; navigation, distance/time, active waypoint, reference, center, supplemental, intersections, NDBs, VORs, and airports on the right side. The little knobs are used to scroll through pages in the various modes. There's a cursor button for each side; it is used to activate the cursor so you can change data. When the message light commands you to press the message button, you get the message. The direct button puts you a few twists of a knob and a couple of more button pushes short of going direct to anywhere in the database; the clear button is used to delete stuff, and the enter button is for entering things that have been selected.
Another neat feature is the graphic navigation display. This is retrieved by going to the navigation mode on either side using the big knob and then selecting the nav-five page with the little knob. The range shown on the map is selected by activating the cursor and using the little knob on the appropriate side. If the nav-five page is selected on both sides, the graphics presentation covers about three fourths of the screen, and waypoints are shown with the appropriate identifiers. (In the smaller displays, they are shown as waypoint numbers). Also shown is the next waypoint, the distance and time to it, and the groundspeed. Because neither the desired nor actual track is the same as heading (unless there is no wind drift), the display has to be used carefully. It is a small map, and the quality of the lines on it lacks a straightness at times. But it is fun to use.
You can put in and name specific waypoints. For example, I entered both ends of the runway at home base as user-defined waypoints and also entered a designated loran chain and two secondaries, which you have to do to make it work in the approach mode where the left/right sensitivity is greater.
The KLN 88 is approved for IFR when all the prescribed checks are done; this is valid for enroute now, and it will be approved for approaches when those come along. Also, the FAA will probably soon allow the substitution of an IFR-approved loran for DME equipment.
There is more-so much really, that it takes several flights to discover which features you like best. The performance is excellent, too. I flew it directly over the low-frequency transmitting towers at Annapolis, Maryland (used for chatting with submerged subs); the Stormscope went bonkers as it always does, but the loran never whimpered, which many do. The only time the KLN 88 has not worked was in the heavy rain of a cold front ' when the precipitation static caused the nav flag to illuminate for a couple of minutes.
A trip to Florida with the KLN 88 was interesting because another pilot was along who, by the time you read this, will have a new Mooney with-guess what?-a KLN 88 on board. The loran was his to use on the way to Florida, mine on the way back. He seemed to favor the graphics displays. Another page he coveted was the one where you can keep a running tab on how much time and fuel it would take to get to an alternate. And he would press the message and then the enter button to get the nearest airports and to examine their properties. The only grunt I heard from the right seat was when he found that it does not constantly update the nearest airport when you leave it in that mode. It stays on the same airport but tells you that it has dropped to second closest and so on.
On the way back from Florida, I rode on the right and played with the loran. Because it was a maximum-range trip, the time features were put to good use, as was the page where it calculates the fuel to fly the remaining portion of the flight plan. There was a strong crosswind, so the page where it shows actual track was called up frequently to get advice on fine-tuning the heading. But most of the time, I liked it in the expanded nav mode, where the left/right steering is larger. It is not connected to the HSI in my airplane yet, so when using it for navigation, this mode is easier to fly.
The KLN 88 is a lot more than a loran. It is really a flight management system, much Re those popular in turbine aircraft. In fact, a buddy of mine in the avionics business reports that he is putting KLN 88s in a lot of turboprops and jets. It is easier to operate than many flight management systems.
The KLN 88 lists for $5,850-to get more capability, you'd have to spend about five times as much money. And if you like precise and interesting devices, it'll really get under your skin.
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