A D2 Pilot Watch Testimonial: How it Assisted One Pilot During a Diversion

Peek into any warbird-era aircraft and chances are you won’t see much in the way of a retrofit glass cockpit and for good reason. For many, maintaining the historical look of their cockpit is important. However, there is a high probability you might see a Garmin portable temporarily mounted on the yoke. Back in October we introduced the D2 Pilot Watch, which is the first GPS-enabled watch designed with pilots in mind. Like our portables, D2 is an excellent supplement to navigating the skies, featuring direct-to and nearest functions, a built-in altimeter, and display of both local and Zulu/UTC time. Since introducing D2, we’ve received a lot of great feedback from our customers, but recently one story in particular came across my inbox that is definitely worth sharing. Eric received D2 for Christmas and decided to take it for a quick flight not too long ago.  He used Garmin Pilot to program a flight plan into D2 and he was ready for the flight: “About 45 miles from home my engine broke a valve spring. Its pitch changed and it lost some power. After going through procedures to try to get the engine back, my next question was where to land. I remembered that the D2 has a “closest airport” feature so with one button press I had a heading and a distance. Once I was on track I opened my iPad, got the airport information, made my radio calls, and made a nice deadstick landing. Since I don’t have a glass cockpit, it’s really convenient to just glance at my wrist to see how close I am to being on course.” For Eric, D2 was certainly a complement to his flight that day which assisted him in navigating to the nearest airport quickly and easily.  Eric’s story is also a reminder that it’s always a good idea to have backup navigation source, whether that’s in the form of paper charts, a portable GPS or our D2 Pilot Watch!