Smoky way to San Jose (and what I learned about the G3000)

I took a short (22-min.), low-level IFR flight from Watsonville (KWVI) to San Jose (KSJC) in the Daher TBM today.

Before taking off from Watsonville, I set my NAV1 radio to the LOC frequency for RWY 30L at KSJC and then went into the G3000 MFD's PROC menu to confirm that the KSJC approach that I'd set up in the MSFS World Map -- ILS RWY 30L via the KLIDE transition -- was entered in the Daher's Garmin. It was.

The G3000 gives you a highlighted option to "activate" an approach. In fact, it's the only option the G3000 offers. The question is: when should you select it, if ever? On a previous flight in the Daher from KSJC to KSMF (Sacramento) I mouse-clicked on this option prior to takeoff. When the time came for the Daher to commence its final descent to the runway, per the ILS, the Daher couldn't find the glideslope. And no amount of fiddling with the APR button on my Logitech multipanel could make that happen. So prior to takeoff today, I did NOT mouse-click the highlighted option to "activate" the ILS approach to RWY 30L at KSJC. Today's flight was an experiment. I wanted to see what -- left otherwise to its own devices -- the G3000 would do, or what I could make it do, when I reached HIVAK, which was where the Daher's course would intersect with the ILS glideslope.

Taking off from Watsonville, I engaged the autopilot almost immediately and enjoyed the scenery as the Daher climbed to a cruising altitude of 7,000 feet while following a departure course that took it south to Salinas, then northeast to Hollister, before turning to a west-northwesterly heading up the Santa Clara Valley to San Jose. I was flying in live weather, and I swear that the sim sky was dim with sim smoke from sim fires mirroring current RL conditions over much of California at the moment. You decide:

Salinas below

Turning toward Hollister. Smoky haze?

I returned my attention to the G3000 MFD display when the Daher, now at 4,000 ft., per ATC and the approach plate, reached KLIDE and saw that the "activate" option had vanished. I also saw that the magenta GPS line had been replaced by a green LOC line on the PFD screen. At the HIVAC transition, I pressed the APR button on the Logitech multipanel. This time, the AP found the glideslope and I watched the altitude bleed away until the Daher had descended to about 300 ft AGL, at which point I disengaged the AP and hand flew the TBM the rest of the distance to the runway, fighting bit of left-to-right crosswind in the process.

My takeaway about the G3000 from this flight: If the final approach sequence is entered to your liking in the PROC menu, leave the virtual "activate" button alone. It may be that the G3000 will latch onto the glideslope on its own, without any further human intervention. More likely, if you don't have a physical multipanel, you'll have to find a virtual APR button somewhere and mouse-click it. Good luck, and safe flying.