Air taxi captain reported the avidyne ifd 540 automatically switched frequencies without the flight ...

Attributes
ACN	1442660
Time
Date	201704
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Transport Low Wing 2 Turboprop Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Navigational Equipment and Processing
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 49 Flight Crew Total 17100 Flight Crew Type 875
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance

Narrative:

In cruise on an airway talking to approach. About 10-12 minutes after our last contact with approach; copilot noticed we were on center's frequency; and asked if I had switched us over from approach. I said no; I did not remember being switched. I then called center and asked if we should be with them; and they responded yes. A minute or two later; they gave us a phone number for approach and requested that we phone after landing. When I phoned them; they stated that they had lost radio contact with us and had attempted to reach us on our assigned frequency as well as guard and had even asked an air carrier to attempt to contact us to no avail. Neither of us had switched frequency on the avidyne ifd 540; but I did remember that I had turned on the ifd 100 application on my ipad at about the time that the trouble began. The ifd 100 is not supposed to be able to change the active frequency on the panel mounted ifd; and even at that I had not made frequency inputs on it. After reaching cruise on our next leg; I turned on the ifd 100 application while the copilot watched the frequency boxes on the ifd 540; and sure enough as soon as the ifd 100 came up it changed both the selected and standby freqs on the 540. I found that at least 3 other pilots had encountered this same problem. My big takeaway from this experience is that I should have been monitoring guard frequency as well as my assigned.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air taxi Captain reported the Avidyne IFD 540 automatically switched frequencies without the flight crew's input or knowledge when he opened up the Avidyne IFD 100 app on his iPad.

Narrative: In cruise on an airway talking to approach. About 10-12 minutes after our last contact with approach; copilot noticed we were on Center's frequency; and asked if I had switched us over from Approach. I said no; I did not remember being switched. I then called Center and asked if we should be with them; and they responded yes. A minute or two later; they gave us a phone number for Approach and requested that we phone after landing. When I phoned them; they stated that they had lost radio contact with us and had attempted to reach us on our assigned frequency as well as guard and had even asked an air carrier to attempt to contact us to no avail. Neither of us had switched frequency on the Avidyne IFD 540; but I did remember that I had turned on the IFD 100 application on my iPad at about the time that the trouble began. The IFD 100 is not supposed to be able to change the active frequency on the panel mounted IFD; and even at that I had not made frequency inputs on it. After reaching cruise on our next leg; I turned on the IFD 100 application while the copilot watched the frequency boxes on the IFD 540; and sure enough as soon as the IFD 100 came up it changed both the selected and standby freqs on the 540. I found that at least 3 other pilots had encountered this same problem. My big takeaway from this experience is that I should have been monitoring guard frequency as well as my assigned.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Air taxi captain reported the avidyne ifd 540 automatically switched frequencies without the flight crew's input or knowledge when he opened up the avidyne ifd 100 app on his ipad.