Small Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turboprop Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Engineer; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 49; Flight Crew Total 17100; Flight Crew Type 875
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction; Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Aircraft Automation Overrode Flight Crew; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Aircraft; Equipment / Tooling
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.
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.