Small Transport
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 5000; Flight Crew Type 3500
Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
I was descending into HFY after being told by IND Approach to squawk 1200 and frequency change approved and my hand held Garmin Aera GPS terrain function went off. I realized I was approaching a tower and I was 600 feet AGL above it and 1500-3000 feet horizontal from the tower. I may have been far enough from the tower but I am not positive. I immediately climbed 400 feet more to 2;000 ft MSL and turned to the right to avoid the tower. I mainly use my Garmin Aera handheld for XM weather and I am not real familiar with the terrain sensitivity settings. I have had the Garmin handheld terrain warning go off on me on a LDA approach into EGE before and I was on glide slope and course. My plane's Ground Proximity did not go off. I normally don't fly VFR but it was a short ferry flight and I was approaching the airport from a direction I normally don't come from which I think was a major contribution to how close I got to the tower. I think avoiding a scattered layer cloud also contributed. Slowing down in the plane and on the ground prior to taking off and familiarizing myself better with the route could have prevented the situation.
Light twin pilot reported climbing to avoid a tower during descent to HFY when the onboard handheld GPS device alerted.