FlyingForFun - I agree completely with your comments. I was simply seeking to illustrate why I do not accept the claim that you spend more time with "your head out of the cockpit" navigating traditionallly compared with navigating by GPS.
Slim_slag ad Beagle - I also agree completely with your comments. I personally think all pilots should be able to navigate employing other means should the GPS fail.
However the anti GPS lobby would have you believe GPS is a more vunerable tecnology that everything else we use. With the exception of the mark 1 eyeball, this is not my experience. As posted previously I have had two VORs fail never mind the numerous occasions the signal was too weak, but I have never had a GPS failure. Before the advent of GPS operating IFR IMC there were times pilots were falling back on dead reckoning so I think we have to be very careful painting this myth that other radio navigation equipment is ultra reliable. Any equipment can fail, but in my opinion GPS is actually more reliable than mostof the kit carried in a typical SEP.