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Old 3rd Nov 2008, 13:58
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dublinpilot
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Dublin
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I never fly with the GPS off. I do however, on the occasional flight, turn it away so that I can't easily see it.

Any doubt though, and I will refer back to it.

I would not advocate turning it off, but keeping it onboard as a backup. This is for the simple reason, that GPS's find it more difficult to get a fix when moving fast. (This is particularly important with non Sifi III models, which is most of the portable aviation units.)

Combine this with a poor view of the sky in many GA machines, and perhaps the unit not having been switched in in 8 weeks (which means an old satelite position database) means that you might struggle to get a fix when you most need it.

For these reasons, I tend to turn it on, getting a good 3d fix, and then turning it away where I can't see it, if I want to test my dr skills.

dp
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