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Old 18th Nov 2008, 16:00
  #47 (permalink)  
verticalhold

The Veloceraptor of Lounge Lizards
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Shy;

I recently flew with one who kept a half mil in his nav-bag and slavishly followed the out of date GPS. The Cardiff CTR expansion had happened two years before and he had no ideas of where the airspace was and its altitude limits. He was supposedly a pro. I sometimes get to fly in a 350 where the owner won't leave the ground without a line on his map, time lines and a thorough study of landmarks and terrain and his GPS is updated monthly. They both have similar hours, who would you rather fly with?

Too many of us seem to rely on the electric brain rather than our own. On another thread VeeAny described a flight where the kit gave up. Without his local knowledge and use of proper raw data nav the situation could have got rapidly out of hand.

I still start a stopwatch as I set sail and compare my times with the chart markings and I fly the latest IFR all singing and dancing toys. Just once has the kit got up and left, but the transition was easier to deal with, the weather was towards minima but I knew pretty much straight off where I was.

I Have no doubt that GPS has improved accuracy, I just question the reliance we have on it and a perception I have of the atrophying of basic skills.

VH
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