Hello!
VOD80:
I know, probably statistically tenuous (not many accidents) and also because there is no evidence to support the other side of the argument (how many people have been saved by GPS, how many people have crashed because they had no GPS) but interesting reading anyway!
Thank you for pointing me to that article, interesting reading indeed. But the accidents described are mainly "continuing VFR flight into IMC with subsequent loss of control or CFIT". This kind of accident was "invented" long before GPS.
For many years I've been a subscriber of the British GA magazine "Pilot" (there is nothing comparable in Germany!) and there is not a single issue without at least three reports of zone infringements by GA aircraft who got lost. Many of them force airliners to go around and some even trigger collision alerts. Totally unnecessary risks and expenses - for the extra 15 minutes flying time of an airliner you can buy the best handheld GPS on the market and have it gilded or even platinum plated...
What I don't like about this kind of discussion (the one here is not the first of its kind and I have also had it with some of my instructor colleagues (*)) is the idea, that there exist "good" and "bad" instruments and/or navigation aids. Compass and airspeed indicator seem to be considered "good" ones and radio navigation aids in general and especially GPS are the bad ones.
In reality, the contrary is the case: The compass gives you magnetic heading information (that is totally irrelevant for navigation!) with a precision of no more than five degrees and the ASI gives you nothing but a rough estimate of airspeed - again irrelevant for navigational purposes. The cheapest and easiest GPS (like the one contained in my mobile phone...) show you what you really need: Ground track and groundspeed, both with at least two decimal places of precision. And if you get the second cheapest GPS, it will even show you the boundaries of restricted airspace and warn you about them. Why should one make life more difficult than it already is by refusing this kind of help?
Don't get me wrong - I'm not contrary to steam driven navigation at all. As a matter of fact I learned to fly long before GPS became available to the masses and I collect navigation tools of all kinds and like to use them every now and then. But I refuse to send students on solo cross country flights without a functioning GPS unit on board.
Greetings, Max
(*) As you can easily imagine, none of the CPL/IR instructors I know has ever opposed GPS!