GPS personal SATNAV for PAX

[speke2me]

Is it acceptable/allowable to use a personal GPS to track/record your position/route as a PAX, by eg pointing it through the window to RX the satellites?

One product I personally own is a 'Tomtom Go' - only a surface road-finding device. Others may use other programs used on PDA's.

Do such devices, being RX only, constitute any danger to flight systems/avionics?

I would have thought many modern laptops, with inbuilt radiating 'wifi' constitute a greater danger.

Sorry, BTW, if this has been discussed in many earlier threads - I'm fairly new to Pprune.

[Ace Rimmer]

It's an interesting question, I bet there might be some twitchy-ness ((security related) esp on US carriers.

That said some years ago I was lent a Garmin hand held to 'evaluate' (and do a review of) and I took it with me on a work trip across the pond. Made my self known (via business card) to the FD and told em I'd like to use the GPS during the flight.

Total non problem as a mater of fact I was given some waypoints to input coresponding to the palnned track and periodically throuout the flight we compared the data on theGarmin with the INS derived stuff on the FMC. But like I say this was with a GPS intended for avaition use and pre 9/11 so were not comparing apples with apples.

[wiggy]

No prohibition as far as I'm aware on GPS, but FYI wi-fi is definitely a no- no with my operator.

[Pax Vobiscum]

Please tell me that airlines aren't getting paranoid about WiFi now (except, of course, for those that are installing it as a chargeable option). Emissions from a laptop are orders of magnitude lower than a mobile phone and there must be very few commercial flights that aren't carrying at least one (inadvertently) active phone.

Back on topic - I'd be surprised if you can receive a GPS signal inside the faraday cage formed by the aluminium skin of an airliner, but then I'm often surprised (which, at my age, is a bit of a surprise :O ).

[strake]

>>Back on topic - I'd be surprised if you can receive a GPS signal inside the faraday cage formed by the aluminium skin of an airliner, but then I'm often surprised <<

Then, be surprised...

My GPS works inside my aeroplane quite well. I just point the aerial out the window. I bought my Garmin Pilot III in the USA and on the way home could not resist playing with it pushed against the window of the BA747. It worked very well although the average speed was a bit strange when I also looked at it in the taxi driving me home.....

[Pax Vobiscum]

Thanks strake, I wondered about the windows, but then I remembered that GPS needs to see at least 4 satellites to get a fix. I remain surprised ...

[kokpit]

I've used a Garmin Street Pilot and Garmin PDA on both UK - US flights and US internal, both worked fine as long as next to a window.

However, I always asked before hand, (showing both Mil ID and PPL) and had a fairly acceptable response, certainly better than 50%, all this post 911.

Regards,

Kokpit

[strake]

> but then I remembered that GPS needs to see at least 4 satellites to get a fix. I remain surprised ...<

I am determined to unsurprise you.

"Anorak On"....

A GPS only needs three satellites to work out Lat/Long from which most important attributes can be calculated. A fourth will add altitude.

[Memetic]

I'm not saying it will cause a problem, however technically a GPS is a radio reciever, so banned from use in flight for passengers on most airlines I have ever flown with.

Memetic

[DuncanF]

I flew from London City to Antwerp recently and was pleasantly surprised to see in the cockpit as we boarded a Garmin 196 perched on top of the instrument panel. Couldn't see if the driver had a kneeboard though ....

Duncan

[ExSimGuy]

I expect that, like my Acer Travelmate, most laptops with wifi will have a switch turn that feature off - apart fromanything else, it canes the batteries a bit and you aren't using it all of the time (especially in a 747 when you are miles from the nearest Starbucks ;) )