Handheld gps on an airliner.

[magpienja]

Hi all sorry to use your forum but you are the guys to answer my question, I have a small handheld gps that I use on my microlight in the uk, I will be flying down to the south of france with ryanair in june and would like to keep tabs on the flight progress with my gps, would it be in order to use it in flight I dont want to take it if I cannot use it, not even sure if it would work but may near the window I suppose.

Nick.

[radeng]

They wouldn't like it if they knew. I wouldn't, but then, I'm a bit paranoid about these things because of being a radio engineer by profession.

[alemaobaiano]

Nick

Ask the crew. I also have a handheld and sometimes want to use it to track my location, so I always ask the crew first. Sometimes they will say yes, sometimes no, so you should accept their answer, whatever it is.

Radeng, it's quite possible, on commuter aircraft at least, that the flight crew have their own hand-held in use. If they present that much of a safety hazard I would hope that the folks at the front would have theirs switched off too.

ab

[Superpilot]

I've done it many times, even had an interested hostie ask me about it.

[TightSlot]

The official reply is likely to be negative: If the CC are smart they will initially give a neutral reply, and then ask you if you mind if they check with the Flight Crew/Commander. He/She will then advise the crew accordingly, and they will in turn advise you.

Airlines (and Crew in particular) tend not to like electronic devices being used in flight, for both safety and security reasons, working on the theory that it is better to be safe than sorry: Sadly on PPRuNe, such a statement is likely to cause a series of follow-up posts, along the lines of...

"I've used my XXX in the cabin for years with no ill-effects."
"Although many XXX's may cause an ill effect, mine doesn't, therefore I will ignore the crew and use it anyway."
"I once read an article that proved that my XXX cannot cause harm to aircraft, and therefore I will use it but keep it out of sight of the crew."
"Pressing this button on my XXX renders it safe to use in-flight, unlike all the other XXX's"
"Airlines have only banned the use of the XXX because they cannot find a way to charge for it: Charging customers for things is just part of the global airline conspiracy designed to make profits from customers."
"I don't care what the crew or anybody thinks or does - my need to use my XXX outweighs all other considerations."Thanks magpienja for asking, and I sincerely hope that the Commander allows you to use the GPS in flight, especially as you have been responsible enough to ask for advice.

:)

[The late XV105]

I regularly use my iPAQ 2210 with SysOnChip CF card antenna on Ryanair flights; I always ask politely, always start with "when the seatbelt warning has been extinguished, please can I...", always ask the senior cabin crew member, and always ask at a time when they are unstressed and without drill deadline.

Never declined.

If fortune indeed comes in to it, I hope you are as fortunate as I.

[Milt]

GPS Receivers are just that - they receive.
They only receive with no transmit function so are completely inert except for a miniscule radiation from their innerds which is hard to detect.

Most aircrew will know this.

[UniFoxOs]

Flew BY to Barbados a short while ago, Mrs UFO asked the cc about using her Navman (Satnav and pocket PC), and was told no problem. On the return she started using it without asking, assuming it would be OK, cc had a look at it and just nodded. I got the impression it's becoming pretty commonplace.

UFO

[magpienja]

Many thanks for all your advise guys looks positive, I will ask when on board when things look quite and before I power it up, fingers crossed.

Nick.

[Shamrock 602]

I was surprised to see that Aer Lingus specifically list a handheld GPS receiver as equipment which can be used during the cruise, in their inflight magazine. (Surprised, since an ordinary radio receiver is not allowed). I've used it many times, and never been challenged.

On other airlines, I always ask, and policies differ. I've got the go-ahead with Icelandair and Ryanair, but have been turned down by cabin crew on a few others (where I suspect it may have been too much trouble to really check with the flight deck).

Enjoy the trip - I suspect you'll find it more interesting than usual!

Shamrock 602

[radeng]

Sorry, Milt, receivers do radiate!!
Read that book Spycatcher......they located the radios receiving the incoming messages from the communist block by the local oscillator radiation which was modulated by the incoming signal because of the vibration from the loudspeaker. In the days of Band 1 TV in the London area, a well known amateur radio receiver (the HRO) was renowned for causing interference to television.
Standards from the European Telecommunications Standards Institute have limits for receiver radiation, which are considered necessary parameters to meet the requirements of the Radio & Telecommuincations Terminal Directive. So it is considered important.
The fact that one model GPS receiver doesn't happen to interfere with something doesn't mean that another one with a different architecture or internal frequency plan won't radiate on some frequency that causes problems.
Hopefully, such devices are CE marked, although unfortunately, that can mean little more than 'Chinese Export'. But if CE marked, there's a chance that they won't radiate too much. The problem with receiver radaition is that if it happens to be on the wrong frequency, you could lose a particular VOR or DME channel, or even an SSR or TCAS interrogation....