GPS for PPLs
 

Hi all,

Having recently got my PPL, I am starting to think about longer trips and perhaps getting a GPS unit. I have deliberately ignored GPS during my training so that I could concentrate on the DR I needed for the skills test.

I would need a handheld that I can take from plane to plane. Any thoughts about whether it's worth splashing out for the fancy colour ones, or is something more basic OK?

I would rather spend more money and get something useful, than try to save a few quid and end up with something that doesn't really do the job. Once in the air you want things as easy as possible.

Any thoughts or experiences would be very welcome.

How much money ya got?:D

As yet I haven't used my GPS III which I use for sailing in an aircraft yet but unless you are desperate for a shiny new toy that makes the tea as well, I'd keep it simple so that you can use it for other activities.

Mine is fairly simple, you put in the waypoints and use it conventionally with features such as MOB (Man Overboard, crap on an aircraft but useful on a boat:D ) etc but I also use it for long walks with the dogs in an area I'm unsure of.

Raging debates on the merits of GPS on this board will show you where people stand but my only reservation with using a GPS with a moving map in an aircraft, is that it's possible to pay it too much attention and not enough of your map, aviating etc.

A wonderful tool but personally I'd keep it simple as it could become too distracting. At the end of the day all you want a GPS to do is tell you where you are and how to get to your next point - so keep it simple!:)

GPS = 'girl's positioning system':D

I decided on a pilot 111, momochrome, a couple of years ago and I am still happy with it.
I would love to have a panel mounted 430 or 530, but price and a moving regulatory scene make me quite happy to continue with the pilot 3.

GPS Pilot III -- it's the Dog's.

QDM

Yeah, yeah, yeah and if man was meant to fly he'd have been born with wings. :)

Look, I picked up my plane with a man who'd been flying for over fifty years in the forces, airlines and in GA. I wanted to appear earnest and sincere about things, about my desire to navigate properly without all this newfangled garbage and I said I wouldn't be bringing my GPS. He looked at me like I was insane and said 'Well, I bloody well will be!'

Anyway, old debate.

Yours girlishly,

QDM

Buy a GPS. Turn it on.
Take your maps with you. Keep looking outside.

Vancouv, unless you intend mucking about with GPS approaches then throw away all the marketing blurb and get yourself down the highstreet. I use a Garmin eTrek which cost me about £100 and it has a barometric altimeter with it. Its a 12 sat GPS so accuracy isnt a problem. This gives you all the basic info you need including a crude moving map showing waypoints. If I want to get really flashy then I plug it into my laptop and run Navbox Pro which cost me £70, this has full colour, blah, blah, blah and still works out cheaper and a much better display than quite a few I have seen on the market.

ditto :)

ditto x2

I have a cheapy Magellan. I doesn't tell me where I am, (thats why I have maps), but it does tell me how to get to where I want to go.

Very good for situational awareness.

I use the garmin e-trex with the compass and altimeter.
It can also be connecter to a palm pilot with snazzy software from Flight buddy, there are also moving map progs etc etc available fom other sources.
If you already own a PDA then this is a very cheap way to get a decent size display. It depends if you want all the wire and associated cr@p dangling all over the place.
Regards
CC

Pilot 111 does it for me...... Great bit of kit.

SSD

Yeah, but that new Garmin 196 looks a natty piece of kit :D

GPS 92 as a back up - gives you the equivalent of an HSI in an old Pup and adds DME too.

Non Radio - shall we go back to the good old days? Ricketts, Polio, Hitler????

:D :D :D :D

I'm tempted by the eTrek/PDA idea.

My only concern reading about the eTrek is that it doesn't seem to have an external aerial port. How is the reception from inside an aircraft with the inbuilt aerial?

Also, is the barometric Altimeter any good?

F3G: professionally - GPS great (most of the time); Privately - NO, nor a radio nor nothin'!! Improves one's lookout, too;)

F3G: professionally, great!; privately , No, no,no, no radio no nothin'....

just thought it needed emphasising:D

Never really had any problem with the etrek, I usually leave it on the back seat on top of my flight bag next to the window and that does the trick. The altimeter is pretty good for showing how you altitude holding was if you download it afterwards.

Garmin Pilot III. Accept no substitute.

My Building society decided to de mutualise so I went for the Garmin GPS 295.

Over GBP1000 admittedly but it's basically a portable Garmin430: same screen, glorious colour and with 12 satellites it never drops out.

Got me to the south of France and back no sweat last week. (of course I did look out of the winder now and again.)

Basic model has enough roads to get around but for more bobs you can get full road map facility. (waste of dosh IMHO)

Chews batteries though so if you haven't got a fag lighter socket in your a/c forget it.

Happy flying.

Nonradio

When I fly, I always keep the com box turned down low and never talk to Essex - does that count?:D :D :D :D

Also, my dear old Pup (100) cruises at such a leisurely pace and has such amazing low level performance (put it this way, won't climb, but its great at diving) that I can usually read the road signs or follow busses to my destination - beats GPS everytime ;)

garmin have a new gps that you can use for aviation land and sea check there web site it replaces the garmin 195 now 196 :)

F3G: AAhhh.. the pup 100, I have fond memories of the type...

Am thinking about getting a GPS for my private flying. What do people who have one, (or even if you don't!) think of the Pilot III?

All comments and suggestions gratefully received. . . . .

G

Got an eTrek, which I have downloaded all VORs, NBDs, VRPs, intersections, etc., very useful if you're looking for a new VRP for the first time....but more importantly on my way home from the airport, put it in Map mode, zoom in to < 1 mile, and download my list of 500 speed camera's which some kind soul decided to post on the internet, and hey presto, no speeding ticket :D

Cheers
EA;)

I just flew from El Paso Texas to Space Coast, Florida in an R22 helicopter using the Garmin 295, around 1500nm (yes, it hurt :-).

As said before, it's a very sweet unit but forget about using it with batteries. 6AAs last about 3-4hrs.

Also, be aware that most handheld Garmin GPS units have a base map of either North America or Atlantic that is factory installed and cannot be changed.

Does anyone know of a handheld that carries nav data for both Europe and America in one unit?

Another option that's becoming popular in the U.S. in the Anywheremap - using a flash card GPS in a pocket PC such as an Hewlet Packard iPaq. Looks like a sweet setup but I'm a little sceptical about the screen display in strong sunlight.

The same idiots that don't agree with GPS probably would object to VOR's if they were introduced...do these people beleive the "old" is good? Sorry, it isn't - otherwise GA would be getting more dangerous, not safer.

Let's think, with GPS, you can still look out the window, recongise a lot more landmarks (hence, improve your recongistion skills), you're a conveience to ATC (always correct position reports), you don't bust airspace because it screams at you if you try, you don't go off course as much (hence less fuel required, less people running out of gas), it's independant from the aircraft electrical system (redundent navigation equipment), if gives you accurate GS, hence, selecting better altitudes (saving more fuel, those plonkers that say "look at the forecast", compare one with real flying). Any more benefits, heck yeah, you can point your aircraft to an alternate, get accurate GS - less in flight planning, less time, more safety.

Oh, and there's more - it's enables one to explore a greater distance with confidence. More confidence leads to better flying, less effort navigating, leaves more time looking out the window for traffic and monitoring the guages.

I can't stand the plonkers that are afraid of change and wish to remain in "the good ol days".

Err!

p.s. yes, I do look out the window before you start...

I went really basic, and got a Magellan 315A with a complete worldwide Jeppesen Database. It runs off the lighter, and only has a small screen, but it does give excellent secondary nav capability, and furthermore, is no bigger than a cell-phone. I believe that we all operate in a potentially "hostile" environment up there, and any extra safety I can factor in is taken. I have friends who happily combine the "Good old days of flying" in their Tiger Moths and Pientenpols who also back up with a handheld GPS unit.

Cheers

What about the "Benefon Esc!" then? It IS a cellphone!! (With a 12 channel GPS built in).

http://194.100.11.38/Benefon_Attachments/Att104/104.jpg

Cool!
:cool:

more details here

GPS
 

Garmin III Pilot, best thing since sliced bread,even MOB facility usefull, if you spot a nice looking grass strip you can mark it ,then look it up when back on the ground for a future visit. Great even for us Girlies.:D

I`m seriously interested in getting a Garmin GPS 3 pilot,can anyone tell me what its like / cool features are??..by private message if possible and where I can get it at a good price.
Realise this isn`t a billboard,so a private message might be best.

My view..embrace technolgy!! its there to be used,and another thing,ever get caught out in IMC and have no sight of surface..you can safely jump up above clouds,then use gps to get about knowing where you are.
Cannot see why its a bad thing.

Garmin Pilot III. Easy to use and has a halfway decent battery consumption compared to my old Magellan.

I looked at the Pilot III, but its a bit small and fiddly to use when you've got both hands full in an R22. Especially if its mounted on the cowling about 2 feet away.

Have a look at the Lowrance Airmap 100 - thats the one I was going to buy (before the motorbike broke a conrod - ******).

Slightly bigger screen, and comes with all the gadgets - including a cradle to mount on the yoke/t-bar/whatever; a cigarette lighter adapter and cable; PC synch cables; external aerial; batteries, you name it. Plus all the screens were customisable for layout and content. What more could you want?

There's a review here

and the importers website is here

As with any GPS you choose - TRY BEFORE YOU BUY.

:

Well..I got a Garmin GPS pilot 3 at the weekend.

All I can say is-incredible.

I`m not going to write an essay but having flown with it already,it has some very neat features and i was getting average 20ft accuracy during a short flight through kent.

Its pretty useful as it has a built it E6B,but the best thing is you could shave alot of time from long trips by not just going by small visual waypoints,just inserting a custom waypoint.
And it warns you of approaching airspace boundaries,and lists airport frequencies and runway information.

Not cheap,but well worth the fun!!!

There's a Garmin GPS III going cheap - but its in Toronto!

Mountain Adventure Co-Op on Kings St West has one for $100 Candian. Its the last in the shop and a discontinued line and, unfortunately for me, has the American database loaded otherwise I would have bought it!

Anyone in Toronto who could use it should rush in and buy it, bargain for 40-quid :eek: ...if you ask me.

Cheers,

str12