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GPS on an airplane.

GotNoRice

GotNoRice

[H]F Junkie
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Jul 11, 2001
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I’m going to be flying to my uncle’s house in Arizona in a few weeks. One thing I’m really curious about is using GPS on the plane.

http://www.delorme.com/earthmate/overview.asp

Now, I guess I’ll have to hope that putting the GPS receiver up against the window will allow it enough visibility of the sky to see enough satellites. Other than that, do you think it will work? It would be pretty cool to see the exact path we fly, and the GPS program that I have tells your speed, elevation, etc. I’m just wondering, because I heard somewhere that they are “calibrated” for certain uses… not sure what the deal is with that.
 
Ive ALWAYS wanted to do this! they should work fine, maybe even better since your higher up (closer to the birds) However the problem wont come in the form of hardware or software, but in the flightcrew. They MAY not let you do it because they dont know what it is. Even if you explane to them, they may still be wary. My suggestion would be to ask the airline first, then maybe see if you can talk to the pilot or the head stewardess and clear it with them first!

if you go google a bit(try 3d gps pictures), you might be able to turn up a site where the guy did just what you wanted to, and got a cool picture of the approach pattern.

BTW nice choice on GPS, i love mine
 
My uncle (same uncle i'm going to visit) is a pilot for Northwest. Even though i'm going to be flying Southwest, he said he's pretty sure they won't care as long as I don't try to use it during take-off or landing like all other electronics.

I'm more worried about it's ability to track at high speeds if it was meant for low speed travel, but who knows.
 
Good Luck, but I think your concern about the sky visibility is valid you really dont get much "up" out a window, unless your banking
 
GPS is installed on many comercial airliners today, before TWA was shut down we installed GPS on some our 757's. GPS is not yet approved for precision approaches or Primary navigation, but soon it most likely be the way the FAA is going to go. So long as you do not use the GPS reciever during takeoff or landing I doubt anyone will say anything, asking a F/A is useless since they probably would have no idea what it is and give you a blanket NO. Believe it or not, a lot of pilots carry one in their flight bag...hey you never know ! It's not legal to use for actual nav (hey, there are enough instruments for them to nav by) But like you, they are curious and like the look of the moving map. Boeing is begining to introduce its electronic flightbag for some of their aircraft that will include a moving map display coupled to the aircraft's primary Nav system, if its GPS based or not I'm not sure. I haven't been on the job since 9-11 :( I don't believe you'll have too much of a problem with reception, but the fuselage may act as a shield to the signal window or not, the GPS antennae we installed were on top of the fuselage ( I doubt you could see it from the ground, the terminal maybe...) Hope that answers your question
twajetmech
 
Actually, you know what GotNoRice, im flying to AL next friday, and im bringing my tabletpc along, ill see if i cant find out if it works or not for ya! maybe try to get a screenshot or two.
 
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