Using GPS as a PAX

[your_dreamguy]

Hello,

I have been Jumpseating a lot. Almost all of my jumpseating has been in the back as a normal pax, thanks to 9/11. Anyway, I always want to keep up with my current location, speed, etc. I was thinking about purchasing a hand held GPS and taking it with me when I travel as a pax. I was thinking about purchasing a the Magellan eTrex Legend. My budget is about $300. Do any of you have some good ideas or suggestions? I'm really looking for one that has a database of the US, canada, mexico, carribean and Europe already built in it (so, I wouldn't need to download anything). I think the eTrex just has the United States and you need to pay an additional $100 per year to download a database from Magellan's website if want Canada and Europe. I was hoping someone really experienced with hand held GPS' could PM me or reply to this post. I've already tried looking at some on eBay.

Look forward to your responses!

 

[TonyC]

FAR 121.306 comes to mind.





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[Singlecoil]

GPS's are prohibited on Alaska Airlines, maybe some others.

 

[integrale]

I can't imagine getting any signal reception for that matter.

 

[MD11Drvr]

As far as I am aware anything that sends or recieves a signal is prohibited. I am pretty sure I have heard the announcement made by the FA'S on every carrier I've ridden......

 

[Yank McCobb]

Legal issues aside, the Geekdom and Dorkdom factor here is at an all-time high.

"Lemme pull out my GPS. I always want to keep up with my current location, speed, etc. "

Okie, dokie, Cap'n. How's our groundspeed lookin' today? Got a Lat/Long for me?

 

[O-Line]

Anyway, I always want to keep up with my current location, speed, etc. I was thinking about purchasing a hand held GPS and taking it with me when I travel as a pax.

You go shopping in full uniform on your day off don't you?

 

[TrafficInSight]

I tried mine out when I got it. It's nearly impossible to get a signal so there's really no point. You're just going to have to trust that the flight crew knows what they're doing

 

[labbats]

On transatlantic flights you'll often find a screen with your location in relation to the world.

Also, a GPS is one of the strictly forbidden in flight items.

 

[Icelandair]

I've used my etrex Vista C on almost every commercial flight i've been on. Nobody has complained about it yet, and it works ok. Sometimes it has trouble finding a satellite, but most of the time i can get my position. The stewardesses have never complained about me using it either. Why would a gps mess up anything it doesn't transmit its just a passive receiver?

 

[DaveJ]

Any electronic unit with a computer emits some RF

Well, even receivers emit radio frequency (RF). Receivers have intermediate frequency (IF) sections that might match the IF of some of the on-board nav equipment that could potentially be an issue. The GPS unit also has a computer chip in it to process the keyboard and update the graphics. It's probably clocked in the 100s of MegaHertz and could cause interference. That being said, however, in general, a GPS should not be any worse than a laptop computer.

 

[DenverDude2002]

So if a GPS receiver is "dangerous", what about using XM radio? Wasnt there a recent thread on this with pilots using XM? How could a passenger using a gps/xm cause more harm than a pilot using it where all the avionics stuff is?

 

[bluesky421]

TonyC,
Who is that in your avatar? Looks familiar just can't place him.

 

[C425Driver]

Someone sitting next to me on a flight tried to use his GPS and he couldn't get a signal. Undaunted by this, he had the cojones to wake me up to ask me to hold the GPS up to the window for a while to try to get a signal. I just said, "You woke me up for that?!" I tried to go back to sleep but he kept reaching over me to hold the d@mned thing up to the window. He never got a signal. Can you imagine how obnoctious this guy is with a cell phone?

My advice, forget about the GPS.

C425Driver

 

[comander]

I made a trip as a pax from fort lauderdale to pittsburgh, I took my scanner and had al the freq,s ready I got to hear most of the way, but when we where landing there was like 2 miles of visibility on final so I turned it off on approach, I got kind of scared of something going on with the ILS of our plane. But Ill never take that chance of getting busted again.