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  #18  
Old January 13th 05, 12:32 AM
Colin W Kingsbury
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"dlevy" wrote in message
...
GPS groundspeed implies airspeed. If the airspeed indicator is zero,

rpm's
2500, the nose pitched up, and gps groundspeed holding at 80 knots......
which is wrong?


You see the ground moving and the altitude isn't dropping- no GPS needed

GPS groundspeed isn't really useful for aviating, since you've got to factor
wind in. 20 knots is the difference between too fast and too slow in
approach. OTOH, if you fly pitch and power settings, you won't come to grief
no matter what the wind is doing. Even IFR the GPS groundspeed isn't
necessary. If your power is too low you'll lose altitude, too high you'll
climb. I've flown complete approaches in actual IFR with a post-it over the
ASI, and never once looked at the GPS groundspeed.

So, you don't need the GPS to tell you you're moving, and it can't tell you
what your airspeed is, while pitch/power will let you fly the plane all day
long. What does GPS buy me again in this situation?

"Colin W Kingsbury" wrote in message
ink.net...
snip
GPS groundspeed is useless for flying the plane. What do you think

you're
getting by watching it?

-cwk.