Danny Deger writes:

I am thinking about buying a 1946 Taylorcraft that has NO gyros at all on
the panel. I really want at least a turn and bank so I want die if I loose
reference to the horizon for any reason. I have been told that the heading
information from a GPS is good enough to do the function of a turn and bank
and allow emergency operations without having a visual horizon reference.
Is this correct?

A GPS can only determine your track over the ground, which may not be
your heading. If there is no wind, both are the same, but if there is
any wind, your heading could be significantly different from your
ground track.

GPS cannot determine your bank angle. In theory a GPS could determine
if you appear to be making a standard turn, if there is no wind. I
don't know of any actual GPS units that do this (?), and it becomes
complicated if there is any wind.

Remember, GPS units can only determine your location in space
(longitude and latitude and, with somewhat less precision, altitude).
Apart from that basic information, all other information they provide
is derived from observing the changes in your location over time.
They cannot provide any information that cannot be calculated from
this data. They do not know the actual attitude or heading of the
aircraft: a 45-degree bank and a 30-degree downward pitch angle look
exactly the same as level flight to a GPS.

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