"dlevy" wrote in message
...

As someone else posted, I now keep an eye on gps ground speed on
takeoff....
and I'm not even instrument rated yet.

If you know your plane well the ASI should be one of the least-critical
instruments to lose, at least on anything Skyhawk-class. Set power and
pitch, and your airspeed will follow. As close to foolproof as anything gets
in aviation. That's why if you look at an ultralight with only one
instrument, it's probably a tach. Go up with a CFI sometime and tell him to
cover the ASI while you do some pattern work. Of course every kind of
failure can be distracting, that's why experienced pilots crash after having
doors open in flight.

GPS groundspeed is useless for flying the plane. What do you think you're
getting by watching it?

-cwk.