Absolutely. Someone who does NOT know where they are without their GPS
is one electrical problem (or electronic failure) away from having no
positional awareness.

The plane I fly most times has a VFR GPS, which occasionally works, and
when it does work, I have it on. When it doesn't work I still make
damn sure I know where I am by virtue of the sectional and when accurate
distances are needed by the DME.

No excuse for not knowing where you are. I doubt that "well my GPS
failed" would work as an excuse in a certificate action for busting
airspace.

vincent p. norris wrote:
Vincent,


But some things,
such as the average private pilot's pilotage skills, certainly were.

How about they were just different? I think a pilot who is not able to

work the Garmin 430 in his airplane is lacking skills. But it's a
different set of skills than the one needed to work the ADF.


My point is that a new private pilot who does not have an IFR rating
does not need an ADF, either! He needs to learn basic skills.

He will not learn them if he can crank a destination into a GPS and
fly there as is led by the hand.

I think he'll get a lot more pleasure, satisfaction, and a sense of
accomplishment from finding his destination without the help of
gadgets (unless you consider a compass and a chart as "gadgets").

And he'll be a safer pilot, less likely to have to make a forced
landing after his GPS fails and he runs out of fuel trying to figure
out where he is.

And if you think it's reasonable to say a pilot is lacking skills if
he can't operate a Garmin 430, then I'll suggest you're incompetent
because you can't do celestial navigation.

vince norris