Flight to Florida -- The Cure for Winter

On 2008-03-31, Jay Honeck wrote:
The XM -- as GPS -- should simply confirm what you already know.

I have re-read this absurd line a dozen times, and can find absolutely no
merit in any part of it. In fact, it illustrates such an ignorance of VFR
cross-country flying that I find it hard that a real pilot would post such a
thing.
....
Without XM you can look out the window, you can call Flight Service, and you
can try to extrapolate the weather predictions you received from a briefer
five hours ago -- but you cannot "know" it in any way -- EXCEPT with XM
weather on board.

Of course you can!

Don't forget remote ATIS broadcasts, AWOS, ASOS, HIWAS, and center's
broadcasts of convective SIGMETs.

It might not paint as full picture as XM, but you're gravely mistaken if
you think you're helpless without XM.

As for GPS, well, it should absolutely be the case that the GPS should
only be telling you what you already know. I've flown coast-to-coast in
the USA, with no GPS. It wasn't even hard. Once you've done enough
navigating, it feels like you have your own brain-GPS so long as you
make a habit of keeping track of time and course.

Which is what makes VFR cross-country flying much more possible (and
comfortable) nowadays than it was just a few years ago. Anyone who says
otherwise has either never flown cross-country VFR

I would agree it makes VFR cross country more comfortable, but not
really more possible. I've flown a lot of VFR cross country hours.

--
From the sunny Isle of Man.
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