Handheld GPS adaptible to aviation

In a previous article, said:
Paul,
airports don't move that often or that far.


Airspace does, especially after 9/11.

The GPS is just there to get you on your route - it's up to you to make
sure the route works. If you go on a flight without first marking your
route on a CURRENT sectional or l-chart and then comparing it with the
current TFRs, you deserve to be shot down.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
They thought that faxing one's butt was bad - just wait till they hear
about blurry, pixilated, mpeg artifacted live porn by phone!
-- Geoff Lane contemplates the 3G future

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
Airspace does, especially after 9/11.

The GPS is just there to get you on your route - it's up to you to make
sure the route works. If you go on a flight without first marking your
route on a CURRENT sectional or l-chart and then comparing it with the
current TFRs, you deserve to be shot down.

A proper GPS would have all that information in its database.

GPS technology, especially on the receiver end, is still in its nascency.
Eventually, the GPS will have just as reliable a database as a printed
chart, because it will be updated in real-time, and the database copied to
the GPS will be the same one used to print the charts.

I agree that today, especially for non-IFR-certified GPSs, the GPS is
missing a fair amount of extremely important information. But it doesn't
have to be that way, and if it stays that way for any significant period of
time, we're just a bunch of idiots (who deserve to be shot down).

Pete

On Sat, 4 Mar 2006 14:05:02 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

I've had my Garmin 195 for 10 years now and I've updated it once. Never
seen any problems with that - airports don't move that often or that far.

I'm relieved to hear it. I've never updated my 296. I let the free one
slip by because I thought USB II was different somehow from the USB
port on my puter, and I've never felt inclined to pay for an update.


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email: usenet AT danford DOT net

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
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In a previous article, usenet AT danford DOT net said:
On Sat, 4 Mar 2006 14:05:02 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:
I've had my Garmin 195 for 10 years now and I've updated it once. Never
seen any problems with that - airports don't move that often or that far.

I'm relieved to hear it. I've never updated my 296. I let the free one
slip by because I thought USB II was different somehow from the USB
port on my puter, and I've never felt inclined to pay for an update.

One caveat: before I updated, my GPS was old enough that I had to look up
the old ids for some airports which changed to ICAO identifiers when they
started reporting METAR. So I'd flight plan to KOGS, but put N00 into the
GPS.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Things should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.
-- Albert Einstein

If all you do is fly in the local area, not regularly updating the
database is probably no big deal. If you go cross country however,
you'd be unpleasantly surprised by the number of identifiers that
change over time. With TFRs and such, it could get you into a nasty
situation.

Hi all; I'm replying to my own post that started this thread because
there were too many good posts to reply to all of them.

In case anyone cares, I got a Magellan SporTrak Map and uploaded the
nearest 200 public use airports and VOR's to my home as user waypoints
using EasyGPS. (When the time comes, I could choose up to the 500 most
useful waypoints for any particular trip.)

The unit is currently only $105 at PlanetGPS. It's definitely on the
cutting edge of obsolecense, but its basemap corresponds surprizingly
well to the way the features look from 3,000 feet.

It also works well in one hand -- fits comfortably with buttons that
are easy to use. That's why I didn't do the PDA route -- I don't want
to have to land after dropping three styluses on the floor.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions and thoughtful discussion.