On Mon, 03 Nov 2003 17:38:07 +0100, Thomas Borchert
wrote in Message-Id:
:

IMHO it [GPS] gives you more than positional awareness.

Aside from ground speed, and three dimensional position (and time of
day), what other information does GPS provide?

Although the aircraft's position is displayed relative to geographical
features (roads, rivers, towns, ...), most GPS databases do not
contain terrain data. GPS doesn't tell you anything about the
powerplant(s), ATC, traffic, fuel, in flight and destination weather,
pilot health, ... which are all part of situational awareness.

Here's one definition of situational awareness:

http://www.refresher.com/!pilot.html
Situational awareness is an ongoing process of the continuous
assessment and accurate interpretation of reality. Effective
environmental scanning when combined with the awareness of the
performance capability of the aircraft, and the self awareness of
personal capabilities and skill of the pilot result in competency
and precision in the execution of maneuvers, and flight safety.


More he
http://aviation-safety.net/events/FCV.shtml
http://www.acespilotshop.com/pilot-s...-awareness.htm
http://www.hpti.net/aviation/situational.html