GPS on Airplane (w/ Nuvi 680)

My c530 sometimes works without being next to a window. It works will in JetBlue planes, but not so good in US Airways.

It is cool watching where you are over land. I try to figure out what land masses are what by the map.

I recently flew on Southwest airlines and in their magazine, they explicitly say No GPS. (bit surprised they already addressed it) =( I missed my chance to up my max speed on that trip.

My boss, hacked his Mio 220 to also use as a media player. He was able to watch a few movies, and track his trip information.

I was flying this evening and couldn't get a singal on the plane, Atlanta to Myrtle Beach.

I just flew on Southwest and sat in the middle seat. I had to initially hold it near the window until it got a fix but after that it worked fine on my lap. Top speed was 512 mph. Didn't think about trying the Off Road mode until after the flight. It made looking out the window more enjoyable knowing what the landmarks and cities were.

I did the same on a recent trip from Orlando to Newark. It took a while to acquire the satellites but once it did it was a lot of fun watching the roads whip by. Don't enter a destination as the GPS goes nuts recalculating.

Interesting. I have used my GPS on multiple Southwest flights without incident (and the flight attendants saw them on all occasions).

I recently used my Nuvi 750 on a flight from O'Hare to Dallas-Fort Worth on an American Airlines flight. It was nice to be able to see where we were and how fast we were going (518 MPH max in a MD-80). The update time was great and I didn't have any issues connecting although I had a window seat.

damn you all!!! the last time i flew I took a few Nuvi's and a C550- i've got nearly 20 of these little garmin buggers, but i've never once been able to get a signal. i've tried many times, and every way I think could be possible.

of Airline that allow and dis-allow gps aboard. Note the date list was published,
http://gpsinformation.net/airgps/airgps.htm

The airlines that don't allow GPSrs need to lighten up!

Ha, ha. I made a joke!

20 GPSr's??? What's with that? I think you should share

I've had problems with satellite acquisition if I start driving before satellites are acquired. It takes quite a long time to acquire. Assuming that one wouldn't turn on the GPSr until after take-off, wouldn't it take an extraordinarily long time to acquire satellites while in flight?

I always turn my GPSr on before taxiing, but since I'm the pilot I can get away with that!

who do you fly for?

Myself. GA.

When I flew with mine I used an external antenna which I placed between the window and the shade to hold it there. I imagine that the newer units with the sirf chip would do great on their own though.

I had no luck with with mine. Prop plane, jet, back of plane (both seats to myself so I tried the window thing) tried it on all my flights, wouldn't get signal.

does your mio have the sirf III chipset?

As a pilot, can you think of any reason why airlines would disallow a portable GPS unit to be turned on midflight?

How could just receiving, and not transmitting, satellite data interfere with flying operations?

Some airlines are just paranoid, or their lawyers insturcted them to do so to CYA. I know of no evidence that GPSrs affect navigation equipment.

I plan on doing the same when I fly back east for Christmas this year. I've been using my XM radio on flights for quite some time. I've never seen anything that exclusively says satellite radios are not allowed, but many have told me they are. Never had a flight attendant tell me I couldn't use it on a flight, so I figure it's the same as with the GPS. My window will be full of antennae, I guess.

Here is the best explanation I have read so far on this link.
http://gpsinformation.net/airgps/gpsrfi.htm The author brings up lots of great points about why not but the bottom line is it appears to be mostly liability paranoia.

The cynic in me simply says that if indeed there was solid proof that turning any of the banned devices on would cause failure don't you think the FAA would step in and prevent us from bringing ANY of it onboard for fear that we could all leave enough of them on by accident that would result in a failure? They allow us so I don't think it really is an issue.