GPS on Airplane

Cool! I will try it next time.

be warned that this is not allowed by all airlines

http://gpsinformation.net/airgps/airgps.htm

Here's a list of which airlines officially approve and do not approve of the use of GPS units during flight.

Of course, the crew ALWAYS has the last say no matter what.

We flew Southwest airlines the first week of january and GPS is now allowed above 10K feet like laptops and Ipods.....recent change and it is printed in their inflite magazine.

Agree totally that the crew has the final word, I have done it on American airlines and I see on the list that they don't allow it however if you are discrete and don't flash the GPSr around you can do it with any airline.

I have done it three times on American by discreetly lifting the GPSr to the window (doesn't take long to acquire)once you are locked with the sats bring the unit down to the folding table or arm rest and watch for stewardess coming down the aisle and simply cover it with a napkin.

It is a shame my Nuvi 260 doesn’t lay down bread crumbs and be able to duplicate what I did with my Magellan gold.

See my previous posting on the subject
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/9354

Does anyone know the reason for the ban?

At least Midwest lets you use it. I don't care for the hassles of flying these days, but when I do fly, I'll pop the extra few dollars and fly with them.

Thanks. I have a long trip next week and will be sure to try it out. I have a window seat. I only hope the battery will last long enough for a good part of the long trip. I have a stopover after 6 hours.

Didn't work for me.
'Searching for Satellites'
Tried both legs of the flight. Granted, wasn't a window seat. Kind of a bummer actually.

The question might be asked - Why do you need to know where you are when you're not the one flying?

A lot of bad people out there, and a GPS is a good tool that could be misused. Just giving you one possible reason they might be hesitant...

I know I got some nervous looks when I used an old Garmin GPS 12 on an airplane about 10 years ago (before 9/11).

Seems to me that most of the airlines that allow GPS on the plane are non-American airlines such as Air China, Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, etc. Few terrorists will bother with them anyway. Airlines that disallow gps are mostly airlines from countries with lots of enemies, such as Israel or USA.

So, if you have a GPS on board, you can call someone on the ground to disclose the co-ordinates of the plane and have it shoot down or something.

Two of the three biggest U.S. airlines allow them. The only threat they pose is in passengers' minds... those passengers who don't understand what the gizmo is or are nervous flyers, of which there are now more than there used to be before 9/11.

The types of missles that terrorists might have, the shoulder fired kind, don't have much range or altitude capability. They could only be used on planes landing or taking off, maybe by a terrorist pretending to be fishing on Jamaica Bay (off JFK) or San Francisco Bay or off LAX.

How do you access the off road mode on a 660? I don't see it.

It is the third choice among Fastest, Shortest, and Off-Road -- under Navigation/Route Preference

I've never used my 660 in Off Road mode. What is the mapping difference? Does it just not show streets?

it still shows the same maps and streets, but it doesn't "lock" your vehicle to them

I still just love this airplane idea

The only chance I had to use a gps on an airplane has been while traveling on military transport planes (C-130). I clipped it up in a windo and it worked well. I had it set for off road and set the destination as the airport to which I was going. It was nice to be able to see the speed and eta. Since the 60csx has a barometric altimiter, it did not properly display altitude. I have not tried my nuvi in a plane.

I tried my nuvi660 on a trip from Kansas City to Cleveland. It worked fine, and showed our speed at 550 mph and I was able to see my altitude at 35,000 ft. The thing I thought was interesting was that I had to hold the nuvi at about a 20 degree angle for the layout to match the ground reference.

It was cool to follow the path and idntify lakes and cities along the way.

Great list, thanks.

I took my Nuvi 350 with me last year on the plane to Vegas from Chicago and it was fun seeing speeds of 500+mph and "off roading" on the map.

I just downloaded the Tie Fighter vehicle icon, too bad I didn't have that installed then. =D

Well i recommended to my friend, a "blonde" to "try" out her new nuvi 200 on her next flight. I eagerly awaited the speed result max on her return.What i got was" there was no where to plug it in" LOL..sorry I just couldn't resist. (shes currently on her way to europe as this is being written and i suggested to leave the unit at home).lol

I went to New Orleans and placed my Nuvi 660 in the window and clocked a speed of 775mph.

Faster than the speed of sound

I think the bigger airplanes with personal tv screens also have this capability with flight info/path. Might be an international flight only type of thing.

I believe so because I was on a Boeing 747 departing from SF International airport and traveling to southeastern Asia and I remember seeing the flight path/airspeed on one of the TV monitor near my aisle.