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Description
I freely admit it. I've become a GPS weenie. Back in my full-time CFI days, I didn't think anything of 400 overcast and two miles visibility in a battered 172 with 20-year old radios that sort a worked if you twisted the tuning dial just right. Put me in that airplane now and I could do still shoot the approach, but I'd feel naked.
Small solace comes from the fact that the most grizzled former freight dogs I know admit they've become GPS weenies too. It's not that they won't ever launch into the muck without at least a handheld on board, but they sure think twice about it.
How people use their handheld GPS in the IFR system is a varied as the number of models that are out there. But there are a few themes that seem to come up again and again. Many of these comments work with panel-mount GPS, too.
Magenta and Black
The number one missed opportunity I see watching pilots fly approaches with GPS is not using ground track. Many other contributors agreed. The goal of an instrument approach procedure is getting the airplane to follow a specific track over the ground at specific altitudes. Before GPS, you had to intercept a course defined by a VOR, ADF, or Localizer and then wait for the airplane to drift in the wind. As it did, your needle became uncentered and... |
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