Travel Technology - Do Portable GPS units work on airplanes?

Are they able to pick up the satellites or is it moving too fast?

I've used my Garmin GPS on a plane before...in fact, here's a picture.


http://www.smugmug.com/photos/578259748_iryg4-S.jpg

thats awesome, im wondering how a Nuvi would look, could it actually calculate a route?

Is there any danger regarding interference with the planes equip?

GPS works just fine... however you'll need to hold it close to the window first for it to acquire the sats. It may take awhile due to the position of the GPS (side of aircraft window makes it harder than a clear overhead reception).

Once locked in, GPS will display the speed and altitude (mine actually can't fit the altitude in the box properly). When you zoom in to the close up view, like 1 mile/inch, the streets just blow on by.

As for calculating, my GPS does work, but it has to constantly recalculate as it is looking for viable streets routes and does not calculate a direct path that has no roads.

It's great to use if you are trying to determine landmarks or cities. I used it a couple of times to determine if I was going to be in visual distance of the Grand Canyon and Yosemite and some other cool natural sites.

There may be restrictions on GPS use though, but I can't fathom why. It doesn't transmit anything so it shouldn't "interfere", unlike wireless mice and the wireless on laptops that I see everyone leave on.

My low-end Nuvi worked fine on the plane, and it does plot routes. As luv2ctheworld said you do need to put it close to the window for it to work, and it sometimes takes a little time for it to lock in, and I have occasionally lost signal but it quickly found it again.

You might want to turn the voice off if you are setting a location for it to navigate. As you are going so fast it will constantly be telling you to turn or do something. The voice might frighten/annoy/amuse your fellow passengers.

As far as allowing the use of a GPS, some airlines show in the inflight magazine that GPS use is allowed, while others say they are not allowed. I'm not going to debate if they should/should not be used just warning you that some airlines are fine with using them, others are not, and you can easily check in that advertisement that they call the inflight magazine that is in the seat pocket in front of you.

Another cool thing about using the GPS on the plane is you now have a maximum speed on your GPS status screen of over 500mph. Something impressive to point out when you are showing someone your GPS.

somewhere it was pointed out that you could program the gps for NOT driving directions , walking -hiking etc and the gps would work better and not try to find as many streets etc.

Anyone remember exactlly what you needed to do ?

Rally

somewhere it was pointed out that you could program the gps for NOT driving directions , walking -hiking etc and the gps would work better and not try to find as many streets etc.

Anyone remember exactlly what you needed to do ?

Rally

Mine lets you pick a street route or an as-the-crow-flies one.

As far as allowing the use of a GPS, some airlines show in the inflight magazine that GPS use is allowed, while others say they are not allowed.

Here's a good list of airline GPS policy. If you dig around on the site there is some other info about GPS usage on planes.

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

Are they able to pick up the satellites or is it moving too fast?

Speed isn't a problem. The aluminum body of the airplane could be one, though. GPS is based on very high frequency radio transmissions.

My handheld worked great. It just took about 5 min to lock onto enough satellites. But once it was locked i didn't need to hold it near the window.

Thanks for the link rt1flea, it's nice to know that it's ok on most airlines.

I saw someone doing this on a flight into DCA, and I actualy pointed it out to the FA. (This was when they still made you sit down for the last big chunk of the flight). I was very surprised to be told that GPS use was legal.

I saw someone doing this on a flight into DCA, and I actualy pointed it out to the FA. (This was when they still made you sit down for the last big chunk of the flight). I was very surprised to be told that GPS use was legal.

Wow. Tattle tale. :)

Nokia E71 takes between 2 and 5 minutes to find a signal.

somewhere it was pointed out that you could program the gps for NOT driving directions , walking -hiking etc and the gps would work better and not try to find as many streets etc.

Anyone remember exactlly what you needed to do ?

Rally

Garmin Nuvi 660 has an off road option.

I saw someone doing this on a flight into DCA, and I actualy pointed it out to the FA. (This was when they still made you sit down for the last big chunk of the flight). I was very surprised to be told that GPS use was legal.

Why in the world would you have done that?

I've known plenty of people that used the portables from the vehicle as their backups for general aviation flight...the biggest differences are the manner in which information is displayed, data that is available and you lose the ability to run a D-->WPT for the nearest airstrip...as such, it would stand to reason they would work in a commercial plane once you got the Sats acquired...

Other than that, you still get a magenta line (at least on Garmin products)...

I've even done the reverse and used my aviation portable in the car, but mostly when I was still working on learning how to quickly get to some of the functions by touch.

I saw someone doing this on a flight into DCA, and I actualy pointed it out to the FA. (This was when they still made you sit down for the last big chunk of the flight). I was very surprised to be told that GPS use was legal. I had my Garmin Nuvi on a flight from Anchorage to MSP and the flight attendant came down the aisle to ask me what city we were over at the time (Gillette, WY I think) because another passenger wanted to know. It was nice - and interesting that she asked me rather than checking with the flight deck.