Use GPS on plane?
 

Is it possible to use a GPS device on a plane? Will it be able to receive a signal through the fuselage?
Thinking about trying it out to follow the route with my Blackberry Curve on a next flight.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall a flight attendant in the front of the plane once say that certain devices that send or recieve signal were prohibited during flight.

Rules vary by airline. Here's a web page with a compiled list: http://gpsinformation.net/airgps/airgps.htm.

Even where GPS use is permitted, it will be fairly useless from a Blackberry. You're not supposed to have the cellphone connection on in flight so you won't download any map data to actually show your location. You may get your coordinates but no visual representation.

I tried it one time, and had the FA tell me to shut it down. It was not against that particular airlines policy, but I had to go along with her, as she's the boss. It will work, but mine had a hard time picking up the satellites at cruising altitude and speed. It took a while to get a fix. I had to hold it again the window for it to get any kind of signal. I would not want to do that for the whole flight. I don't know if it was accurate, but the Captain said we were riding a 100mph tail wind going from DFW to PHL. The GPS unit indicated we were doing over 640mph. We left an hour late, and still got in on time, so we must have been going faster that usual.

Yep, Its possible...
 

I can confirm it is possible. I travel alot on work, & was bored one time & pulled my Garmin Nuvi 200 out of my laptop bag & turned it on. Sure enough it picked up a signal & could show me where we were on the map, give a ground speed etc... It was kinda cool (for like 5 minutes) & then I put it away before anyone said anything to me...

On a side note, they can be fun to use on trains too...

Works on the Nokia E71 - 870 km/hr BNE-SYD recently...

I have tried this many times with different devices, a GPS watch, my mobul GPS, and a portable Garmin trakker GPS. Only the latter worked when held VERY close to the window, the watch and my mogul couldn't even get a signal (was going to use local map data on the device for mapping and speed tracking)

It doesn't work great even through the window.

unless you have map data pre installed onto your phone/gps device you wont be able to conventionally download the maps over edge/3g/wifi unless the plane is also equipped with wifi etc

not sure
 

not sure if this was directed at my comment above, but indeed I have all the USA map data on my phone installed, so it will work fine without a data connection at all.

That sounds about right for a Boeing 757 as its cruising speed is .8 mach, about 630 miles per hour. With tail winds of 100 m.p.h, it will give you a ground speed of 630 miles per hour.

Which device, among the ones you mentioned, was the latter? :D

A metal fuselage is a good shield. It works like a faraday cage. The signal and and does get in through the windows, but it's utility will depend on the strength of the signal, which depends on propagation conditions also, and on the quality of your receiver.

Some airlines are picky about gps units, which is just plain stupid. But for those that do allow it, personally I found that I could generally get a reasonable signal for most of the flight in the window seat. I've been able to get it to work well in a window seat by putting the tray table down, using the auto beanbag mount, and then kinda angling the antenna towards the window. That was with my older Garmin 60CS. With my newer 60CSX I'd expect to work a little better, because it's noticeably more sensitive.

I like to know what I'm looking at out the windows, so I like to use it if I get a chance.

I use a Garmin ETrex HCx and it will even get signal from the middle and sometimes aisle seat if it is orientated right and depending on the plane. If you're by the window it's solid. It is best to let it aquire sats at the gate and not while flying. I have tracks from DFW-ORD-FCO and back and all over the US. I especially like using it to know when to see meteor crater on the DFW-LAS flight. Keep it out of sight, I have been scolded.