Not Allowed to Use GPS on United Flight
May 21, 2013, 4:04 pm
#106
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,410
Why were you using a GPS on a flight, were you worried the Captain was going the wrong way? 
haha
I thought I read somewhere a GPS is set up to not work so many feet above the air so it couldn't be used to direct like a homemade missile? I don't know, maybe I am making it up but I thought I heard that.
hahaI thought I read somewhere a GPS is set up to not work so many feet above the air so it couldn't be used to direct like a homemade missile? I don't know, maybe I am making it up but I thought I heard that.
Its quite a sensitive GPS so does not need to be in the window, window seat or adjacent seat usually suffices. When the airplane makes a 180deg turn it could take 10-20 seconds to recapture the sattlelites from this new side (it only captures sattelites from the side of the place I am near)
The thing is GPS is carried on a very high frequency with pretty poor penetration characteristics. It usually only works if you hold the receiver up to a window and even that will fail if the satellite geometry is against you.
May 21, 2013, 4:33 pm
#107
Moderator Hilton Honors, Travel News, West, The Suggestion Box, Smoking Lounge & DiningBuzz
Join Date: Jun 2000
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Posts: 36,026
I have no idea whether this decade-plus information is still accurate, but fwiw and ymmv:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/994213-post23.html
Originally Posted by Mark Rogers
In the future, you might politely ask the FA to check with the captain. It might help to know that the reference is on page 8.100.7 of the FOM.
I don't know what makes a GPS different - perhaps they don't produce as much of a signal as a radio receiver in order to receive information from the satellites. Or perhaps there is better quality control of GPS units because many of them will go into aircraft. Sorry I can't really answer that question.
I don't know what makes a GPS different - perhaps they don't produce as much of a signal as a radio receiver in order to receive information from the satellites. Or perhaps there is better quality control of GPS units because many of them will go into aircraft. Sorry I can't really answer that question.
May 21, 2013, 5:04 pm
#108
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: SAN
Programs: UA Gold/1MM
Posts: 661
All this wouldnt have mattered if UA had put that flight information/map as part of its entertainment that all the other leading airlines do.
However to the OP, I understand you are going by the rules stated in the Hemispheres but the reality is that UX carriers have their own rules and secondly most crew members have no education of electronics/avionics.
I have used the GPS from time to time, if I have been stuck on a window with a southern view. My stupid Garmin hardly ever gets a signal so my success rate is very low. I used one last sunday on my ORD-SAN flight when they said that they will be taking a longer southern route to avoid tornadoes in OK. Well I saw myself going over AR and over TX pan handle etc, and then the stupid thing lost the signal. But I did it with the brightness set to minimum and not holding in front of other pax. If the crew had seen it and tell me to put it away, I would put it away without feeling any grief about it.
Just like half the people on any given flight never turn off their cellphones when the door closes, they have to update FB that the wheels are up. Once I was in FC on a 737 with DirectTV and the live TV wasnt working. When I asked the FA she said maybe the cable tv was cutoff from this flight. So, my advise is to do it discreetly and if they ask you to put it away then comply.
However to the OP, I understand you are going by the rules stated in the Hemispheres but the reality is that UX carriers have their own rules and secondly most crew members have no education of electronics/avionics.
I have used the GPS from time to time, if I have been stuck on a window with a southern view. My stupid Garmin hardly ever gets a signal so my success rate is very low. I used one last sunday on my ORD-SAN flight when they said that they will be taking a longer southern route to avoid tornadoes in OK. Well I saw myself going over AR and over TX pan handle etc, and then the stupid thing lost the signal. But I did it with the brightness set to minimum and not holding in front of other pax. If the crew had seen it and tell me to put it away, I would put it away without feeling any grief about it.
Just like half the people on any given flight never turn off their cellphones when the door closes, they have to update FB that the wheels are up. Once I was in FC on a 737 with DirectTV and the live TV wasnt working. When I asked the FA she said maybe the cable tv was cutoff from this flight. So, my advise is to do it discreetly and if they ask you to put it away then comply.