+Pharmadude Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 (Searching forums disabled at time of posting) I have seen this question discussed for other airlines, but since I am looking forward to taking my GPSr onboard Air Transat next week, I'd like to know if anyone has encountered a problem with this or any other Canadian airline. [This message was edited by Pharmadude on February 07, 2003 at 03:15 PM.] Quote Link to comment
phatcache Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 I have had my Etrex hanging from the window pulldown on both Jetsgo and Westjet flights without a problem. No questions at security either (not even about the knife that my father found he had left in his carry-on upon returning home). Quote Link to comment
The Big Kid Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 No problems, I take my Garmin on all trips out of town. You just need to be able to prove it works to the security folks(so remember to leave batteries in). My last airline trip was 24 Jan 03. I found it quite difficult to get a good fix though, even with a window seat. Quote Link to comment
+Couparangus Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 In the case of Air Tragic (sorry, Transat), I take my Garmin every time. Be sure to let the pilot know you have a "spare" that he can use when his conks out in the cockpit of his vintage Lockheed L-1011, (aka Lemon-Eleven). Air Transat is the wackiest airline I've flown on to be sure. From the pilots with their broken English to the flamboyant homosexual flight attendants and the brutually tight seat pitch. Many stories here but the most memorable was the three aborted landings on one flight into Toronto. My wife won't soon forget her overnight stay in Standstead airport when the plane broke down. All the passengers had to "sleep" in the departure lounge of the airport. One small problem though, the contractors work at night and the stranded passengers found it difficult to sleep with the ramset guns and power tools going. Haha! All cynicism aside, most airlines are quite suspicious of any elelctronic gadget nowadays so if you do use it on the plane I would be discrete about it. Don't hold it to the window and exclaim for all to hear, "Hey, we're only 1,439km away!!". The liklihood of a GPS receiver interfering with aircraft communications is, IMO, nil. Enjoy your trip - watch your knees though as I'm convinced the FAs aim for 'em with the drink trolley! Cheers! Coupar-Angus Quote Link to comment
The Big Kid Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Looking at what Coupar Angus said, I don't know about being discrete, if the flight attendants see you trying to sneak and hide something they get more worried. They just asked me what it was, I told them a GPS reciever and showed them the map display. They thought it was neat. If they think it needs to be put away, they could ask the pilot, and he knows that it won't be a problem. The good news is that almost all GPS units are recieve only and the signals it picks up are all around the aircraft all the time. The frequencies will have no impact on aircraft communications or navaids(aircraft term) they are miles away in the spectrum and being a reciever, the only problem is if it transmits. Even the Garmin Rhino transmitter would not impact as its frequency is too far away. Although it would be harder to explain than a GPS reciever. Leaving it in open view hasn't been a problem for me, above there was a mention of hanging it from the window pulldown. The altitude feature, if you have a barometric altimeter will not be accurate inside the pressurized cabin. It will probably never say more than 10,000 feet. Of note, the cockpit works on Nautical numbers (knots/miles) around the world still and altitude is still done in 1000's of feet. Enjoy your flight. Quote Link to comment
+LoneHowler Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 *Snikers* Air Tragic. most of the airport staff in Calgary Intl calles the airline Air Trash can More to see, More to do Quote Link to comment
Sliver & Lucy Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Will the GPS be harmed going through the x-ray? Just wondering if it would harm the LCD screen or the data? Quote Link to comment
Dave Lucas Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 Took my 315 on a flight to Jamaica, no worries. I showed to to the customs guy, and the first flight attendant, and she took it to the cockpit to get the pilots OK. All the way there, the FAs were asking for updates (I took an atlas from my day timer, and updated our route). On the way back, the FA just said "Oh hi, you mind if I show this to my freind?". Let the staff know what you're up to, and they're likely to help - hide and you're in big trouble. Quote Link to comment
+hoovman Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 [word_geek_mode] quote:Originally posted by Coupar-Angus:...if you do use it on the plane I would be discrete about it. Don't hold it to the window and exclaim for all to hear, "Hey, we're only 1,439km away!!"... quote:Originally posted by The Big Kid:Looking at what Coupar Angus said, I don't know about being discrete ... I was going to use a dictionary definition to illustrate that the point Coupar-Angus was making is not to hide the GPSr, but to use reasonable judgement and not make a big production out of it. So I looked up discrete (in 2 dictionaries!) and got only this definition: quote:Main Entry: dis·crete Pronunciation: dis-'krEt, 'dis-" Function: adjective 1 : constituting a separate entity : individually distinct 2 a : consisting of distinct or unconnected elements : NONCONTINUOUS b : taking on or having a finite or countably infinite number of values HUH? Then I looked up discretion and got the noun version of discreet. Aha! Mystery solved! We may or may not be discreet about out GPSrs, but we are all discrete. [/word_geek_mode] Seriously, though: you can get away with a lot in the world if you carry yourself in a confident manner. If you use your GPSr in-flight as though it's a perfectly OK thing to do, the worst reaction you're likely to get will start with: "Excuse me sir..." Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted February 12, 2003 Share Posted February 12, 2003 The question of commercial airlines allowing inflight passenger use of handheld GPSrs has indeed been discussed at length in previous threads. Because the policy seems to vary from airline to airline (and, at times, from pilot to pilot), the best piece of advice that inevitably comes out of all of these discussions is to simply check with the pilot of your aircraft. If he/she gives you the 'thumbs up', that's all you need; if he/she tells you no, then you've saved yourself the embarrassment of being 'caught' doing something you shouldn't by the flight attendants. Either way, I don't believe that you'll find any airline with a policy that states you can't have a GPSr in your carry-on luggage ...the question is whether or not they'll let you use it. Quote Link to comment
+Couparangus Posted February 18, 2003 Share Posted February 18, 2003 Techno-geek-hat-on I guess I've worked with discrete electronic components for too many years! I'll be more discreet in the future, especially considering I'm no longer working with discrete and have moved on to integrated and surface mount devices. C-A Quote Link to comment
+Pharmadude Posted February 24, 2003 Author Share Posted February 24, 2003 I've just returned from the week in Mexico. On the way down I slipped a note to the captain via a flight attendant. A few moments later he came down the aisle, greeted me very cordially, and indicated that he had no problem whatsoever with me using my GPS receiver during the flight. He pointed it out that "It probably won't work. I've already tried doing it myself!" Well, I'm happy to say that it in fact worked great, as long as I managed to hold it near the window. I had it on all the way for both flights--including takeoffs and landings. We were on an Airbus 300 which uses GPS technology to monitor flight status for the benefit of passengers, using maps projected on the video screens before and after the movie. It was neat to find that my unit was usually within 1 or 2 percent of the posted speed, elevation, ETA, etc. This was a fun trip. At least it sure helped to alleviate the misery of flying Air Sardine...er Transat. Quote Link to comment
+Team Giblert Posted March 13, 2003 Share Posted March 13, 2003 Just got back from a trip down south (and a few more caches), and the Alaska Airlines policy explicitly forbids the use of GPS receivers while in flight. It's stated both in the in-flight magazine and even annouced by the FAs ! Quote Link to comment
BullZie Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 Now, does anyone think that that policy is so strictly enforced so that you can't tell if the pilot is lost or not? LOL A few years ago I tried using my eTrex on a Dash-8 flight and I was unable to get anything. I was in a window seat with it pressed up against the window but I was also in the very back row, so I do not know if that would have made a difference or not. Has anyone had any issues on West-Jet yet? Quote Link to comment
Cache Canucks Posted March 16, 2003 Share Posted March 16, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Bullzie:"...A few years ago I tried using my eTrex on a Dash-8 flight and I was unable to get anything. I was in a window seat with it pressed up against the window but I was also in the very back row, so I do not know if that would have made a difference or not..." I think that positioning is everything. I've used my Vista while inflight a couple of times and, although it took awhile to get sat lock and the unit had to be held 'just so' against the window, once things 'kicked in', it worked great. Watching your flight's progress in real-time on a map in the palm of your hand sure beats reading the fine print on the air-sickness bag to pass the time... Quote Link to comment
bluebanshi Posted March 18, 2003 Share Posted March 18, 2003 Any chance that we could get a better reception over the wing? We should benefit from some signal reflections. I would like to try and compare but I'm not booked to go anywhere in the forseeable future. Volunteers? Quote Link to comment
+Bzzliteyr Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 I tried it from the cargo section of an Airbus once.. and it didn't work.. I told my mom not to send me "cargo".. I got really cold and hungry.. hehe But seriously, I had mine on the other day on my Tango flight from TO to Van.. no problems.. The Canadian Forces however, didn't like it when I dragged it up to my cockpit visit on the C-130 we took from Baffin Island to New Brunswick. guess they haven't "authorised" them yet.. Bzzliteyr Quote Link to comment
+Couparangus Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 At the risk of sounding like a geek. GPS receivers don't work with refelected signals like ones that would bounce of the wing of an airplane. The radio signal from the satellite is circularly polarized (Right-Hand Circularly Polarized or RHCP, in the case of GPS). When a GPS signal hits a surface and bounces off, the polarity changes to LHCP (Left-Hand Circularly Polarized). If you don't believe me, look in a mirrow and wave to yourself, note how your image is waving with the "other" hand! The attenuation from the GPS receiver's antenna for LHCP signals is so great that the signal is no longer readable and is just ignored. It is this polarization technique that makes GPS work as well as it does. Other radio communication systems use circular polarization - FM broadcast is an example. However, for different reasons than GPS. Most all FM receiver antennas are linearly polarized. For example, the antenna on your car is a straight wire stick. If it were circularly polarized it would look decidely different and be cumbersome and awkward to have on a vehicle. The attenuation between a circularly polarized signal and a linearly polarized receiving antenna is 3dB. That is to say, you lose half the signal. However, this attenuation remains the same regardless of what position or location the antenna is in. That means the FM station appears to have less fade and flutter and sounds better. Now you know! Cheers! Coupar-Angus Quote Link to comment
+PDOP's Posted March 20, 2003 Share Posted March 20, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Coupar-Angus:At the risk of sounding like a geek. GPS receivers don't work with refelected signals like ones that would bounce of the wing of an airplane. The radio signal from the satellite is circularly polarized (Right-Hand Circularly Polarized or RHCP, in the case of GPS). When a GPS signal hits a surface and bounces off, the polarity changes to LHCP (Left-Hand Circularly Polarized). If you don't believe me, look in a mirrow and wave to yourself, note how your image is waving with the "other" hand! The attenuation from the GPS receiver's antenna for LHCP signals is so great that the signal is no longer readable and is just ignored. It is this polarization technique that makes GPS work as well as it does. Coupar-Angus Great info but isn't multipathing caused by reflected signals? PDOP's GPS Pages Quote Link to comment
Cire Yamel Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 After both legs of a trip on Alaska this weekend, as I was leaving the plane, the pilots were greeting passengers. As I walked past I made the comment "Bring back GPS for passengers." One group replied "Absolutely!" and a pilot in the other group said "Agreed. It's a pretty dumb policy." Hearing the pilot's support made me feel a little better about Alaska and that maybe they'll change the policy back someday. Quote Link to comment
Ting Posted May 16, 2003 Share Posted May 16, 2003 I've never had any problems with my GPS on any Westjet flights. Did a trip Calgary-Hamilton return, asked a FA, she didn't know. There was a pilot deadheading back to Calgary and he said as long as it's a receiver, no problems. They just didn't want them turned on during take-off or landing. Had mine (Mag 315) up to the window and got a lock in about 2 minutes. Quote Link to comment
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