GPS on Delta

[+TAT]

Yesterday, while flying Delta, I was asked to turn off my gps by someone that claimed to be "the captain of the flight" I wasn't sure if he was with Delta since he was not dressed in uniform, but shut it off anyway. Then I opened the Delta magazine to show him the page that describes approved PEDs. To my suppris, the December issued does not list gps. I expained that Delta's web site does list gps but left it off anyway. About an hour later, one of the uniformed flight attendents came out and said I could use it if I wanted. He also showed me his copy of what appeared to be an FAA book of regulations. It listed a couple of catagories of gps recievers. The flight attendant thought my GPS III+ fit the catagory that is permitted. He also pointed out a catagory that uses an external antenea with a suction cup which is not allowed. I'm not sure what the differance is, other than I did not use a cable to make the antenea external and do not have a suction cup mount.

 

The flight crew was very professional and I was glad to turn it off while they verified the regulations. But, I wish I'd kept a copy of the web page with me.

[+Alan2]

quote:

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He also pointed out a catagory that uses an external antenea with a suction cup which is not allowed. I'm not sure what the differance is, other than I did not use a cable to make the antenea external and do not have a suction cup mount.

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I think they're concerned your might try to stick it to the outside of the window

 

Alan

[+bradtal]

Hello All-

 

I was on a business trip with a co-worker (who was also a pilot) and he brought his GPS with Suction Cup mount antenna. After a few minutes into the flight, he licked the suction cup and slapped it onto the window. It was cool to watch how fast we were flying and our altitude, etc.

 

But, it wasn't more than a few minutes before we had about 4 flight crew telling him to remove it. They said they got "many" complaints from other passengers thinking that we were going to blow up the plane or cut a hole into the window etc (by the way, this was over 5 years ago...)

 

So, anyways, I always ask if I can use my handheld gps (no external antenna) before turning it on. In all cases, they said it was ok as long as I turned it off during the first and last 10 minutes of the flight.

 

Brad

 

Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

[MisterMoon]

The last time was a couple of weeks ago on a flight from MSP-ATL, sitting in the first class cabin, the flight attendent spent half the flight talking to me about it. She told me she sees them all the time. She was buying one for her boyfriend for Christmas. I gave her a card with "www.geocaching.com" written on the back for her to stick in her BF's present.

 

While I think it's kind of cool to know that you're going 580 mph over Bugtussle, TN, I find that watching the moving map display just makes the trip seem longer. When you're on 80-100 flights a year (as I often am) you want to got where you're going as quick as possible. Where I use it is when flying cross country on days when there is cloud cover and therefore no visual cues as to how close we are to home, I'll turn it on for a quick check of miles to go. Otherwise, it's off and I'm either reading or sleeping.

[+Renegade Knight]

My mom just recently flew and informed me that GPS's were now on the list of items you could not operate on the plane. Check with your airline. This may vary and it may depend on type of GPS.

 

Wherever you go there you are.

[+yumitori]

quote:

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Originally posted by Renegade Knight:

My mom just recently flew and informed me that GPS's were now on the list of items you could not operate on the plane. Check with your airline. This may vary and it may depend on type of GPS.

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I'm trying to figure out why this would be. Aren't GPSrs passive receivers? Or am I showing my ignorance here?

 

Ron/yumitori

[+Allen_L]

While GPSrs are receivers any electronic device that receives radio waves also emits. Of course at a much lower level than one designed to transmit, but it will emit some.

 

Delta's website page http://www.delta.com/travel/trav_serv/bag_info/Portable_Electronics/index.jsp puts GPS in the same class as computers, CD players and so on. These devices can be used in flight but not taxi, take off and landings.

[+mikedx]

I flew on United a couple months ago and had my GPS with me cuz I too thought it would be neat to see how fast & altitude. But during the stewardesses preflight instructions, she specifically stated that a GPS should not be turned on at any time during the flight. I thought about sneaking it on anyway, but I get scared enough about flying and didn't want to risk the karma...

[+Team Mixster]

Hey there,

 

First off, the thought of people freaking out thinking someone is going to blow the plane up with a suction cupped antenna just has me rolling. Not that I don't believe it, it's just funny.

 

We just got back from Vegas and I used the GPS on the way out w/o having any issues with flight crew. However, I couldn't get a signal so it really didn't help much. It would have been nice to know the air speed and such as I'm fairly certain I heard the stall warning come from the cockpit on our ATL - LEX flight when the pilot banked too hard. Oh yeah, he also came on the air mid-flight to give us the latest college scores. I was like, are you flying the plane or watching the games up there???

 

-Mixster

[Mossy Oak]

Hey, I got in trouble using my GPS on a “Deep Sea fishing” trip. One of the deck hands noticed my GPS; he wanted to keep it until we returned shore. I never thought about it but they were concerned that I was planning on selling or giving the cords to a friend, because I know were all the great fish are. I did explain, it wasn’t my intention to know ware all the “great fishing spots" are it was only a hobby to see how many miles we went out. He let me keep my GPS only if I turned it off, after a while I turned it on. As it turned out, I noticed all we were doing was going aroung in circles most of the day within a 2-3 mile loop. In addition, with 40 people on board, only 2 people caught fish.

 

As I was leaving, I mentioned, even if I did plot cords. I wouldn’t tell anyone because they didn’t know ware the fish were either.

 

Happy New Years