Often times, I would agree, but when you have a system that has everything the lawyers and ATC would be happy with and the ONLY other means of navigation is a system that isn't kept in service in many places that we operate, it gets kind of silly. The institutional inertia of the community back when the aquisition process started certainly didn't help, either. I'm surprised our displays are NVG compatible.
Concur, but that wasn't my point. It IS silly, but it's keeping air traffic controllers employed and vital to the system, yet protects them from being blamed to the maximum extent possible. The system is designed to shield them from work, blame, and inconvenience. Our job as pilots is to support them.
Let's put it this way: The GPS that you have in the -60, or the one in the Harrier, is perfectly capable of guiding you through a GPS approach with much better accuracy than the TACAN that you currently use. Unfortunately, due to concerns about liability on the part of the FAA and air traffic controllers (masked as concern for your welfare) you are not legally (from the lawyers) allowed to do that because the accuracy isn't EXACTLY as good as an IFR rated GPS system, and it has the added detriment of being user manipulated, which means that you might screw up entering the points. In other words, you could do things better, safer, and easier your own way, but because you would put them in legal peril, you're not allowed to. They could care less that you might be putting your life in jeopardy (you aren't, really). By the way, the landing will be at your own risk. Unlike all the other ones.......which were somehow at their risk.
I find it slightly humorous that my craft and its GPS are perfectly capable of delivering 2000lbs of steel and explosives onto a target with only a couple of feet or inches in error, but that same system isn't capable of getting me to a safe landing with whatever mins I need for a precision approach. The bureaucrats can suck it.
I hear this all the time at the heliport in Norfolk. "Heliport is not in sight from Chambers tower, landing will be at your own risk." I guess their risk is spilling coffee in their lap when they realized we crashed and died.
I don't think he meant in-flight, but if you want in-flight weather, there's ADS-B http://www.foreflight.com/stratus
I looked at the BadElf, but ended up going with the Dual xGPS150A. Bluetooth, WAAS enabled, and gets a fix (even from cold start) in about 30 seconds. They say the battery lasts 8 1/2 hours, but I haven't had time to test it yet. I turned it on, paired it, and was shocked when I got a <3m fix within 30 seconds, and I was INDOORS.
What do you mean by GPS link? Are you talking about a peripheral GPS like bad elf, or the GPS that is integrated in the 3G/4G chip?
I'm pretty sure that number is associated with the internal GPS. The external bad elf ones are supposed to work even better.
I'd love to try it out. I think the e-pubs/plates are obviously helpful but there is much utility in moving map (that SHOULD be in our bird) and a lot more versatility for a non-flying pilot or crewman in the TERF environment (sort of like a DMK/BFT, except.... one that works, and works well).
If you register through the site that Brett and I were talking about, you can get all the alphabet soup charts (other than sectionals) and put them on your iPad. I'm not smart on how they're read within the OS, but they tell you how on the site. @Otto, I've been told that the common cockpit is getting a moving map "soon." I have no idea if that means in a year or 3.
I was giving that some serious consideration but I've read a few poor reviews on the stratus unit and $800 for the stratus plus $500 for the ipad is a lot. I'm really trying to find out at what altitude an iPad with 3/4G will lose signal, not that it would be on in flight, just a point of curiosity, obviously.
In my limited experience with my iPad (1st Gen) and my iPhone 4, I have noticed that my iPad gets a better signal than my iPhone. If that's the case, I think I'll maintain a pretty good signal at standard helo altitudes. I say this based on the fact that I've checked the WX using my iPhone at standard helo altitudes...
90 series is supposed to come with the moving map. We're getting 86 series, JMPS and the hand unit (to replace the replace the mouse stick/PKs) now. When I was at PAX for JMPS training the word on 90 series was a year to year and a half out. Im sure a VX-1 rotorhead or someone with more knowledge than myself can confirm.
Romeos are supposed to get -86 and JMPS this/next month. I can't wait. I'm sure it's a paradigm shift. I just want a "FIX" button.
I was impressed with the aggressive rollout for software updates. Having common cockpit across both our new helos sure does give economies of scale.
