Airmap 500
- Thread starter SkyJeff
- Start date
SkyJeff
New Member
Yeah I should have posted it there.
I'm glad you like yours. How hard is it to learn?
Let's say your going from Airport A to Aiport B. Does it give you a heading?
For the harder questions, if it does give you a heading is it the true or magnetic heading? Does it ask for the wind direction/velocity?
Or does it just draw a line from A to B and your suppose to keep the plane on it?
I'm glad you like yours. How hard is it to learn?
Let's say your going from Airport A to Aiport B. Does it give you a heading?
For the harder questions, if it does give you a heading is it the true or magnetic heading? Does it ask for the wind direction/velocity?
Or does it just draw a line from A to B and your suppose to keep the plane on it?
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
I thought it was a fairly easy GPS to pick up, but I'm probably biased with how much times I spend with computers, most electronic things don't seem too complicated anymore.
It has a map mode and an HSI mode. I normally use the HSI mode. It works just like a normal HSI, there's a CDI (probably called something else on an HSI) and you track to it. You can go direct or set a radial off of it (psuedo-VOR mode).
I don't know if it gives you a true or magnetic course. It tells you your current ground track and then the bearing to the station. I'll guess that ground track is true course corrected for magnetic deviation (I'm assuming the GPS knows what the correction is for a given are of land, but I'm only guessing) and then corrected for winds aloft. You don't need to plug in winds, it'll tell you them.
I have to add though, that I wouldn't recommend you get a GPS until after your private pilot checkride at the earliest, and I'd honestly say until after your instrument rating. That's a personal opinion of mine, though.
It has a map mode and an HSI mode. I normally use the HSI mode. It works just like a normal HSI, there's a CDI (probably called something else on an HSI) and you track to it. You can go direct or set a radial off of it (psuedo-VOR mode).
I don't know if it gives you a true or magnetic course. It tells you your current ground track and then the bearing to the station. I'll guess that ground track is true course corrected for magnetic deviation (I'm assuming the GPS knows what the correction is for a given are of land, but I'm only guessing) and then corrected for winds aloft. You don't need to plug in winds, it'll tell you them.
I have to add though, that I wouldn't recommend you get a GPS until after your private pilot checkride at the earliest, and I'd honestly say until after your instrument rating. That's a personal opinion of mine, though.
Captain_Bob
Well-Known Member
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I love mine...
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Is this the same John who in my backyard, amongst the Oberon and burgers, announced to all parties present that he didn't like GPS???
Bob
I love mine...
[/ QUOTE ]
Is this the same John who in my backyard, amongst the Oberon and burgers, announced to all parties present that he didn't like GPS???
Bob
BrettInLJ
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
I have to add though, that I wouldn't recommend you get a GPS until after your private pilot checkride at the earliest, and I'd honestly say until after your instrument rating. That's a personal opinion of mine, though.
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Agree... I plan to buy an Airmap 500 to reward myself after passing my commercial checkride. There only about $350 now from marvgolden.com!
I have to add though, that I wouldn't recommend you get a GPS until after your private pilot checkride at the earliest, and I'd honestly say until after your instrument rating. That's a personal opinion of mine, though.
[/ QUOTE ]
Agree... I plan to buy an Airmap 500 to reward myself after passing my commercial checkride. There only about $350 now from marvgolden.com!
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
Air Traffic Control is a good backup, along with all those other skills your instructor teaches you. Let me assure you, it's nearly impossible to be lost most places in the United States for more than about 5 minutes. Triangulate your position using VOR's, call ATC for a vector, or maybe look out your window and see if you can identify where you are and back it up with a set of VOR's. Maybe fly to an NDB in the area and it'll take you right to where you want to be.
And yes, I was one of those people that believed that GPS made things too easy. I learned how to fly the hard way, nothing but shody VOR's and DME that worked half the time. I've gotta say though, I'm glad I learned like that because I've found when things start happening quickly in the plane I end up turning off the GPS and go into survival mode which involves raw data from a VOR reciever and the basic six pack. Anything else is gravy, and I'm glad I learned with the basics and added on the knowledge of GPS instead of the other way around.
And yes, I was one of those people that believed that GPS made things too easy. I learned how to fly the hard way, nothing but shody VOR's and DME that worked half the time. I've gotta say though, I'm glad I learned like that because I've found when things start happening quickly in the plane I end up turning off the GPS and go into survival mode which involves raw data from a VOR reciever and the basic six pack. Anything else is gravy, and I'm glad I learned with the basics and added on the knowledge of GPS instead of the other way around.
jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
Oh, something else I forgot to add in that last post; don't worry about getting lost. I got lost on my solo cross country. I couldn't find any of my visual checkpoints, so I tossed the nav log in the back of the plane, tuned in a few VOR's and finished the flight. One of my flight instructors said he did the same thing on his. Hell, I got lost going to my private pilot checkride. That was a hard sell to the DE.
"Sorry I'm late sir, I got a little lost getting here"
"Lost by how much? It's only a 20 minute flight from where you came from"
"Well Flint approach told me I missed the airport by 20 miles...but I really don't suck at flying that much!"
I'm of the opinion that getting lost sometime during your training is a right of passage, just one of those things. Just don't bust airspace! I didn't have to worry about that back then. No one cared if I drilled holes in the sky over northern Michigan for hours not having a clue what was happening, but I couldn't do that around Dallas.
"Sorry I'm late sir, I got a little lost getting here"
"Lost by how much? It's only a 20 minute flight from where you came from"
"Well Flint approach told me I missed the airport by 20 miles...but I really don't suck at flying that much!"
I'm of the opinion that getting lost sometime during your training is a right of passage, just one of those things. Just don't bust airspace! I didn't have to worry about that back then. No one cared if I drilled holes in the sky over northern Michigan for hours not having a clue what was happening, but I couldn't do that around Dallas.
BrettInLJ
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Oh, something else I forgot to add in that last post; don't worry about getting lost. I got lost on my solo cross country. I couldn't find any of my visual checkpoints, so I tossed the nav log in the back of the plane, tuned in a few VOR's and finished the flight. One of my flight instructors said he did the same thing on his. Hell, I got lost going to my private pilot checkride. That was a hard sell to the DE.
"Sorry I'm late sir, I got a little lost getting here"
"Lost by how much? It's only a 20 minute flight from where you came from"
"Well Flint approach told me I missed the airport by 20 miles...but I really don't suck at flying that much!"
I'm of the opinion that getting lost sometime during your training is a right of passage, just one of those things. Just don't bust airspace! I didn't have to worry about that back then. No one cared if I drilled holes in the sky over northern Michigan for hours not having a clue what was happening, but I couldn't do that around Dallas.
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I got "disoriented"
on my first solo cross country when I was almost home. It actually was a good experience... just looked on the chart for the nearest VOR in the area, tuned it, flew to it (it was close by) and tracked the appropriate radial outbound to my next checkpoint. It's very confidence building.
Oh, something else I forgot to add in that last post; don't worry about getting lost. I got lost on my solo cross country. I couldn't find any of my visual checkpoints, so I tossed the nav log in the back of the plane, tuned in a few VOR's and finished the flight. One of my flight instructors said he did the same thing on his. Hell, I got lost going to my private pilot checkride. That was a hard sell to the DE.
"Sorry I'm late sir, I got a little lost getting here"
"Lost by how much? It's only a 20 minute flight from where you came from"
"Well Flint approach told me I missed the airport by 20 miles...but I really don't suck at flying that much!"
I'm of the opinion that getting lost sometime during your training is a right of passage, just one of those things. Just don't bust airspace! I didn't have to worry about that back then. No one cared if I drilled holes in the sky over northern Michigan for hours not having a clue what was happening, but I couldn't do that around Dallas.
[/ QUOTE ]
I got "disoriented"
aloft
New Member
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The reason I want one is for when I do my long x-country I just want to keep it in my pocket as a emergency backup.
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That's a legit use IMHO. I've heard of CFIs putting their students' GPS receiver in a stapled-shut paper bag, so afterward it'd be apparent if the student cheated or needed bailing out!
On the other hand, there's value to practicing your lost procedures and a good chance they'll be on your private checkride! I had to demonstrate lost procedures on mine, and I don't think that "but I'll always have GPS" would've satisfied my DE, even tho I always do!
The reason I want one is for when I do my long x-country I just want to keep it in my pocket as a emergency backup.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's a legit use IMHO. I've heard of CFIs putting their students' GPS receiver in a stapled-shut paper bag, so afterward it'd be apparent if the student cheated or needed bailing out!
On the other hand, there's value to practicing your lost procedures and a good chance they'll be on your private checkride! I had to demonstrate lost procedures on mine, and I don't think that "but I'll always have GPS" would've satisfied my DE, even tho I always do!