GPS’r on commercial aircraft

[seekers8711]

😀 GOOD NEWS

Just returned from A trip to Alberta, Canada. Northwest Airlines. Madison, WI to Minneapolis, MN to Calgary, Alberta. Return flights were reversed.

I ASKED THE PILOT AS I BOARDED THE PLANE IF HE WOULD “PLEASE” GIVE PERMISSION FOR ME TO USE MY GPS IN FLIGHT. THE PILOT SIMPLY LOOKED THROUGH A 3 RING BINDER NEXT TO HIS SEAT UNDER THE HEADING OF “PERMISSABLE DEVICES”, (HAND HELD ELECTRONICS); NWA ALLOWS THEM TO BE USED DURING FLIGHT. (THE USUAL ELECTRONICS RESTRICTIONS APPLY). The pilot even asked me jokingly to let him know if he arrived at the correct city.

When I could not speak to the pilot while bording, I spoke politely to the head flight attendant, gave him/her my seat number and “politely” asked if he/her would speak to the pilot re: the GPS usage. The flight attendant came to my seat prior to take off, (while shutting the overhead compartment doors) and told me YES, it is OK to use the GPS.

When I deplaned, the pilot’s compartment door was always open and I “politely” thanked him for the kind gesture.

Hope others have similar luck with other airlines.

I was quite happily suprised, as VERY STRICT new security regs are in place.

That’s my $ .02 worth and hope it helps others.

seekers8711

[Lostby7]

I’ve done it many times; once both me and the guy right next to me both had ours out…

[Cheesehead Dave]

I used one on a Midwest flight, and also had it hooked up to my Powerbook running Streets and Trips with live tracking turned on. 500+ mph sounds fast, but watching the trail form on the map really illustrated how quick we were actually moving.

[litleflrt]

You guys had smart pilots then. When I flew Northwest back from Fargo ND. through MSP to Eau Claire I just turned it on in 1st class from Fargo to MSP and the flight attendant told me it was a banned item to please turn it off. I asked her to please ask the captain. They both said no. In MSP I personally asked the pilot (before boarding) if I could use it on the CRJ since my FIL used it on a saab 340. The pilot told me it might screw things up on the plane since a CRJ is a more avionics advanced plane than a saab 340. Hmmm, they use a version of a GPS on a CRJ to navigate, and a GPS doesn’t transmit, so there’s nothing going out to mess anything up. So the moral of this story is when flying don’t let your aircraft mechanic husband (who works on CRJ and saabs) talk you into turing on the GPS to find out how fast the bigger planes fly.

If I can get the GPS I’m going to try again tomorrow when I fly from CWA to DTW to ORF to see if I can use it again.

[EnergySaver]

well I know what ND and GPS are … but after that I’m just going to NMH

[Team Honeybunnies]

Somebody’s an airline worker…

The airlines use standardized codes for every airport. You’ll see them on your baggage tags. Lessee here… MSP is Minneapolis, DTW is Detroit, I think ORF is Orlando, and CWA is Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee. My mother worked for Northwest Airlines for 44 years before retiring, so I picked up a bit here and there. Not sure on the CRJ though…

[EnergySaver]

I’m going to guess that CRJ is Commercial Jet.
And FIL would appear to be a person rather than a destination or thing … like Flight-something-something person.

P.S. …. I made up NMH … Nod My Head

Should we tell her that it’s a GPSr not a GPS?

[GOJeepers]

Actually, FIL means Father-in-law…..

BTW, I really liked NMH….will have to use that one in the future. (And BTW meas “by the way”)

[hogrod]

This topic comes up all the time on the geocaching.com forums, though I’ve never understood why. I think using my gpsr on a plane would be great BUT I also feel that it could be used for negative things and probably should be a banned item.
To say that gpsr don’t put out any signal is just plain wrong, granted they are only designed to receive signal. ALL electronic devices put out signal/electromagnetic interference of some sort (notice the FCC compliance on the back of all your electronics). my old meridian gold would key up my FRS radio if it was on the right station, though of the two meridian gold’s I had only one would do this.

[EnergySaver]

Feel free to use NMH … but don’t confuse it with NiMH, which is Nickel Metal Hydride (aka one flavor of rechargable batteries) … aka means also known as.

I agree with the interferance signal that a GPSr can put out, being a concern. I have not flown in years … do they make you turn off cell phones on a flight? …. I would imagine they’d be an issue to … and what about laptops.

[Mama Fishcacher]

@EnergySaver wrote:

Feel free to use NMH … but don’t confuse it with NiMH, which is Nickel Metal Hydride (aka one flavor of rechargable batteries) … aka means also known as.

I agree with the interferance signal that a GPSr can put out, being a concern. I have not flown in years … do they make you turn off cell phones on a flight? …. I would imagine they’d be an issue to … and what about laptops.

When I flew in July from Milwaukee to Vegas, (MKE to LAS), we flew on Midwest. In the in-flight magazine, a list of items not allowed during flight included cell phones and GPSrs. Laptops were ok as long as they weren’t making any internet connection. (I don’t know anything about laptops, so I don’t know the correct terminology there, lol.)

I like the idea of checking with the pilot, although I’d worry about a passenger seeing me use and it thinking I was doing something illegal or whatnot. I was DYING to turn mine on and see how fast we were going though! 😉

[hogrod]

looks like some laptops are now going to be banned….

http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/15/virgin-bans-dell-apple-batteries-on-flights/

[abcdmCachers]

Gotta love TLA’s

We’ve had success in the past asking a flight attendendant for permission to use the GPSr. They knew exactly what we were asking about and gave us permission right away, although I’m sure results will vary. But I think getting permission is a must in this day and age.

[litleflrt]

BTW, ORF is Norfolk intn’ airport. And CRJ is Canadian air regional jet a branch of Bombardier for any snowmobile buffs. Sorry for the confusion in my abbreviations. Yup, as being part of Team Mesaba which is a regional carrier for Northwest my DH (dear Husband) is a mechanic and uses the standard 3 letter designations for things because it’s easier when talking about a specific airport like when someone works in a medical field the terminology wears off. Sorry for the confusion.

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