Usually when I fly commercial I take my GPS along and prop it up next to the window and amuse myself with the speeds and location of small airports we're passing. Once a stew saw it and practically had a cow. Made me turn it off and put it away. I'm sure she called up front and asked about it cause she left me alone after that. Now I do it on the sly. Flew all the way to Chicago this fall and The pilots and me were the only ones on the plane who knew exactly where we were at any given moment. THe other thing that gets me is "turn of all electrical devices" as if a receiver can interfere with anything in the cockpit 20 to 50 feet away. And talk about stupid. Watch what happens when TSA sees a GPS in your carry on and asks what it is. THen the bells go off and they figure you're the next hijacker.

Yeah the GPS and radio receiver prohibition has always struck me as senseless. I sometimes use my little GPS on the sly too. I picked up the little Southwest magazine in the seat pocket last time I flew, and they have GPS receivers expressly prohibited in the list. I really think that most of the general public believe a GPS transmits your location to something or someone.

1SeventyZ wrote:Yeah the GPS and radio receiver prohibition has always struck me as senseless. I sometimes use my little GPS on the sly too. I picked up the little Southwest magazine in the seat pocket last time I flew, and they have GPS receivers expressly prohibited in the list. I really think that most of the general public believe a GPS transmits your location to something or someone.

Eons ago when I first got a Garmin GPS, a model 89 I think, I was jumpseating from ANC to SEA and I had the thing in my pocket (way pre TSA and 9-11 days). Got to talking about it, and then pulled it out, and for the rest of the flight it sat up on the 737 glareshield while we compared it's accuracy with the high dollar stuff in the airplane. There was no problem with interference.

Gump

In '05 I flew two or three commercial legs from Alaska to Maine to buy 88A. I just hand-carried my flight bag with 196, icom, headsets and iridium sat phone in it, plus other pilot stuff. In Anchorage and SeaTac, I don't think anyone even gave me a second look. Of course it could have gone differently, but I couldn't think of a better way to get that stuff back east at the time.

Last year in Alaska I was boarding an airline flight out of Cordova, and the security folks were letting everyone walk around the metal detector, belt knives and all. The only person I saw get denied was a fisherman carrying a 30 lb galvanized boat anchor with enormous pointy flukes on it. And even then, the security lady was very apologetic about not allowing it in the cabin.

Worst thing about flying commercial might be never having your leatherman with you when you get where you're going.

a64pilot wrote:CBP, yeah they are "border protection" now too,

I flew the Taylorcraft to the lower 48, post 9-11. I thought I had all my ducks in a row and was literally phoning FSS to file my departure flight plan, when the (very astute) briefer asked if I had my TSA waiver for crossing the 54th parallel with no transponder. First I'd heard of that requirement.

It was a Friday, almost the end of the workday back in D.C., and I could see my fall weather window getting pissed away by bureaucracy. Actually, it turned out just the opposite. A nice lady gave me a TSA waiver number over the phone on my first try, and faxed a paper copy that I got forwarded to me en route.

When I did re-cross the border and land at a little crop duster strip in Pembina, ND, a friendly, bored guy in a S.W.A.T. getup landed five minutes later to check me out. He had been issued a brand-new 172, and had put 500 hours on it just flying back and forth along the MB/ND border.

A bigger problem was that the AOPA directory I had was supposedly current, but 80% of the Airports-of-Entry it listed had had their customs and immigration services terminated post 9-11. Made it hard to reenter the country without taking a 65 hp, non-electric Taylorcraft into some huge regional airport amid a bunch of heavies. I landed Pembina because it was about the only AOE along my route where the airspace didn't require prior written permission for an AC with no transponder.

These new proposals for online notification prior to border crossings strike me as a joke up here, except that if they are adapted, the joke is on all the low-hp, short range, vfr, pleasure-flyers, who can't go Whitehorse to Fairbanks direct, and don't want to anyway.

GumpAir wrote: Got to talking about it, and then pulled it out, and for the rest of the flight it sat up on the 737 glareshield while we compared it's accuracy with the high dollar stuff in the airplane. There was no problem with interference.

Nor is there any remote reason to believe there would be, which makes the prohibited use such a mystery. There has to be some other reason...like a terrorist calling his buds from the inflight seatback phone and saying:

[al qaeda voice] "Ohhhh yess! It appears we are on the ILS 16L approach, 10 miles NW of the FAF. We are a little off glideslope, but that is okay! According to XM satellite METAR, AWOS is reporting a nice headwind. Keep the van running and boot up the Stinger! [/al qaeda voice]

1SeventyZ wrote:

GumpAir wrote: Got to talking about it, and then pulled it out, and for the rest of the flight it sat up on the 737 glareshield while we compared it's accuracy with the high dollar stuff in the airplane. There was no problem with interference.

Nor is there any remote reason to believe there would be, which makes the prohibited use such a mystery. There has to be some other reason...like a terrorist calling his buds from the inflight seatback phone and saying:

[al qaeda voice] "Ohhhh yess! It appears we are on the ILS 16L approach, 10 miles NW of the FAF. We are a little off glideslope, but that is okay! According to XM satellite METAR, AWOS is reporting a nice headwind. Keep the van running and boot up the Stinger! [/al qaeda voice]

All electronic devices emit some RF. The amount emitted is determined by design and/or shielding. There have been documented cases of AM/FM receivers causing RF interference, so their prohibition on makes sense. GPS are different. We private pilots have pretty much proven that there isn't a problem. If there is an FCC symbol on the case somewhere it is almost guaranteed that it's not going to cause a problem. I'm guessing here, but it seems that the airline's reasoning has to do with liability. It is far easier and safer for airline execs to prohibit their use and not worry about someone bringing a crappily designed GPS on board that emits RF all over the spectrum.

GPS *are* allowed on someairlines such as NWA, Midwest, United, and US Air among others. Southwest, Alaska, American, and others don't allow them.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/getline/2006-06-26-ask-the-captain_x.htm

All electronic devices emit some RF energy. I'm no electrical engineer but had one explain to me how it could cause problems. It's not necessarily the proximity to the cockpit that counts but proximity to the wiring that runs from the cockpit to the control actuators, most new airliners being fly by wire now. If said device is close enough to the wrong wiring for the RF energy to interfere with the signal being sent through the wire there may be a problem. There have been a number of documented cases of seemingly insignificant devices (game boys and others) causing autopilot roll or pitch problems. Thus the rule that they must be off when below FL180. The odds of causing a problem is admittedly low but who wants a kid playing Mario Bros. to cause a pitchover while on an approach. Turning it off for the short time you are below FL180 seems to be a small price to pay for the assurance that it will not cause problem.

The Bad part is most of us are afaid to say anything about this stuff because our job is dependant on our lic. and we could loss it if we where to say the wrong thing. hope this is vauge and I don't get in trouble.