Kyle Boatright wrote:


No problem.

Last summer, we were headed back to Atlanta from San Antonio, and were
dodging some pretty big weather in the process. Of course, the weather
avoidance put us in the proximity of a restricted area in Alabama,
which I was trying very hard to avoid.

And then I noticed that the information provided by the GPS didn't
make any sense. I was pretty sure I was holding the same heading I'd
been maintaining for a few minutes, but the GPS heading was off by
20 or 30 degrees and the groundspeed was off by 50 knots. And the
restricted area was getting closer...

After a couple of minutes of consulting maps, repositioning the GPS
antenna, etc., I noticed that the portable MP3 player was sitting on
the glareshield right next to the GPS. Naah, couldn't be
interference, I thought, but I moved the MP3 player anyway.

The GPS started giving believable information, and things were right
with the world again. The missing 50 knots of groundspeed returned
and I was still clear of the restricted area.

Was I ever lost? Nope, but I was fairly concerned/confused for a
couple of minutes while I tried to sort out the situation.

It all proves that even a GPS isn't a good substitute for maintaining
situational awareness.

KB



Absolutely. A few years ago, I was asked to source a reliable
distress system for a particular state capital's can't name them parking
inspectors.

Every once in a while, some moron would object to getting a ticket and try
to rough up the inspector. As it turns out, some of the 'sticker
lickers' welcomed the change in pace and could handle themselves quite well,
but there's only a few punters that you can flatten before your management
considers your career options.

A particular brand of phone was tried, 200 examples were purchased and
issued to the parking inspectors. As it happened, they worked fine
as a distress beacon - in the suburbs. In the high-rise parts of
town, in the back alleys and deep in the concrete jungle, these damned
phones could only ever see one or two satellites. So they reported
people in trouble in wheatfields 2-300km away.

Perhaps if they were fitted with a bayonet attachment .....


--

Cheers

Dave Kearton