On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 14:24:01 +0000 (UTC),
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

In a previous article, Peter Clark said:
On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 07:50:06 -0400, Rick McPherson
wrote:
2. How many of you use "handheld gps onboard" in the remarks field and
ask for "direct" enroute. Thanks in advance.

I believe this would be considered a violation if you're caught. I

A violation? Not if he didn't ask for or recieve a GPS routing. What do
you is you ask for a radar vector direct and follow it using your GPS. In
some situations, you can even prompt them for it by saying "can you give
me a radar vector 332 degrees direct to ALB". You're not using the GPS
as primary nav, you're using the radar vector as primary nav, and
monitoring it using the GPS. If the GPS died, you'd still be able to fly
the heading bug on your DG.

Your use would be covered under the "situational awareness" clause. I
bet you don't file /G or say "handheld GPS onboard" in your flight
plans with only a handheld, right? His intent clearly appears to be
using the handheld GPS for direct routing (otherwise why would there
be a comment in the flight plan and the request for direct enroute?)
and that's clearly against the objective of the rule. Basically, if
you only have a handheld, rule says you can't use it for anything
other than a backup to what's in the aircraft, why mention it in the
first place? It doesn't appear to buy anything in the IFR enroute
environment.