Handheld GPS auto mount OK?

Drew Dalgleish wrote:
On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 07:44:30 -0500, "Henry Kisor"
wrote:

Yeah, but what happens if you get ramped? That's my concern.

IF you get ramped and IF the inspector thinks the mount is permanent
grab it with both hands and rip it off. The 2 sided tape isn't that
strong that it can't be removed. I think they probably see an awful
lot of these mounts and won't be concerned about it. Better to have it
firmly attached than flying around the cockpit in turbulance.


If you get ramp checked, what the heck is the inspector doing pawing
through your cockpit? Hand him the required paperwork and put the sun
screens into place. He has no business inspecting the inside of your
cockpit.

Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR

"Frank Stutzman" wrote in message
...

If you get ramp checked, what the heck is the inspector doing pawing
through your cockpit? Hand him the required paperwork and put the sun
screens into place. He has no business inspecting the inside of your
cockpit.

I've never been ramped where he comes walking up by suprise but if he wants
to look inside he certainly can.

Henry, are you telling us that for all these years you have been flying
around using VORs, NDBs, and those funny colors on the chart for
navigation!?!?

For what it's worth, Velcro itself is held on with sticky tape.

If you ever want to remove it, beware trying to get that sticky stuff
off of Royalite without damaging the surface underneath---a little WD40
may help.

What's a VOR? What's a NDB? I fly IFR -- I Follow Roads.

Just kidding. I've used a Trimble Flightmate Pro with yoke mount for quite a
while.

Henry

"Elwood Dowd" wrote in message
...
Henry, are you telling us that for all these years you have been flying
around using VORs, NDBs, and those funny colors on the chart for
navigation!?!?

For what it's worth, Velcro itself is held on with sticky tape.

If you ever want to remove it, beware trying to get that sticky stuff
off of Royalite without damaging the surface underneath---a little WD40
may help.

"Elwood Dowd" wrote in message
...
Henry, are you telling us that for all these years you have been flying
around using VORs, NDBs, and those funny colors on the chart for
navigation!?!?

For what it's worth, Velcro itself is held on with sticky tape.

You want to see something sticky look at those little 3M pads that hold
satellite radio mounts on. You can get them off but you ain't gonna just
grab a corner and pull. I have a sat radio mount on the windshield just
forward of the forward door post, copilots side. Between the panel and the
post. So I fly along with the little remote control changing channels.

"Henry Kisor" wrote in message
...
Yeah, but what happens if you get ramped? That's my concern.

I submitted myself for a ramp inspection a year ago May. FAA calls it the
PACE program. You bring your plane and your logbooks for them to inspect.
They look over everything and tell you what concerns they have, if any.
Then you go fly with them for an hour and they put you thru a private pilot
checkride, more or less. It seems to be tailored to your experience level
and how you normally fly. I have found FSDO to be remarkably nice. They
didn't find anything on my plane that was even a minor concern and I brought
a lot of things to their attention. Such as my leather interior. Since it
has to meet FAR 23.853 for fire I simply showed him the piece of cardboard
that the sample material was attached to that I copied. He thought that was
great. I carry three weight and balance figures at all times in the plane,
on one sheet of paper. Depending on what seats I have installed you have to
look at a certain section of that paper. He thought that was pretty cool.
They pretty much only care that you have an airworthiness cert, an annual, a
medical and a pilot cert. As long as your plane isn't grossly illegal
they're pretty cool.

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 19:39:19 -0500, "Henry Kisor"
wrote:

I've just bought myself a new Garmin handheld GPS. I noticed that the auto
dash mount is stuck to the dashboard with some kind of double-stick stuff.
Is it OK by the FAA to stick the mount onto my airplane's glare shield this
way, or do they consider it a permanent installation and require 337s and
stuff?

What about using strong Velcro? Will that pass muster with the FAA as a
temporary installation?

Henry


I have what must be the world's simplest gps mount for the GPS2plus
GPS3 pilot series. works so well that the guy who borrowed my gps for
a ferry flight across australia made enough excuses that I gave it to
him and made another.
take a piece of 25thou 2024 aluminium sheet 5 1/4 inches by 3 1/2
inches. bend it into a squared "C" shape with 1 1/2 inch sides and 2
inch back. (you lose about an eighth in each bend)
then on the two edges make a quarter of an inch deep kink along the
edge.
ok? you end up with a 3 1/2 inch wide "C" shaped holder which slides
on from the back of the GPS and holds it with the screen vertical. The
antenae sits about an eighth clear of the mount.
I then epoxy on the base side one strip of hooks and one of loops.

epoxy on to the top of the dash a length of either hooks or loops in
the best position for use.

press the mount and gps in place and put a terry towelling hat over it
to keep it from overheating.

mine has been across australia 3 times without a problem. the spring
in the 2024 never seems to go slack and it holds the gps quite firmly.
the gps detatches and goes into my pocket when I'm away from the
aircraft.
Stealth Pilot
Australia

oh yeah I spray paint mine matte black.

Not liking yoke mounts, I considered other possibilities. I found
that my GPS (Garmin 92) would fit nicely between the old AN-type
DG and Artificial Horizon in my panel. The problem was how to
mount it there.

Looking around, I found that Garmin sells marine GPSs in the same
cases as their aviation units - and deck mounts to match. Removing
the ball swivel base from one of these provided a mount made for
my GPS that would firmly attach it to a flat surface. To provide
a suitable surface I fabricated an "L" bracket out of about .100
aluminum of similar length and width to the GPS case. The "L" is
actually an acute angle to provide an upward tilt. I installed the
deck mount on the bracket, then clipped the assembly to the brow
of the glareshield. Mounted in this the GPS is exactly where I want
it - front and center (of me), but in the way of nothing. I use an
extra large spring clip - available in any office supply store.

David Johnson

Thanks to everybody who answered my messages. Today I came up with a cheap
way to solve the problem -- an old yoke chart clip from Sporty's. A piece of
Velcro on the clip tongue and a matching piece on the GPS (Garmin 60CS
hiker/geocacher/marine model) did the job. The angle of the unit wasn't
exactly right for me, so I inserted a wooden wedge between the teeth of the
clip. Worked fine.

However, I've ordered a dash mount to see if that will work better. If it
blocks the forward view too much, I'll just use the mount in my minivan. I
also ordered a set of sticky sheets intended to mount the unit temporarily
so that I can experiment with it.

Henry


"David Johnson" wrote in message
om...
Not liking yoke mounts, I considered other possibilities. I found
that my GPS (Garmin 92) would fit nicely between the old AN-type
DG and Artificial Horizon in my panel. The problem was how to
mount it there.

Looking around, I found that Garmin sells marine GPSs in the same
cases as their aviation units - and deck mounts to match. Removing
the ball swivel base from one of these provided a mount made for
my GPS that would firmly attach it to a flat surface. To provide
a suitable surface I fabricated an "L" bracket out of about .100
aluminum of similar length and width to the GPS case. The "L" is
actually an acute angle to provide an upward tilt. I installed the
deck mount on the bracket, then clipped the assembly to the brow
of the glareshield. Mounted in this the GPS is exactly where I want
it - front and center (of me), but in the way of nothing. I use an
extra large spring clip - available in any office supply store.

David Johnson

"Henry Kisor" wrote in message ...
I've just bought myself a new Garmin handheld GPS. I noticed that the auto
dash mount is stuck to the dashboard with some kind of double-stick stuff.
Is it OK by the FAA to stick the mount onto my airplane's glare shield this
way, or do they consider it a permanent installation and require 337s and
stuff?

What about using strong Velcro? Will that pass muster with the FAA as a
temporary installation?

Henry

The FAA actually specifically says that items attached by Velcro do
not need a 337. Technically you need a 337 to attach a GPS via a yoke
mount.

-Robert