Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2013-2014 - 67

on, functioning as long as battery power lasts.
Security stands out as another; can’t steal one from
a plane – or camper or boat – when the device goes
home with the owner.
Portability itself stands large among participants who
rent rather than own – boats and airplanes, campers
and motor homes, alike. The user may not own their
recreational conveyance but they still covet the higherfunction features of so many portable devices.
Of course, the lucky pilot is the one who never
needs the standby value of a portable communicator or
navigator, much like the lucky fisherman is the one who
never needs the personal flotation device or personal
locator beacon because the boat sank.
In reality, portability has pervaded so many areas
of cockpit technology that we felt it best to limit this
article and accompanying buyer’s guide product chart
to portable powerhouses in two areas: GPS navigation
and VHF communications/navigation.
To begin, we offer a guide for making the most of
those portable powerhouses when the unexpected
occurs – when you really need them to do what they do
– as well as an inventory of available devices and their
basic information.
Three Notes
First, the information presented here is primarily
intended to introduce you to these products and their
basic features, as portrayed by their manufacturers.
No intent is made to present this information as a full
review of any item’s capabilities; we hope to highlight
the most important features of each.
Second, all product information and pricing is from
the manufacturer or retail sellers; if a suggested retail
price is mentioned, as some companies present, that
price will be presented to you as such.
Third, many of these products will share in some
basics. For example, the satellite-navigation-system
receivers intended for the Western Hemisphere
customer will all reference position via the U.S.
military’s Global Positioning System satellite-navigation
network.
Most, albeit not necessarily all, also will employ
the accuracy enhancing correction satellites and
ground-reference stations of the WAAS, or wide-area
augmentation system. WAAS-enhanced receivers
deliver the highest accuracy – accurate to the degree
that certificated WAAS GPS navigators approved

- 67 -

“In reality, portability has pervaded so
many areas of cockpit technology that
we felt it best to limit this article and
accompanying buyer’s guide product
chart to portable powerhouses in
two areas: GPS navigation and VHF
communications/navigation.”

in some aircraft panels provide precision-approach
guidance to more than 3,000 runway ends – without
using ground-based guidance for reference.
We’ll attempt to point out those lacking WAAS rather
than repeatedly note that the unit of the moment shares
the WAAS enhancement.
The Many Roles of Portable GPS:
It’s About More than Navigation
If you want a graphic testament to the appeal of the
portable GPS, consider how many pilots you know
who fly behind panel-mounted, TSO-approved GPS
navigators – and consider their portable GPS receivers
as primary equipment for the many roles they fulfill in
those cockpits.
It’s less relevant to these pilots that their portable
GPS navigators are not approved for the same
instrument approach use as the TSO’d units in the
panel. These pilots own a portable navigator, in part,
for the functions and utility it brings – functions and
utility either missing from the panel navigator installed
in the aircraft or as an approach-possible backup
navigator they trust as accurate enough to tackle the
unthinkable: guiding the pilot through an instrument
approach, accurately enough to survive, if not wholly
approved.
This standby salvation factor comes up again and
Continued on following page…

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pilot's Guide to Avionics 2013-2014