GPS for VFR - Reviews

BOOK OFFERS
GPS GUIDANCE
FOR VFR PILOTS

VFR pilots who want to take advantage of all that GPS has to offer now have a source book to help them get started. GPS for VFR by Mike Meadows is intended to be used as a supplement to the owners manuals of popular GPS models. The emphasis is on showing how GPS works and how it works with more traditional navigation systems typically taught during pilot training. Among the topics covered in the slim book are how GPS functions, applying navigation basics to GPS, common GPS functions, safety concerns, flight planning, en route emergencies and lost procedures, finding wind direction and speed, choosing a GPS, and common terminology. The book also includes a detailed description of an HSI, a traditional navigational tool that has been integrated into many GPS units.
The book is available for $19.95.
For more information or to order, contact Mike Meadows Consultancy, 5623 Charlestown Colony Drive, Houston, Texas 77084; telephone 281/859-5011. Or visit the Web site (www.gpsforvfr.com).

-Elizabeth A. Tennyson

PILOT BRIEFING

AOPA members in the news

Mike Meadows, AOPA 01392535, of Houston, Texas, has written and published GPS for VFR – A Practical GPS Guide for VFR Pilots. The book provides guidance for VFR pilots on how to get the most out of their GPS. The accompanying website contains useful and free information, as well as downloadable GPS simulators and manuals.

Anyone who already has bought a GPS, or someone thinking about buying one, will find this book a useful companion to the manufacturer supplied manual.

The book is available for $19.95 plus $3.99 shipping from his website www.gpsforvfr.com or by mail at 5623 Charlestown Colony Dr., Houston, TX 77084.

"I spent over $900 for a Garmin GPS, an extra 20 bucks for this book was worth it".
Private pilot, CA.

"That's a good idea for a book, most folks don't know how to really use their GPS.
Our training syllabus does not yet include GPS"
Flight school owner, TX.

"This book really is a good companion to the manual that came with the GPS".
Private pilot.

"Good job of presenting a complex topic in a simple and straight forward manner without omitting the fundamentals."
Private pilot, WA.

"The only thing you need to know about GPS is where the off button is!"
Iama Luddite, CFII

Your forms are great. The planning log is outstanding. I haven't had my license that long and I still plan everything out. I fly with some of the "old hands" who just dialup the loran or GPS and go, but I am still fresh enough to plan the flight.
Private pilot, MT.

I received the book and read through it last night.
On a positive note. I like it. It's nice and clear and well written. I especially liked the sample flight from start to finish. I also like the downloadable forms that accompany the text. The only negative part: I think it could use a little more beef, perhaps with several, slightly-different, sample flights. In summary, I like the book and I'm glad I bought it!
Private pilot.

I am very impressed with your book. I am a CFII, and I specialize in Garmin GNS430 instruction. I like how you organized your book and made it generic enough so that a pilot with any popular portable GPS can glean useful info from it. I have a Garmin 195, and I've used it to trace my IFR students' ground track when we're flying DME arcs. You're book has given me some more good ideas.
CFII, PA.

Nice piece of work, Mike. I didn't really find too much new in it. But, it does serve as a useful review of the obvious--and of some not-quite-so-obvious. Glad to have it, in any case.
Private pilot, WA.

Ordered the book just because the description looked exactly like what I wanted -- and indeed it is!!! Just got a Garmin 295 for a long cross-country -- but it arrived the night before departure, did the video that night, left for the Florida coast the next am. Played with the device, but the next day, when "all of middle Florida looks the same" and with weather off and on, lots of winds, my "navigator" son couldn't get familiar with the GPS screens. I kept asking for bearing, he kept saying he was working on it. Jacksonville Approach helped out: "We have you in the middle of a hot MOA, suggest course 230 for the next 4 minutes." DAMN!!!

Finally got familiar enough, though locating on the sectional was a problem until western Florida and the panhandle, got a bunch easier. So ...... you might imagine that I was very impressed with your examples and lessons at the end of the book!

Anyway, your book is absolutely superb -- a very valuable help for the early GPS user -- and, I suspect, for someone who has used for sometime but really never with an underlying understanding, just a rote familiarity. You've help my aviation safety a bunch.

I love the BASIC acronym -- also your kind offer to download your customized VFR/GPS flight planning forms -- THANKS! Also -- neat suggestions for "other uses" -- very creative.

Page 63 -- just for clarification, since folks often misread what they intend to read the way they THINK it means: "and avoid flying in inclement weather until you have mastered" so no one misreads that they ought to practice in messy weather with another pilot along.

Also -- just a note that I really appreciate your comments that GPS is SECONDARY navigation. My first experience with a GPS in the cockpit was when I was re-upping training and my instructor brought along his ..... we disagreed about "which bend in the river" we were flying over. I circled long enough for us (me) to prove that pilotage was correct and he was MIS-reading his GPS.

Received the book in a couple days as you said, think you have a seller there. Read the book and think it is great. Would like to see you write one about plain VFR navigation.
Private pilot.