External GPS for Rocky Mountain West??

[Skydreamer2015]

I was curious if an external GPS is necessary to use ForeFlight on my iPad in Rocky Mountain states like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado? I have read that some have issues in these states using just the internal GPS on their iPads. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[CT4ME]

I've flown between Phoenix and Seattle, via Nevada, Utah and Idaho. And across Southern Colorado.... no problems with just the built-in GPS. Don't let it get in the sun and too hot... or it will take a little auto-timeout.

 

[Clark1961]

I was curious if an external GPS is necessary to use ForeFlight on my iPad in Rocky Mountain states like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado? I have read that some have issues in these states using just the internal GPS on their iPads. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

No problems for me flying in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, or Idaho. The internal GPS doesn't care where it is...it might not initialize as fast but there are no other problems.

 

[SportPilotCO]

I live in Colorado Springs and have flown all over CO, AZ, NM, WY and MT and haven't had issues with iPad GPS reception on the iPad. I don't use it all the time on those flights, but haven't seen any real problems. I also have a GDL-39 which will provide external GPS and it works great as well. I prefer the Garmin 796 to the iPad for inflight use. I love Foreflight for flight planning all the time and options planning in the air sometimes.

Carl

 

[Tom-D]

What is aviation coming to? does any one use a plotter, wet compass and sectional any more.

 

[SportPilotCO]

My first trip to Oshkosh for the show 4 years ago, my co-pilot bought a whole set of brand new sectionals. He had all of these, an AFD and we had a compass. I carried my iPad. We ended up using his sectionals as a sun shade for my iPad when the sun was really in a bad position. The iPad had the sectionals on it but was guaranteed to be up to date as long as i downloaded the updates, was cheaper than buying all of those sectionals, easier to use, no folding and unfolding, you can zoom right in to compare features you are seeing outside the plane. I think a lot of people think it is just flying the magenta line. At least for me, I am using the technology, but I am also cross checking with the compass and looking outside for landmarks along the way.

Carl

 

[midlifeflyer]

I was curious if an external GPS is necessary to use ForeFlight on my iPad in Rocky Mountain states like Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado? I have read that some have issues in these states using just the internal GPS on their iPads. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

People have had varying experience with the reliability of the internal GPS in their iPads and other tablets while in flight. It does not appear to be related to specific geography and is far more likely to be due to differences in aircraft and placement within the aircraft.

 

[oldShar]

The only adverse experiences that I've had with the GPS was when the Air Force was doing its GPS-blocking exercises (which were NOTAMed).

In those cases, the location of the antenna would be irrelevant and a good excuse to brush up on your VOR navigation