Navigating to GPS waypoint while on FF?

drummer4468

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drummer4468
Hey all, had an oddball situation pop up a couple days ago that made me curious, was wondering what the community's opinions were on it. Here the brief backstory:

Was on a short hop from a class E field to an adjacent class C, in a VFR-only Cherokee (no operational nav equipment aside from my iPad). Keyed up approach, got a code and instructions for a straight-in as I was pretty much lined up from 30nm out. It was a super windy day and I was getting blown around a bit. The controller noted my heading deviation, but i was already correcting back on my desired course by the time he said anything, idly mentioning I was using my gps/foreflight.

He must have keyed in on "GPS" because he then asked if I could accept direct-to <IAF for the associated GPS approach>. Kinda took me off-guard, and out of knee-jerk, I declined because I had no "approved" GPS on board. This made me scratch my head for a bit afterward because, after all, I was VFR in class E and I know it wasn't a clearance, even if it sounded like he was about to give me one. I could have easily punched the fix into the ipad. Why decline it? I guess IR training was fresher in my mind than I thought? lol. Anywho, had the field in sight a minute later, remained on the extended centerline and landed uneventfully.

I know, big ol' nothing burger, but thought I'd ask for input/validation anyway. Never encountered this and it made me curious as to whether it'd be some kind of wrongdoing to accept instructions(not a clearance) to a waypoint, especially a IAF, while VFR using an iPad.
 
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Hey all, had an oddball situation pop up a couple days ago that made me curious, was wondering what the community's opinions were on it. Here the brief backstory:

Was on a short hop from a class E field to an adjacent class C, in a VFR-only Cherokee (no operational nav equipment aside from my iPad). Keyed up approach, got a code and instructions for a straight-in as I was pretty much lined up from 30nm out. It was a super windy day and I was getting blown around a bit. The controller noted my heading deviation, but i was already correcting back on my desired course by the time he said anything, idly mentioning I was using my gps/foreflight.

He must have keyed in on "GPS" because he then asked if I could accept direct-to <IAF for the associated GPS approach>. Kinda took me off-guard, and out of knee-jerk, I declined because I had no "approved" GPS on board. This made me scratch my head for a bit afterward because, after all, I was VFR in class E and I know it wasn't a clearance, even if it sounded like he was about to give me one. I could have easily punched the fix into the ipad. Why decline it? I guess IR training was fresher in my mind than I thought? lol. Anywho, had the field in sight a minute later, remained on the extended centerline and landed uneventfully.

I know, big ol' nothing burger, but thought I'd ask for input/validation anyway. Never encountered this and it made me curious as to whether it'd be some kind of wrongdoing to accept instructions(not a clearance) to a waypoint, especially a IAF, while VFR using an iPad.
Like ya said "...after all, I was VFR in class E and I know it wasn't a clearance..." I'd of said 'yeah, I can do it'. He'd a said, 'do it'. And everything would have been just fine. Ain't no law against it, or reason not to, that I can think of.
 
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Yup, i figured as much, thanks for the input. Just threw me off getting the familiar approach fix out of the blue.
 
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