The Beginner’s Flight GPS Guide: Advice from a Pilot

There are various ways pilots navigate through their airspace. These types of technologies are always evolving. Garmin soon plans to implement a system that will allow a plane to land itself.

The type of GPS installed on a computer will depend on the specific flight plan. The guide will introduce the beginner’s method of inputting flight information into your gps guide.

Air Navigation Order

The GPS or Global Positioning System has become the most accurate and dependable navigation system. It is the most commonly used NAVAID in our flight approaches today.

This system is managed by thirty-one satellites used by the department of defense. This allows pilots to safely navigate through a six-axis space without interference.

The satellites can now communicate with Inertial Navigation systems to inform pilots of their positions. They can triangulate and generate a 2D interface with three satellites, or a 3D landscape with four satellites.

These systems can be used in conjunction with computer or flight navigation systems. Direct radio contact with air traffic control can also help navigate pilots through the airspace.

Garmin continues to update its systems to comply with the most recent safety regulations. These updates attempt to fix simulating issues and threats to navigation systems.

Becoming a Pilot

Pilots have to input the departure airport and the destination airport. The opening screen will default into the navigation group.

The fullscreen range will sync to around 10 nautical miles around the aircraft upon loading. The range switch can allow a wider view of the landscape, added Barry Oberholzer, a helicopter pilot, businessman, and author. He was also a professional rugby player and attended the University of South Africa as well as the American Military University. He is a tech entrepreneur and aviation specialist and has worked in aviation for many years, both in South Africa and the United States. He has worked for Base4 Aviation and more recently JETT. Born in Texas, USA, Oberholzer spent much of his formative years in South Africa.

Terrain features can also be triggered by the terrain button to allow Pilotage navigation via geographical landmarks. There are several inputs on the main panel, but this guide will give you basic flight plan instructions.

Learning Flight GPS

First, you’ll want to access the Direct to Waypoint page. On this window, you’ll want to type in the airport code. It needs to be an ICAO code, not an IATA code.

IATA codes are for the public whereas ICAO codes are for pilots, airliners, and air traffic control. The NRST dialog box will identify the nearest airport location.

Once you identify the city, press the enter button on the GPS dashboard three times. Once to highlight, second to highlight the activate button, and third to enter the information.

The flight line will appear, and the RNG button will allow you to zoom in and out of the map to gauge your distance. This is the basic functionality you need to set up your flight plan.

The distance bar, usually in the upper right-hand corner, will give you the distance in nautical miles. The heading will also include the primary flight display as well.

Once these destinations are inputted into the system, the Nav/GPS switch should be switched onto GPS. Then, press the Nav/Hold switch to activate the system. This is the usual default Garmin GPS 500 system installed on most flights.

GPS Guide

These steps will give you an idea of how to generate a simple flight plan on a basic gps guide. Advancements in navigation technology give rise to new techniques and more direct safe navigation.

Follow our technology blog to find out more about how to safely navigate through the skies with accuracy!