Nexrad image on the way to St. Augustine
 

http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o...2003/photo.jpg

Weather held up near the shoreline, but I wouldn't have wanted to be trying to get to Orlando yesterday... Had airliners all around us holding and diverting to Tampa once exhausting their fuel reserves... Pretty amazing that in GA we now have equipment like this that probably rivals what they have available in some of their cockpits....

I am looking to upgrade to a handheld navigation system with xm weather like that. The handheld gps's with xm have a proven track record (albeit expensive database updates and subscriptions). And...it seems that iPad navigation is making leaps and bounds, but lacks the xm capability at this moment. The iPad chart capability is inviting too. Trying to make a decision of which way to go.

Who flies with North Up! Bah!

On topic though, XM is great for the long term planning. If it were anywhere besides FL and you were that close, I would either want an on-board radar, or steer clear! Or could be worse, been there, done that............with only a strike-finder.

Strike finders were a great value in avionics before Nexrad. In some ways, such as update cycle, they are still worth more than Nexrad. Given a choice between the two I prefer Nexrad because you get a larger picture. But if the going is getting rough I would actually prefer a strike finder because time counts when you are approaching convective activity.

Track up is the way I fly also and from what I am told, most aircraft fly that way. I have seen guys use north up who were smart enough to decide, but I could never quite see their reasoning.

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...hotos/21-2.jpg

Track Up? Who flies with track up? Sorry guys.. First thing I do when I get into an aircraft is change the map to North Up... I like it because I feel it enhances situational awareness. I can glance at the screen and I know exactly what my heading is, or approximatly what heading I need to get to a certain place...

One vote for track up for me. I like it because it enhances situational awareness. I can glance at the screen and know that the nearest airport is to my left/right or straight ahead.

To each his/her own.

Let the debate begin ;)

Well I noticed that this screen doesn't have Traffic enabled. If you did, you would understand why track-up. How about looking straight ahead towards a storm system when you're flying High Performance aircraft. You can quickly decide if a 5-10 degree turn will be sufficient or not. I always thought if you look straight out the window, the MFD/GPS should be the same.

Also, I always thought ppl that were North-Up's are the same people that can't read a map going the wrong way:eek:. They would have to turn it upside down if traveling south:cool:

He says he can "glance at the screen and get an approximate heading etc.." Isn't what all that G-Whiz-1000 stuff is for.

I'll just razz you, it's all in good fun. Everyone's brain works differently, and I'd be willing to bet you picked it up originally from your instructor anyways. So in closing, I'm not going to say you're all idiots and I'm right...........I'm just saying I'm right:D

(Seriously though, Just razzing, have a nice day)

I've used north up and track up and find track up to be far better for situation awareness. I can see what's in front of me.

I can't think of a time in anything bigger than a Caravan that I've seen someone use north up. I think that's a very GA thing.


While we're debating that though...who uses rose mode on the EHSI and who uses arc?

TRACK UP X 3 :)
As for rose vs arc.....both.
I find it to be situational.
I cruise 99% of the time in rose.
I currently shoot ASRs/PARs in arc for example.

USMCFLYR

Ok now that we have established that track up is the only correct thing to do with your map display and North up is wrongful, perhaps an unintended error or something... I vote full compass rose for the HSI, because it lets you see the reciprocal of the heading you are on. Very handy for procedure turns, patterns, and so forth. Also, some HSIs have rose-only presentation because they use the rose area to display a small moving map (Sandels).

USMC- what is better about PARs using an arc display? Wider degree marks?