Handheld Six-Pack?

While it is unlikely youll ever have to use your hard-earned partial panel flying skills in a real emergency, critical systems do and will fail at the worst possible times. The good news is there are several relatively inexpensive tools on the market that can make the ordeal more manageable for a single pilot in IMC. The Garmin GPSMAP 396 and 496 handheld GPS receivers retail for under $2500, plus about $50 a month for the databases and XM weather subscriptions. In addition to a color moving-map display loaded with terrain and weather graphics, a "five pack" of virtual instrumentation provides most of the information one needs to accomplish partial-panel instrument flying. (There is no attitude information, hence its not a "six pack," but more on that in a moment.) The 296 and monochrome 196 units each offer the panel page, too, but not the XM weather.

Key Takeaways:

• Portable Garmin GPSMAP units (e.g., 396/496) offer an "inexpensive five-pack" of virtual flight instruments, providing a valuable backup for single pilots facing critical system failures (like vacuum or electrical) in IMC, especially in aircraft without modern glass panels.
• These GPS-based instruments provide groundspeed, magnetic track, true altitude, and a responsive VSI, but lack attitude information and are not IFR certified for approaches (their "glideslope" is a VNAV profile).
• Effective emergency use requires pilots to thoroughly understand the differences from traditional instruments, practice with the device in visual conditions and with a safety pilot, and integrate it into their instrument scan alongside the aircraft's primary systems.

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