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:

• Garmin GPSMAP handhelds (e.g., 396/496) offer an inexpensive backup "five-pack" of virtual flight instruments, excluding attitude information, to assist single pilots with partial-panel emergencies in IMC.
• These portable units provide groundspeed, magnetic track, and a fast-responding VSI, but are not IFR certified and differ from traditional instruments, for example, by not displaying certified WAAS glideslopes.
• Effective emergency use requires pilots to thoroughly understand the units' specific data (e.g., groundspeed vs. airspeed), practice extensively in visual conditions with a safety pilot, and ensure proper mounting and signal reliability.

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