IFR radio practice

Today I made an early flight over to KCEU and back. For the leg to Clemson I went IFR to get some practice on the radio.

Just before takeoff I found out that both GPSs were not getting a good signal. I took off anyway since it was severe clear and expected they would get fixed up on there own. However, they never really did start working again until I was almost back to Rock Hill 1.5 hours later.

Turns out that the antenna is mounted under the glaresheild using velcro of all things. It had come loose and so was no longer seeing the entire sky.

That's where ForeFlight Mobile helped out a great deal. I was able to watch my GPS-derived position on the VFR sectional charts as I motored along. Helped out a great deal - I was surprised how tough it can be to determine your exact location in a Cirrus when the GPSs are inoperative. You go from massive amounts of positional info to very little.

Always a good idea to have an independent backup!

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