The FAA’s refusal to acknowledge reality rears its ugly head in Advisory Circular 120-76B, Guidelines for the Certification, Airworthiness, and Operational Use of Portable Electronic Flight Bags. In this AC, the FAA—in a standalone bold-type note, warns users of portable devices that display charts and moving maps that “Class 1 or Class 2 EFBs must not display own-ship position while in flight.”
In other words, the FAA, in its infinite wisdom, does not want you to use an Apple iPad or Android device with moving-map software and the computer’s internal or an external GPS receiver to verify your aircraft’s position. If, for example, you are flying near the edge of Class B airspace without a clearance into that airspace, the FAA would rather that you avoid that airspace boundary using a chart and the view of the ground to fix your position. Or, if you can’t see the ground, then perhaps a slightly more accurate VOR cross-check, if that’s the only navigation equipment available. Preferably, of course, your airplane has its own certified and accurate Waas-capable GPS receiver and a built-in certified moving-map, but not all aircraft are so equipped.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
