Eventide ARGUS 5000 - Page 11

skidding" or "you're slipping." And what would you do if there were? You do know
to "step on the ball," however.
GPS navigation, popular and effective as it is, is the navigational equivalent of the
metric ton of documentation. Many GPS receivers now have a database containing
much of the information distributed among the Airport and Facilities Directory and
the various NOS charts. Even so, the GPS itself can only display a tiny bit of the
information at a given time. Many force you to switch several times just to get the
range and bearing to your waypoint, as well your ground track, groundspeed, and
estimated time enroute. The Argus, thanks to its bright, sharp CRT display shows this
all at once, and that's even before we get to the map. When we do get to the map, we
see that when the GPS says "WPT XYZ DIST 20NM BRG 170DEG," the Argus
shows you the waypoint, draws a line that represents your course, and puts a symbolic
airplane (your current position) on a map, all in the correct geometrical relationship.
And if your waypoint happens to be an airport, it even draws the runways and shows
you your relationship to them.
Special use airspace is today's cause celebre. When one of the newer GPSs warns you
about an impending penetration, all it can do is extrapolate your present course, it
cannot guess your intentions. So, you sit there continually telling the GPS that, no,
you're not going to enter the Class B airspace and yes, you're aware of it. (But, you'd
better not turn off that warning feature!) The Argus simply shows you where it is and
where you are in relation to it. No questions, no problems, no inadvertent
penetration.
The Argus does a lot more. It shows you minimum safe altitudes, it shows you
airport information and frequencies, it even gives you a graphical depiction of your
flight plan. And, we've got to say it somewhere, it's an incredibly sexy gadget to have
in your airplane. We at Eventide have been flying with the Argus for several years.
And we wont fly without it. More to the point, many of our customers say the same
thing. You probably will, too.
July 1999 Argus 5000/7000 Ver. 5.xx Reference Manual Part#141003 2