The word for Lowrance’s latest aviation model, the AirMap 1000, is BIG. Its outer dimensions are 6.25" H x 4.9" W x 2.5" D, making it double the width of the AirMap 500, nearly an inch taller and -- at about 1.5 pounds with batteries -- approximately three times the weight. Okay, let’s face it, the AirMap 1000 is not meant to be carried around in your pocket; it’s designed to be attached to your plane. The real payoff for all this heft is a sizable screen measuring about 3.5" H x 3.25" W, which translates to a diagonal measurement of nearly 5".

Continuing a comparison of the two Lowrance models, the price of the 1000 is $799 vs $499 for the 500. The 1000 is powered by 4 AA alkaline batters (which have a claimed useful life of up to 12 hours), whereas the 500 manages with 2 AAs. Both have a 12-channel WAAS-compatible engine and both utilize MMC or SD cards to store data, using MapCreate&trademark; software for street mapping and other non-aviation functions. (See my report on the AirMap 500 for details.) The controls are similar: 12 keys, including four directional arrow keys.

Accessories include a cigarette lighter power adapter, remote antenna with suction cup mount, yoke mount, soft pouch, a 32-MB MMC card, card reader, and MapCreate software.

The AirMap 1000 has a wide array of navigational screens that use the set’s large size to good advantage. There are five map pages: 1) A full map page. 2) A map with an arc at the top representing the upper portion of a CDI (course deviation indicator). 3) A map with seven data boxes on the left side of the screen. The data boxes can be customized from a menu of 26 types of information. 4) A split screen displaying two maps of your choice -- for example, your present position on one side and your destination airport on the other side. 5) What Lowrance calls a "panel" screen, consisting of a map flanked by EFIS-like tapes, or columnar readouts, displaying groundspeed on the left side and altitude plus a VSI (vertical speed indicator) on the right side. On the top of the screen are four selectable data boxes. On the bottom is the CDI arc mentioned previously.

Wait -- there’s more: two HSI-type screens. One is the EFIS-type panel display with an HSI graphic instead of a map. The other is a split screen with the HSI on the left and a map on the right. Lots of choices. You can activate an OBS Hold function to use the HSI graphic for steering information on outbound radials. At your command, a runway extension feature adds a localizer-type graphic to a selected runway, as a visual aid in setting up an approach. Activate an additional new function called Runway Approach Guidance and the HSI and CDI displays will give steering information down the centerline of the localizer overlay.

When referring to HSI and compass graphics on a GPS receiver, I like to point out that these depictions are actually showing track rather than heading, and the altimeter and VSI readouts are based on GPS-derived altitude. All of this works quite well for enroute navigation as long as you understand the differences between the information you get from the "real" instruments in your panel and the "look-alike" data that is computed from GPS signals. Specifically, a track display does not show you the heading you may need to maintain to compensate for crosswinds; for that you need a real magnetic compass or compass-driven HSI. Also, the GPS readout altitude should not be relied on for air traffic control procedures, or descents close to the ground or obstructions; that requires a conventional altimeter set to the local barometric pressure. Always bear in mind that no portable GPS receiver is certified for IFR operations and the realistic appearance of the HSI and CDI graphics should not lull you into using them for homemade approaches in conditions of poor visibility.

Back to the 1000. For ground use you can zoom in and see streets identified by name. Hungry? Your instinct might tell you to press the Menu key, but instead, hit Find and select Map Places, which will give you a choice of POIs (Points of Interest) including Entertainment (movies, arcades, skating rinks, etc.), Fishing, Marine, Lodging, Restaurants, and much more. You can find a restaurant from a Nearest list or punch in the name of a place you favor. I entered Red Lobster and got 13 of them, at distances from my house ranging from 36.34 to 128.7 miles -- each one with address and phone number. Navigation information is also provided, but without the turn details found on more sophisticated ground-mapping devices. True to its aviation heritage, the 1000 points directly at the destination, which in my Camry would involve crashing into a lot of buildings along the way. Still, the direction it provides is a useful guideline.

Of course, the 1000 has the additional functions found on virtually all current GPS receivers: E6B computations, VNAV, plot trails, etc.

For the AirMap 1000, Lowrance has taken the excellent capability of its AirMap 500 and expanded it into a much larger form, adding some impressive graphics in the process. Is bigger necessarily better? The answer depends on how you plan to use it. If you want a unit you can slip into a pocket, carry around easily, and use for hiking and biking as well aviating, the 500 will nicely fit your needs (as well as your hand). Although also fully portable, the 1000 is suitable mainly for vehicular use: plane, boat, car -- also an RV, where you might be ferreting out campsites on unfamiliar back roads. But the 1000 really shines when you take to the skies. The variety of navigational screens is incredible and the displays are all intelligently conceived. I can imagine whiling away the hours of a long cross country by switching from one page to another, combining situational awareness with in-flight entertainment. (But keep scanning for traffic!) And the EFIS-like "panel" screens can make you feel like you’re driving a corporate jet.

About the only missing element one might like to see is color. Thus far, Lowrance has stayed strictly with monochrome displays, I imagine in order to maintain price competitiveness. Nevertheless, a unit of this size and capability would lend itself well to color, and with its popular GPSMAP 295 portable, Garmin has proven that people will pay for it. Just a thought.

Any pilot who does much flying under air traffic control, whether IFR or even VFR in a busy terminal area, knows that there are many inefficiencies in the system. In the name of traffic separation, aircraft are given indirect routings and sometimes undesirable altitude changes and holds. This results in wasted time, higher operating costs, and a heavy workload on pilots and controllers alike. The decades-old system is creaking and bursting at the seams because it's built around older-technology CNS (communications, navigation and surveillance) that is inherently inefficient and is trying to cope with steadily increasing traffic.

However, there's good news ahead. Starting in 1999 with an FAA-sponsored demonstration program called Flight 2000, the system as we know it will begin to move toward a concept called Free Flight -- with GPS playing a major role. The goal of Free Flight is to provide an ideal combination: the flexibility of VFR flight and the conflict avoidance of IFR flight. It will involve a change in operating philosophy that will be reflected in a name change: Air Traffic Control (ATC) will be re-dubbed Air Traffic Management (ATM). This will be made possible by new-technology avionics that will bring CNS up to date.

Let's compare the old CNS with the new.

Communications: These have largely been handled by voice transmission, and every instrument pilot knows how time-consuming and sometimes frustrating that can be. Under Free Flight, gone will be the days of copying clearances, reading them back (and hoping for a "readback correct"), trying to get a busy controller's attention for an en route deviation, etc. Most communications will be handled by data link -- that is, digital transmissions by a medium such as VHF, Mode S or satellite. The pilot will pre-file the intended route, and much of the communications from the ground will be displayed in text form on the screen of the aircraft's FMS (flight management system). Voice transmissions will be at a minimum.

Navigation: The backbone of today's system is still VOR/ILS, and most IFR aircraft are still dog-legging along Victor and jet airways. Because the planes are being funneled in trail down these narrow lanes, ATC keeps them miles apart for safe separation, which can choke up the system pretty badly. Thanks to the advent of GPS, the FAA plans to dismantle the VOR, ILS and NDB stations in the 2005-2010 timeframe. Under Free Flight, with GPS as "sole means" navigation, the pilot will select whatever route best meets his or her needs. The integrity of GPS will be enhanced by WAAS, which is described in the chapter titled How GPS Works.

Surveillance: Throughout most of the US, traffic separation is maintained by controllers carefully monitoring blips on their radar screens to make sure that the aircraft are following their clearances. Under Free Flight, surveillance will be accomplished by a technology called ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) whereby the aircraft's avionics system continuously broadcasts its GPS-derived position, along with a velocity vector -- which is a short-term prediction of where the plane is headed. The pilot will see a depiction on the FMS screen of nearby aircraft that are similarly equipped.

All of this will be transmitted and received via data link, which can also provide pilots with such additional information as weather graphics and text. The controller will monitor traffic on a "conflict probe" computer screen. Each aircraft depicted on the screen will be surrounded by two graphic cylinders -- an outer alert zone and an inner protected zone, the sizes of which will depend on the aircraft's speed. The controller will not intervene unless the outer zones of two aircraft touch, at which time advisories or avoidance maneuvers will be issued, depending on the projected tracks of the aircraft.

Incidentally, the term "controller" will be replaced by "manager" and the relationship between pilot and controller -- 'scuse me, manager -- supposedly will be more of a partnership under the new system.

What you have just read is an overview, which does not address the many details that remain to be worked out. The Flight 2000 demonstration program I mentioned earlier will take place in Alaska and Hawaii and will involve 2000 aircraft over a one- to two-year period. Airborne and ground equipment will be built to FAA specifications.

Free Flight will be a boon to the airlines, by enabling them to schedule more flights and fly more direct routings; the inefficiencies of the present system cost the airline industry an estimated $3.5 to $5 billion a year. The corporate operators will also benefit in reduced fuel costs and more efficient use of high-salaried executives' time. For those of us who fly piston-engine planes for business and pleasure, reduced operating expenses may not be enough to offset the cost of the equipment (which has yet to be determined), but the other benefits of Free Flight may make the investment worthwhile. And we've got a few years to save up our pennies for it.