Bob Gilliland is used to the high-tech world of aviation. As the first test pilot of Lockheed's SR-71 Blackbird, he set the world's speed record of 3,100 feet per second (2,114 mph, or nearly three times the speed of sound) over the Mohave Desert in December, 1964.

Aviation technology has changed a great deal since then, but Gilliland's speed and altitude records still stand (and they're 30 years old). On a visit to Garmin's headquarters in Kansas, Bob got to see just how far the world of navigation has come.

"Through the years, I've been lucky enough to be involved in a wide range of cutting-edge aviation technology," Gilliland said. "From taking LAN shots with a sextant at the Naval Academy to using the SR-71's Astro-Inertial System, it's amazing how far navigation accuracy and reliability has progressed."

Gilliland was invited to tour Garmin's facilities shortly after the GPS 155TSO became the first GPS to be approved A-1 by the FAA for non-precision approaches. Even though the performance of the SR-71 has never been exceeded, its navigation system has been or can be with GPS.

After touring Garmin's engineering labs and seeing the new GNC®250 GPSCOMM firsthand, Gilliland was more than impressed.

"It's quite a feather in your cap to have been the first GPS company to obtain FAA approval for an IFR letdown," he said. "The implications of this new technology are mind-boggling."

Gilliland is a member of the National Aviation Hall of Fame and currently resides in Burbank, California. He spends his retirement speaking to aviation clubs and attending various airshows across the nation.

The SR-71 Blackbird was retired in 1990 and still holds closed- and open-course speed records and an altitude record of 85,069 feet.

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