[FReepaholic]

You know, we've got cars fitted with GPS devices that tell us what street we're on and where to turn to get pizza. Why can't planes be equipped with similar devices overlaying a map of the airport taxiways and runways?

Simplistic suggestion I'm sure but shouldn't there be something like this available?

Also, I seem to recall a report done on 60 Minutes or some other news magazine about how confusing airport runway and taxiway signage was at airports across the nation.

That was a decade ago, as I recall. I wonder if it has gotten any better.

[RDTF]

CNN Breaking news email:

-- FAA acknowledges it violated staffing policies with only one air traffic controller on duty at airport when Comair jet crashed Sunday, killing 49 people.

[Turbopilot]

Why can't planes be equipped with similar devices overlaying a map of the airport taxiways and runways?

They can, and many are. I regularly fly a

<airplane geek speak>

Mooney 201 with a Garmin MX20 hooked up to a G430, which on the ground centers the airplane on the Jepp airport diagram ($$$ subscription required, of course), with an overlaid 120 degree compass rose

</airplane geek speak>

...which is to say there is a 6" LCD screen in the panel of the 4-seat single engine airplane I fly that does overlay a map of the airplane onto an airport taxiway and runway layout, and shows your heading on the same screen. Similar technology (but with a few extra zeroes on the end of the price tag) is available and was probably equipped on this relatively new jet. I'm sure one of the foci of the NTSB investigation is whether that technology was broken, given an erroneous readout, misprogrammed, or properly set up but ignored, and the reasons for whichever of the above is true.