FAA - GPS Signal May Be Unusable in SE USA

Boris Badenov said:
/A works good, lasts long time. If you're not up in the moronosphere, you can usually just get a vector till receiving...relax. And too bad about all those plastic airplanes. Maybe for a month or so I won't be blinded by "anti-collision" strobes on the ramp at night.
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I hate the guys that do that. Just turn on your navs and call it good till you're on the runway. I get excited when I get a /A airplane. Usually the company sticks me in a /U 402.
 
Speed Pilot said:
I hate the guys that do that. Just turn on your navs and call it good till you're on the runway. I get excited when I get a /A airplane. Usually the company sticks me in a /U 402.
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/U and /A Airplanes make me feel so happy about flying. Enough to not get lost out there, but not enough to get lost in the cockpit. I like how if there's nothing to look at inside, you just fly and enjoy it as opposed to pretending it's a videogame.

I love g430s and 530s and 1000's just as much as the next guy, but sometimes I just wanna take out the plane, turn off the radios and fly like the wind
 
elmetal said:
/U and /A Airplanes make me feel so happy about flying. Enough to not get lost out there, but not enough to get lost in the cockpit. I like how if there's nothing to look at inside, you just fly and enjoy it as opposed to pretending it's a videogame.

I love g430s and 530s and 1000's just as much as the next guy, but sometimes I just wanna take out the plane, turn off the radios and fly like the wind
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LOL. Guess I lost some of that passion. I just want to get in, do it as safely and efficiently as possible, and get out.
 
elmetal said:
/U and /A Airplanes make me feel so happy about flying. Enough to not get lost out there, but not enough to get lost in the cockpit. I like how if there's nothing to look at inside, you just fly and enjoy it as opposed to pretending it's a videogame.

I love g430s and 530s and 1000's just as much as the next guy, but sometimes I just wanna take out the plane, turn off the radios and fly like the wind
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VFR it's great to take out a /U and just enjoy the ride (In fact, just as long as it has one NAV/Comm I'm happy to take it anywhere VFR), IFR at this stage, I would want atleast a /A.
 
Speed Pilot said:
I hate the guys that do that. Just turn on your navs and call it good till you're on the runway. I get excited when I get a /A airplane. Usually the company sticks me in a /U 402.
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Aerocharter still has /U planes? Do they give you guys a stormscope? I think South Aero has stormscopes on all their 402s.
 
Blackhawk said:
Some aircraft (G1000 DA-40 comes to mind), require one operational GPS for just night VFR; requires two for IFR. So I guess you can't fly these aircraft during the time periods under those conditions.
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It sounds kind of goony, but I wonder if they use multiple GPS receivers to do a kind of backup attitude determination or integrity checking of the main attitude reference.
 
A150K said:
VFR it's great to take out a /U and just enjoy the ride (In fact, just as long as it has one NAV/Comm I'm happy to take it anywhere VFR), IFR at this stage, I would want atleast a /A.
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Agreed.

All I need for a good VFR Flight is compass (if I'm staying here in South Florida I don't even need that..), airspeed and turn+ball.

all the rest is just clutter on the dash

Of course 1 comm is nice to have and definitely if you're getting into airspaces. a nav would be a tad much for my dream here.

I basically want a piper cub with a comm... Maybe I should get a cub and just bring a handheld...

WHY DONT PEOPLE HAVE NON CRAPPY /U or /A for rent down here?

Seriously I've been to only 1 school that doesn't have GPS in the planes of some sort (94, 89, 430, 530, etc) but the planes were very subpar for my taste. I mean that as far as comparing to other planes in the area, they were more expensive, in worse shape, and less avionics... that doesn't really make sense
 
elmetal said:
Agreed.

All I need for a good VFR Flight is compass (if I'm staying here in South Florida I don't even need that..), airspeed and turn+ball.

all the rest is just clutter on the dash

Of course 1 comm is nice to have and definitely if you're getting into airspaces. a nav would be a tad much for my dream here.

I basically want a piper cub with a comm... Maybe I should get a cub and just bring a handheld...

WHY DONT PEOPLE HAVE NON CRAPPY /U or /A for rent down here?

Seriously I've been to only 1 school that doesn't have GPS in the planes of some sort (94, 89, 430, 530, etc) but the planes were very subpar for my taste. I mean that as far as comparing to other planes in the area, they were more expensive, in worse shape, and less avionics... that doesn't really make sense
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Definately a Comm (especially since I'm based a towered field). Is a Nav necessary for VFR? Not really, but it's nice to have just in case and also to keep you out of airspace in an unfamilar area.
 
Speaking of required equipment, I had a fun one last night......launched out of NKX for Palmdale/plant 42, checked in with center climbing to an intermediate alt, was informed that they weren't getting our mode c. Motored off into the NAOPA to troubleshoot, cycled, BIT'd, cycled again, ident'd, nothing worked. Center gladly gave me a u-turn to go back home, landed.....talked to maintenance, apparently while the IFF was indeed installed, it had never been re-connected (though somehow it didn't show up as a degrade). Awesome.....
 
Boris Badenov said:
/A works good, lasts long time. If you're not up in the moronosphere, you can usually just get a vector till receiving...relax. And too bad about all those plastic airplanes. Maybe for a month or so I won't be blinded by "anti-collision" strobes on the ramp at night.
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Have been /M and /N a few times in jets. First planes I flew for training, many were /X.
 
A150K said:
A few are. I known the old NWA DC-9s didn't have it. Flying /A is pretty much just as easy as going /G (atleast on an airway) , same info being conveyed in differant ways. It's just matter of one being more accurate than the other.
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Colgan Saab 340s are /A. We have a few that only have 1 DME on the left side. The only real pain in the ass is that fact that most of the VORs have a crap signal, so the line can move a few degrees either side, so instead of punching the NAV hold button, you have to track it with the heading button.
 
Doug Taylor said:
Please tell me you guys were alive during the SA/P-Code days of GPS where they would induce error for civilian usage!

Relax, it's gonna be alright girls.
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Ah the good old days of SA

Apparently during the Gulf War GPS was turned off for civilians. I heard about it from some sailors who were able to make a killing working as a navigator on cruising sailboats that were "stuck" at various locations. They knew celestial so they were raking in cash for a short time. Dependence on GPS yup pretty much and not limited to aviation.
 
Itchy said:
Nope, not needed. Many airliners are flying around without (or at least were not too long ago). As long as you are in the confines of the airway, does it really matter? It is certainly a pita without the gps on a long day though.
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I'd rather be a little sloppy thanks. (Or SLOPpy if you prefer.)

Being /A or /U is not a big deal, until recently that's all we had in the Twin Bo. That said, with the deterioration of the VOR infrastructure (and the raising of our approach minimums to 1100MSL/1000 above TDZE) GPS is required to get in when it's anything less than basic VFR, and you can't find a place to do special/contact approach.

I don't have a place in my 172, Citabria or Bo to do celestial nav, as cool as it would be, but VFR without any radio navigation at all is fine with me.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
I'd rather be a little sloppy thanks. (Or SLOPpy if you prefer.)

Being /A or /U is not a big deal, until recently that's all we had in the Twin Bo. That said, with the deterioration of the VOR infrastructure (and the raising of our approach minimums to 1100MSL/1000 above TDZE) GPS is required to get in when it's anything less than basic VFR, and you can't find a place to do special/contact approach.

I don't have a place in my 172, Citabria or Bo to do celestial nav, as cool as it would be, but VFR without any radio navigation at all is fine with me.
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Celestial isn't too bad at 5 knots. I'm sure at 300 it would be a nightmare!
 
BigWaveDave said:
Apparently during the Gulf War GPS was turned off for civilians. I heard about it from some sailors who were able to make a killing working as a navigator on cruising sailboats that were "stuck" at various locations. They knew celestial so they were raking in cash for a short time. Dependence on GPS yup pretty much and not limited to aviation.
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Selective Availability.....it was a legacy function of the GPS system, which was completely turned off in 2000 by Clinton. Newest satellites don't even have the capability anymore, but when it was in effect, it limited the accuracy of recievers that weren't using P-code (ie non-military) signals. Not a loss of GPS in it's entirety, just not the level of precision that we are used to today (IIRC the error was up to 300+ ft vertically, and 100-200 ft in the horizontal plane) There was a capability to turn off C/A coverage to certain areas during wartime, so this may have been the case in the Persian Gulf area during DS....not sure.
 
This makes me sad. I took my IFR ride 8 years ago and ADF to minimums was par for the course at the home airport. We were /A but the field had only a GPS and an NDB approach. My only VOR was flaky at best in my VFR plane and VFR was done entirely by pilotage as a direct result. How on earth can I be under 30 and feel this crusty?

I must be dangerous. Good thing I'm on the other side of the radio now. FWIW I always raised the flaps in the flare and waited till my second beer to cancel. And oh yeah. Over square? phhhhh. I ran over cubed.
 
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