chflyer wrote:
Radar vectoring won’t happen below MVA, and won’t get you down to the ground.
Sure, but for that, DME or DME/DME alone will not help either.
The only solution to this problem is ILS, but this is being phased out at many airports in the next years, leaving only the “big” international ones it seems. If that really happens, it will make alternate airport planning / fuel planning a challenge for many people in the future…
Exactly. There will perhaps be heavy reliance on diversion to ILS-equipped airfields. Looking at the NOTAMs in the OP, places like LSZR St Gallen and LSZG Grenchen would essentially be shutdown to IFR traffic for hours at a time if an alternative to GPS is not available….. but perhaps that is the intent or otherwise put, the consequences are accepted or deemed acceptable.
There will need to be something in place for the jet GA crew who utilize more than just the CAT airports. Places in Germany like EDTY Schwäbisch Hall or EDDE Erfurt or LSGC Les Eplatures in Switzerland come to mind. But those airfields will probably keep their ILSs through private funding by the corporate jet owners themselves, if they feel it justified.
You can still get Radar (or timed turns) bellow MVA for the purpose of approaches on let-down or SRA/PAR (or non-gyro), what you can’t get is airport departures bellow MSA or en-route guidance bellow MEA, but it’s not RNP1…
Heavily depends on how many ILS they will really phase out. Looking at Germany the problem will be not that bad except perhaps for the very north-east because you always have an international airport within a one hour range of a typical IFR airplane. That’s just 30 min more alternate fuel.
For Switzerland if they leave an ILS at Bern (although it technically it is classified as regional airport) one would have a similar situation but obviously depending on how Milan (ILS will stay) and Bozen continue to operate for the south/south east.
Not nice – but if the availability of GPS stay as it is we are talking about rare and extreme cases. In I don’t know how many years of IFR flying I never had the situation of a GPS-approach not being available due to GPS outages.
Yes, jamming is (theoretically) a problem – but it is even easier to jam voice communication which would be an even bigger problem. And it doesn’t happen that often as well in Central Europe.
What about cheaper (terminal) VOR+DME as a backup solution for bigger GA airports?
VOR’s are too expensive.
NDB/(t)DME cheaper
Bathman wrote:
VOR’s are too expensive.NDB/(t)DME cheaper
Even the smaller ones, terminal VORs?
VOR/DME are unsafe for GA flying in IMC (I am exaggerating but not far from the truth) if they are away inside some forest or hill top far away (say +1.5km) from the runway threshold and no DME/THR calibration
You can do without: just go VFR or you should just not fly that day 
VOR/DME approach to Stapleford gives you 750 agl & 3km vis
VOR/DMR approach to Elstree gives you 1000ft agl & 5km vis
Obviously having 600m GA runways will always be a problem if not going on a straight-in to runway thresholds, unless you fly an IFR STOL but they are limited by crosswinds 
Ibra wrote:
You can do without: just go VFR or you should just not fly that day
Well, in that case you never fly – you never know if the GPS is going to be jammed?
My point is regarding, say, 2000M, 500ft overcast. If you have a VOR/DME at the airfield PART-OPS suggest that you sometimes might get down to 250ft AGL.
It might be a good option, but depends on the cost.:)
Hence me asking on how much does it cost.
VOR/DME approach to Stapleford gives you 750 agl & 3km vis
VOR/DMR approach to Elstree gives you 1000ft agl & 5km vis
Sorry, what do you mean by this? At the moment, both of those aerodromes got no published AIPs.
I am trying to get some real numbers for navaid costs and will post when I have them, but I think a VOR is way too expensive to act as any sort of GPS backup.
