when of course those changes were promptly reverted
Which ones?
Because the EU doesn’t have absolute power over the legislation of the member states. Its power is determined by the EU treaties and does not cover everything.
Politics is the art of the possible ( (C) von Bismarck ). And anything impinging excessively into national sovereignity is tricky. Try bull-fighting in Spain (and yes an EU politician used that exact phrase re that exact topic, on TV).
(aka RNAV1) actually IS desirable for serious IFR flying
RNAV1, sure, but PRNAV was much bigger. And much bigger-hitting for GA. I recall one guy, with basically unlimited money and a huge amount of time and patience, getting his 421C PRNAV-LOA approved by burying the FAA FSDO in mountains of paper… He has since dropped flying altogether, AFAIK.
RNAV1 is just any old IFR GPS, like a GNS430, but – due to lack of the LOA – not the KLN94.
You can use a 760 channel radio without restriction – but only for 25 kHz channels of course!
Yes. It can also transmit on 8.33 channels which are the 25k plus 5k (e.g. 125.255); their carrier is actually the same as the 25k. Most of Europe did that trick when going to 8.33, for frequencies likely to be used by GA. See link I posted above (but I am sure you know this).
you can also use them to monitor 8.33 kHz channels (such as ATIS) which happen to use the same frequency as a 25 kHz channel
Puritanically that may be so, but you can transmit also, so long as your 25k radio is not some really shagged WW2 set. I do it all the time. Remember there is little or no regulation in GA what equipment may be used and how. Only what equipment must be carried.
I recall being laughed at when some of the same people told me about 10-15 years ago ADS-B would be compulsory in the US, well… by now most people have had to add ADSB or take massive restrictions.
Roughly 159 of the 5,211 airports in the US are surrounded by an airspace area that requires ADS-B for most aircraft. I say roughly because other airports are also contained in the primary airport ADS-B areas. Call it 500 airports if you like, but it’s not a big fraction of them. Plus airspace over 18,000 feet. That’s it.
More importantly politically, and in reality, with ADS-B there is a substantial operational and safety benefit to the paying population that balances their mandated costs unlike with 2,280 channel VHF aircraft radio, which has no purpose other than a political purpose and also Mode S, which offers little to nothing to those paying the bill. The latter was BTW an invention of US government contractors that has never been mandated for GA anywhere in the US. The Mode S mandate also proved to be a political dead end in the US and Mode C works fine with or without ADS-B, something that had to be made the case before US ADS-B could be implemented.
Peter wrote:
RNAV1, sure, but PRNAV was much bigger. And much bigger-hitting for GA. I recall one guy, with basically unlimited money and a huge amount of time and patience, getting his 421C PRNAV-LOA approved by burying the FAA FSDO in mountains of paper… He has since dropped flying altogether, AFAIK.RNAV1 is just any old IFR GPS, like a GNS430
For all practical purposes RNAV 1 and P-RNAV are the same thing. A GNS430 can do RNAV 1, too.
It was called P-RNAV before ICAO standardised the specs with the PBN concept. The issues you mention were due the fear of GPS navigation that authorities used to have.
PRNAV needed an LOA for the whole aircraft.
This is totally digressing however.
