In the UK, they are actually installing some new DME. Like the Winstone (Gloucestershire) one installed last December or January. Not really helpful for GA though.
UdoR wrote:
Yes there is a plan.
The plan – for all of Europe – is primarily DME/DME and secondarily a skeleton network of VORs.
Does anyone actually know what the plan is? I mean a document? Can anyone post a link, or the document itself?
In 2008 I was at a Eurocontrol conference at which this was discussed.
Airlines used INS corrected by DME-DME and the backup for that was ATC radar. This navigation system is still the same today.
For GA, the backup would be ATC radar plus whatever is available.
Using VORs is not viable because while one can navigate with VOR tracking, we don’t have the “KNS80” VOR-shifting functionality these days, so one would bust a lot of airspace which would create mayhem especially in the UK with its totally mad no-prisoners kneejerk policy which shuts down large chunks of CAS according to arbitrary rules where an infringer is deemed to have a 5 mile / 5000ft cylinder around him. There would be mayhem. In other parts of Europe ATC is just as reactive e.g. with military airspace enforcement. So ATC radar has to be the primary solution.
In any situation where GPS was lost due to military action, GA would be grounded anyway – as it was in WW2 for example.
Peter wrote:
Using VORs is not viable because while one can navigate with VOR tracking, we don’t have the “KNS80” VOR-shifting functionality these days, so one would bust a lot of airspace which would create mayhem especially in the UK with its totally mad no-prisoners kneejerk policy which shuts down large chunks of CAS according to arbitrary rules where an infringer is deemed to have a 5 mile / 5000ft cylinder around him. There would be mayhem.
Should this situation occur, no one could care less about GA. If poor navigational accuracy on the GA side should cause problems we would just see large increase in CAS for buffers or light GA would simply be shut down.
There is no arbitrary class system for access to airspace classes A through E, nor a relevant definition of GA that could be used to deny airspace access to specific aircraft.
Silvaire wrote:
There is no arbitrary class system for access to airspace classes A through E, nor a relevant definition of GA that could be used to deny airspace access to specific aircraft.
True, but the airliners have INS corrected by DME-DME so can continue to operate in the absence of GPS.
IFR GA would struggle – in the absence of GPS it is going to have a hard time meeting RNP standards.
VFR GA could continue using traditional methods, assuming anyone remembers how.
The over-arching point of course is that if GPS goes down for some non-trivial amount of time, it will likely be related to major global events that (at least in Europe) may well mean that precise navigation of a light aircraft is the last thing on our minds.
Luckily we have galileo 😂
Hard to simply know, I have search without success a live status of galileo constellation.
I disassembled my stratux that can give me all the sat names in the various GNSS constellations, but I bet some android or iphone app can do it.
Edit: https://www.n2yo.com/?s=49810|49809|43566|43056|41549|40890|40545|40129|37846
