VOR impact study

[Laura_D]

Hi all, I'm currently involved in a research project and am hoping the community here can help me out. I'm sure most of you are aware that the FAA is planning to significantly reduce the number of operational VOR's by 2020, in conjunction with NextGen implementation. I'm interested in the impact this may have.

It is my understanding that many pilots are already using GPS as their main method of navigation but rely on VORs as a back up. I am aware of the concerns regarding the reliability of GPS, including the recent LightSquared interference issues. I know another major concern, expecially for GA pilots, is the cost of the avionics that will be required for NextGen.

Besides these concerns, what other issues might be involved with this proposed loss of VOR service? Any input would be appreciated!

 

[Jim Logajan]

To get a better idea of their policy and plans, I searched and found the following DoD/DHS/DoT published PDF formatted document on the BTS web site (TLAs are us):

2008 Federal Radionavigation Plan
http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/31000/31300/31340/02_2008_FEDERAL_RADIONAVIGATION_PLAN.pdf

Sections I skimmed through that seemed interesting: 3.2.4 GPS Backup, 3.3.1 Mitigating Disruptions to Sat Nav Svs, 3.4 Aeronautical Transition Policy, and 5.1.5 on VOR and DME.

Quote from 3.4.1:

"The pace and extent of the transition to SATNAV will depend upon a number of factors, including:
• NAS performance;
• achievement of GPS and GPS augmentation systems program milestones; and
• user acceptance."

I believe the last bullet point translates to "if they ***** a lot we'll keep the old stuff running longer."

 

[Jim Logajan]

See post #14 -- there are two of us that would have liked to see LORAN kept.

Check out the document I linked to in post 39. LORAN isn't going away (ok, LORAN-C is going away) but rather a system called eLoran (thankfully they didn't call it iLoran!) is to be implemented as a backup/complement to GPS. The intent is that it be precise enough for non-precision instrument approaches.