That's a brilliant plan. Do you know how many small airplane private pilots rely on these devices too?

I have my GPS as a backup plan. Now I need to have a backup for my backup. I don't think breadcrumbs are going to do me worth a $hit on the water.

I don't think it's really that big of a deal didn't they shut the gps system down after 9/11 for the few days all the planes were grounded????

I recall reading that the Government had a way of seriously degrading performance or sending false GPS signals. The military GPS units would receive a special coded signal which would be decoded by the Mil Spec GPS receiver back to it's original accuracy.
Anyone else recall this?

GPS use by general aviation and the airlines is really widespread now. A lot of flights now fly direct routs via GPS navigation. Degradation or elimination of the GPS system would really cause problems.

Wasn't that the purpose of WAAS originally ? To provide a separate somewhat more accurate siginal to military users ? Then the government opened WAAS to everyone.

The Army name for GPS is PLGR and they are in most combat vehicles. They also have other navigation systems EPLRS etc..

ed

I believe both civilian and military gps were the same.. only until "Slick Willy" stopped "selective availabilty".. the civilian signal was degraded it still worked well... but you could only count on it's accuracy to about 30 feet... whereas the military was about 3 feet at the time. Now even the civilian is as accurate.

When I do my IFR review every other year they will not let me use the GPS's. I have two in the plane. Ya gotta do r' on ur own pal.

The government can control and alter the frequency of the signal so only military personnel will be able to utilize their GPS systems.

Yes, they did make it available to everybody but they also selectively left the alternative in place.

Reading these comments (and you guys know better than us in Europe) it looks like where the state is involved manipulation and diseption is the norm.

Right on the money Expresscat.
ALL pilots are required to be able to navigate by basic pilotage and with the aircraft's radio-navigation equipment available to them, if any.
IFR pilots are required to be able to navigate without any outside visual references using any/all equipment onboard as required to complete the flight, which may include GPS only if it is enroute-and-or-approach certified.
The old VOR system performs just fine and the feds aren't likely to shut that system down.
How'd I do, Dennis?

Sounds like liberal media bull$hit to me.

There's nothing wrong with picking up 4 mph!!!