On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 10:36 PM, Jim Lux <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 6/2/14, 7:16 AM, Brian Lloyd wrote: > >> On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 8:57 AM, Jim Lux <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> O, and since navigation using the ADF and tuning to a AM >>> broadcast station wasn't unusual. >>> >> >> >> Well, it is quite unusual for IFR (instrument flight rules) operation. But >> VFR pilots would sometimes use an AM broadcast station for navigation >> assistance. >> >> > Back in 1980, the examiner asked me how to do it, but didn't make me do it. > He wasn't allowed to. It is not part of the practical test standard for the private pilot certificate. Still, it is useful. I have been flying long enough to experience nearly every form of electronic navigation available in aircraft. I have actually flown an Adcock "A/N" range. I have landed an aircraft in instrument conditions using precision approach radar (PAR or GCA). I have used ADF, VOR, DME, RNAV, LORAN-C, INS, and now GPS. Airplanes haven't changed much but boy the radios sure have! >> I had to learn how to do it when taking flying lessons: it was widely >>> acknowledged ( in 1980) to be nearly useless, >>> >> >> >> Not entirely. I still make sure my planes are equipped with ADF (LF/MF >> direction finding) due to my experience with GPS outages over the >> Caribbean >> and Atlantic. I have experienced outages of over an hour where both my >> panel-mount and hand-held GPS receivers stopped working. ADF was all I >> had. >> I suspect that since I was flying a plane popular with drug-smugglers (a >> Piper Aztec), I was being tracked, followed, and GPS jammed. (I lived in >> the Virgin Islands, traveling to Florida on a regular basis. I would stop >> in the Turks and Caicos or Bahamas to refuel.) >> > > I was referring to the "AM station as beacon", and to be fair, they were > all talking about compared to conventional VOR/DME, and maybe if you had > one of them new fangled RNAV units that mathematically transformed VOR/DME > into lat/lon, etc. > ADF is less accurate than VOR/DME. It is much less accurate than DME/DME. It is archaic. But it works. If the beacon is at the airport itself ADF is amazingly accurate for making an approach. It has a unique characteristic that it is difficult to jam. (LORAN-C was better and I *REALLY* miss LORAN-C as a backup to GPS.) There are large stretches of the Atlantic and Caribbean where the only two navaids that are available are GPS and LF/MF NDBs. Sure I can use pilotage/ded-reconing and hop from island to island. But I have now experienced multiple total GPS outages. It makes me nervous the dependence we are developing on a system that is surprisingly vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack. I do hope that LORAN-C comes back. The original idea of the European Galileo system to use LORAN-C to distribute DGPS data was brilliant. The DGPS datalink was itself a source of high-quality time and position information that is nearly impossible to jam. What a concept! Has anyone considered how a large-area GPS outage would effect us? I *really* don't like having all my eggs in one basket. -- Brian Lloyd Lloyd Aviation 706 Flightline Drive Spring Branch, TX 78070 [email protected] +1.916.877.5067 _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
