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-   -   Flight Advisory (West) (https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=98687)

John Clark 04-16-2013 06:14 PM

Flight Advisory (West)
 
GPS Interference testing Western US April 19 to May 03.

https://www.faasafety.gov/files/noti..._Advisory_.pdf

John Clark ATP, CFI
FAAST Team Representative
EAA Flight Advisor
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA

johnny stick 04-16-2013 06:22 PM

Wow this is a big area
 
Wow this is a big area, any idea why it is so big? Does anyone know if this normal and what has happened before with these tests? thanks

John Clark 04-16-2013 06:44 PM

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName...eInterruptions


John Clark ATP, CFI
FAAST Team Representative
EAA Flight Advisor
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA

Buggsy2 04-16-2013 06:52 PM

It's a huge area, extending into the San Francisco Bay Area.

If you have a later model (within the last year) iPhone or iPad with GPS, they claim to also receive GLONASS signals from the Russian system. Don't know what they do if GPS and GLONASS disagree widely. Other smartphones also appear to receive GLONASS.

bkthomps 04-16-2013 07:31 PM

centered at area 51/groom lake, nice

TroyBranch 04-16-2013 07:54 PM

Perfect, that looks like 75% of my trip down to LA during that time frame. Looks like I better flight plan Vor to Vor. I have lost GPS on my 430w north of st George one year, it was a shock as I never thought that would happen. I was glad I had the nav on it and the Sl30. I did not have the IPad back then. We will see what it does this time.

gasman 04-16-2013 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TroyBranch (Post 762737)
Perfect, that looks like 75% of my trip down to LA during that time frame. Looks like I better flight plan Vor to Vor. I have lost GPS on my 430w north of st George one year, it was a shock as I never thought that would happen. I was glad I had the nav on it and the Sl30. I did not have the IPad back then. We will see what it does this time.

Just follow I-5......

RV6_flyer 04-16-2013 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnny stick (Post 762701)
Wow this is a big area, any idea why it is so big? Does anyone know if this normal and what has happened before with these tests? thanks

Yes this is normal. Sometimes I get a RAIM warning on my GPS when they are testing and my GPS nav ends up being intermittent.

Gash 04-17-2013 05:35 AM

Great. This is happening when a bunch of us are converging on Madera, CA for the West Coast Formation Clinic. Looks like it's also going to be the "West Coast Dead Reckoning Clinic".

MauiLvrs 04-17-2013 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkthomps (Post 762727)
centered at area 51/groom lake, nice

Centered near Fallon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV6_flyer (Post 762776)
Yes this is normal.

I don' think that it is normal that they take down the entire west coast for two weeks:eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by gasman (Post 762773)
Just follow I-5......

That doesn't help much getting through all of the difficult airspace.
Last two times ... we just went over the top of it all. That's an option if you don't have to go into it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TroyBranch (Post 762737)
Looks like I better flight plan Vor to Vor.

The one they are turning off :rolleyes:

tkatc 04-17-2013 09:25 AM

Did I read this wrong? The biggest interruption is AT 50 feet. Times are sporadic not to exceed 2 hours at a pop. While this is noteworthy, it doesn't seem like a huge inconvenience.

Sig600 04-17-2013 09:57 AM

NSAWC is the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center. That should give you some clue as to who is doing the testing.

RDSIII 04-17-2013 11:11 AM

Well, I'm guessing that long range missiles may have some form of guidance in them, and I think there is a country currently threatening to attack our great country... I wonder what this could be about?

billnaz 04-17-2013 04:14 PM

Not much concern
 
These things pop up all the time, I've never experienced any gps failures. I've asked the guys at ABQ center and they said they don't see any problems with coverage during these tests. It could happen, but not likely to effect a whole flight.

RV6_flyer 04-17-2013 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MauiLvrs (Post 762866)

I don' think that it is normal that they take down the entire west cost:eek:

They do this (GPS testing) at least once a month. Once a month is what I call normal. I get notifications every time it extends into the LA Basin.

MauiLvrs 04-17-2013 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV6_flyer (Post 763018)
They do this (GPS testing) at least once a month. ...

What I said was it isn't normal to take affect nearly the entire west coast for two weeks...

RV6_flyer 04-17-2013 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MauiLvrs (Post 763063)
What I said was it isn't normal to take affect nearly the entire west coast for two weeks...

It is not a solid two-week test. It is a few hours several times at day on several days over two-weeks.

Buggsy2 04-17-2013 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkatc (Post 762874)
Times are sporadic not to exceed 2 hours at a pop. While this is noteworthy, it doesn't seem like a huge inconvenience.

2 hours @ 150 kts is 300 nm, a considerable distance, possibly over mountains up to 14,000 ft and lots of controlled airspace in the SF Bay Area and SoCal. In those two areas, even a few minutes of outage can be a serious event.

I understand GPS is a US military system. But the FAA plans to depend solely on GPS in the future, not to mention millions of autos, hikers, etc. My RV won't have VOR capability (except maybe a handheld NAV/COM) since it costs thousands more for the radio.

Something has to be worked out between the military and civilian uses.

MauiLvrs 04-17-2013 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buggsy2 (Post 763107)
2 hours @ 150 kts is 300 nm, a considerable distance, possibly over mountains up to 14,000 ft and lots of controlled airspace in the SF Bay Area and SoCal. In those two areas, even a few minutes of outage can be a serious event.

2 hours is about the entire trip between here and San Diego :eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by billnaz (Post 763006)
It could happen, but not likely to effect a whole flight.

Have ya'll heard of this guy named Murphy? Failure will likely occur during the most critical part of the flight.


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