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Flight Advisory (West)

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
 
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.
 
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.
 
TroyBranch said:
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.
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Just follow I-5......
 
johnny stick said:
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
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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.
 
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".
 
bkthomps said:
centered at area 51/groom lake, nice
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Centered near Fallon.

RV6_flyer said:
Yes this is normal.
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I don' think that it is normal that they take down the entire west coast for two weeks:eek:

gasman said:
Just follow I-5......
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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.

TroyBranch said:
Looks like I better flight plan Vor to Vor.
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The one they are turning off :rolleyes:
 
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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.
 
NSAWC is the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center. That should give you some clue as to who is doing the testing.
 
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?
 
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.
 
MauiLvrs said:
I don' think that it is normal that they take down the entire west cost:eek:
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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.
 
tkatc said:
Times are sporadic not to exceed 2 hours at a pop. While this is noteworthy, it doesn't seem like a huge inconvenience.
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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.
 
Buggsy2 said:
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.
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2 hours is about the entire trip between here and San Diego :eek:

billnaz said:
It could happen, but not likely to effect a whole flight.
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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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