John Sheridan

The U.S. Coast Guard and its parent, the Department of Homeland Security, on January 7 announced that U.S. loran-C stations will be progressively shut down between February and October, since everyone now uses GPS for navigation. The banks and the communications industry also moved from loran to the slightly more accurate GPS for split-second transaction timing for our ATMs and our cellphones. 
But timing users have retained their lorans for backup, because GPS isn’t always 100-percent accurate, which is why the FAA doesn’t permit GPS-only IFR in the continental U.S. 
The end of loran-C also worries professionals like Brad Parkinson, “the father of GPS,” who brought the satnav system into the world. Parkinson strongly advocates the need for a GPS backup, and has nominated 
<link ain-and-ainalerts>eLoran for that role. ELoran automatically tracks every loran transmitter within 2,000 miles and, like GPS, selects the best signals for navigation. Computer chip-size units inside a GPS receiver would instantly feed the FMS should GPS be lost, and switch out when it returns. 
GPS is pretty reliable, but handheld jammers can easily overcome its weak signals, along with those of other satnavs such as Europe’s Galileo. One expert described GPS/GNSS jammers as true weapons of mass destruction, should they be used in a coordinated terrorist attack on several major airports when there were 200-foot ceilings up and down the Northeast. Since eLoran is unjammable, the UK and the Europeans are moving ahead with it to back up satnav and to make jamming attacks pointless. 
However, the White House Office of Management and Budget bean counters won’t hear of it. Today, when programs are frequently measured in billions, and a trillion dollars no longer raises eyebrows, the unaffordable loran station network, gobbling up a total of $36 million a year, has got to go.
So is this the end of loran? Not necessarily. Simply mothballing the 20-odd stations would cost about $150 million. Dismantling and removing the stations will cost a few hundred million, but EPA site clean-ups are estimated at well over $1 billion. Smart thinkers therefore propose just mothballing the stations while eLoran is further developed to create a jamming-resistant satnav foundation for NextGen.&nbsp;

News, issues, personnel, equipment and developments about air traffic management.

Loran-C shutdown plan worries Satnav watchers

The U.S.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Kerry Lynch

New developments at airports including regulations and noise issues; legal disputes; openings, acquisitions and mergers.

News and issues relating to international air transport and cargo carriers, national airlines and regional airlines, including aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

KDCA and KEWR receive SMR-4 installations, while IDIQ AT&T covers coms

FAA Installs Surface Radars at Key Airports and Awards $74.3M to AT&T

Hanneke Weitering

Issues regarding financing of aircraft; aviation insurance; tax issues for aircraft operators; new companies and people in the aviation financing and insurance industries.

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

Milestone covers the software that talks to air traffic control

Merlin Clears a Certification Hurdle for AI in the Cockpit

Charlotte Bailey

News and issues relating to civil and military unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) of all kinds and sizes, including those used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), combat (unmanned combat air vehicles, or UCAVs), law enforcement, research and other applications. Of particular focus is the FAA's planned integration of UAS into the U.S. national airspace system.

Honeywell-led consortium to consider advanced air mobility integration

Verti-Go Initiative to Lead European Airspace Update

NASA controllers used existing tools to manage simulated autonomous traffic

Wisk Tests 1:3 Supervisor Ratio for Autonomous Flight

Amy Wilder

News and issues concerning general aviation, specifically airplanes and helicopters powered by piston and alternative engines (i.e., non-turbine powered aircraft). Subjects include aircraft, engines, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security and training.

More In ATC

FAA Installs Surface Radars at Key Airports and Awards $74.3M to AT&T

KDCA and KEWR receive SMR-4 installations, while IDIQ AT&T covers coms

Merlin Clears a Certification Hurdle for AI in the Cockpit

Milestone covers the software that talks to air traffic control

Verti-Go Initiative to Lead European Airspace Update

Honeywell-led consortium to consider advanced air mobility integration

Wisk Tests 1:3 Supervisor Ratio for Autonomous Flight

NASA controllers used existing tools to manage simulated autonomous traffic

Modern Skies Coalition Urges $20B More for ATC Upgrades

Funds would build on $12.5 billion approved last year

FAA Taps L3Harris To Modernize Surveillance Network

Contract covers more than 700 ground stations nationwide

FAA’s Wilbur To Improve Flight Delay Data Efficiencies

FAA completed an audit to strengthen NAS operations related to flight delays and cancellations

FAA Commissions First of New Indra Radars

The initial radar is installed in Putnam, Oklahoma

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN