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Lu Abel wrote:
> The recently updated Federal Radio Navigation Plan, a document jointly
> created by the departments of Homeland Security and Defense and the
> Federal Aviation Administration calls for phasing out of Loran-C.  It
> also calls for moving responsibility for Loran from the Coast Guard to a
> different part of DHS.

Do you know the date of the "updated" Federal Radio Navigation Plan?
Might be easier to kill LORAN-C if the USCG doesn't have a say.

> The call to preserve Loran-C, which motivated not only the preservation
> of the system but a call to create e-Loran was the result of an
> Institute of Defense Analysis study which pointed out the
> vulnerabilities of GPS for both military and especially civilian use and
> called for creation of a second high precision navigation system using

An IDA study that says you need a "independent" second system.  Any good
navigator could have told them this.  They had to know this before
commissioning the study, so why have IDA do a LORAN-C/e-LORAN study?
Funding support.

> totally separate technology.  I would see this as especially important
> to the FAA, since a whole bunch of challenges to aircraft navigation
> (especially so-called zero-zero landings) can be solved with precision

Zero-Zero is as bad a weather observation as it gets [Zero ceiling and
Zero visibility, no matter which way you look you can't see your hand].
   I'm not sure if you're a pilot, but Zero-Zero landings are risky.
IMHO, after one attempt to land in Zero-Zero conditions and if you are
unable to land safely, you should divert to your designated alternate
field, regardless of the electronic equipment aboard and experience
level of the pilots.

> navigation tools -- but it's pretty scary to think of your airplane on
> final approach under zero-visibility conditions into a major airport
> when somebody's TV decides to go on the blink and jam GPS, so I'm really
> surprised the FAA is accepting this call for eliminating e-Loran.

I am not surprised as I don't know many aircraft that have LORAN-C
installed.  Regardless of e-Loran's projected precision, it's unlikely
to replace the currently installed avionics for precision approaches.
FWIW, ANY radio signal can be jammed by some very unlikely things.
There are only two precision approach methods I am aware of.  ILS
[Instrument Landing System, a radio beaconing system that is very
accurate in both course and glideslope]and PAR [Precision Approach
Radar, a narrow beam high PRF radar that allows the radar operator to
see accurately both course and glideslope and relay that information to
the pilots via radio].  To my knowledge GPS approaches are still
considered NON-precision approaches.

-S







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