Another follow up. I spoke to the guy in OK city that updated the Providence approach
plates, and the news is downright bad. If you are not DME or GPS equipped, this is going
to affect you no matter where you fly:

The reason for the change is to comply with an initiative to prepare the ILS approaches for
RNAV. Part of that initiative requires the location of the glideslope to be at an a 100'
interval. Most OM's are not, and it is too expensive to move them, so new intersections
are being added. If, as is the case for Providence, there are no local navaids that have a
radial crossing the approach course close to perpendicular (I think he said +/-30 degrees),
then they are forced to use DME fixes. These changes are being done to the busiest
airports first and will trickle down to the smallest in time. Bottom line, is you are
going to need equipment to identify these new intersections. In a clarification, he did
tell me that the DME is only required for a localizer only approach, although I'm not sure
how you could cross check your altimeter without it. IF you find this initiative as costly
as I do, it is past time to bitch about it to your regional Flight Procedures Office. It
also wouldn't hurt to have lots of people bitch to AOPA so that maybe they'd pay attention
to this issue. In my hangar alone, this corresponds to a virtually mandated equipment
upgrade of collectively over $25,000. The local avionics shops are no doubt savoring the
pending business.

So, if you are not GPS or DME equipped, you better get on the horn or line up to shell out
$ on equipment.


--
--Ray Andraka, P.E.
President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950
email
http://www.andraka.com

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, 1759