On Sun, 03 May 2015 17:26:04 -0700, Bug Dout wrote:

As for solar flares, etc. OK, I'll take your word for it. Perhaps, with
advances in semiconductor sensors, relatively cheap inertial
navigation can be constanly online, so a GPS outage on final (and
elsewhere) need not be a catastrophe.

So, it's good enough, in the future NextGen satellite-based ATC system, to
expect that "perhaps" airline passengers will reach their destinations safely?
:-( It seems more like planning to fail in order to generate revenue for big
business, to me.

The cost-saving incentive of NextGen ATC is flawed, aircraft position will
become dependent on what the aircraft reports rather than empirical evidence of
its position, ATC will be wrest from government control, and in-flight safety
will be reduced, but that's okay, because Boeing will make a butt-load of cash
in user-fees. :-(

--
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/spaceweather_hazard_prt.htm
"Without preventive actions or plans, the trend of increased dependency on
modern space-weather sensitive assets could make society more vulnerable in the
future."
--Richard Fisher, director of the Heliophysics division at NASA Headquarters
in Washington, 2008