Solar storms spell trouble for GPS

On Wed, 25 Oct 2006 06:17:38 -0500, "Jim Macklin"
wrote in
:


BFD, All those radios are called Aids to navigation for a
reason, they are conveniences.

Were you aware of the design flaw in GPS as implemented? I just
thought it might be a good idea to provide the information to those
weren't.

Of course, this issue makes no mention of solar mass ejections, that
can potentially knock out any satellite.

It appears that we are (finally?) seeing some technological innovation
tickling down to the GA fleet, but I'm becoming uneasy with the
apparent lack of robustness engineered in these early systems.


CAL found Paris with just a compass and a chart.

Yes. It was an Earth Inductor Compass*. I've never seen one of those
in any aircraft in which I've flown, let alone piloted.


* http://oldbeacon.com/beacon/earth_inductor_compass.htm