Why The Hell... (random rant)

EridanMan writes:

The system is a rube goldberg contraption with an instant-on kill
switch.

There is no instant-on kill switch. It takes quite a bit of time to send
commands to all the satellites.

Wait until someone launches a home-made GPS guided cruise
missile into Washington DC, watch them flick the switch, and see what
happens. Just hope it doesn't happen at night, and you're not in the
air at the time.

They can't do that any more. It would be a worse disaster to turn it off than
it would be to just let it run, for both military and civilian use.

It also requires constant, very expensive maintenance, a complex
receiver in good working order, and as I mentioned, can be turned off
at the push of a button. None of these are traits you want for you
primary navigation system.

It cannot be turned off at the push of a button. I'm not aware of any
constant maintenance requirement. Databases have to be updated by a
monopolistic price-gouging private enterprise, but that's a separate issue.

The simplest, fastest and most dependable (in VMC) way of finding true
north (or any form of navigation) is simple spatial awareness and
pilotage. A good chart, and a good eye.

I wouldn't trust those.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:
EridanMan writes:

The system is a rube goldberg contraption with an instant-on kill
switch.

There is no instant-on kill switch. It takes quite a bit of time to send
commands to all the satellites.

Yeah, a few seconds once the decision is made.

Wait until someone launches a home-made GPS guided cruise
missile into Washington DC, watch them flick the switch, and see what
happens. Just hope it doesn't happen at night, and you're not in the
air at the time.

They can't do that any more. It would be a worse disaster to turn it off than
it would be to just let it run, for both military and civilian use.

If backup systems like VOR, NDB, LORAN didn't exist, that might be
true, but the backukp systems do exist.

It also requires constant, very expensive maintenance, a complex
receiver in good working order, and as I mentioned, can be turned off
at the push of a button. None of these are traits you want for you
primary navigation system.

It cannot be turned off at the push of a button. I'm not aware of any
constant maintenance requirement. Databases have to be updated by a
monopolistic price-gouging private enterprise, but that's a separate issue.

We'll just add that to the long and growing list of things you are
not aware of.

The simplest, fastest and most dependable (in VMC) way of finding true
north (or any form of navigation) is simple spatial awareness and
pilotage. A good chart, and a good eye.

I wouldn't trust those.

That's because you haven't a clue as to how to use them, especially
the awareness part.

--
Jim Pennino

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writes:

Yeah, a few seconds once the decision is made.

No, far longer than that. I seem to recall it being minutes or hours,
probably the latter.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

In rec.aviation.piloting Mxsmanic wrote:
writes:

Yeah, a few seconds once the decision is made.

No, far longer than that. I seem to recall it being minutes or hours,
probably the latter.

Maybe, just maybe, the satellites on the other side of the planet, but
for everything in view, seconds.

--
Jim Pennino

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writes:

Maybe, just maybe, the satellites on the other side of the planet, but
for everything in view, seconds.

The satellites take twelve hours to orbit the planet, and they don't pass over
the same spots on each orbit. As I recall, it takes several hours to have
them all execute a command, although that may be changing in future blocks.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.