Bush Prepares for Possible GPS Shutdown

The U.S.S.R. had one at one time. What happened to it? Couldn't
afford the
upkeep?

The Soviet Union began launching satellites for GLONASS, their GPS
equivalent, back in 1982. When the country went out of business,
upkeep slowed, and the original 24+3 satellite system is down to 8,
making it essentially useless. You need multiple locks to use
GLONASS/GPS for navigation, so...

There was some discussion of a new GLONASS replacement called
GLONASS-M, but it's contingent on money which is in somewhat short
supply in Russia.

G.R. Patterson III wrote:



Larry Dighera wrote:

So, you're saying there are no GPS approaches whose missed approach
procedures rely upon GPS?

Dunno about that, but according to an article in the most recent AOPA
Pilot, you can't shoot a WAAS approach without some other navigation
system (like a VOR glide slope receiver) in the plane.

How does one get to the next approach w/o GPS if the missed approach on the
GPS approach requires a GPS?

This isn't just a "GPS shutdown" question, but a more generic "dealing with
failure" question. Still, one is legal with a single VOR and VOR
approaches can have VOR-based missed approaches.

- Andrew

Jay Honeck wrote:

I didn't say they could shut down the internet. I said they would shut
down
your ACCESS to the internet. Surely you aren't so gullible as to believe
that the government couldn't shut down AOL, Mediacom, Qwest, and the dozen
or so other ISPs that provide 95% of Americans with internet access in
time of national emergency?

After dealing with numerous backbone firms: I seriously doubt that Qwest
could easily/quickly shut down Qwest. THe same is true for any of the
other backbones. AOL...maybe. It's a different kind of service, and one
could probably "attack" it via the mechanism it uses for
authentication/authorization.

- Andrew

Cockpit Colin wrote:


You haven't a clue how the Internet operates. There is no Internet
central authority.

Not that many border-gateway routers connecting US backbones to the rest
of the country though, which becomes a different argument. Unlikely, but
not overly difficult to isolate the USA from the internet if need be.

You might be surprised. I'm aware of some very regional (ie. not too large)
"backbones" in the NYC area that have their own connectivity to some ASN
outside of the US.

Now, NYC might be unusual in the intercontinental traffic it generates. But
not *that* unusual. I expect many MANs now have pretty widespread
peerings.

- Andrew

Dave S wrote:

When Selective Availability was disabled in the Clinton administration,
regional disruption of the GPS signal was the stated
"back-up"/"alternative". This is not new news in the least.

I've read of this before. But I don't see how it could be done regionally
w/o using something like jamming. Do the satellites have the ability to
block their signal to regions?

- Andrew

On 12/16/04 5:41 PM, in article ,
"Icebound" wrote:


You have to excuse some questioning of these powers, however, because no one
is exactly sure what constitutes "national emergency". Does something
affecting 10 percent of the population constitute "national emergency"? 1
percent? 1 in 100,000? 1 in a million? Does a poised hostile armed force of
100,000? A few thousand? Several hundred militants and a bunch of
rabble-rousers? Armed with mostly light weaponry? Armed with atomic bombs?


Our entire airspace was shut down after the deaths of a few thousand on
9-11, so we can put that down as a partial answer.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

The Wizard's 2004 Christmas newsletter
http://www.wizardofdraws.com/main/xmas04.html

"Chris Gumm" wrote in message
...

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...&w=APO&coview=

I am not sure why this is news. It has been policy since before Bush was
President.

"Schmoe" wrote in message
...
Chris Gumm wrote:

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...&w=APO&coview=


How much would that suck during a GPS approach to minimums far away from
the
crisis? Would WAAS stations be shutdown to?

You might be surprised at what happens if you lose RAIM inside the FAF
anyway.

If you lose the navigation radios on any approach (and it can and will
happen with any sort of approach) then the best thing to do is climb
immediately, maintaining course to the MAP as closely as possible, then
flying the missed approach procedure.

If the GPS system is shut down then you can expect to break off any approach
and revert to radar vectors.

"Andrew Gideon" wrote in message
online.com...
Dave S wrote:

When Selective Availability was disabled in the Clinton administration,
regional disruption of the GPS signal was the stated
"back-up"/"alternative". This is not new news in the least.

I've read of this before. But I don't see how it could be done regionally
w/o using something like jamming. Do the satellites have the ability to
block their signal to regions?

Individual satellites could be shut down, effectively blanking out large
regions.

"C Kingsbury" wrote in message
k.net...

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...

So, you're saying there are no GPS approaches whose missed approach
procedures rely upon GPS?


Aren't you required to have means to execute a non-GPS approach at either
your destination or alternate to be legal?

Yes. However, if you are WAAS equipped then there is no such requirement.