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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 1767.PDF
FULL LIST OF READER SERVICES & ADVERTISER CONTACTS - 60 EDITORIAL +44 (20) 8652 3842 Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SMZ 5AS, UK Fax +44 (20) 8652 3840 email Hight.intem3tional9rbi.co.uk EoTtor Murdo Morrison •44 (20) 8652 4395 murdo.momson@rbi.co.uk Editor's PA Debra Warburton (maternity leave) Acting Editor's PA Francesca Everett •44 (20) 8652 3835 francesca.emett@rbi.co.uk News Editor Emma Kelly +44 (20) 8652 3096 emma.kellY@rbi.co.uk Commercial Aviation Editor Max Kingsley-Jones •44 (20) 8652 3825 max.kingsleY.jones@rbi.co.uk Defence Aviation Editor Stewart Penney •44 (20) 8652 3834 stewart.penneY@rbi.co.uk Operations/Safety Editor David Learmount +44 (20) 8652 3845 david.learmount@rbi.co.uk Business Editor Alexander Campbell +44 (20) 8652 3990 alexander.campbell@rbi.co.uk Business & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield •44 (20) 8652 3885 (maternity leave) Business S General Aviation Reporter Justin Wastnage +44 (20) 8652 36b3justin.wastnage@rbi.co.uk Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss •44 (1237) 471960 tim@spaceport.co.uk EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor Christina Mackenzie +33 (1) 64 23 68 89 christina.mackenzie@rbi.co.uk Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 9413132 Middle East Correspondent Gerald Butt •353 2 771967 gbutt@spidernet.com.CY AMERICAS Washington DC Office Fax +1 (703) 836 8344 Americas Editor Graham Warwick +1 (703) 836 3448 graham.warwick@rbi.co.uk East Coast Editor Paul Lewis •1 (703) 836 3084 jpaul.lewis@rbi.co.uk West Coast Editor Guy Nor ris +1 (949) 252 8971 Fax +1 (949) 252 8972 guY.norris@rbi.co.uk Brazil Correspondent Jackson Flores Jr +55 212439-6062 Fax 00 55 212349-6090 fubar@uol.com.br Canada Correspondent Brian Dunn •1 (514) 937-1855 Fax (514) 937-3352 brian@derniermot.com ASIA/PACIFIC Singapore Office Fax +65 338 6171 Regional Managing Editor Nicholas lonides •65 6434 3311 nicholas.ionides@rbi.co.uk Deputy Asia Editor Andrew Doyle •65 6434 3309 andrew.dOYle@rbi.co.uk Regional Reporter David Fullbrook +65 6434 3314 david.fullbrook@rbi.co.uk Australia Civil Aviation Correspondent Paul Phelan +61(7)4053 2791 Fax+61 (7)40533003 pdphelan@optusnet.com.au Australia Military Aviation Correspondent Peter La Franchi +61 (0) 419 246 620 Fax +61 (2) 62312795 nulka@ozemail.com.au EDITORIAL PRODUCTION Group Production Editor Graeme Osborn +44 (20) 8652 3828 Group Art Editor James Mason +44 (20) 8652 4994 Chief Sub-Editor Chris Thornton +44 (20) 8652 3850 Deputy Production Editor Jackie Thompson +44 (20) 8652 4997 Photographer Mark Wagner +44 (20) 8944 5225 TECHNICAL ARTISTS Senior Technical Artist Giuseppe Picarella +44 (20) 8652 8054 Editorial Artist Tim Brown +44 (20) 8652 8043 WWW.FLIGHTINTERNATIONAL.COM Webmaster Sheena Buchanan +44 (20) 8652 4432 SUBSCRIPTIONS +44 (1444) 445454 rbi.subscriptions@rbi.co.uk THE FLIGHT COLLECTION kim.hearn@rbi.co.uk © and Database Rights 2002 Reed Business Information Ltd, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publishers /\~f'I AirTransport Intelligence (ATI), f'iQht International's sister J~\j J onlir,e s*™" at www.rati.com, contains the full text of Flight •—!! Internationaland Airline Business since 19%. Full text of the magazines can also be found online with Lexis-Nexis. Dialogue. FT Profile, IAC and Reuters. Editor Kieran Daly +44 (20) 8652 3837 Reed Business Information COMMENT Follow the leader With satellite navigation vulnerable to terrorism, the USA is to keep its ground-based systems as back-up. Should others do the same? Like it or not, where the USA leads in aviation, the rest of the world tends to follow. With the largest concentration of aircraft, civil and mili tary, the USA tends to encounter and react to aviation opportunities and challenges in ways other regions ignore at their peril. The question is: should the rest of the world follow the USA in its reaction to the exposure of the limitations of the global positioning sys tem? After decades of evangelism on behalf of satellite-based navigation, the USA has been forced to accept that most of its ground- based navigation infrastructure will have to remain to act as a back-up in case GPS is jammed - accidentally or deliberately. The Federal Aviation Administration still remains committed to GPS as the primary means of navigation in US airspace, but it looks unlikely to ever become the only means. Basic GPS, now that the US military has stopped deliberately degrading its accuracy, is Promised savings from the removal of ground equipment will not be realised already good enough for en route navigation and non-precision approaches. The much- maligned wide-area augmentation system (WAAS), to become operational at the end of next year, will provide a near-precision approach capability, while the local-area aug mentation system (LAAS) will provide Category I landing capability from 2004. More improvements are in the pipeline: extra geostationary satellites to increase the capability of WAAS and next-generation GPS satellites with more power and additional civil signals. All will help reduce the vulnerability of GPS to unintentional interference. But they will not eliminate the threat of deliberate jamming. In recognition of that reality, the FAA plans to leave in place sufficient ground-based naviga tion aids to ensure that air transport operations can continue undisrupted if GPS is interfered with. With a robust back-up in place, the attrac tion of GPS as a target for terrorism is reduced. Why jam it if aircraft can still fly safely? The price is that most of today's navaids must stay, must be maintained and eventually must be replaced - and aircraft must continue to be equipped to use them. The promised cost savings from the removal of ground and airborne equipment with the transition to satel lite-based navigation will not be realised. Under the FAA's plan, about half the USA's VHF omni-range (VOR) ground stations would be removed, all distance measuring equip ment (DME) stations and Cat ll/lll instrument landing systems (ILSs) would be retained. Cat I ILSs would be reduced to one per air port, serving the runway best suited to be a back-up. Most aircraft would be required to continue carrying at least one VOR, one DME and one ILS and pilots will have to continue to be trained to use them. The FAA's concept is that aircraft would use GPS, WAAS and LAAS for en route navigation and non-precision and precision approach down to Cat I when the signals are available. So aircraft will need to be equipped with GPS, WAAS and LAAS. This has led some sceptics to question the need ever to equip to use the GPS augmenta tions developed at such great expense. Basic GPS, VOR/DME and ILS - already standard equipment on many aircraft - is enough to get the job done. Should the rest of the world, now embracing satellite navigation at an accelerat ing pace, follow the USA's example? In Europe, where Galileo is to be developed as an adjunct and alternative to GPS, how does the USA's back-up plan affect the business case for charging users for some of the system's ser vices? If GPS can be jammed, so can Galileo. Will users demand a refund every time there is an outage, or simply use the ground-based navigation infrastructure? What about coun tries which lack such an infrastructure and see satellite-based navigation as an affordable route to a word-class airspace system? The answer lies in the assessment of the threat. In the USA, after 11 September, critical infrastructure such as GPS is seen as vulnera ble to terrorist attack jamming. GPS jammers can interfere over a fairly large area. For the USA, with the world's largest air transport sys tem and an economy heavily dependent on air travel, a costly back-up system makes sense. Each region must make its own assess ment of the threat and its own decision on what, if any, back-up system must be left or put in place. Ignoring the possibility of a threat is not an option. There are technologies the USA is considering to mitigate the threat of GPS disruption. Other countries would be well advised to take a look at them. The transition to satellite-based navigation has not been stopped, but it has been slowed and it may never be complete. The future still remains in the future air navigation system. SEE NEWS FOCUS P41 www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 18-24 JUNE 2002 5
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