The US Federal Aviation Administration is to fund an assessment of the risk which is associated with using the global positioning system (GPS) as the sole means of navigation.
A special committee, including representatives of the air transport and general aviation sectors, will report back to the FAA by 1 October on whether a back-up system is needed.
The assessment was requested by the RTCA, the government/ industry body responsible for advising on modernising the US airspace system, partly in response to fears of a breakdown in consensus between the general aviation and air transport communities over which ground-based aids should be retained as a back-up to GPS.
Source: Flight International
