LORAN is antiquated and obsolete in much the same way that electricity is. Just because it is over 6 months old doesn't mean it isn't a good system. We are still flying VOR and ILS and they are even older. Let's not decommission the only in service backup to GPS.
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The Federal Radionavigation Plan calls for the decommissioning of NDBs, VORs, TACANs, and eventually, ILS. LORAN has been the intended backup for GPS, with over $160 million already spent to complete the upgrades required for eLORAN- a greatly enhanced version.
eLORAN offers accuracy close to GPS, can work under tree canopies and even inside buildings, and is extremely difficult to maliciously jam (unlike GPS). Being ground-based, LORAN stations are far less vulnerable and costly than the GPS satellites.
Terminating eLORAN is a huge waste of an investment already made, and will leave pilots, commercial users, and telecom providers with no backup whatsoever to GPS, and has significant national security implications.
Terminating LORAN is incredibly shortsighted, and a very bad idea.
I'll be sorry to see Loran-C disappear from the panel. Years ago, I got my first Loran-C. It was a II Morrow, and took forever and a day to load in waypoints and destinations. In Alaska, though, it would take me to truly remote spots with an accuracy that was incredible. I've flown a turbocharged Cessna 206 amphibian across the gulf from Florida to Belize several times, and even in the dark and the rain, I didn't have to wory about drifting into Cuban airspace. Several hours of that sort of trip were outside any sort of VHF communication or VOR navigational assistance. As good as GPS? Of course not. Better than a jab in the eye with a stick? You bet your bippy it was! A black armband for its passing.
GPS satellites can be taken out by a competing hostile nation that would cripple our navigation system. Nuclear detonation in space would leave us without GPS as a navigation option. FAA is also planning on getting rid of the VOR system and LORAN is already on the chopping block. There should be redundancy other than pilotage (cuz' it's hard to fly by dead reckoning in an SR-71).
Political grandstanding killed loran.
Shame on the current administration for trading a economical and viable backup system for a long forgotten news bite. As they wasted billions they said "We are cutting government waste" ,a statement that is a lie.
We could control loran over our country. Anybody could disrupt GPS around the globe.
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