What If GPS Doesnt?

Anything that can go wrong, will, and at the worst possible moment-so states Finagles corollary to Murphys Law. This notion is drilled into pilots from the beginning, so that it becomes second nature to have a plan to handle all sorts of potential failures that could be experienced in flight. Engine failure: check. Instrument and system malfunction: got it covered. Communication failure: no problem. GPS failure... Uhhh, what? Hang on a minute.

IFR Staff

Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

GPS is highly vulnerable to interference (military, illegal jamming, solar flares), and current NOTAMs for these outages are often unhelpful and easily missed by pilots and ATC.
Over-reliance on GPS in modern aviation means outages can significantly impact navigation (especially for GPS-dependent routes and approaches) and even ATC surveillance via ADS-B, with non-certified units potentially providing misleading data without warning.
Pilots must prioritize contingency planning, maintain proficiency in traditional navigation skills (VORs, ILS, DME), and consider the implications for aircraft equipment updates and recurrent training as ground-based navaids are decommissioned.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Anything that can go wrong, will, and at the worst possible moment—so states Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s Law. This notion is drilled into pilots from the beginning, so that it becomes second nature to have a plan to handle all sorts of potential failures that could be experienced in flight. Engine failure: check. Instrument and system malfunction: got it covered. Communication failure: no problem. GPS failure… Uhhh, what? Hang on a minute.

A reader recently told us about a GPS outage while flying VFR along airways over Arizona. The pilot reported no GPS signal for around 100 NM. Other general aviation and airline traffic in the area reported a similar loss, and ATC seemed to be taken by surprise as well.