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Real GPS Outage

One has only to monitor the GPS NOTAMs to conclude that our near-100 percent confidence in GPS is misplaced. Here’s a story of a real GPS outage.

No GPS position
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The author experienced a critical loss of GPS signal integrity near an FBO, affecting multiple aircraft, which was later traced to interference from multiple GPS re-radiating systems in a nearby maintenance hangar.
  • This incident highlights the importance for pilots to verify GPS integrity before flight and to maintain proficiency in non-GPS, ground-based VHF navigation due to the potential unreliability of GPS.
  • The article emphasizes that aircraft flying in IMC should retain VHF navigation capabilities, arguing against its elimination during panel upgrades, to ensure preparedness for GPS outages.
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Routinely, my two GPS navigators will lock onto GPS satellites within a few minutes once powered up. But not this time. Both indicated LOI (loss of integrity), implying that the GPS satellites were insufficient. This was confirmed when no satellites appeared on the GPS Status pages. With the failure in two separate units, a failure in the airplane was unlikely. I suspected some systemic GPS problem.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Once I taxied perhaps 100 yards beyond the FBO, the satellites came alive one-by-one. Since I remain well practiced in VHF nav, and it was a local flight, I continued.

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