Loss of Remote Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) means unreliable GPS data, posing a critical safety risk, especially in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) or at night, as it leads to a severe loss of situational awareness.
A recent fatal air ambulance crash in New Mexico highlights the dangers of GPS reliance, where the crew experienced repeated GPS service loss due to military jamming, despite pre-existing NOTAMs.
Pilots must perform pre-flight RAIM checks, have backup navigation plans, and critically, immediately switch to alternate navigation or climb if GPS reliability is lost during an approach, to avoid terrain and maintain safety.
Losing situational awareness on any flight is a bad thing, but it’s particularly bad in IMC.
When you can’t see the horizon because of clouds or darkness, it can become a potentially deadly situation. This is why instrument flight candidates are taught to fly by “partial panel,” which means the instructor “fails” an instrument, often the attitude indicator, by covering it up.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
