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scheduled GPS interference testing

hotrod180

FRIEND
Port Townsend, WA
Got an email from the operators of my airport yesterday, advising of some scheduled GPS interference testing coming up soon.
Here's a link to the NOTAM:


https://www.faasafety.gov/files/notices/2017/Apr/FFC_17-01_GPS_Flight_Advisory.pdf


Essentially, expect GPS disruptions in an area centered on Bangor Submarine Base near Bremerton WA.
Multiple dates starting April 6 and on through May 6.
Dates & time subject to change, NOTAM(s) will be updated / issued as required.
 
Not having heard anymore about this, I wonder what is being snuck into or out of the sub base? Must be testing something we tax payers do not know we have bought.
 
Or - he could tell you, but then you'd want to kill yourself...

I keep wondering how much longer the FAA is going to allow this disruptive GPS Interference Testing to continue... Isn't the who point of NextGen to move away from radar-based surveillance towards GPS-self-reporting? If the GPS system is being disrupted, clearly those GPS position reports will be suspect at best. You'd think the military researchers could find a different way to conduct those tests - one that wasn't so disruptive to so many people, nor put as many lives potentially in danger. (Imagine that you're low on fuel, making a GPS LPV approach to minimums, and the GPS suddenly goes nuts...)
 
When they've posted similar NOTAMs in AK in the past few years there's been no interruption of GPS service. They have asked pilots to report areas where reception was lost but I've never heard any pireps of it.
 
Even worse - create a blanket, 500-mile radius "potential GPS outage" NOTAM, then not do anything? So the people who might have flown IFR that day, but cancelled due to concerns about not being able to execute the one-and-only GPS approach at their destination...

Sorry, but I still think this absolutely stinks! Unless we (Pilots) get upset about it and talk to our representatives, it may go on indefinitely - at what cost to general aviation?
 
I guess depending on your perspective and how wide-angle the lens you view the world with, that might be perceived as a short-sighted statement.
 
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