Originally published at: NTSB: GPS Jamming Active Before C90 Accident
Four people were killed when the Beech C90 impacted terrain northeast of Sierra Blanca Regional Airport.
Another article i read regarding this accident was that this flight was done on a moonless night. Going in with the knowledge of the different reporting systems down, and GPS issues, i don’t know why the flight continues.
If the crew had visual, the GPS data is a backup. They continued into a bad situation and didn’t break the accident chain. Maybe we are getting way to reliant on automation and not flying the aircraft.
Sad.
Seems that despite heading from ATC the crew lost track of where they were so descended into high terrain before nearing airport. (Airport is at 6814 feet, mountains nearby go to 10,201 ft, they hit at 9,950.)
(Note general area has restricted US military facility popularly known as ‘Area 51’.)
During the 1980s, I flew from California to the midwest and back 3 or four times. Twice to Oshkosh Airventure. LORAN C was in operation and I loved it; and ILS equivalent track to continually follow. The military can shut down parts the US GPS system with an hours notice; which makes it hardly useable. It is time to turn over the GPS system to the US Coast Guard and bring back LORAN C; and tell the Avionics manufacturers where they can go; since they are the ones who got the US Congress to get rid of LORAN C. Life working in reverse with GPS manufacturers; and the US Congress was listening to these GPS manfacture assholes; and thinking like use in autos; which is never a possibility with small aircraft. The rest of the planet still uses LORAN C; that should be message to the US Congress and the GPS manufacturers that they made a mistake and should fix it by bringing back LORAN C. Or, reactivating the LORAN C stations on each coast and in the center of the US will fix the problem. Aircraft owners can go over seas to find their new LORAN C receiver.
Groom Lake, NV (Area 51) is only 631 miles and two states away …
Thanks for the information.
Yes, ground-based low frequency is a good concept for backup.
Station equipment needs updating - ‘e-LORAN’, which is also more versatile because of how it determines position.
There is a proposal for an alternative space system, more precise than GPS but still with much of the vulnerability of GPS I expect.
A few years ago there was a ground system for local use such as surveying.
I note that modern avionics technology facilitates Loran being a single card slotted into a multi-purpose receiver in an airliner.
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