Originally published at: NWS Proposes Shift From VOR Reference Points for Aviation Weather
Agency seeks comments on transition tied to FAA navigation changes.
With GPS spoofing so rampant these days they’re still trying to reduce the number of VORs?
What criteria are they going to use for the airports they are going to reference? Are the selected airports going to vary based on the advisory? In the West and Southwest there is a lot of airspace without major airports. Would they reference small, local airports or use larger airports located hundreds of miles away from the sigmeted area? I think VORs still play a useful role in both identifying, navigating and communicating in our national airspace. I think it’s wrong to keep decommissioning them..
This sounds like a bad idea in areas where VORs are more easily/quickly/reliably identifiable than airports – ie, just about everywhere!
I haven’t used the location description based on VOR’s in a couple decades. Let’s move on from the “good old days” to the “current era” where those weather products are nicely displayed on a map on my iPad. 
The skills from the “good ol’ days” are the ones that define the best pilots. Relying on ipads breeds complacency and lassitude.
I’m not saying there isn’t a place for ipads in some cockpits, but replacing very reliable technology with something less than very reliable isn’t a great idea.
This sounds like a prelude to requiring GPS onboard all aircraft with a Type Certificate, i.e. not homebuilts and Experimental. No, not the GPS-capable moving map on your iPad; GPS that can be used for navigation,
i.e. equipment and installation certified by the airframe OEM or to a TSO. Expensive!
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