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  #24  
Old September 13th, 2007, 06:01 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.travel.air
Mxsmanic
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Default CNN article on problems in Air Travel, as seen by FAA

John Kulp writes:

By flying different paths than now.


Without moving runways, that's going to be difficult.

Funny, GPS can place a smart bomb right on a target it tracks, but it
can't track aircraft.


GPS is a receiver-only system. It provides guidance to the aircraft in which
it is installed. It provides nothing to anyone else, by design.

I have news for you. I was on an international
flight a while back and was talking to the relief pilot. He said the
US was the only country NOT using GPS and was totally outdated. So
how, then, do the flights get to where they're going?


What your pilot doesn't know is that the FMS in every aircraft (almost) uses
GPS as one of its navigation sources. The FMS uses GPS, VORs, ILS, ADF, and
potentially whatever else is on the aircraft for navigation. So the U.S. is
making heavy use of GPS.

Still, this has nothing to do with _tracking_ aircraft by GPS, which is not
possible.

Ah, so you reduce shedules making them less convenient for the public,
force aircraft to buy and sell aircraft they don't want, etc. etc.
Brilliant.


As fuel dwindles and CO2 increases, it will certainly seem so, although I
rather consider it self-evident.