I'm not particularly familiar with aviation, so is the radius in this comment (445NM at FL400) considered large? (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28833002)
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_flight_restriction
Shouldn't you always be ready for a GPS (or other instrument) failure?
Knocking out a pilot's GPS gives them one less tool in the event that other instruments fail. It's like saying "shouldn't you always be ready for backup hydraulics to fail?". Taking a backup system offline isn't an ideal situation.
Yes. They are designed for that, and have procedures in place for when it happens, just as they do for a GPS failure.
(Specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETOPS)
I would not be OK with a pilot who didn’t plan for the possibility of engine failure.
If you run out of fuel because your GPS is jammed, there’s a good chance you’d have run out of fuel if it failed in another more normal fashion.
I'm not arguing about whether it's possible, I'm arguing whether it's smart. Airplanes have backups, and yes they can run on those backups, or else what would even be the point of having them? This kind of goes without saying...
If planes are DESIGNED to have backup systems, in case there is a failure, then do you think it's smart to arbitrarily remove one of said backup systems?
That's a different question.
If you're knowingly flying into GPS jamming - these jamming operations are apparently announced via NOTAMs (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28833002) - you should be planning ahead even more.
A pilot is responsible for having enough fuel in case of an emergency, like the GPS unit crapping out. Anyone running out of fuel due to GPS jamming was ill prepared for other emergencies.
Think of it this way. A person can live a normal life with 1 arm, 1 leg or even 1 eye or ear. Is it ideal? Probably not. If you lose your other arm, leg, eye/ear it's going to cause many more problems than just losing 1.
Losing any backups in aviation is a less-than-ideal situation. That was the only point I was trying to make. OF COURSE pilots can operate a plane without GPS, my god I'd hope they could. I feel like that kind of goes without saying.
Taking off with 1 of 2 engines is a lot different than taking off with inoperative avionics. The FAA and airlines dictate what minimum equipment is required for any given aircraft to be airworthy and it’s a fairly robust document that takes into account myriad situations and flight conditions.
But seriously "We've been told we can't ask to stop jamming, and to just put everyone on headings."... people inbound not ready for this can run out of fuel. Maybe the right passive aggressive response could have been to simply set a really large diameter TFR to keep civilian aircraft away assuming people check NOTAMs.