AOPA Action: Headache for GA
AOPA, NBAA say stop jamming GPS
As reliance on GPS has increased for national defense, intentional jamming events have occurred “routinely” in the national airspace system. However, “The NAS has become increasingly reliant on GPS as the primary source of navigation and aircraft system functionality while reducing the ground based navigational backup infrastructure,” AOPA and NBAA wrote in a joint letter to the FAA and the U.S. Air Force.
Finding a solution to the conflict between civil aviation’s growing dependence on GPS and the proliferation of widespread jamming events is a top AOPA advocacy priority. AOPA is working to educate pilots on measures they can take while airborne if a GPS jamming event interferes with navigation—including such measures as a “stop buzzer” alert to air traffic control.
AOPA and NBAA noted that problems persisted even during the past year, calling attention to recent industry concerns about reduced access to Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, Idaho. The associations urged “further engagement” on how to mitigate the GPS jamming problem.
‘Great strides’ in DPE modernization, AOPA says
AOPA has long advocated upgrading the DPE system and supports the measures the FAA is taking to modernize the examination-administration process, which most pilots depend on for practical tests.
In 2020, the association established a six-member AOPA Designated Pilot Examiner Advisory Board to guide AOPA’s evaluation of the recommendations on which the system’s overhaul will be based. Christopher Cooper, AOPA senior director of regulatory affairs, chairs the panel, whose other members include Catherine Cavagnaro, an aerobatics instructor and professor of mathematics at Sewanee: The University of the South; David St. George, a master flight instructor, working charter pilot, and executive director of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators; Alan Miller, an Airbus A320 pilot with Delta Air Lines; Janeen Kochan, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University adjunct assistant professor, former Boeing 767 captain, and human-factors instructor for a major U.S. airline; and Doug Rozendaal, a veteran warbird and aerobatic pilot.
The working group is responsible for proposing ways to modernize the FAA’s management of its designated pilot examiner network and plans to present its package of recommendations this summer.
Cooper said that although progress on the working group’s agenda was slowed by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic throughout 2020, the panel nonetheless “made great strides” working virtually toward its 2021 completion.
Check your charts
Pilots should double check the effective dates of the charts they use for VFR flying. As of February 25, the FAA said “all Sectional Aeronautical, VFR Terminal Area (TAC), VFR Flyway Planning, VFR Aeronautical, and Helicopter Route Charts will be updated and continue to be updated every 56 days” to coincide with the publication dates of other en route, terminal, and supplemental chart products. Changing the publication cycles required the FAA to amend the publication dates of numerous charts, making many of them obsolete before the final effective date published on the charts. The FAA expects the change could result in significant reductions of chart-related notams because new information will be added to charts more quickly than was the case on the prior publication cycles of 168 days to two years. The change will also make the chart bulletins that are contained in chart supplement volumes unnecessary.
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