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I took flight school a few years ago, and had to learn to tune in non-directional radio beacons, and use VHF Omni-Directional Range tools for navigation. I was

I took flight school a few years ago, and had to learn to tune in non-directional radio beacons, and use VHF Omni-Directional Range tools for navigation. I wasn't allowed to use the GPS until I demonstrated mastery of the others. Considering that, I suspect the aviation industry will keep both systems working for a surprisingly long time.

Someone 7y ago
This isn’t for pilots to know where they are, it’s for air traffic control to know where planes are. If GPS were to become the sole way to do the latter, every airplane would effectively get an invisibility cloak that those who want to do evil can activate (and even worse. Switching off the on-board transmitter is less scary than spoofing signals) Because of that, I would expect they keep using some way to detect planes that don’t tell them where they are, or radios broadcasting “plane P is at X,Y,Z” without a plane being there.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  > If GPS were to become the sole way to do the latter, every airplane would effectively get an invisibility cloak that those who want to do evil can activate... This is already the case. Much of the civilian radar system already relies on transponders to get a good fix on aircraft, via secondary radar. Primary radar coverage (no transponder required) is much more limited. Turn off the transponder and you'll largely disappear from ATC's screens. ADS-B isn't new in this regard.
- knodi123 7y ago
  > This isn’t for pilots to know where they are, it’s for air traffic control to know where planes are. Yes, thank you for clarifying. I just explained that I am a pilot, so I did know that. It was an analogy. Just like the way that pilots have multiple redundant "where are you tools", so too do I think traffic controllers will have multiple redundant "where is everyone" tools. Because the industry, as a whole, is in favor of multiple redundant tools when it comes to safety.

Someone 7y ago

This isn’t for pilots to know where they are, it’s for air traffic control to know where planes are. If GPS were to become the sole way to do the latter, every airplane would effectively get an invisibility cloak that those who want to do evil can activate (and even worse. Switching off the on-board transmitter is less scary than spoofing signals) Because of that, I would expect they keep using some way to detect planes that don’t tell them where they are, or radios broadcasting “plane P is at X,Y,Z” without a plane being there.

ceejayoz 7y ago
> If GPS were to become the sole way to do the latter, every airplane would effectively get an invisibility cloak that those who want to do evil can activate... This is already the case. Much of the civilian radar system already relies on transponders to get a good fix on aircraft, via secondary radar. Primary radar coverage (no transponder required) is much more limited. Turn off the transponder and you'll largely disappear from ATC's screens. ADS-B isn't new in this regard.
knodi123 7y ago
> This isn’t for pilots to know where they are, it’s for air traffic control to know where planes are. Yes, thank you for clarifying. I just explained that I am a pilot, so I did know that. It was an analogy. Just like the way that pilots have multiple redundant "where are you tools", so too do I think traffic controllers will have multiple redundant "where is everyone" tools. Because the industry, as a whole, is in favor of multiple redundant tools when it comes to safety.