solar flares at 11 year high

[seasonaldriver]

I was reading in Discovery and Canadian Geographic magazines that this year solar activity will be at an 11 year high with a high potential to interrupt various satellite and radio communications including the GPS system. I'm betting that there will be a lot of young pilots who will have to learn map reading if this happens. Hell, I bet there will be a lot of older pilots in the same position!
Comments?

[angry inch]

Full procedure NDB approaches. Sweet....

[Meatservo]

If this ever actually happened, I think most pilots would quickly adapt. I mean, we're not morons. I think the people who would panic would be the non-flying management, who never could understand exactly how we did it in the first place. There would be a lot of places in Canada that would have to revert to eating something other than chips and pop for a couple of days when the weather is bad. Who knows, a GPS outage could be a good thing. We would all get some mental exercise, and diabetes rates in remote areas might go down.

Actually, now that I think about it, when I started flying we didn't have GPS, and you could always weed out the idiots among the dockhands when you took them flying; every now and then one of them would get totally lost, and you could tell him to hit the road. Now you have to find out about them some other way.

[seasonaldriver]

I think that the older(the more experienced) pilot the less problem with navigating without GPS. I remember taking pilots up for a xcountry, turning off the GPS and asking them how to get home as part of the checkout flight. Yeah, I know I have a sick sense of humour, but I had fun sometimes.

[GUMPS]

No GPS? Flying lake to lake just got fun again.

[Colonel Sanders]

Holding a heading and looking down at the ETA has
always posed a major intellectual challenge for me.

[Expat]

For some of the younger generation, finding a fast food outlet has to be done with the use of a smart phone or navigator. So, for sure, these pilots would have a harder time bringing the plane back on time for the next renter.

[Meatservo]

Holding a heading and looking down at the ETA has
always posed a major intellectual challenge for me.

Especially when you are upside-down.

[seasonaldriver]

umm...that's not normal when you're low enough to count martens in the trees?

[ahramin]

And it begins:

Space Weather Message Code: WARPX1
Serial Number: 386
Issue Time: 2012 Dec 15 0158 UTC

WARNING: Proton 10MeV Integral Flux above 10pfu expected
Valid From: 2012 Dec 15 0157 UTC
Valid To: 2012 Dec 15 1200 UTC
Warning Condition: Onset
Predicted NOAA Scale: S1

[pelmet]

Holding a heading and looking down at the ETA has
always posed a major intellectual challenge for me.

Might want to consider the variation(if applicable) and convergence on some flights depending on your latitude. NAT, NOPAC, High Arctic are good examples. We used to set the convergence on certain fights prior to takeoff. Add it if going eastbound, subtract if westbound.

Bottom line, on some flights, if you lose GPS, holding your heading won't get you anywhere near destination.

Initial heading from one mile away from the north pole to Eureka was not 180 degrees, in our particular case it was around 270 degrees initially and after a few minutes became 180.

If the GPS had died at the north pole where every true heading south was 180, we would have had to use the sun. If it's 1200Z and you head toward it, you go toward Greenwich. In this scenario you might as well try Alert at 62°W. At 12Z keep the sun initially about 40° to your left and remember that it is changing at 15° per hour. So maybe after 3 hours it will only be slightly to the left but you should have the Alert NDB by then.

[Colonel Sanders]

If the GPS had died at the north pole

That happens a lot to me. You win.

[beaverbob]

Time to re-establish the Radio Range?

[frozen solid]

If the GPS had died at the north pole

That happens a lot to me. You win.

Don't worry Colonel. If your GPS dies at the North Pole, text me.* You could learn to get around up there in about five minutes. Well, maybe 6. A minute to shoot the sun, and five to master grid navigation. OK, maybe seven, if it's night time and you need to add sidereal hour angles to your star shot and don't have a head for arithmetic.

*after ordering a pizza from one of those 30-minutes-or-it's-free places.

[pelmet]

It is true that some of us got to the north pole more than others. GPS outage while up there...not too likely, GPS unit dying....small possibility, electrical failure in the aircraft small possibility. Bottom line....for most general aviation VFR flights, if you lose your GPS then constant heading and time will likely get you in the general vicinity of where you want to go as mentioned earlier.

Over the middle of the ocean on an airliner or when I ferried small planes across the Atlantic, etc or flying in the high north/south.......might want to take in a few more considerations. For our local cross countries we just ignore these errors such as convergence and variation as they are still small.

[iflyforpie]

Funny how I don't remember anything 11 years ago as far as GPS or other radio navigation or communication failure. I think it would affect HF more than GPS.

And the northern lights were insane those years. I remember camping at the Abbotsford airshow in 2000... (two clicks from the 49th) and seeing massive massive auroras that completely filled the sky in all directions.

[Colonel Sanders]

I flew a single across the Gulf of Mexico today, and
sure enough at one point I lost GPS satellite reception,
according to the transceiver. It would have been
convenient to have gyros at that point, I guess.

I'm not sure, but I think I got an IFR clearance from
Havana, through the inner ADIZ.

[JerryRig]

For those (most of you) who have never seen this, GPS can do weird things at the north pole.

IMG_1928.jpg (33.9 KiB) Viewed 1921 times

[JerryRig]

And once you land, you would usually always show a ground speed due to ice drift. IOW, you can never STAY at the north pole.

IMG_1932.jpg (57.92 KiB) Viewed 1918 times

[pelmet]

I flew a single across the Gulf of Mexico today, and
sure enough at one point I lost GPS satellite reception,
according to the transceiver. It would have been
convenient to have gyros at that point, I guess.

Just think...if you had been at the North Pole, you would have known exactly what to do. Did you maintain a heading in relation to the sun?

Anyways, thanks for the updates on your adventures. Please keep posting. Especially pics at the airshows. I assume that is why you are down there.