Comments on: New airline navigation system is displayed

At a handful of airports around the country, autopilots can now fly planes safely over terrain no one on board can see.
The New York Times

[cnetsuxxxx]

pics?

This posting is worthless without pics.

[aabcdefghij987654321]

re: pics?

Pics of what? The GPS receivier? The equipment that's already present? The airport?

What makes this story so hard for you to understand without pictures?

[aabcdefghij987654321]

GPS signal is picowatts

I feel this system is a bit too reliant on technology. Occasional GPS
glitches could occur.

[calpilotmike]

Misinformed

This article has a few factual errors. First off, existing non-GPS
approaches (specifically ILS approaches) have default minimum
descents to 200 feet above ground before visual identification of
the runway environment is required (with some other vertical
visibility requirements).

720 feet may be correct for a particular approach at a particular
airport, but is not the case generally. Current non-satellite
landing systems can even allow properly equipped and certified
aircraft to automatically fly the approach, land and come to a
stop on the runway with no interaction from the pilots
(Category-IIIc ILS coupled approaches). Of course, your general
run-of-the-mill small Cessna isn't in the 'properly equipped and
certified' category.

Additionally, curving approaches via non-directional beacons are
already widely used, as are offset approaches using facilities like
the LDA (localizer-type directional aid).

All said and done, the new GPS technologies are great, and as
the cost of equipment comes down with time and more general
aviation pilots can afford to have them installed, the impact will
be profoundly positive for air safety.