The Federal Aviation Administration warns pilots that in June global positioning signals will be affected by military testing.
The duration of the testing will be of six days, and it will affect Southern California.
However, the official announced that commercial airlines will not be influenced by the signal’s anomalies. Pilots could also avoid the affected areas, if necessary.
The Military Testing Purpose
The testing is organized by the Naval Air Warfare Center from California. The event is part of a routine research, and it will involve the development, trial and evaluation of new technologies. China Lake tests weapons and avionics which will be used for tactical aircraft.
Official representatives said that this type of military testing is not unusual and throughout the years, there had been a continuous collaboration with the civil aviation administration in order to secure the commercial flights activity during these types of events.
Neither FDA, nor the Navy revealed the true purpose of the testing, the only indication being that the process will serve to test GPS interference.
Details on the Impact
The signal will be disturbed at least 50 feet off the ground and 40,000 feet above the sea level for approximately 550 miles. The base of the affected area lies between Nevada and California, going as far as 40,000 feet high.
The announcement said that the GPS interference could have an impact on a type of executive jet, Embraer Phenom 300, and recommends that pilots avoid the area and monitor their flight control systems for any loss of positioning signal.
This type of private jet can carry up to six people, and it can reach the speed of 520 mph. Overall, 330 Embraer Phenom planes are flying around the world.
Highlighting a particular type of aircraft is unusual for general announcements like this. One of the explanations may be that Embraer planes have become more popular.
The tests could completely disable a number of navigation devices, including WAAS, ADS-B, and GBAS.
However, the commercial airlines have enough capacity to mitigate system disturbances and will not be affected by the testings.
Because of the fact that the experiments will influence the signals at 50 feet up the ground, the GPS for cars, phones or other devices will not be affected.
The testing will take place from 9.30 am until 3.30 pm Pacific time, between the 7th and 30th of June. Pilots will receive additional alerts a day before the testings. Also, the officials say that the tests could be cancelled or reduced, without prior notice.
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