Thu Jun 13, 2019 12:30 am
#1699717
I'm in Florida at the moment - this state alone must have in excess of a thousand GPS approaches, in addition to VOR, ILS, and the very occasional NDB approach.
The requirement for ATC cover is met often by an airport many miles away (for example, as I happen to be very familiar with it right now, you can fly a GPS approach to KCGC Crystal River, choice of two runways and a hold, with three join points per approach) controlled by Jacksonville Centre 100nm away; that is the equivalent of my flying a GPS approach to Cranfield whilst being controlled by Manchester. Costs are borne from central taxation, a whole state's worth of IAPs can be bought published by the FAA for $12: updated every few months, or downloaded for free (so basically not beholden to incredibly expensive commercial information providers like Jep), the charts broadly the same. It can be done at night using Pilot Controlled Lighting. I've no idea what the insurance issues are, but if the most litigious country in the world can solve them, I'm sure that the UK could too. Pilots wanting to practice are not paying the equivalent of £15-£20 per go either in "capitalist" USA.
Also in the UK, a great many people are still being trained for IR(R) or IR with NDB approaches as the baseline.
Yes, I agree, the UK is in the dark ages with regard to GPS approaches, as it is in most aspects of being able to routinely use small aeroplanes for transport. Other countries are doing far more, far better, far cheaper.
G
I am Spartacus, and so is my co-pilot.