It's time for everyone's favorite topic.
That's VORs.
Hey, everyone, Jason Schappert here of MZeroA.com.
And, you are listening to the Instrument Pilot Podcast,
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MZeroATrial.com, seriously, go check it out.
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And, speaking of webinars,
I don't know, was it now a month ago, three weeks ago?
I did a great VFR and IFR webinar on the topic of VORs.
I just want to share a little bit with you from...
...my third favorite book.
In the AIM, the FAR/AIM,
AIM chapter 1, you can see it's all highlighted up.
Many, many months ago now,
I did an entire chapter-by-chapter study of the AIM.
It was a lot a lot of fun.
It was a lot of work, too.
But, it was a lot of fun to dive into it.
We're talking VORs today.
And, to understand VORs better, we need to have a strong foundation.
That foundation starts with the basics.
What does VOR even stand for?
Think about it.
What does VOR actually stand for?
VOR stands for VHF Omnidirectional range.
So, VHF, that's the "V,"
omnidirectional, Omni is the "O," omnidirectional,
and the "R" is range.
It's a lot here.
You know your VORs operate between the frequency of
108.0 and 117.95 megahertz.
It's a frequency band that runs through as well.
So, you can see that.
I just want to go over some interesting facts with you.
On the webinar, I was able to really dive into--
Remember those questions?
And, maybe, you haven't gotten there yet in your studies
or in the actual knowledge test.
You're flying.
You see HSID,
which is the corresponding airplane one, two, or three.
And, you're like, "Oh, my goodness."
People have a hard time even looking at those things.
We did a whole webinar.
And, it was a lot of fun.
So, better understanding those.
Let's dive into this.
Did you know VORs, first off, VORs, I'll answer the burning question is,
are VORs going away?
And, the answer is...
...kind of.
So, here's what's happening.
Yes, we--
I say we, like I'm a part of the FAA.
I'm not in the least bit.
And, I'm fine in my current career path.
I love MZeroA.com.
They, that's the right verbiage to use.
It's late when I'm recording this.
So, maybe, I'm a little tired.
They, they being the administrators, they like to call themselves,
the FAA is slowly phasing out VORs.
In fact, they have what's called the MON, M-O-N.
It stands for the minimum operational network.
The VOR minimum operational network, the MON.
Let me read it to you, actually.
"As flight procedures and route structures based on VORs are gradually being replaced
with performance-based navigation, PBN procedures,
the FAA is removing selected VORs from service.
PBN, performance-based navigation,
procedures are primarily enabled by GPS and its augmentation systems,
collectively known as
the global navigation satellite system, GNSS."
Now, so yes, we are slowly phasing out some VORs.
In fact, if you look on--
you can see if your VOR is going to be a victim of this.
Go to your low en route chart.
Look at your VOR.
And, if above your VOR it says "MON," M-O-N,
that means that VOR is a part of this minimum operational network, MON.
If you don't see it, there's a good chance your VOR is on the chopping block.
Now, we're always--
I can't say that.
I can't say we're always going to have VORs
because there'll be something else that'll come along.
Maybe, even GPS is going to play second fiddle to something one day.
The thing is GPS has its limitations.
Anybody ever been a victim of GPS jamming testing?
The technology is out there.
Our military has it.
And, the scary part is other militaries in other countries
and other nefarious groups, we'll say, have it.
That's the scary part.
I was out West, actually.
I think I was bringing the Tecnam home.
And, there was a NOTAM for testing the GPS jamming technology.
And, I'm living proof that it works
because our beautiful G1000 was basically not worth much.
We're just going VOR to VOR to work and to navigate in a paper sectional chart.
And, that's how we flew a portion of the desert somewhere in Utah home.
It was fun.
It was good practice.
It was funny hearing the airline pilots going,
"What do you mean the GPS is being tested right now or being jammed right now?"
They didn't check the NOTAMs, nor do they know how to track to a VOR,
it sounded like, either like,
"I haven't done this in forever."
So, it's funny to listen to all of that.
The technology works.
And, again, in the event there was ever an outage or something malicious
and GPS goes down,
our national airspace system doesn't have to go down.
We can still operate on VORs.
We can still operate on VORs through this minimum operational network, MON.
Are the VORs that don't say MON above them on the low en route chart
just going to magically go away one day?
The answer is no.
It's my understanding they're going to do it
just like they did with NDBs,
non-directional radio beacons, NDBs.
And, there's still some NDBs out there.
If you fly in Alaska, you still deal with some NDBs.
NDB, what they said is, "Hey, we're phasing out NDBs.
When it breaks, we're not fixing it anymore."
I imagine that's how VORs.
They're not going to come and just rip up a perfectly good VOR.
What they're going to say instead is,
"Hey, when it's broken, I'm sorry, we're not fixing it."
It's like when you own that car and they say,
"We're not making parts anymore."
It's scary.
Always a scary situation to find yourself in.
You're hoping somebody does something aftermarket.
But, with VORs, it's the same kind of thing.
When they break, we're not fixing them.
And, there's no aftermarket parts.
So, they're done.
I don't know what they'll become.
They'll be taking--
I don't know what will happen to the actual structure of them.
But, the technology, when it breaks, it's done, just like in the NDBs.
So, just keep a note of that.
And, knowing that it's going to be important to say,
"How do you know when a VOR isn't working?"
Well, we know we identify the VOR by listening to the Morse code.
And, I need to share a little confession with you.
When I was learning instrument
and I saw-- I had to listen to Morse code,
"I thought this is archaic.
Why is aviation in the stone age that we're sitting here,
listening to Morse code?
Do I need to learn Morse code?
All these things.
No, no, it's printed on the chart for you."
I need to confess to you.
And, I'm sure no one else has ever done this.
I'm sure it was just me.
So, this is just Jason.
I'm in my little confession corner.
There were times where I tuned up the VOR,
heard just Morse code,
dots, and dashes,
and said it was good.
What's the problem with that?
Well, I could have been tuned to the wrong VOR.
I didn't check OCF.
Or...
...didn't you know if they're testing the VOR,
they broadcast "test," T-E-S-T,
dash, dot, dot, dot, dot, dash.
And, there I am thinking, "I hear Morse code.
It must be good."
It could have been broadcasting "test."
In my mind, I just thought if I don't hear anything,
then it's an issue.
That's not the case.
I could be listening the wrong VOR,
or they could be testing it and broadcasting "test" in Morse code.
And, there I am, shooting my VOR approach
with erroneous signals.
Do you see the problem with all of that?
We have to tune and identify these VORs.
VORs will eventually go away.
And, there'll be another technology that replaces it.
Maybe, there's something even better than GPS out there we don't know about.
And, GPS is going to play the VOR role sometime in the future.
I don't know all those answers.
I know it's very, very possible.
I know you probably don't like shooting VOR approaches
and doing VOR to VOR navigation.
You want a GPS direct, enter, enter, follow the magenta line.
I get it.
However, I need you to learn
and not even learn, maybe relearn, maybe brush off, dust off the skills,
to make sure you understand VOR navigation.
Can you work with reverse sensing?
Can you still intercept?
Can you do a VOR hold?
Can you do all of these things?
It's going to prove so vitally important,
really, in everything that you do to keep your VOR skills sharp
because they'll leave you.
GPS is too easy.
Flying the Cirrus is just too much fun.
All that technology, all that buttonology.
Flying 2-3-Mike-Zulu,
so much technology at your fingertips in a 1972 airplane
that we turned into Frankenstein, in a way.
There's so much amazing technology.
And, it's all right there at your fingertips with that.
So, it's just something else to ponder.
Keep working on your VOR skills.
Anyways, you know it's always my mission
to keep these short and to-the-point.
I hope you absolutely loved it this week.
Again, MZeroATrial.com to hop on some of those webinars
I've been talking so much about.
I hope to see you in there.
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MZeroA Nation, have a blessed, amazing, outstanding rest of your day.
And most importantly, remember,
that a good pilot is always learning.
Have a great day, everybody. I'll see you.