[PW] ?percentage of aircraft using navigation instruments

[Brian Whatcott]

At first glance, this looked like a request for Unobtainium, but I have
been wrong often enough before about the resources which this list
can bring to bear.       Let me offer at least some arm-waving....

The FAA publishes a register of all active civil aircraft flown by
  US entities. This gives the prime address details of the
owner/operators etc.     It does not include the avionics fit.
The same is true (as far as I know) of the European agencies too.

Any aircraft trader publication carries details of avionics
  in  their planes for sale ads. This might be a way to sample the fleet.
The best known paper of this kind is  the yellow pages of the
  Trade A Plane, formated like a thick newspaper, which is all
adverts for planes and parts.     This is their on-line presence:
           http://www.trade-a-plane.com/

Planes tend to survive for rather longer than automobiles, so
  you are less likely to be sampling aircraft that are younger than
  five years old, if that is your desire.

The sort of avionics used for navigation in light aircraft is very likely
to include GPS,  now taking over LORAN's role, with VOR still present
on a large proportion of the light fleet.
  NDBs are now being discarded, except for niche applications
( into parts of Africa, I hear, they can still be useful). They all have
360 channel, more likely 720 channel VHF radios for communications.
Very few have INS. Inertial nav is  expensive enough to be confined mostly
to cabin class and big jets (but see the note about UAVs)
    DME distance measuring equipment is also fading from the light and
mid range in view of the  great utility of airborne GPS.
The FAA is busy verifying domestic approaches for GPS with
accuracy enhancements, so such approaches are not yet universally approved
  in the US.
    ILS has long been a standby of all but the smallest planes used for
  serious all weather transport and landing, but a putative replacement,
Microwave Landing System (MLS) has been overshadowed by GPS etc.,
so that there are hardly more than a score of these MLS facilities in
operation now.

Interesting that you inquire about UAVs. This is prime GPS territory with
comprehensive autopilot facilities, and possibly satellite video 
links in military
applications.    It's widely known that devices like cruise missiles  have used
terrain elevation contour maps to navigate with. This can provide a
rather robust sensory method in face of jamming.   UAVs can afford
to fit  inertial typegear too, though I should mention that the
well-developed model radio control market  has offerings which can
  provide helicopter stabilization adequate to avoid first flight 
crashes which
are otherwise apparently  the fate of many such models....

In this miniature area, there are "models" capable of autonomous flight
  across the Atlantic, and others small enough for hand-launching.
  The next wave is likely to include models smaller than small birds....

As to pilots with IF ratings - this is a published statistic from the FAA


Brian W


At 12:03 PM 4/28/2008, Robert Hall, you wrote:
>Can any one point to where I might get this kind of information:
>
>1.       Percentage of aircraft each year over the past five years 
>that have GPS, VHF Omnidirectional Radio Range (VOR), 
>Non-Directional Beacon (NDB), or Inertial Navigation System (INS).
>2.       It would be great if this can be broken out by type of 
>aircraft: commercial, general aviation, or UAV
>3.       The percentage of pilots who are rated for Instrument Flight Rules.
>
>I've looked around without success and now have email into the 
>Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Bob
>
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>Robert G. Hall
>Information Search and Retrieval Librarian
>rhall at ll.mit.edu<mailto:rhall at ll.mit.edu>     781-981-2511
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Brian Whatcott    Altus OK    Eureka!