AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 101

Rest in peace, NDBs
It’s time to leave the past behind
< BY DAVE HIRSCHMAN

T

We shouldn’t waste precious resources on outmoded, anachronistic systems, and that’s what NDBs are today.

ough times require hard choices— although the decision to ditch NDB approaches shouldn’t be all that difficult. It costs the FAA about $20,000 a year to retain each NDB approach in the United States. Mercifully, more than 250 have been decommissioned since 2005, and additional savings are available by disposing of the 907 such antiquated approaches still on the books. And even though those of us who learned to fly IFR by chasing the heads and tails of NDB needles may wax poetic about them and boast of our prowess, NDBs are indisputably the least precise of all nonprecision approaches. Most U.S. aircraft owners have long since chucked their obsolete, electron-wasting, panel-space-hogging, antique ADF receivers and ice-collecting, drag-inducing, clothesline antennas in favor of more useful and modern navigation equipment. (Those who haven’t are more likely to tune their ADFs to AM radio stations than actual NDBs.) The FAA should be encouraged to rid itself of its outmoded and expensive NDB network and accelerate the addition of newer approaches that offer greater safety, utility, and far lower minimums than NDBs ever could. (There are 5,117 RNAV approaches now, and more are being added each charting cycle.) In a recent survey, about half of all U.S.based ATPs reported having flown no NDB approaches at all in the preceding year. Clearly, that’s not enough for broad proficiency, and practice NDB approaches are sure to become harder to find as their numbers dwindle. In 1996, a U.S. Air Force crew tragically bungled an NDB approach in Croatia and struck a mountainside, killing Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 34 others—an accident that likely wouldn’t have happened if a more accurate form of navigation had been available. Overseas, most aviation agencies get the message, and NDBs are on the way out. Should Americans cling to an outmoded technology on the slim chance we might encounter it as a secondary system in some remote corner of the globe? No way. Most NDBs in the United States are compass locators that help identify the outer markers on ILS and localizer approaches, but even these are disappear-

ing, and few pilots notice, or miss compass locators, when they’re gone. NDBs have been around for more than 70 years, and their shortcomings are well known and numerous. Atmospheric conditions radically alter reception range. Coastal refraction distorts signals, and thunderstorms can cause ADF needles to swing wildly, often pointing to the electrical storms themselves. (The German and Japanese militaries during World War II sometimes transmitted false NDB signals to draw allied fliers off course.) Some pilots argue against giving up any redundancy in our IFR system. That sounds reasonable, but the same logic would have required preserving airway beacons, radio ranges, and loran forever. Does anyone really want to go back to deciphering scratchy dits-dahs while trying to find a runway on a rainy night? Learning to fly NDB approaches, especially in crosswinds, is fun and challenging. It requires a refined instrument scan and interpolation, and it brings great satisfaction to those who master the arcane practice. But at a time of declining FAA budgets and uncertain future funding, we shouldn’t waste precious resources on outmoded, anachronistic systems, and that’s what NDBs are today. They aren’t a primary or even a secondary navigational source for cross-country flying, and they’re not a primary or secondary system for nonprecision approaches. Rather than putting them on costly and indefinite life support, we should decisively end them. Thankfully, almost all have already been replaced (or “overlayed,” in FAA parlance) with newer, more accurate approaches that better match aircraft avionics and provide lower approach minima. Most of the U.S. GA fleet, and especially the training fleet, abandoned ADFs, loop antennas, and RMIs long ago. Applying the savings to more useful and accurate navigation systems that allow GA pilots to fly to more runways with greater precision, safety, and confidence makes sense. The NDB system has outlived its usefulness. It’s time—past time—to leave it behind. Email the author at dave.hirschman@aopa. org.
AOPA PILOT • 101 • NOVEMBER 2011



AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011

AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011
Contents
President’s Position
Hangar Talk
AOPA Media
AOPA Action
Letters
Waypoints
Proficient Pilot
Safety Pilot
License to Learn
Pilot Counsel
Fly Well
Pilot Briefing
Rally GA: The Doctor Doesn’t Need to Be In
Where Flying is ‘Still Fun
At the Controls
Walking Back On
Rally GA: Flight for Survival
AOPA Aviation Summit 2011: Happy in Hartford
We Have a Winner!
2012 Tougher Than a Tornado Sweepstakes: Hard Work in Wild Places
AOPA in the States: The 5-Percent Solution
Challenges: Powerless Flight
Technique: Pilots Are Pessimists...and Optimists
Avionics: Garmin’s aera
Dogfight: NDB Approaches
Never Again
Fly-Outs
Fly by Wire
Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Contents
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - President’s Position
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Hangar Talk
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - AOPA Media
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - AOPA Action
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 16
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 18
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 20
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Letters
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 24
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Waypoints
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Proficient Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Safety Pilot
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - License to Learn
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Pilot Counsel
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Fly Well
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Pilot Briefing
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 39
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 42
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 45
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Rally GA: The Doctor Doesn’t Need to Be In
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Where Flying is ‘Still Fun
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - At the Controls
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Walking Back On
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 60
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 62
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 64
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Rally GA: Flight for Survival
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 67
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 68
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 70
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 71
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - AOPA Aviation Summit 2011: Happy in Hartford
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 73
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 74
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 75
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - We Have a Winner!
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 2012 Tougher Than a Tornado Sweepstakes: Hard Work in Wild Places
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 78
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 79
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 80
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - AOPA in the States: The 5-Percent Solution
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 82
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 83
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 84
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 85
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 86
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Challenges: Powerless Flight
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 88
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 89
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 90
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Technique: Pilots Are Pessimists...and Optimists
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 92
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 93
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 94
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Avionics: Garmin’s aera
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 96
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - I1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - I2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 97
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 98
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 99
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Dogfight: NDB Approaches
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 101
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Never Again
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 103
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 104
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 105
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Fly-Outs
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Fly by Wire
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 108
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 109
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 110
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 111
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Pilots
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Cover3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - Cover4
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