EGPWS and SCATANA downing of GPS
Anybody thought about the legality implications for the mass of EGPWS users who might have a CFIT if the GPS was suddenly switched off or degraded significantly?
Let's say that at any one point in time around 7500 EGPWS using airplanes are flying around and someone pulls the GPS plug, perhaps as a SCATANA measure.
a. What will the pilot see? Just a RAIM alert?
b. Will he realize that his EGPWS is defunct? What mode will it default to?
c. Having relied for years upon EGPWS to keep him out of rock-filled clouds, is he that much more of a CFIT risk?
d. Who sues who if there's a sudden batch of deadly CFITS during a GPS outage?
e. What about if a CFIT's claimed to have been due to an intentional Defence-related degrade of the system's accuracy?
SCATANA = security Control of Air Traffic and Navigation Aids