PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Great step-by-step of a real engine failure in IMC.
Old 18th Dec 2011, 16:53
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peterh337
 
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The problem is that the database is not all that accurate. It is based on the NASA SRTM synthetic aperture radar database, or at least the reduced-resolution version of it that is released to the great unwashed.

I believe that some players in the aviation business have "enhanced" the data at/around some airports (on expensive implementations of SV) but I don't think that SV is anywhere near good enough to beat a standard 200ft ILS on which you keep the needles below half scale. The standard resolution on the public version is of the order of 200ft. Better in the continental USA (where some of the imagery is amazingly good) and worse in some other places.

A funny observation might be that if SV existed say 50 years ago, the distinction between VFR and IFR would now be moot A PPL might just be a straight "license to fly".
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