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Yes, modern flight management computers in commercial airliners do exactly this. I can't speak to smaller aircraft. Essentially a position is calculated from V
by bronco21016 15d ago
Yes, modern flight management computers in commercial airliners do exactly this. I can't speak to smaller aircraft.
Essentially a position is calculated from VOR/DME, GPS, and INS. When there is disagreement it is flagged and procedures are in place to fall back.
The issue is VOR/DME is slowly being decommissioned eliminating one of those sanity checks. It hasn't been degraded to the point of creating massive gaps in coverage over land but it will slowly happen if the rate of decommissioning continues.
Ultimately, INS is sufficient for enroute navigation but if you're degraded to just that state, the impacts to traffic separation, particularly in congested airspace, are significant. Required Navigation Performance (RNP) levels dictate all of this.