UCAP Fodder: Love the Loran You're With

UCAP Fodder: Love the Loran You're With

This is really good news to me. My venerable old airplane came with a not so old, but still venerable IImorrow Apollo 800 Loran-C navigator. Believe it or not Garmin-AT still provides database updates for these units, though the price is quite high for more than occasional refreshing. Each time I get ready to lay down some coin for a new database, some one south of the boarder wonders aloud if we still need Loran-C. Apparently in the last round 93% said yes. I hope this will be the end, either they ignore the demand and close the system down, or announce on going support. That way I can either replace the unit, or update the database with confidence.

I like this unit. It isn't as accurate as even the most modest GPS, it can be a bit quirky, and speaks its own obscure navigator dialect, but it is hooked in to a dedicated Course Deviation Indicator (CDI) located just below the VOR/ILS CDI. This makes it a handy back up and support instrument to the VOR and my portable GPS.

One unfortunate property is the red and yellow lights that can flash at the most inopportune moments, such as just I'm about to taxi onto the runway. These lights are the unit's way of telling the pilot that it has some quirky messages waiting about the status and accuracy of navigation information, and are otherwise not related to safe operation of the plane. My passenger briefing now includes words to that effect. It is interesting how quickly a flashing red light on the panel will attract the attention of the most jaded passenger.