Hello,To the best of my knowledge, there is no GPS sytem in airliners (I may be utterly wrong). What if, in the extremely unlikely case, the IRS system fails and radiocommunication with ATC is lost? How do pilots know how to navigate towards a runway (at night, in the dark).Just wondering....Dirk

Hello,To the best of my knowledge, there is no GPS sytem in airliners (I may be utterly wrong). What if, in the extremely unlikely case, the IRS system fails and radiocommunication with ATC is lost? How do pilots know how to navigate towards a runway (at night, in the dark).Just wondering....Dirk

Technically speaking no GPS, but many of them have a lot of navaids and moving map with their FMS, which to me is just about like a GPS in effect.I can't speak for all airliners, but I can speak for the MD-11. If I lost my IRS, and radio, I would still have my FMC, which has all of the navaids and STARs in it. I could program it to carry me to the airport. Failing that, I would still have VOR/NDBs to fall back on.Now, if I lost the FMC, and also lost the VOR/NDB, then it would be Charles Lindbergh stuff for me. :) All Pilotage, and Dead Reckoning I guess.

Now, if I lost the FMC, and also lost the VOR/NDB, then it would be Charles Lindbergh stuff for me. :) All Pilotage, and Dead Reckoning I guess.

Mace would a low-end GPS device not be something you'd have in your flight bag even flying commercial heavies?

Around five years ago ( or a bit less)................I was told by a Delta pilot, that he was training for a new Boeing 737 800 that had GPS in addition to the other nav systems.But then I've known for quite awhile that even Cessna 172's have more up to date "big picture" navigational systems than many airliners (Garmin 1000) :( L.Adamson

Hello,To the best of my knowledge, there is no GPS sytem in airliners (I may be utterly wrong). What if, in the extremely unlikely case, the IRS system fails and radiocommunication with ATC is lost? How do pilots know how to navigate towards a runway (at night, in the dark).Just wondering....Dirk

Most modern airliners have a GPS receiver (usually 2) feeding data to the FMC (or FMGC).They are usually used as the primary source of position data. Of course, they are being backed up by the IRS's and being constantly monitored.If your IRS's go and you've no GPS your FMC becomes a giant integrated doorstop with buttons on. In the absence of a valid position feed the FMC is worth zip.Assuming your worst case scenario, one would fall back on radio aids to find the runway. Pilots "know" how to do this because it's part of the training course for the licence.Hope this helps,Ian

Most modern airliners have a GPS receiver (usually 2) feeding data to the FMC (or FMGC).They are usually used as the primary source of position data. Of course, they are being backed up by the IRS's and being constantly monitored.If your IRS's go and you've no GPS your FMC becomes a giant integrated doorstop with buttons on. In the absence of a valid position feed the FMC is worth zip.Assuming your worst case scenario, one would fall back on radio aids to find the runway. Pilots "know" how to do this because it's part of the training course for the licence.Hope this helps,Ian

About once a month I'll get an email from a customer asking me if they can use the default MS GPS instead of the FMC unit built into their high end 3rd party plane, like the LDS 767 or PMDG 747.Maybe instead of being newbies who are intimidated by the FMC (as one would assume), perhaps they were instead uber realists trying to simulate an IRS failure as realistically as they could :( :( Merry Xmas,