4

This is inspired by this question. Looking at all the approach and STAR charts for EFSA in Savonlinna, Finland, they are all RNAV. The Linna VOR-DME is not used for any of them even though it is located a half mile off the arrival end of runway 12. Why is this navaid not used for any of the procedures?

TomMcW
  • 28,459
  • 21
  • 106
  • 227

2 Answers2

5

According to the Finnish AIP, LINNA (SVL) is only a DME, not a VOR/DME.

tml
  • 756
  • 4
  • 14
  • 2
    I think it used to be a VOR/DME, but the VOR was probably discontinued for economic reasons. – Bianfable Mar 11 '22 at 07:21
  • 2
    Yep, that is the general plan for many VOR/DME in Europe, I think. Presumably it would be a good idea to revert that trend now, at least in areas affected by Russian intentional or "collateral" GPS jamming. – tml Mar 11 '22 at 08:01
  • 1
    @tml Most (all?) airliners can still do RNAV from DME/DME/IRU in the event of a GPS outage. No VORs needed. – StephenS Mar 11 '22 at 14:47
  • @StephenS Would the DME distances need to be listed on the charts? – TomMcW Mar 11 '22 at 16:09
  • 2
    @TomMcW Nope. The FMS already knows where all the DMEs are, so it can triangulate its own lat/long. It’s not as accurate as GNSS, of course, but RNAV/RNP was designed with different levels specifically to account for that. – StephenS Mar 11 '22 at 16:42
  • @StephenS Sure, DME/DME is enough for enroute RNAV, but the approaches at EFSA are RNP or ILS with GNSS required, so not enough. When SVL was still a VOR/DME, they probably had a VOR approach or a VOR-based procedure turn onto the ILS. – Bianfable Mar 11 '22 at 18:28
  • @Bianfable I don’t see any good reason to require GNSS on that ILS, and you wouldn’t even need RNAV at all if there were a teardrop or PT off the VOR as is common in many other countries. Perhaps Finland just doesn’t want you flying there if you don’t have all the latest toys. – StephenS Mar 11 '22 at 18:59
1

The VOR was discontinued a few years back, they've been disabling VORs one by one here in Finland. It's only a DME now. (I know, I've flown a Cessna to Savonlinna a few times.)

Janne
  • 11
  • 1