Story ID: 
AOPA: Military Scrubs Planned GPS Interference Testing
By: Rob Finfrock
Caption: Navy declines to cite reasons; Embraer says “ongoing normal operation” of Phenom 300 unaffected by GPS signal loss.
Word Count: 210
Citing concerns about the effect to civil air traffic and insufficient prior notice to operators, AOPA announced on Thursday that the U.S. Navy had agreed to suspend planned GPS interference testing across a broad swath of the American Southwest. While the Navy cited "internal" reasons for the cancellation, AOPA airspace and air traffic director Rune Duke noted the group had immediately expressed concerns about the tests to the Los Angeles ARTCC and other FAA personnel, and asked those entities and military officials to be more "transparent" about future testing plans.

Announced earlier in the week, the testing area had centered on the China Lake, Calif. Naval Air Weapons Station and extended hundreds of miles across six states. In an unusual move, the FAA had also advised Embraer Phenom 300 operators to avoid the testing area over concerns about the effects from testing to that aircraft's GPS-linked flight stability system.

In a statement to AIN, Embraer noted that lack of GPS signal "does not affect the ongoing normal operation of the Phenom 300” and that the aircraft’s flight manual outlines procedures for operating in such conditions. The Brazilian planemaker added that the GPS technology in the Phenom 300 is “common to a variety of aircraft platforms."