Tuva Republic advocates GPS navigation in aviation

The head of the Tuva Republic, Sholban Kara-ool, sent an official letter to Russian Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations, Lieutenant General Vladimir Stepanov. The head of the region proposed to outfit aircraft with modern equipment to transmit information on the positioning of an air vehicle both in real time and off the line.

"Emergency beacons mounted on aircraft may often fail to perform properly at the time when an air vehicle is in distress and needs emergency assistance," Sholban Kara-ool said. In his opinion, one should equip all small aircraft with modern equipment to transmit information on whereabouts of the object in real time and offline, for example, through a GPS-tracking system.

Vice-President of the Trade Union of Russian Flying Personnel, Oleg Prikhodko, supported the suggestion from the head of  Tuva on the need to improve alert systems of small aircraft. "New technologies have appeared, several new systems have been developed. All information will be transmitted through satellites. Small aircraft will be equipped with systems similar to autographs on cross-country vehicles. Technically, such systems can be mounted on any aircraft, and the system would thus transmit the whereabouts of a particular aircraft in real time. The fact is that one can not mount additional equipment on a plane or a helicopter without conducting appropriate tests, modifications, without further certification, because one needs to know how this new equipment will affect other on-board devices."