Ask My Sky Mom. Aviation wit and wisdom.

Hey Mom,

What does it mean when Flight Service tells me that a VOR is unmonitored?  Can I use an unmonitored VOR? I couldn’t seem to find anything in the regs about this.

Thanks,

Monitoring your Very Organized Response

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Hey there, monitor this,

A VOR or a localizer being unmonitored simply means that it’ll be a surprise to you when it fails as ATC won’t know about it and thus be able to warn you. In most cases- at least, unless otherwise specified by those fine Flight Service folks- your friends in the tower or in the radar room (or wherever those Air Traffic Controllers do that voodoo that you do so well) have a way of seeing that the facility in question appears to be doing it’s thing with success, namely a light and an audio alarm meant to clue them in when something goes awry. Unmonitored merely means that nobody has a light and a buzzer in front of them at the moment in case this particular VOR were to fail.

Can you use an unmonitored VOR? Certainly. Use it just the way you’d use any other VOR. Be certain to identify it by it’s Morse Code and watch for an orange flag or a barber pole on your OBS so you’ll know if your navaid of choice has suffered an untimely demise. Part 91 doesn’t say anything about unmonitored VORs, so most of us can operate with impunity. There are other operators who may need to change their plans when filing an alternate, but most of us can rest easy on this one.

Aviate, navigate, communicate, and don’t forget to identify,

Mom

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You’ve got questions?  I’ll find you an answer.  Email your aviation related question to mom@myskymom.com and check out myskymom.com to read the answers to questions previously posed. The more you know, the safer you’ll be.  Read on, and fly safe!

~ by myskymom on September 20, 2009.