GPS has revolutionized aviation navigation. It's precise, reliable, and makes cross-country flying almost trivially easy. So why does the FAA still require VOR proficiency for instrument-rated pilots? Because "almost" and "trivially" don't belong in the same sentence as "single point of failure."
The Case for GPS
Let's give credit where it's due. GPS provides direct routing, which saves fuel and time. WAAS-enabled GPS approaches can get you down to near-ILS minimums at airports that never had precision approaches before. Moving maps have made situational awareness dramatically better. For day-to-day flying, GPS is superior to ground-based navigation in nearly every way.
The Case for VOR
VOR stations are ground-based and self-contained. They don't depend on satellite constellations, and they don't need software updates. When the GPS constellation has issues (and it does, more often than most pilots realize), VOR keeps working. When your panel-mount GPS fails mid-flight in IMC, your ability to track a VOR radial is the difference between a manageable situation and an emergency.
The FAA's minimum operational network (MON) ensures that enough VOR stations remain operational to allow any aircraft to navigate to an airport with a VOR approach from anywhere in the contiguous United States if GPS fails. That's not nostalgia. That's engineering prudence.
The Practical Answer
Use GPS as your primary navigation tool. But keep your VOR skills sharp. Practice tracking radials, identifying stations, and flying VOR approaches during your regular proficiency flying. The day you need those skills won't announce itself in advance.
Think of it like a backup instrument scan. You hope you never need it. You train for it anyway. Because the one time your G1000 goes dark at 3,000 feet in the clouds, you'll be very glad you can still fly the needles.
How VOR Actually Works
A VOR station broadcasts a continuous omnidirectional signal on a frequency between 108.0 and 117.95 MHz. Your aircraft's receiver compares two signals — a reference phase and a variable phase — and uses the difference to determine your magnetic bearing from the station. The CDI needle on your instrument panel shows how many degrees you're off the selected radial. It's elegant, physics-based, and completely independent of satellite infrastructure.
The FAA currently maintains 582 VOR stations in the contiguous United States as part of the Minimum Operational Network (MON). The MON was specifically designed so that if GPS fails nationwide, any IFR aircraft can navigate to an airport with a VOR approach within 100 nautical miles. That guarantee doesn't exist with GPS. Source: FAA VOR MON program.
GPS Vulnerabilities Pilots Underestimate
GPS jamming and spoofing are not theoretical. The FAA issues NOTAMs for GPS interference events regularly — KDEN and other major airports have experienced them. In 2022, the FAA reported hundreds of GPS anomaly events affecting aviation. Military exercises, intentional interference, and solar activity can all degrade GPS accuracy or availability. The FAA's GPS Advisory explicitly recommends maintaining conventional navigation proficiency for this reason.
There's also the single-point-of-failure problem. Your panel-mount GPS, your backup tablet, and the approach charts stored in ForeFlight all depend on the same satellite constellation. A VOR and DME depend on ground infrastructure with independent power sources, independent frequencies, and no shared failure mode with your GPS system.
The Practical Skill Test
Here's how to know if your VOR skills are still sharp: can you intercept a radial without the GPS telling you what to do? Can you identify the station by Morse code, tune the OBS, and track inbound on a specific radial with crosswind correction — all on instruments? If you hesitate on any of those steps, it's time for a VOR proficiency flight.
The FAA's Instrument Proficiency Check (IPC) requirements under FAR 61.57(d) include intercepting and tracking a VOR course. If you're IFR current, you should be doing this regularly anyway. If you're VFR, consider flying a VOR cross-country without the GPS moving map just to rebuild the skill. Pick a day with good VFR weather, file a VFR flight plan, and navigate the old way. You'll be surprised how much you remember — and how much you've forgotten.