airport/documents/Mesquite Master Plan Final.pdf - The City of ...

translate into point-to-point guidance
and position information. The types of
electronic navigational aids available
for aircraft flying to or from Mesquite
Metro Airport include non-directional
beacon (NDB), very high frequency
omni-directional range (VOR) facilities,
global positioning system (GPS), and an
instrument landing system (ILS).
The NDB transmits nondirectional
radio signals whereby the pilot of an
aircraft equipped with direction-finding
equipment can determine the bearing to
or from the NDB facility in order to
track to the beacon station. The
Mesquite NDB is 3.7 nautical miles
(nm) to the north of Runway 17-35. The
Jecca NDB is four nm south of the
runway. Other NDBs in the vicinity of
the airport include Lancaster (14 nm),
Travis (14.2 nm), Redbird (17.7 nm),
Caddo Mills (22.6 nm), Cedar Hill (24.4
nm), and Cash (27.3 nm), as depicted on
Exhibit 1D. The City of Mesquite
owns and maintains both the Mesquite
and Jecca NDB facilities. The Redbird
and Cedar Hill facilities are maintained
by the FAA. The other regional NDB
facilities are maintained by the local
jurisdictions.
The VOR, in general, provides azimuth
readings to pilots of properly equipped
aircraft by transmitting a radio signal
at every degree to provide 360
individual navigational courses.
Frequently, distance measuring
equipment (DME) is combined with a
VOR facility (VOR-DME) to provide
distance as well as directional
information to the pilot. Military
tactical air navigation aids (TACANs)
and civil VORs are commonly combined
to form a VORTAC. The VORTAC
1-13
provides distance and directional
information to both civil and military
pilots. The Cowboy VOR/DME is 20.7
nm to the northwest of the airport. The
Maverick VOR/DME is 26.7 nm to the
west at Dallas/Fort Worth International
Airport. The Ranger and Cedar Creek
VORTACs are within 40 nm of the
airport. Each of these facilities are
owned and maintained by the FAA.
GPS is an additional navigational aid
for pilots. GPS was initially developed
by the United States Department of
Defense for military navigation around
the world. GPS differs from a NDB or
VOR in that pilots are not required to
navigate using a specific facility. GPS
uses satellites placed in orbit around
the earth to transmit electronic radio
signals which pilots of properly
equipped aircraft use to determine
altitude, speed, and other navigational
information. The network of 24 GPS
satellites is maintained by the U.S.
military.
With GPS, pilots can directly navigate
to any airport in the country and are
not required to navigate using a specific
navigation facility. The FAA is
proceeding with a program to gradually
replace all traditional enroute
navigational aids with GPS over the
next few years. The completion of the
FAA phase-out schedule for traditional
navigational aids is planned to occur by
2010. Most navigational aids
supporting busier airports will be
retained.
The ILS is a approach and landing aid
designed to identify the exact alignment
path of an aircraft. ILS systems are
installed to allow approaches during