FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2011
CONTACT: Prism Public Affairs
Anne Tyrrell: 202-207-3632 or atyrrell@prismpublicaffairs.com
Dale Leibach: 202-207-3630 or dleibach@prismpublicaffairs.com
The following statement can be attributed to Dale Leibach, a spokesman for The Coalition to Save Our GPS.
“The results reported yesterday confirm yet again the depth and breadth of the serious GPS interference problems raised by LightSquared’s proposed plans, even after many rounds of changes to these plans by LightSquared which supposedly ‘solved’ the interference problem. As far back as June, LightSquared has been saying that there were no interference problems with the GPS devices consumers use every day in their cars and boats, and that are used every day to make air travel safer and prevent loss of life in aviation accidents. The results reported yesterday, which come from additional testing ordered by the FCC and NTIA, show that in fact there are substantial risks to all of these everyday activities. In short, the GPS interference problem does not just affect ‘hundreds of thousands of high precision GPS receivers,’ but millions of devices in everyday use.
“We look forward to reviewing the detailed interference test results as they become available. Unfortunately, based on LightSquared’s public statements, it is clear that LightSquared simply refuses to accept the overwhelming technical evidence on the interference issue and continues to try to ‘define away’ devastating test results. For example, LightSquared’s public statements reject the clearly established interference metric selected by the expert Federal agency overseeing the tests, calling the demonstrated interference effects ‘minor.’ This is grossly irresponsible – the interference threshold used in the tests represents a 20 percent reduction in the ability of GPS receivers to process GPS signals. This is not minor.”
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Founded in 1957, the Aircraft Electronics Association represents nearly 1,300 member companies in more than 40 countries, including approved maintenance organizations specializing in maintenance, repair and installation of aircraft electronics systems in general aviation aircraft. The AEA membership also includes manufacturers of aircraft electronics equipment, instrument repair facilities, instrument manufacturers, airframe manufacturers, test equipment manufacturers, major distributors, engineers and educational institutions.