Countries around the world are slowly deprecating old radio navigation aids in favour of using GPS for navigation. These old navigation aids include VORs and NDBs.
However, GPS specifically is prone to spoofing and jamming. Resulting in aircraft unable to navigate properly.
Since 2020, NavCanada has been slowly turning off and decommissioning VORs and NDBs across the country as they are underutilized and are costly to maintain.
During this modernization study, NavCanada has identified 60 VORs across the country that will remain in service as a backup to GPS navigation. The problem? This aging infrastructure is reaching it’s end of life. So starting this year (2025) specific VORs across the country will be non-functional for a few months as they are upgraded to modern equipment. The first set of VORs to be upgraded are:
Gaspe, QC (YGP) VOR/DME 115.4 Ch 101 N48 45 47 W64 24 17
Service outage Start/End: April to August 2025
Goose Bay, NL (YYR) VOR/DME 112.9 Ch 76 N53 19 11 W60 17 41
Service outage Start/End: April to August 2025
Wiarton, ON (YVV) VOR/DME 114.8 Ch 95 N44 44 41 W81 06 18
Service outage Start/End: April to August 2025
Lynn Lake, MB (YYL) VOR/DME 112.6 Ch 73 N56 51 50 W101 04 31
Service outage Start/End: June to August 2025
High Level, AB (YOJ) VOR/DME 113.3 Ch 80 N58 33 15 W117 05 35
Service outage Start/End: May to August 2025
Whitehorse, YT (YXY) VOR/DME 116.6 Ch 113 N60 37 08 W135 08 20
Service outage Start/End: June to September 2025
So don’t worry, your VOR isn’t going away, it’s just being upgraded. A small price to pay in order to keep this service robust and up-and-running for the foreseeable future.
