The MEM VOR has been OTS for the last few days for some unknown reason, and an interesting phone call came from one of our usual customers. Apparently the pilot stated that he could not accept a clearance from XYZ airport to MEM due to the fact that a PUBLISHED MISSED APPROACH PROCEDURE would be unavailable or unusable due to the MEM VOR being OTS.

This presented quite the debate at work, and there was much discussion about LOST COMM INSTRUCTIONS, and the TRACON Controllers were supposedly issuing lost comm instructions to each aircraft during the noon inbound.

What say ye humble pilots?

Is the MEM VOR required for you glass-cockpit types? Or would this have been more of an issue for the B727 drivers? Is there an FAR that might address this issue?

Thanks,

MEM_ATC