Natca press release

Chao punts on FAA spinoff

Chao sees benefits, concerns on drones

Edward Wytkind Appointed to DOT's Advisory Committee on Automation in Transportation

Friday, January 13, 2017


THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

USA TODAY

 

TRANSPORTATION TRADES DEPARTMENT

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

AVWEB

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES

By SUSAN CAREY and ANDY PASZTOR

A cluster of satellites set to launch in the coming days could move the aviation industry closer to overhauling the way air-traffic controllers track planes around the world.

For decades, controllers have used ground-based radar to direct planes over land. More recently, they have been finding aircraft locations via global positioning satellites, or GPS, but they can do so only over land or near the shore. They have had no real-time ability to track planes in flight over oceans, which cover 71% of the planet, or over remote polar regions.

A new satellite-based joint-venture called Aireon LLC would give controllers full visibility by next year, if all goes according to plan, providing real-time flight information from planes over both water and land.

The first 10 satellites are due to launch into orbit on Saturday, barring any last-minute hurdles. The launch has been delayed since September, when a booster explosion during ground-testing temporarily halted flights. The launch contractor, Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, has the green light to lift off from a launch site near Lompoc, Calif.

Aireon dates back to 2011, when Iridium Communications, Inc., a McLean, Va., telecommunications-satellite operator, formed a consortium with foreign air-navigation agencies to find a way to track global air traffic from space. The idea was to piggyback the air-traffic control technology onto Iridium’s replacement constellation of telecom satellites.

Proponents say Aireon’s technology would give pilots greater flexibility to change routes, avoid turbulence and cut flight times. It would help airlines save fuel and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. And it would allow planes routinely to fly within 15 miles of each other over water, compared with about 80 miles of separation under current rules—leading to more traffic in the air on any given route.

The U.S., with the busiest airspace, hasn’t signed on yet with Aireon as either an investor or customer. Budget constraints and reluctance by some airlines to invest in additional equipment have prompted an advisory committee of the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of an Aireon contract compared with upgrades of existing ground-based services. Preliminary results are expected next month; a decision isn’t likely until later this year.

Until now, the FAA has been focused on rolling out advances of its new land-based satellite surveillance system, which cost $2.7 billion and isn’t expected to be fully operable until at least 2020. U.S. controllers, among others, have said they are concerned that the U.S. could cede its leadership role to countries that become early Aireon adopters. The FAA could wait until “10 years from now, after everyone has started using it,” worries Iridium CEO Matt Desch.

The Aireon technology has gained currency in the almost three years since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. That mysterious event helped persuade global authorities to adopt international aircraft-tracking rules and look for better ways to pinpoint the location of downed planes.

Today, U.S. controllers in Oakland, Calif., are responsible for a swath of the Pacific Ocean from the West Coast to the Philippines. Controllers in Canada and Great Britain share responsibility for busy North Atlantic routes with counterparts in New York and on Portugal’s Azores Islands. Without full visibility, these and other “oceanic” controllers have to funnel planes onto designated aerial highways, keeping them well separated.

“I’m very excited about how this is going to change my job,” said Neil Collins, a 17-year Canadian controller in Gander, Newfoundland, who helps direct airplanes over the North Atlantic. “We will know exactly where [the planes] are.”

Currently, if a plane deviates from its flight plan, controllers must extrapolate where it is, he said. Most aircraft emit position reports only every 15 minutes and while moving at about 500 miles an hour.

The technology also could obviate the need for developing countries to build or maintain conventional land-based tracking systems. “This would be very similar to the transformative impact of wireless in developing nations,” says John Crichton, Aireon’s chairman.

A study last summer by the Flight Safety Foundation, an independent, nonprofit, international aviation-safety organization, found such satellite-based navigation “should be an overall substantial improvement to the global aviation safety net.”

The venture’s success depends on a number of factors. The planned total of 66 Iridium satellites—including the 10 set to launch Saturday plus nine orbiting spares to provide full coverage of the Earth—must be successfully launched and put in position by mid-2018. Once they all are orbiting 485 miles above the planet, the Aireon system needs to be tested and validated.

Airlines must install new equipment on their planes to take advantage of the technology. National air-traffic control agencies will need to sign up and pay for the service: The price will depend on the volume of air traffic crossing their airspace, whether the planes are over land or water, and whether controllers will use the system as a primary tool or backup. Normally the agencies defray their expenses by charging airlines and other airspace users.