NextGen

NextGen is a satellite-based radar system that is supposed to improve safety, capacity, and efficiency at the airports and in the air. NextGen is to be implemented in 2020. There is a deadline of January 1, 2020 to get all aircraft equipped with new avionics to work with this new radar system. NextGen will improve safety by improving the radar reports to the air traffic controllers with more accuracy instead of the current ground-based system with a 4 to 5 second delay. NextGen uses a system called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), which is the avionics that are to be installed on all aircraft by the January deadline. ADS-B equipped aircraft will broadcast their position to air traffic controllers and other airplanes in the air, which increases situational awareness and safety.

 

NextGen Implementation Plan report had projected a reduction in delays by 41 percent by the middle of the implementation period in 2020. There are benefits to this new system like reduction in carbon emissions and fuel burned that are due to delay. A 2013 article stated that carbon emissions are projected to be down by 16 million metric tons and fuel consumptions to be down by 1.6 billion gallons. And that is 7 percent reduction in fuel consumption as compared to the reports for fuel consumption in 2011.

 

The FAA had first deployed the ADS-B system in remote areas of Alaska that has no radar coverage and equipped over 300 aircraft with the ADS-B system. And with more radar coverage for controllers and improved situational awareness created a 47 percent decline in fatal accidents rates with ADS-B equipped aircraft. That is a tremendous result and that is a huge positive, but with the downfall of this system is money.

 

I think that the fees and taxes should be applied to anything that is needed for the operators, especially for making them getting a whole new avionics system. If every aircraft has to get this ADS-B system, then that is a lot of money for companies like Delta or Southwest, etc. to switch. If the fees and taxes were going to make this system more affordable for the operators, so the operators would not have to raise their prices to pay for this system. I think that is a big question for the FAA, because one of their jobs is to promote the aviation industry, and how are they promoting the aviation industry if the airlines are forced to raise their prices to pay for the ADS-B system.

 

This new system will affect my career by possibly having to go through more complex systems training. Also, this system will help improve my situational awareness and safety so that there will be less mid-air collisions or TCAS resolution. It just seems like this system is taking a bunch of system that we currently have and putting them into one system. Which I think is stupid, because what happens when the system crashes and that is something to think about.

 

 

Links

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2013-08-01/nextgen-implementation-update-signals-further-progress

 

http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/11693826/faa-calls-on-the-aviation-industry-to-equip-for-nextgen-and-help-increase-safety-and-efficiency