Fly The GPS-Friendly Skies
9 Feb 2012On February 6, 2012, Congress passed a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bill that would move the nation’s aviation system into the high-tech, modern age. By a vote of 75 to 20, the bill passed — shifting air traffic control from being radar-assisted to Global Positioning System (GPS)-guided. The passing of the FAA bill prods the nation’s aviation system into one in which high-tech satellites are central to air traffic control.
The bill’s approval means that roughly $11 billion dollars will be used to modernize air traffic procedures at the nation’s 35 busiest airports.
Benefits of the GPS Air Traffic Control
According to the Associated Press, the GPS-based air traffic system will enable airports to have both more frequent takoffs and landings. Thanks to GPS technology, pilots and air traffic controllers will have a more accurate picture of obstacles on the ground and aircraft in the sky, both of which will allow pilots to bring in planes more quickly. This is in comparison to the antiquated stair-step descents that pilots are required to use today based on the old-fashioned radar-assisted landings.
But the benefits don’t end there. The GPS air traffic control system means less burning fuel from the stair-step descents currently in place. Planes will be able to glide in more steeply, even with engines idling. Pilots will have a better picture, even in poor weather, which means less planes being diverted.
Perhaps an even bigger benefit of GPS air traffic control: air travel is expected to be even more safer than it is today.
The Future of Air Travel
Eventually, the FAA wants the airline industry to install on-board satellite technology on all aircrafts to update the location of planes every second — rather than every six to 12 seconds as it currently is with radar. In doing so, pilots would not only be able to track the location of their own plane, but have GPS tracking of other planes equipped with the new GPS technology — something pilots are incapable of doing now.
Many other nations have adopted GPS-guided technology to assist in air traffic, but the FAA has been cautious about moving in that direction — until now. By all accounts, the United States has the most complicated airspace of the world, that it is surprising that the FAA hasn’t adopted this modern technology sooner.
In order to accommodate a forecasted 50 percent growth in air traffic over the next 10 years, the GPS air traffic control system is central to the FAA in meeting this goal.
The new GPS air traffic technology must be implemented by June 2015 in each of the 35 airports.
