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Again, despite warnings from experts and an ever-increasing air traffic level that demands the latest technologies, little has been done to provide the nation's air traffic control system with the technologies it needs. Below are some examples of technologies ignored, poorly implemented, or funded inadequately: FAA makes cuts to vital system allowing control over aircraft at airports. The Airport Surface Detection Equipment, model X is an important system developed after a fatal accident at LAX, providing affordable surface radar at airports so that controllers don't have to rely solely on visual observance. The program was originally slated for completion in 2007, but due to FAA budget cuts, only 15 of the scheduled 34 sites will have received the essential system by then. Ten medium sized airports still have absolutely no radar. During this delay, many controllers simply cannot "see" areas of an airport's surface due to obstructions and low visibility. FAA backs off Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) – The most significant new initiative to improve controller communication, this program would have provided a critical additional link between pilots and the controllers – allowing them to communicate digitally. But the program was terminated in 2004, deeply disappointing industry officials who were relying on the CPDLC program for improvements in safety and efficiency. These officials say the program had demonstrated the system's capabilities in alleviating flight-deck workload by replacing routine pilot/controller voice exchanges with data messages on a cockpit display screen. Frank Cheshire, American Airlines CPDLC project coordinator and former line and technical pilot, complained on the Aviation International News website, "It's extremely disappointing after a year-and-a-half of successful operations." Cheshire added his concern that, over time, the FAA's funding allocations for CPDLC implementation strategy studies "could slowly disappear."2 FAA Cancels Deployment of Important Enhancement to Global Positioning Systems – Global Positioning Systems provide a critical layer of additional safety for the air traffic control system. But at a recent air traffic control conference, Steve Zaidman, the FAA's Vice President of Technical Operations Services, stated there was currently no business case for the Local Area Augmentation System GPS system.3 Even though the FAA's own program website says, "LAAS will yield the extremely high accuracy, availability, and integrity necessary for Category I, II, and III precision approaches, and will provide the ability for more flexible, curved approach paths. LAAS demonstrated accuracy is less than 1 meter in both the horizontal and vertical axis."1 FAA Fails to Deploy Next Generation Air/Ground Communications (NEXCOM) – Even though the Department of Transportation Inspector General argues that upgrades to the ATC infrastructure are inevitable, the FAA cancelled a critical update to the antiquated analog radio system currently used for air traffic control communications. NEXCOM would have replaced the outdated system, but the program funding was terminated in 2004. It's still unclear how the FAA plans to solve this problem. By delaying this program, the FAA has forfeited US leadership and has essentially relinquished the decision making required for communications equipment to the European Union. FAA's mismanagement of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) has put the future of Terminal Automation in jeopardy - The STARS program provides a much-needed digital air traffic control system for managing terminal area airspace. But the FAA's deployment continues to be hampered by numerous technological and software problems, resulting in high cost overruns and delays. As a result, the program has been drastically curtailed, with the FAA chopping its budget. Currently, the largest facility to which STARS has been deployed is Philadelphia and it continues to deal with operational problems and failures. STARS has experienced a 7 year delay in deployment and has been reduced from 172 facilities to 47 facilities. In addition, the ASR-11 program (a new digitized radar system that was supposed to be deployed in conjunction with STARS) has been delayed 8 years and was reduced by more than $46 million for FY 2004-05. |
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