Airspace Management

Free Flight

No, nothing to do with the price of Avgas. The US Federal Aviation Administration has declared in favour of phased introduction of “free flight” air navigation as recommended by a Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics taskforce report. An FAA spokesman for air traffic services said that the aviation agency will respond formally this month to the report’s 40 specific recommendations on establishing a framework for implementing free flight in US airspace. “In general, we agree with the recommendations, the thrust and the idea of free flight. It is our responsibility to provide an ATC system that allows people to fly where and when they want to — as freely as they can. That’s what free flight is all about,” said the spokesman. Under free flight rules airlines would be free to set their own direct flightpaths independent of ground control. Air traffic controllers would intervene only to prevent accidents. The report’s key proposal calls for the FAA to form a free flight steering committee within six months to establish an implementation strategy and firm schedule. The concept could be available by early in the next century.

Freeing Up Gps

US President Bill Clinton announced his intention to provide full GPS accuracy within 10 years, possibly beginning in 2000. The US Department of Defense will then stop degrading the GPS signal for civil users in the system. The announcement opens opportunities within and outside the US for the growing industry of civilian GPS applications, boosting thousands of jobs in the US alone. GPS applications manufacturers expect that other countries will be more likely to integrate GPS navigation into their infrastructure once full accuracy is assured. President Clinton stressed that the GPS industry can grow from sales of $US2 billion now to$US8 billion by 2000. GPS with Selective Availability (SA) switched on gives an accuracy of around 100m, without SA, GPS can give an accuracy of around 20m or better. Although even with SA switched on the aviation industry claims to be able to achieve greater accuracy by using wide area differential systems, the new policy will alleviate the GPS industry of its greatest obstacle. President Clinton will create a GPS executive board jointly chaired by the Department of Defense and Department of Transportation to coordinate the development of GPS for military and civilian use. The Department of Defense is now working on new ways to scramble GPS signals to deny their use by enemies during a conflict. Russia’s new transport minister, N Tsakh, confirmed a similar commitment to provide free use of the Russian Glonass system for the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) for 15 years. Mr Tsakh stated this in a letter to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Navaid Calibrators

Malaysia’s Transport Ministry last month took delivery of its second Learjet 60 for flight inspection duties. Like the first aircraft delivered late last year, it is equipped with a Nomarc GPS based automatic flight inspection system and has been specially fitted with a custom designed APU package and auxiliary air conditioning system to cool onboard systems in the extreme tropical operating environment. Total value of the two orders was about $US36 million. AirServices Australia’s Flying Unit operates a pair of Fokker F28s (VH-ATD and ATG) which can be seen flying around the country in their flash livery, bristling with antennas and full of electronic gadgetry. Their task is to calibrate navaids and communications equipment checking for accuracy and performance. It also contracts its services to neighbouring countries in the Asia Pacific region. We hope to give our readers a day in the life look at the calibrator at work before there aren’t any more landbased aids left to calibrate (thanks to GPS).