NextGen NOW and 40 years ago: MAJOR CHANGE needed soon
Dr. Oman’s SimpleFlying article explains the current state of the largest, most complex, and most expensive civil technology project. He relates NextGen’s proposed, needed benefits to the current problems being experienced by the Air Traffic Control system. His CASE FOR URGENT FUNDING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS MOST IMPORTANT AVIATION SAFETY EXPENDITURE SINCE 1903 IS AXIOMATIC.
All aviation users, all passengers, and all shippers are frustrated by the slow implementation which Dr. Oman tracks from NextGen’s 2012 birth, or a more apt term might be renaissance. Those of a certain age will remember the 1982 National Air Space System Plan (1982 NASP)
J. Lynn Helms originated and oversaw the development of the 1982 NAS Plan. The NAS Plan was a comprehensive redesign of the air traffic control system that aimed to improve the safety, efficiency, and capacity of the NAS. The Helms Plan included the implementation of new air traffic technologies and procedures, as well as the construction of new airport infrastructure. Helms was an Oklahoma University graduate, a fighter and test pilot, engineer for North American Aviation and Bendix Corporation, president of the Norden Division of United Aircraft Corporation and finally president and CEO of Piper Aircraft Corporation. He retired but was called to serve as FAA Administrator early in the Reagan Administration. “Mr. Helms was the first FAA head in years,” the Washington Post once noted, “was capable of designing an airplane that flew.” Soon after confirmation, Helms assembled a team of the agency’s ATC, Airways Facilities, Flight Safety and Computer professionals. A collective, iterative task force produced the Brown Book1 (later edition shown in upper left corner of above image).
Secretary Dole asked for an outside review and a team issued COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN FAA’S NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM PLAN (Princeton Report) [10 pages]. The prestigious group gave the following endorsements with caveats:
“Working Group 2 agreed that the Nation’s ATC system needs to be modernized, despite their questions on technology and timing. In an observation that reflected the group’s thinking, Chairman H. Clark Stroupe, vice president of Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Inc., said, “No one . . . has seriously entertained the concept of doing nothing.” The group also had general praise for FAA’s 1982 NAS Plan, which the agency made public in January. Consultant Gilbert F. Quinby felt it was “to be commended at a policy level,” and Stroupe called it “a fairly significant set of goals, even bold in some sense, compared to some of the previous plans FAA has had.” Other participants echoed these overall evaluations.
The choice of technologies was generally considered to be well within the state-of-the-art, although there was disagreement about specific components. George Litchford, president of Litchford Electronics, commented that, “As far as using the new technology (goes), I think it’s being used in a conservative sense. In aviation you can’t plunge ahead with brand new technology. You usually have to use quite well-proven technology, and I think in that sense it’s a fairly conservative plan.” Others felt the Plan might be too conservative…”
My research loses the tracks of the 1982 Plan and only unearths a circa 1989 report on TCAS Development and the Federal Role, an element of the Helms original plan; the report commends the Administrator for this significant safety advance.
The NAS development track disappears, although one must assume that dollars were spent and technology advanced. Input from the user community resulted in changes in priorities.
The next blip on this ATC scope is the 2012 announcement of NextGen by DOT Deputy Secretary John D. Porcari and Michael Huerta,
Acting FAA Administrator. The definition of the safety improvements was far more robust and infinitely more specific. As with the twenty years of NAS development, it was subject to revisions the NextGen Priorities Joint Implementation Plan (2014) accelerated delivery of four core NextGen initiatives over three years to improve efficiency: optimizing operations at airports with multiple runways, increasing the efficiency of surface operations, updating the navigation system from ground-based to primarily satellite-based, and improving communications between aircraft and the ground through a digital system.
Concurrently, someone from industry took over the NextGen leadership when Michael G. Whitaker was named Chief NextGen Officer and then Deputy Administrator. He was responsible for the implementation of FAA’s NextGen modernization of the air traffic control system, moving from radar to satellite-enabled surveillance technology. October 2023 marked the Senate’s confirmation of Whitaker to a 5-year term as Administrator.
This long, tortuous trail of the absolutely necessary technical upgrading should remind all that this is not a failing of 11 years, rather 40 YEARS. Yes, NAS Plan/NextGen is the single most challenging civil technology project, but FOUR DECADES, really. Congress recently excoriated the FAA for recent near disastrous aircraft misses. The House held a hearing urging the other side of Capitol Hill to finally pass the FAA Reauthorization bill. ALL TRUE.
The real lesson of 1982 to 2023? CONGRESS MUST REMOVE ITS SHACKLES OVER A TECHNICAL SAFETY ORGANIZATION. The FAA is almost unique among civilian executive branch organizations—its responsibilities stretch from the Atlantic to mid Pacific, its operations are 24/7/365, its planning horizon is more than the next fiscal year, its work force in all of its missions are stretched and its management unduly influenced by politics (from both the Administration and the Hill). Congress must establish statutory parameters to the FAA’s authority, create a long term budget (free from the tyranny of the FY) and allow it to be managed by executives who neither have to worry about some Administration policy or Hill constituent. NOW!!!
Inside NextGen: The FAA’s $35bn Air Traffic Modernization Program
BY DR. OMAR MEMON2
PUBLISHED 6 DAYS AGO
This initiative will improve air navigation systems and processes across US airspace.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has initiated a large-scale air traffic infrastructure known as the NEXT GENERATION AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM (NEXTGEN). The FAA aims to modernize the US’s National Airspace System (NAS) through its NextGen initiative.
This initiative will see upgrades to various systems, such as communication, navigation, surveillance, and information systems, among others. The FAA is actively looking to improve communication infrastructure at airports nationwide. Its NextGen infrastructure is expected to cost nearly $35 billion through 2030.
The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)
The NextGen initiative is undertaken to improve the safety, efficiency, and resiliency of United States airports. In recent months, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have been swamped with increasing incidents involving runway incursions at US airports.
The FAA has been investigating various aspects of the incidents that put the safety and security of the nation’s aviation at risk. The NextGen aims to bring new air traffic technologies to enhance accuracy, efficiency, and safety to the existing procedures. According to the FAA,
“Our modernization initiative enables a more flexible — yet robust and resilient — aerospace infrastructure that ensures the safe introduction of non-traditional users into aviation, such as commercial space transportation and advanced air mobility operations.”
Collaboration among partners
NextGen is aimed at identifying enhanced capabilities and technologies that would foster a safer aviation environment in the US and across borders. Improvements made as part of the NextGen initiative are expected to reduce the effects of the environment on flights and systems. New technologically advanced equipment and systems predict environmental conditions better, enabling a safer flying environment.
The NextGen initiative will also support aviation sustainability targets by facilitating the use and tracking of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Within the existing fuel technology, NextGen aims to lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions through efficient flight routing and implementing other programs.
The FAA is conducting extensive research in light of the recent incidents and the overarching need for newer technologies and systems. It is seeking international collaboration to improve existing technology and streamline the use of future technologies into a coherent system. The FAA emphasizes the importance of global partnership in fostering a safe aviation environment by stating,
“Through research and collaboration, NextGen is defining new standards and further advancing our global leadership in aviation. The FAA fosters international cooperation in evolving enhanced aviation technologies that improve airspace system safety and mobility.”
Key points of the NextGen
- Replacement of the existing ground-based air traffic system at US airports.
- New systems will be equipped with satellite-based communication and navigation systems.
- Aircraft may have to be equipped with instruments to support NextGen communication systems.
- The program enables lower fuel consumption and carbon emissions techniques.
- The program will help meet industry-wide sustainability targets.
- THE PROGRAM HAS COST NEARLY $14 BILLION TO DATE AND IS EXPECTED TO COST $35 BILLION BY 2030.
