The Federal Aviation Administration has advanced its Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), which would improve traffic management with its automated computer and satellite systems, a senior FAA official has said.
The FAA said that NextGen is a transformation of a ground-based air traffic control system to a satellite-based system, called the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), which would let pilots to achieve the capability to take on more of their own air traffic activities.
“Air traffic controllers would eventually manage airline traffic more than control it,” said Vicki Cox, the FAA’s senior vice president of NextGen and operations planning, on March 4 at an industry event sponsored by IAC.
The agency has begun to set out ADS-B, first in Alaska, and UPS voluntarily equipped 107 of its aircraft with the technology. Pilots flying aircraft equipped with ADS-B technology in South Florida can already receive air traffic and weather information on their cockpit displays, Cox said.
“This is the first time that pilots are able to observe the same traffic information as air traffic controllers,” she said. The result of using ADS-B in South Florida “paves the way for a national implementation of ADS-B,” she added.
By October, the FAA will have ADS-B capability over the Gulf of Mexico. The agency in partnership with the Helicopter Association International is installing ADS-B ground stations on oil rigs in the gulf.