Pentagon and FAA to Negotiate Letting Combat Drone in US Airspace

From a meager 50 units of combat drones before the war on terror, the US military now has a fleet 7,500 robotic aircraft in its arsenal. With the war on Iraq and Afghanistan finally coming to a close, these robotic aircraft need to come, but Federal Aviation Administraion guidelines are hindering them.

The FAA does not permit robotic aircraft in US national airspace without a special permit. Remotely piloted aircraft do not have enough “detect, sense and avoid” technology to prevent mid-air collisions. Nevertheless, the FAA give way to some exceptions. It issued 313 certificates last year. Special certificates were given to Unarmed Predator drones that patrol the national border.

Just last week, congress have directed the FAA to plan how the military drones can be integrated into the national airspace in a wide scale by 2015. The military plans to use its drones for training and retraining of the pilots that remotely flies them. They also plan to station the robotic aircraft in different bases throughout the country.

The military is also confident that its fleet of robotic aircraft will find new roles to perform in the mainland. They can be very useful in emergencies. Drones can help firefighters locate hotspots during wildfires and even burst out water when needed. During the tsunami in Japan and earthquake in Haiti; the jet-powered, high-flying RQ-4 Global Hawk made by Northrop Grumman Corp. provided aerial coverage of catastrophe. Law enforcement and the private sector are also looking into the possibility of using the smaller drone airplanes for aerial surveillance. The FAA is aiming to release a proposal for small drones this spring.

source: articles.latimes.com

Airplanes Will Take-off and Land Using GPS Soon

The Federal Aviation Administration has finally entered the 21^st century. From a radio-based navigation system it will finally turn to a modern GPS system.

Previously, modernization programs of the FAA had been largely ignored due to inadequate budget. In fact, only provisional funds keep the FAA running. But that will change once because the US Congress just passed a $ 63 billion bill to fund and continue FAA’s programs through 2015. Part of the 63 billion will be allotted to FAA’s switch to “NextGen,” a satellite-based navigation system.

Currently, the majority of the commercial airplanes use the radio-based navigation for landing. And since World War II, that technology have not changed much. According to the bill, 35 of the busiest airports in the US will have until June 2015 to change their system so pilots can land with GPS. According to the FAA, this measure will greatly reduce delays and congestions by streamlining arrival and take-offs.

The NextGen system can make the arrivals more precise and better organized. It will lead to fewer delays and diversion – making travel time more efficient. It will also use less fuel and make less noise, thereby decreasing the airline industry’s carbon footprint. With NextGen, pilots can know the precise location of nearby air traffic which will increase safety and lessen the danger of mid-air collisions. Currently, an aircraft‘s position is updated every six to twelve minutes using the on-board radar. GPS can give updates for a fraction of that time. It can also be used during airline taxing, which will lead to lower on-the-ground incidents.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law next week.

source: http://www.mashable.com

FAA reveals near collision incident of V-22 and Twin Otter

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has disclosed that a V-22 Osprey and a civilian de Havilland Twin Otter parachute jump aircraft came within feet of colliding at 12,000ft altitude in controlled airspace. No date is given for the event, which is included in the agency’s August Air Traffic Bulletin newsletter, uploaded to the FAA web site yesterday.

V-22 Osprey

The newsletter focuses on recent lapses in controller vigilance in providing traffic separation to aircraft, an issue highlighted in this week’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) final hearing on a fatal midair collision between a private aircraft and sightseeing helicopter near New York City in August 2009.

In the newsletter, the FAA says a recent audit by the agency’s Air Traffic Safety Oversight Service “indicates safety alerts and radar traffic advisories were not always issued when warranted and proper procedures and phraseology were not used as required”. The FAA notes that recent near “mid-air collisions and evasive actions taken by pilots”, including the V-22 incident, “may help underscore the need for air traffic controllers to exercise extreme vigilance and thorough action when issuing safety alerts and radar traffic advisories”.

The V-22 incident occurred in air route traffic control centre (ARTCC) airspace “in the vicinity” of an airport, according to the report. “A DHC6 [Twin Otter] was climbing VFR for parachute jump operations in the vicinity of an airport,” reads the report.

Twin Otter

The Twin Otter pilot stated the military aircraft was about 100-150ft away at closest proximity while the V-22 pilot reported closest proximity to be approximately 20ft.

The V-22 osprey is a tilt rotor vertical/short takeoff and landing (VSTOL), multi-mission air-craft developed to fill multi-Service combat operational requirements. The V-22 uses many unique items to achieve its configuration and capability. The airframe incorporates new materials and structural designs. Advanced avionics provide mission enhancement while new wiring technologies increase reliability and reduce weight.

The Twin Otter on the other hand, remains popular for its rugged construction and useful STOL performance. The Twin Otter has been popular with commercial skydiving operations. It is able to carry up to 22 skydivers to over 13,500 ft.; presently, the Twin Otter is used in skydiving operations in many countries. The United States Air Force operates three Twin Otters for the United States Air Force Academy’s skydiving team.

- flightglobal.com
- airliners.net
- globalsecurity.org
- Wikipedia.org

Delta Airlines’ mechanic found dead

A Delta Air Lines employee was found dead Tuesday morning near an airplane at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office identified the worker as 47-year-old Jesse Paul Stygar of Rosemount.

At 5:30 AM on Tuesday, Minneapolis Saint Paul airport police received a phone call indicating that a mechanic for Delta Airlines was injured and required medical assistance at Gate G14.

When emergency medical responders arrived, the Delta mechanic, Stygar was inside of one of the landing gear doors and had no pulse.

Employees report at the time Mr. Stygar was working on the landing gear doors in the wheel well area of an Airbus A319, Flight 2789 that was to depart to St. Louis at 7 AM. The Medical examiner’s office has indicated Mr. Stygar died of a head injury.

The Airbus A319 has been taken out off service pending investigation of this accident. Passengers were transferred to different aircraft and the flight to St. Louis departed on time.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends and offer our full support to them and our people in Minneapolis.” Delta spokesman Anthony Black said.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), NTSB, FAA and airport police along with the medical examiner’s office will be investigating.

-AvStop.com

-myfoxBoston

Airline Passenger Pre-screening Expected in 2009

A long-delayed government program designed to more accurately pre-screen the names of airline passengers against terror watch lists is expected to begin early next year.

Homeland Security Sec. Michael Chertoff announced the final rule of the program, Secure Flight, which would validate air traveler’s information so there’s less chance a person could be mistaken for someone else on a watch list. The program has been delayed several times because of privacy concerns.

Misidentification of passengers has been one of the biggest inconveniences in post-September 11 air travel, and widely known for putting Sen. Ted Kennedy, a few infants and thousands of innocent US residents through extensive searching and questioning before they were allowed to fly.

The FAA rules required that the airline only screen that passenger’s check baggage for explosives and not the passenger for carryon bags. Later versions of this program became controversial because of data mining elements that had aroused privacy concerns. Secure Flight does not include data mining which is the computerized searching of large databanks of information for clues to the identities of terrorists or criminals.

More airliner models