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WEEKLY UPDATES FROM FAA ATO COO TERI BRISTOL
COO Video Weekly Message: Thanks for Showing You Care
Check out ATO Chief Operating Officer Teri Bristol's video message this week as she
talks about the Combined Federal Campaign.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siuuyozBn58
Agency-Wide Effort Contributed to ADS-B Success
Hi everyone,
As we turn the corner on a new decade in 2020, we are also turning the corner on an
enhanced national airspace — one that is augmented by a GPS-enabled surveillance
system that transforms the way we operate with the most precise tracking possible.
With GPS-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), we get an
exact latitude-longitude position for an aircraft about every second. We can see aircraft
in places we couldn't before so more pilots can receive air traffic services when flying
near mountains and rough terrain, over bodies of water like the Gulf of Mexico, and at
lower altitudes.
When we first started talking about ADS-B more than a decade ago, the FAA had to
overcome a lot of challenges, and build confidence that as an agency we could lead this
transformation.
We did this steadily by meeting our own deadlines — laying down a new nationwide
radio infrastructure that could talk to satellite systems, installing upgraded automation in
all of our terminal and En route facilities, training air traffic controllers to use it and
tackling a series of policy and technical issues that were barriers to success.
As we surmounted these obstacles, we worked with the aviation industry, airlines and
other pilots to educate them about the benefits of equipage. As a result, our
stakeholders also have invested in this modernized surveillance system. With just a
couple weeks shy of our Jan. 1, 2020, mandate to equip with ADS-B avionics, we're
pleased with the progress so far.
I'm happy to announce that we have surpassed the 100,000 mark of aircraft with good
installations of ADS-B Out — in fact, close to 103,000 aircraft now will be able to fly in
our nation's busiest airspace.
