NATCA Bookshelf

5 NextGen Now | Summer 2015 While NextGen is already having beneficial effects on air travel in our nation, we cannot overlook the difficulties that interruptions in the funding stream have created for these modernization projects. Lack of a stable funding stream makes planning for multi-year projects almost impossible. As a result, we have seen significant delays and inefficiencies in modernization. Though ERAM reached successful completion this year, it was scheduled to replace the old system in August 2014. That deadline, however, was pushed to March 2015 due to the April 2013 furloughs. That delay cost more than $42 million. Likewise, the sequestration-related furloughs and government shutdown significantly slowed the progress of the Optimization of Airspace & Procedures in the Metroplex (OAPM) project at nine test sites across the country. Final implementation at the Houston test site had been scheduled for December 2013, but once again, due to furloughs implementation and its associated benefits were delayed until May 2014. The FAA is making progress on NextGen, and has successfully reached significant milestones, but Congress must address funding uncertainty in the upcoming FAA reauthorization bill to prevent further delays and the associated financial overruns. We have made progress, but all of our successes will be delayed and more expensive as long as the funding stream remains unstable and unpredictable. Stop-and-start funding impedes the FAA's ability to properly staff the collaborative workgroups tasked with the design, testing, and implementation of new technologies and procedures. The NAS is a 24/7 operation, and the FAA's aviation safety professionals must continue to run that system while simultaneously working on research, development, testing, and implementation of new technology. Look at what we've accomplished with these challenges, and then imagine what we could achieve with predictable, stable funding. Please read through this edition of NextGen Now for more perspectives on this topic from our colleagues in the industry, as well as for updates on ADS-B, the National Airspace System Voice Switch (NVS), Wake Turbulence Recategorizaton (RECAT), TAMR and STARS, Remote Towers, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), ERAM, and DataComm.

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