A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/832092
Current equipage levels are falling short of the projected numbers needed to reach the Jan 1, 2020 deadline to equip with ADS - B. Avi onics Installation capacity NAS wide could also be exceeded t he longer users wait to equip. So far, the Agency has been cl ear that the deadline is firm. Time will tell, as the deadline looms closer. Most, if not all, a ir c arriers have provided the Agenc y wit h a plan to meet the deadline. However, the means to achieve those plans in the short amount of time remaining is becoming a larger question. The military, as previously released in the press, expects to be unable to meet this deadline for several v ersions of their fighter and older aircraft. They are working with the Agency on a compromise that requires DOD radar availability at key sites to be identified. GA equipage is a harder question and being carried as a h igh risk by the SBS Program Offic e. Increased avionics availability and competition among manufacturers continues to bring the o verall cost for GA users down. In addition, the Agency has initiated another rebate program and it is showing some interest, but not as high as expected. The SBS PO very rough estimate of avionics installation capacity nationwide is 50,000 aircraft per year. The rough estimate of all NAS aircraft that need to equip is 160,000. Users that wait too close to 2020 may find that the capacity for installation falls short of dem and. Facilities may see these GA ADS - B operators flying more check flights as they attempt to validate their installations and claim the rebate. An issue not screened by automation systems but an important assumption for future ADS - B depende nt applications is the br oadcast call sign of the user. ADS - B sends this information to automation systems for comp arison to the filed call sign. When a mismatch occurs a Call Sign Mismatch (CSMM) alert can be generated. The frequency of CSMM conditions present across NAS wide has been such that it is unreasonable to re commend enabling these alerts. ERAM an d MEARTS have already done so. STARS alerts are only present when the ADS - B CHI is enabled (not a requirement), and the SBS Article 114 work group h as agreed to disable the alerts completely as soon as practical in STARS as well. The Agency continues to work on reducing the frequency. ADS - B IOCs have been completed at all En Route (ERAM and MEARTS) facilities. All but one ERAM site has promoted ADS - B t o the top of their sort cells. ZMA intends to promote ADS - B on June 22, 2017. 99 of 155 Terminal sites have reached their ADS - B IOC a nd 97 are operating on Fusion. The majority of the remaining Terminal sites are ARTS 2E sites awaiting an upgrade to the ELITE (STARS) build. The Terminal ADS - B/Fusion tran sition p roceeds in this order: Kickoff meeting, ADS - B Flight Inspection, ADS - B IOC, Fusion Operational Suitability Demonstration (OSD) , and Fusion Operations. The most recent and upcoming Terminal ev ents: West Palm Beach (PBI) ADS - B Flight Inspection 5/2/17 Columbia (CAE) ADS - B Flight Inspection 5/10/17 Bismarck (BIS) Fusion Operational 5/10/17 Cedar Rapids (CID) ADS - B Flight Inspection 5/16/17 Montgomery (MGM) ADS - B Fusion Kickoff 5/16/17