A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/843966
ADS - B: As of June 1, 2017, the number of Rule Compliant ADS - B Out in the US rea ched 30,658. ADS - B In equipped aircraft reached 27,227. Current equipage levels are falling short of the projected numbers needed to reach the Jan 1, 2020 deadline to equip with ADS - B. Avionics Installation capacity NAS wide could also be exceeded the l onger users wait to equip. So far, the Agency has been clear that the deadline is firm. Time will tell, as the deadline looms closer. Most, if not all, Air Carriers have provided the Agency with a plan to meet the deadline. However, the means to achiev e those plans in the short amount of time remaining is becoming a larger question. One example that stands out is Honeywell avionics, which have yet to offer an ADS - B solution. Southwest Airlines and others are heavily dependent on Honeywell avionics. U nited Airlines has made significant progress in upgrading their B737 fleet with 95 of 110 planned ADS - B installations complete. Several other airlines are also showing increased fleet equipage. The military, as previously released in the press, expects t o be unable to meet this deadline for several versions 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 High risk by the SBS Program Office. Increased avionics availability and competition among manufacturers continues to bring the overall cost for GA users down. In addition, the Agency has initiated another rebate program and it is showing so me 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 ma y find that the capacity for installation falls short of demand. 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 a n important assumption for future ADS - B dependent applications is the broadcast call sign of the user. ADS - B sends this information to automation systems for comparison 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 the SBS Article 114 work group has recommended disabling these across all automation platforms. The issue was highlighted in recent Equip 2020 meetings since ADS - B dependent applications (CAVS, Advanced Interval Management, etc.) are dependent on this functionality. ADS - B IOCs have been completed at all EnRoute (ERAM and MEARTS) facilities. All ERAM sites have promoted ADS - B to the top of their sort cells. 102 of 155 Terminal sites have reached their ADS - B IOC and 99 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 transition proceeds in this or der: Kickoff meeting, ADS - B Flight Inspection, ADS - B IOC, Fusion Operational