A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/977826
INTEGRATED DISPL AY SYSTEM REPLACEMENT (IDS - R) Richie Smith (N90) leads NATCA's e fforts on the IDS - R project as t he Article 114 Representative. Below is Mr. Smith's report. The testing for NIDS software V3.6.4 which was scheduled for the week of April 23 was postponed due to a "bug" that was found by the team at the lab in Atlantic City. A new test week is tentatively scheduled for the week of June 11, which is dangerously cl ose to the end of the contract (June 30, 2018) between the vendor and the FAA. The issue was at first only encountered in Atlantic City using specific file downloads but then was recreated with those files at the vendor's lab in Sacramento. The obvious q uestion of the possible corruption of the file as well as the more time - consuming analysis of previous software builds are being investigated to try and find an answer. Until the bug is found testing dates cannot be verified nor future plans (key sites, di stribution, etc.) confirmed. SURVEILLANCE BR OADCAST SERVICES (SBS) OFFICE Eric Labardini (ZHU) is the Article 114 Representative to the SBS Office. Below is the update for SBS. The NATCA Surveillance and Broadcast Services (SBS) team includes: Eric Labardini (ZHU), National SBS Article 114 Rep, Craig Bielek (A90), Dan Hamilton (SFO), National Airport Surface Surveillance Capability (ASSC) Rep, Andrew Stachowiak (I90), Tom Zarick (ZDV), National Interval Management Rep, and Chris Aymond (MSY), Nationa l Terminal Interval Management Rep ADS - B As of April 1, 2018, the number of Rule Compliant ADS - B Out aircraft in the US reached 47,122. ADS - B In equ ipped aircraft reached 40,101. The growth in aircraft equipage has been significant, and some areas of th e NAS are seeing high pe rcentages of traffic equipped. However, the projections are still falling short of the num bers needed prior to the Jan. 1, 2020 deadline to equip. Despite some April Fool's articles, the Agency has been clear that the deadline is fi rm. By 2020, the Agency estimates that 6 , 000 - 7 , 000 US registered air carriers will need to be ADS - B Out equipped, and t here are currently about 2000. Most, if not all, Air Carriers have provided the Agency wi th 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. A partnership between United Airlines, Rockwell, and the SBS Program Office recently completed ADS - B Out installations on 110 United B737 Rockwell fleet. Ame rican, Delta, Alaska, and many other airlines are showing i ncreased fleet ADS - B equipage. American has also announced a plan to equip 320 Airbus aircraft with ADS - B In. For General Aviation, the very rough estimate of avionics installation capacity nation wide is 50,000 aircraft per year and delays are becoming common at mul tiple installation facilities. The overall tally of all NAS aircraft could be as high as 160,000, but the actual number that operate in ADS - B Rule airspace and therefore need to equip se ems to be much lower as traffic is better analyzed. Operational trend data shows that those aircraft that operate in ADS - B Rule airspace (where a transponder is required) is closer to