DayJet Demise: No NextGen Impact

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials say the recent demise of DayJet will have “no impact” on the five-year, phased implementation of Next Generation (NextGen) technologies, including Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), throughout southern Florida. Earlier this year, Dayjet and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) announced a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the FAA to create a NextGen testbed in Florida. The deal will develop replicable procedures that can be used for the accelerated deployment of NextGen technologies nationally. DayJet had agreed to operate a portion of its fleet of ADS-B-equipped Eclipse 500 VLJs, providing the government with much-needed data on NextGen operations. FAA officials said the grounding of DayJet won’t impact the NextGen demonstration in Florida since the MoA had not been concluded and DayJet aircraft had not been equipped with ADS-B receivers. As regards replacement aircraft for the Florida flight trials, FAA officials said they “will continue to work to equip aircraft operating in Florida with ADS-B receivers. “The officials continued: “The (NextGen demonstration) program’s baseline was not contingent on the DayJet agreement. And the ground infrastructure (ADS-B stations) has been, and continues to be, deployed in Florida. We (the FAA) do not see any impact to the Florida test this or next year.”