The FAA has responded to recommendations of the RTCA NextGen Mid-Term Implementation Task Force with a 28-page document outlining steps it will take for each of the task force’s top-tier operational proposals.

After seven months of intensive meetings, the RTCA task force last September produced an industry-consensus report with recommendations for achieving “mid-term” Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) capabilities – the period 2015 to 2018. FAA’s response, issued late last month, comes in lieu of the agency’s 2010 NextGen Implementation Plan update, which was expected in January. The NGIP has been postponed until early March.

The task force “slate of recommendations is critical to the FAA’s approach to NextGen development and deployment,” the agency states. “… In response to the RTCA report, the FAA has adjusted its planning to address the Task Force’s Tier One recommendations.”

In what has been described as an “airport and metroplex-centric” approach, the task force produced recommendations in five operational “domains” of surface operations, runway access, metroplex, cruise and National Airspace System (NAS) access, as well as two areas considered cross-cutting: data communications and integrated air traffic management. It made “overarching” recommendations to incentivize equipage, streamline operational approvals and certification, achieve existing 3- and 5-mile separation standards and continue collaborating with industry.

On incentivizing equipage, FAA says more time is needed to study the ramifications.

 “We are continuing discussions with the aviation community on what constitutes a ‘best-equipped, best-served’ strategy that will encourage NAS users to equip,” the agency states. “As we implement new technologies, procedures and avionics equipage in the NAS, the system has to accommodate aircraft with NextGen technologies as well as those that have not begun the transition. When we successfully resolve the mixed performance/equipage challenge, additional choices and improved levels of service will be available. ‘Best-equipped, best-served’ requires analyses to determine the risks and opportunities that must be considered as controllers and operators deal with this mixed-equipage environment.”

Further guidance on FAA’s plans to implement the task force recommendations is expected at the RTCA Spring Symposium, which is co-produced by Avionics Magazine. The symposium will be held April 6-7 in Washington, D.C. For more information, see:

www.RTCASpringSymposium.com

Bill Carey, editor-in-chief of Avionics magazine, has 25 years of experience as a business, technology and aviation journalist with daily newspapers, newsletters and magazines. He previously served as managing editor of Avionics magazine and as European Bureau Chief for Avionics and Rotor & Wing in London from 1993 to 1995.

www.aviationtoday.com/bill_carey_bio.html