Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

Warning that a proposal to auction off portions of the spectrum could jeopardize aviation safety, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) urged Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to coordinate with the Department of Defense on frequency management.
Included in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s portion of the <a href="https://bit.ly/3YHm3zI">budget reconciliation package</a>, the measure would call for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to identify at least 600 megahertz (MHz) between the 1.3 gigahertz (GHz) and 10 GHz frequencies to auction by 2034 and at least 200 MHz within three years. The measure would provide an exception for the band of frequencies between 3.1 GHz and 3.45 GHz and between 5.925 GHz and 7.125 GHz. Today, the committee is slated to consider its budget reconciliation package.
Concerned that some of the spectrums discussed for auction could abut key frequencies used by aviation and weather sources, Cantwell wrote to Duffy on Monday, asking a series of questions about the plans for coordination and the consideration of the impacts on aviation safety.
“Because the safety and effectiveness of the National Airspace System depends on the FAA managing radar, navigation, and safety-critical systems on airplanes, decisions to repurpose federal spectrum must be taken only after the department, the FAA, and industry have validated that any transition can proceed without jeopardizing aviation safety,” said Cantwell, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee.
She was particularly concerned about proposals to auction frequencies in the upper C-band, next to where aircraft and helicopter radio altimeters operate.
“Proceeding to auction the entire upper C-band, without coordination with or concurrence from DOT, FAA, and the aviation industry, risks a repetition of the 2021 5G C-Band rollout, when the FAA was forced to issue emergency airworthiness directives, institute flight restrictions around airports nationwide, and nearly ground all commercial flights across the country,” she noted. “These disruptions cost air carriers an estimated $2.1 billion and disrupted passenger travel across the nation. Given the efforts you are undertaking to improve aviation safety, we cannot risk another disaster.”
She also pointed to proposals surrounding the 1780 to 1850-MHz band, which contains FAA spectrum assignments for airborne telemetry and data links. And, Cantwell noted, some have proposed auctioning the 2700 to 2900-MHz band, used for airport surveillance radars, terminal Doppler weather radars, and NOAA’s Nexrad weather radar. “Any disruption to these systems would have direct and dire consequences for aviation and public safety.”

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

U.S. Senator Urges Caution on Spectrum Auction Plans

Sen. Cantwell fears spectrum auctions could jeopardize aviation safety

Sen. Cantwell is urging Transportation Secretary Duffy to coordinate on proposed spectrum auctions, warning that such moves could threaten aviation safety.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

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News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

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