Without a doubt, the most startling advances in aviation continue to be in the realm of avionics: they are having a significant effect on flight operations and ultimately–witness the accelerating move to NextGen–on ATC. Some aircraft owners and operators view the upgrade mandates (such as ADS-B out) to meet NextGen’s equipage requirements as an unnecessary burden, but that shouldn’t be the way we characterize it, according to Ric Peri, vice president of government and industry affairs at the Aircraft Electronics Association.
ADS-B, he suggested, “is nothing more than modernization. The industry modernized aviation 25 years ago with the introduction of GPS, and the FAA is now modernizing its air traffic system to take advantage of it.” In other words, the ATC infrastructure is finally going to realize the benefits that GPS promised, from pinpoint radar-less surveillance to opening precision GPS approaches into many more airports. In fact, the number of Waas LPV approaches in the U.S. reached 3,951 at 1,746 airports in November, and 1,002 of these airports have no ILS. Precision GPS procedures are available in other regions, among them Canada and Europe.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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