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&amp;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.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

As part of a larger validation effort to test space-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology, the FAA and Nav Canada successfully have flown tests in Bombardier aircraft to validate ADS-B signals captured by satellite, both agencies reported earlier this month. Nav Canada used a CRJ-200 (registry C-GNVC) with top- and bottom-mounted 125-watt ADS-B antennas, while the FAA employed a Global 5000 (registry N47) that was equipped with three Aireon payloads to receive data and top- and bottom-mounted fuselage antennas.


The space-based ADS-B receivers are installed in Iridium Next satellites, which are being launched to create Iridium’s new high-speed satcom network. Aircraft with the proper equipment, including top-mounted antennas, will be able to send ADS-B signals via the Next satellites, which means that ADS-B surveillance could then work anywhere in the world, not just where ADS-B ground stations are available.


During the a March 7 test for Nav Canada, 6,935 ADS-B messages were received and decoded by a single Aireon payload, "and after rigorous analysis, were found to exhibit comparable results to that of terrestrial ADS-B stations," according to Aireon. For the FAA test on March 30, “A total of 2,462 ADS-B messages were received and decoded providing comparable data to that of terrestrial ADS-B stations.” Aireon’s space-based ADS-B system is scheduled to be operational next year, after the 66-satellite Iridium Next constellation is completed.


Aireon also conducted a flight test with Polaris Flight Systems, a private vendor, on March 20. The aircraft, a Beechcraft Bonanza, was outfitted with a top and bottom mounted 200-watt ADS-B antenna and flew solely through the Albuquerque FIR, where more than 1,050 ADS-B messages were received from two Aireon payloads during the flight.

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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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