NextGen ATC

jesse

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jesse
slashdot said:
"The FAA has awarded the long-anticipated first contract for development of its NextGen air traffic control system: a $1.8 billion deal with ITT Corporation, beating out bids from aerospace heavyweights such as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. ITT's design will make use of hundreds of specially modified AT&T cellular phone towers which, in addition to their normal communications duties, will relay an aircraft's position to air traffic controllers and other aircraft in real time. The initial contract is only enough to wire and test the so-called ADS-B system in the Philadelphia area and around the Gulf of Mexico — hooking up the rest of the country will take an estimated 20 years and $20 billion."


http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/22/1634242
 
...hooking up the rest of the country will take an estimated 20 years and $20 billion."
So, given how government works and the recent history with Lockheed, I suppose by the time it's done the cost will be somewhere close to a $100 billion and most of us will be dead by its completion; i.e., much longer than twenty years.

Why is there only the expansion in Philly? Heck, it makes more sense to do the work sooner while paying for it in today's dollars and putting some people to work. It seems like a lot of the work could be subcontracted to cell tower owners/operators and their maintenance personnel.

The other question... why on the gulf coast? Wouldn't it make more sense to get it up and running in the high traffic terminal areas such as New York and SoCal?
 
the helicopter traffic on the gulf coast is probably as dense as traffic in and out of NYC. except that it isnt really under ATC control. Wouldnt be a bad place to have a little ADS-B i think.
 
the helicopter traffic on the gulf coast is probably as dense as traffic in and out of NYC. except that it isnt really under ATC control. Wouldnt be a bad place to have a little ADS-B i think.
Helicopers? That's imporant? Heck, I'd have never thought so.






:D
 
haha well unless they can space it so the rotor blades alternate a la Chinook then they may want a different and better form of separation :D
 
Helicopers? That's imporant? Heck, I'd have never thought so.






:D


PHI operates alot of those wierd helicopter thingies out to all the oil platforms and do so without ATC or much in the way of weather, and Philly can use all the help it can get for capacity.

I hope the gub'mint can pull this (ADS-B off on time and budget, because the idea of common traffic and weather in the cockpit is a great idea, but I am greatful I never spent the cash to upgrade to Mode S. All that money spent for traffic avoidence and the upgraded TRACON RADARs will not support TIS.

So until the ADS-B boxes will cost 3 grand and plug and play with the display on a 430 or 530, or even better yet, display to a portable for ADS-B "in", I would hold off on an upgrade as long as feasable because I get no benefit from what they propose.

Especially at the price they propose. :no:
 
Beedo, first time I've seen ya... welcome to the board.

I agree to an extent. Like most electronics, avionics seemingly gets outdated and replaced not much unlike consumer electronics or computers; just at a grander scale and sometimes incomprehensible costs.

But, safety dictates take the more expensive route if you're playing a lot in those busy areas. In my case, in and around Atlanta Class B.
 
Thanks for the welcome! Been trolling posts for awhile and decided to jump in.

I just remember when LORAN was the stuff, and what we have now could not even be dreamed of. I just hope Avionics stabilize in platform and the improvements planned for the future are boxes than can be can meshed with the avionics we own today via protcol they talk on (ARINC-429, RS-232, etc.). Otherwise alot of Cirrus drivers are gonna throw a rod when they try to upgrade their Avidyne's to whatever flavour nex-gen becomes.

ADS-B puts me in a bit of a pickle. I want to upgrade my older than-I-am KX-170's in the two year timeframe to a 430 WAAS, a good digital navcom, Can the ADF, keep the DME, and use a portable for WX. All said and done the upgrade will run north of 20 grand (nu-lites, panel overlay, etc.) If I would need ANOTHER 10 grand plus infusion a few years down the line...well that would leave a mark.

30 K of upgrades into a "Sparky", my 1973 Cherokee 180, is pretty hefty to be able to file IFR and get following through the Bravo. :eek:

Right now, my interest in this is more to see how it is going to grind out throught the rulemaking progress, but I am both excited (functionality) and wary (cost) of how it may turn out.
 
the helicopter traffic on the gulf coast is probably as dense as traffic in and out of NYC. except that it isnt really under ATC control. Wouldnt be a bad place to have a little ADS-B i think.

Helicopers? That's imporant? Heck, I'd have never thought so. :D

Sure it's important on Manhattan. It's one place where the FAA may give GA some attention.

THE DONALD and his friends are out there in those things!
 
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