|

Press Release – FAA, JetBlue Agreement to Bring NextGen Precision to East Coast, Caribbean Routes

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that the FAA and JetBlue have signed a NextGen agreement that will allow the airline to fly more precise, satellite-based flights from Boston and New York to Florida and the Caribbean beginning in 2012.

NextGen is the transformation of the U.S. national airspace system from a ground-based system of air traffic control to one based on satellites, which will enhance safety and reduce aviation congestion. Today’s NextGen announcement follows President Obama’s State of the Union Address last week, in which he stressed the importance of targeted investments to foster American innovation that will make our nation more competitive globally and strengthen our economy here at home.

“In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for targeted investments that harness American innovation to strengthen our nation,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “NextGen is a critical investment in the future of our transportation system, one that uses the latest technology to transform our airspace to make aviation safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly.”

Under the agreement, as many as 35 of JetBlue’s A320 aircraft will be equipped with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) avionics over the next two years, enabling them to fly in two major routes off the East Coast even if traditional radar coverage is not available. The improved accuracy, integrity and reliability of aircraft surveillance under ADS-B will allow JetBlue to take advantage of these routes at all times since the satellite-based system tracks the precise position of aircraft.

The agreement will also allow JetBlue to fly a new route to the Caribbean, and could lead to the development of two new, shorter ADS-B-only routes to the Caribbean from Boston, New York and Washington. The FAA will collect valuable NextGen data by observing and conducting real-time operational evaluations of ADS-B on revenue flights.

“NextGen will help improve the travel experience for passengers and give airlines more flexibility to find the most efficient way to reach their destinations,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “This agreement will allow us to collect important data to further demonstrate the benefits of NextGen.”

“As the youngest major airline in the United States, with a majority of our operations in the Northeast – arguably the most congested airspace in the world – JetBlue enthusiastically joins the FAA in this effort to begin rebuilding the skyways,” said JetBlue Airways CEO Dave Barger. “Our investment today will yield dividends far into the future, not just for JetBlue but for all airlines. Our customers and crewmembers deserve our best efforts.”

The FAA has agreed to pay $4.2 million for the ADS-B avionics. JetBlue will provide flight operations, pilots, and aircraft maintenance and will pay for the cost of aircraft downtime while the ADS-B avionics are installed. JetBlue will also fund the necessary training for dispatchers and flight crews, including simulator time. The airline will demonstrate the cost savings of ADS-B technology and potentially equip the rest of its A320 fleet at its own expense with ADS-B avionics.

To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.

Similar Posts

  • | | | | | |

    Allegiant Air Allegedly Fires Pilot for Making Emergency Landing

    AllegiantA pilot’s union claims that the pilot of the Allegiant Air flight 864 that made an emergency landing at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, Florida, on June 8 has been fired.

    The pilot decided to make an emergency landing due to reports of smoke in the Maryland-bound aircraft’s cabin. Four passengers and a crew member sustained minor injuries while exiting through evacuation slides.

    The airline told the FAA that the mechanics could not find any problem in the aircraft.

    The president of the Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224, Dan Wells, said, “Believe me, the message was intentional and loud and clear: Don’t you dare push the safety stuff too far.”

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    Office Closure Due to Inclement Weather

    January 7–Due to inclement weather, the FAA’s Eastern Region Office in Jamaica, NY, is closing early today,
    Non-emergency personnel were released at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
    Employees and contractors who work in that office should follow local procedures to obtain more information.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    FAA Innovations

    The job of a controller is to keep planes at a safe distance from each other. The FAA has a new electronic air traffic control monitoring system that tracks controller error.

    The new system has revealed serious errors made by controllers have been underestimated. The new system is augmented by electronic surveillance and controller self-reportage.

    Controllers made 41 high risk errors out of a total 4,394 errors last year. That is two times the errors in 2010 and three times those in 2009.

    We should consider that of 132 million flights handled, 41 serious errors is a small percentage of error. Of course, it is only a good thing that the FAA is working on reducing errors.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | |

    Aviation Industry: Time for a Black Box Upgrade

    Woodland Hills, CA — (ReleaseWire) — 07/07/2016 –No one is saying that aircraft tracking doesn’t need an overhaul. It does. Examination of plane crash events demands it.

    Aviation experts have been asking for pinger battery improvements since a month after the crash of Air France 447 on 1 June 2009, when the pinger battery ran down in July. Air France 447 was not recovered from the ocean floor until May 2011, nearly two years after it was lost. Debris from the accident was recovered in the interim, but if the pinger had been louder, or the battery designed to last longer, then there’s a good chance that the plane would have been discovered sooner. One of the outcomes of this terrible event was a determination to design a pinger system with longer lasting batteries. EASA amended requirements for flight recorders and underwater locating devices in its 2013-26 amendment(RMT.0400 & RMT.0401 (OPS.090(A) & OPS.090(B)) — 20.12.2013) but implementing these requirements takes a prohibitively long time.

    Aviation experts have been asking for better tracking technology since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, to Beijing Capital International Airport in China. Because this plane departed from its planned route, finding where it came down has been a unique challenge. Inmarsat’s satellite communications network concluded that the flight continued until at least 08:19 and flew south into the southern Indian Ocean. Triangulation of Inmarsat’s satellite communications has been the only credible source searchers depend on to develop the search area.

    Aviation experts have been suggesting the blackbox be water-activated (or have water-activated duplicates) with flotation of some kind so the blackbox can be found faster. More recently, aviation experts have wondered about EgyptAir Flight 804 which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on 19 May 2016. It was known fairly precisely where it came down, and yet salvage and rescue units were unable to be on the scene in time to help any survivors—if survivors there had been. We will never know because no one was there. And while tracking the location of the blackbox fell within the thirty day battery limit, if the technology had more power, it could have been located sooner. Finding the wreckage sooner means less money spent on the search, and a shorter time for the families agonizing over their losses.

    So here is what is new: Inmarsat provides SwiftBroadband service for plane’s inflight Wi-Fi on many aircraft. Immarsat is developing a streaming system described as a “blackbox in the cloud.” This streaming system they are working on will allow crucial data to be streamed off a plane on the occasion of specified trigger events like a course deviation or disappearance from radar.

    One only need consider a few factors to realize that a cloud-based system is a crucial development that current technology can easily handle. We need only to look at the cost of the search for a missing plane. According to France and Brazil, those two countries spent more than $40 million over two years to recover the black boxes from Air France Flight 447. Bloomberg reported the recovery cost of Air France 447 was $100 million. According to the South China Post, the cost of the (as yet unfound) MH370 will be as much as ten times more than AF447. Like the expense of MH370’s search, the cost of finding EgyptAir Flight 804 is still ongoing.

    Even when Inmarsat’s streaming system will be available, the aviation industry is going to be resistant, mostly because it is going to be costly. Is this a cost that we must afford? I think it is.

    Let me know your thoughts on this crucial topic at https://twitter.com/GeorgeHatcher

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    Vegas.com Cyllenius Division First to Announce it has Implemented American Airlines Direct Connect

    Company Reveals Partnership with American Through Direct Connect

    FORT WORTH, Texas, and LAS VEGAS, Jan. 17, 2011 / — American Airlines said today it has entered into an agreement with VEGAS.com and its technology division, Cyllenius, to utilize American’s direct connect technology to access fares as well as customized travel products and services.

    VEGAS.com and Cyllenius have been issuing American Airlines tickets through the link for the past five months. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The link is part of a long-term relationship between American Airlines and VEGAS.com.

    Cyllenius also powers Lasvegas.com, Espanol.VEGAS.com and Mexico.com, which are also using direct connect. Cyllenius provides a full range of products integrated into a proprietary, private-labeled travel shopping cart including hotel rooms, air-hotel packages, show tickets, nightclub passes, tours and golf for multiple leisure destinations and travel providers.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • |

    FAA Updates Lightning Protection Airworthiness Standards


    The Federal Register

    The Federal Aviation Administration is amending the lightning protection airworthiness standards.

    New lightning protection regulations are beibg estabkusged for electrical and electronic systems installed on aircraft certificated under parts 23, 27, and 29.

    Revised lightning protection regulations are also established for electrical and electronic systems installed on airplanes certificated under part 25.

    Two levels of lightning protection for aircraft systems based on consequences of system function failure will be established by this rule.

    1.) Catastrophic consequences which would prevent continued safe flight and landing;
    2.) Hazardous or major consequences which would reduce the capability of the aircraft or the ability of the flightcrew to respond to an adverse operating condition.

    Lightning protection for aircraft systems are to be established according to the aircraft’s potential for lightning exposure. Airworthiness standards establish consistent lightning protection requirements for both aircraft electrical and electronic systems.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.