The FAA has announced that Houston air traffic controllers have begun using the "automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast" satellite based system to more efficiently and safely separate and manage aircraft flying over the Gulf of Mexico.
FAA administrator Randy Babbit called the move a "significant, early step toward NextGen, adding, "We’re delivering on time, a system that’s not only more accurate than radar but comes with significant safety and efficiency benefits."
ADS-B, one of the technologies at the heart of the transformation to NextGen, is to replace reliance on estimating an aircraft’s position, which should open up flight lanes and more airspace for a variety of uses.
For example, helicopters flying at low altitudes to and from oil platforms in the Gulf have been isolated in 20 x 20 mile boxes, but now will be able to operate with greater capacity and efficiency, the FAA said.
It said that prior to ADS-B, commercial aircraft flying at high altitudes were kept as much as 120 miles apart to ensure safety but that now controllers are able to safely reduce the separation between ADS-B equipped aircraft to five nautical miles.
Controllers in Philadelphia will begin using ADS-B in February and the system will become operational in Juneau in April, with ADS-B expected to be available nationwide by 2013, the agency said.
