Equipage Bill Signed...but where is the money for General Aviation aircraft?

Governor Palin offered this bill on Jan. 25, 2008 with $4.8 million, she did her job. Now, it is up to industry to come up with $34 million more to equip 95 percent of Alaska's aircraft by an FAA deadline, can they do it?


A bill to offer a low-interest loan program to aircraft owners who install a new digital link technology in their aircraft was signed by Gov. Sarah Palin on April 9 in Juneau.
Senate Bill 249, which Palin sponsored and introduced Jan. 25, provides Alaskan airplane owners the opportunity to use a new low-interest revolving loan program to purchase Capstone-like avionics equipment for their aircraft.
The technology, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, was tested in Alaska and was formally called the Capstone Safety Project.
ADS-B is a data link that uses ultra-high frequency radio to send and receive information about other aircraft that uses the technology. Along with multi-function screens and air traffic displays, the equipment also gives pilots graphical weather information, terrain maps and flight information, including temporary flight restrictions and notices to airmen. ADS-B is nearly 10 times more accurate than radar and operates in real time.
The $4.8 million loan program for installation is offered through the state Department of Community, Commerce and Economic Development.
The program is also a key component to the Federal Aviation Administration's plans to adopt ADS-B throughout the state, according to the governor.
Statewide aviation officials, working in the Capstone Statewide Agreement Implementation Committee, last year signed a memorandum of agreement with the FAA to obtain $34 million and equip 95 percent of the most frequently flown aircraft. If this is accomplished, the FAA has said that it will invest $493 million in services and infrastructure improvements across Alaska.
Industry officials tried lobbying legislators for additional funding, but came up empty handed. That forced the idea of offering a 4 percent loan to commercial aviation operators, according to industry officials.
“This legislation is a crucial step to improving aviation safety,” Palin said in a written release. “Studies have shown very significant improvements in aviation safety in the areas around Bethel and Southeast where the FAA has built ground stations and planes have been outfitted with the new equipment. We are hoping for similar results over a much larger area of Alaska.”
Alaska has the highest number of pilots per capita of any state - about one in 78 Alaskans is a pilot. Alaska also has the highest aviation accident rates in the nation, three to four times higher than the national average for commercial aviation.
The FAA plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ground stations that transmit the ADS-B signal, but it will be up to aircraft owners to outfit their planes.
FAA officials said nearly 4,000 aircraft statewide would need to install and use the equipment to justify spending nearly $500 million now in the future.
The FAA recently announced it intends to have NexGen ADS-B installed at most high aviation traffic areas in U.S. and in Alaska by 2013, and will have the technology deployed nationwide by 2020.
NexGen is the FAA's official term for the next generation of aircraft control systems, also known as ADS-B.

http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1350207/governor_signs_bill_approving_loans_for_aircraft_safety_equipment/
http://www.alaskajournal.com/


http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/arc/programs/capstone/?CFID=32230658&CFTOKEN=da7e758f27c879cc-71C2099C-1372-4138-C96EF28CB07377E6&jsessionid=1230bc5481fa252c3131

http://www.cheltonflightsystems.com/default.htm

Is Chelton really working with UAA?

This just out from a Chelton press release:

Chelton Product Support is working in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the University of Alaska Anchorage to update software on and provide operator training for nearly 90 Part 23 aircraft during the months of March and April. Software version 6.0B was TSO’d in December, 2007 and is DO-178B Level-A certified. Among its 40 new end-user benefits is the ability to integrate with and display Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) on Chelton’s Synthetic Vision EFIS displays, greatly enhancing pilot awareness and flight safety.



ADS-B works differently than conventional radar, which bounces radio waves from terrestrial antennas off of airborne targets and then interprets the reflected signals. Typically, ADS-B-capable aircraft will use an ordinary GPS navigation receiver to determine its position, and then combine that position with several aircraft parameters, such as flight number, heading, speed, and altitude. This data is simultaneously broadcast to other ADS-B-equipped aircraft and to ASD-B ground stations, or to satellite communications transceivers which relay the aircraft information to Air Traffic Control centers.

Installation of 6.0B and pilot training is part of Chelton Flight Systems’ contract under the Capstone Program, a joint industry and FAA Alaskan Region initiative to improve aviation safety in that state.



As part of that program, Chelton fielded Synthetic Vision systems with Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS), eliminating the incidence of CFIT accidents among equipped Part 23 aircraft. The addition of an ADS-B datalink capability to Synthetic Vision-equipped aircraft will result in even greater situational awareness, improved safety in poor visual conditions, and a reduced the risk of runway incursions in addition to providing weather products (including METAR and TAF information).



Chelton Flight Systems, part of the Cobham Avionics & Surveillance Division, is the manufacturer of the world’s first FAA-certified synthetic vision EFIS, which is now STC’d on over 740 airplane and helicopter models.