2008 FUture of Navigational Aids

Transcription

1 2008 FUture of Navigational Aids

2 Region 1 Debbie Alke, Montana Region 2 David Greene, Wisconsin Region 3 Joe Pestka, Missouri Region 4 Susan V. Chernenko, West Virginia Region 5 Robert Welch, Jr., Massachusetts Region 6 Barclay Dick, Arizona Region 7 Phil Jones, Louisiana Region 8 Paul Steely, Kentucky FUture of Navigational Aids

3 NASAO Initiative 2010 Update Future of Navigational Aids FAA is committed to provide for a performance based National Airspace Systems (NAS) as one of the elements for the implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System. The FAA is transitioning from a reliance on ground based navigation architecture to one that is satellite based. FAA and NASAO have agreed to implement in partnership action items to enhance the coordination concerning the implementation and transition to a performance-based navigation service. FAA POC: Phil Leman (202) Debbie Miller-Adams (202) NASAO POC: Ashish Solanki (410) asolanki@bwiairport.com Status: The FAA provided a briefing at the NASAO 2010 Washington Legislative Conference on Navaids. The current point of contact is Debbie Miller-Adams (202) , Deborah.Miller- Adams@faa.gov. A summary document will be prepared identifying navigational aids proposed for discontinuance and new FAA initiatives related to the implementation of a performance based NAS. The document will be updated annually for a three-year period. ONGOING: Currently, FAA is in the process of conducting an analysis to support the development of discontinuance criteria. Once the analysis is complete, coordination will begin on the discontinuance criteria with industry through the Navigation Evolution Customer Council (NECC) and the Department of Defense (DOD). Coordination of the criteria ensures the harmonization between government and industry. After proper coordination a proposed list will be prepared of NAVAIDs to circulate with NECC, DOD, and National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO). Current VOR services will be maintained at their current level until an alternative service is available or the VOR services is not needed. This will enable aviation users to equip their aircraft with SATNAV avionics and to become familiar with the system. There is an FAA effort underway enabling a reduction in the VOR population, to begin in2011, that will reduce VOR services by discontinuing facilities no longer needed. Refer to Attachment A for a list of potential categories under consideration for the development of discontinuance criteria. The rate of discontinuation of VOR services will begin slowly after appropriate coordination. Services will be discontinued first at facilities where service is not needed or an alternate service is available. VORs will remain in service throughout the transition to SATNAV to support IFR operations as needed, and serve as an independent navigation source in the NAS. The FAA plans to sustain existing DME service to support en route navigation and to install additional low-power DMEs to support ILS precision approaches as recommended by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team. The FAA will also expand the DME network to provide an RNAV capability for terminal area operations at major airports and to provide continuous coverage for RNAV routes and operations at en route altitudes. Likewise, other Alternative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (APNT) Initiatives are being investigated, but are still in the early stages of development. The Navigation Roadmap has been internally updated in the interim and will be officially updated to reflect these efforts in the 2011 Version 4.1 NAS Enterprise Architecture Infrastructure Roadmaps (Navigation), which can be viewed on-line at Accomplishments: Fifty-nine (59) Middle Markers (MMs) were discontinued between January and June A Discontinued Middle Markers Report (Jan-Jun 2010) is separately attached in an Excel spreadsheet. Likewise, thirty-five (35) Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) Procedures are awaiting cancellation or have been cancelled as shown in the attached Excel Spreadsheet entitled Cancelled NDB Procedures. The FAA completed a rulemaking activity to remove the Middle Marker (MM) requirement from the United States Code of Federal Regulations. On September 30, 2008, the FAA determined the removal of MM s from the ILS approach does not introduce any additional safety risk in to the 2010 Update Future of Natigational Aids

4 NAS. Please refer to Attachment B for a copy of the signed SRM Decision Memo and Attachment C for the listing of Category I MM in the NAS. A Strategic Event Coordination (SEC) Tool was developed to automate the coordination process required to schedule strategic and tactical shutdowns and shutdowns associated with decommissioning actions in the NAS. Shutdowns are known as outages and outages may be planned or unplanned. Unplanned outages are commonly associated with system failures. Access to the SEC tool would allow NASAO an opportunity to preview any pending decommissioning actions for navigational aids. The SEC Tool is also linked to the Operational Information System (OIS), which allows the public/users/faa to track and mitigate any operational impacts and risks to the NAS. The website for the OIS is Through OIS a user can view planned outages with a work type of decommissioning. Please refer to Attachment D for instructions. Planned Activities: Discontinue MM in Phases o Phase 1- Discontinue MM associated with Category I precision approach services Procure and install stand alone DME s to optimize a performance-based NAS architecture. Attachment A The following categories, at a minimum, may be used to identify VORs for divestment eligibility: Identify all VORs in non-mountainous areas that are part of an en-route infrastructure and do not provide any instrument procedures within the terminal area, e.g., VOR is not part of a terminal approach, missed approach, arrival or departure instrument procedure. En route coverage will be provided from 18,000 feet MSL down to a nominal 5,000 feet above ground level or better where such coverage exists today; Identify all VORs that are used in the terminal area that provide non-precision approaches but do not provide arrival or departure procedures; Identify the coverage area of each VOR that was not identified in (1) and (2); Identify VORs with overlapping coverage areas and select VORs that are not needed because of redundant coverage based on the VORs identified in criterion (3); Identify the usage of each VOR using the Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS); Identify VOR(s) service that can be discontinued based on the restructuring of the airspace without the relocation of VOR(s); Identify VOR(s) with high lease costs that can be divested based on relocation of other VORs and/or restructuring of the airspace; and, Identify VOR(s) with high maintenance costs that can be divested based on relocation of other VORs and/or restructuring of the airspace Update Future of Natigational Aids

5 2010 Update Future of Natigational Aids

6 Accessing the Operational Impact System Attachment D 1. Using the internet go to 2. Select Planned Outages from the OIS Main Menu on the left side of the screen. A drop down menu will appear on the top of the screen. Select All future days to view any planned outages Update Future of Natigational Aids

7 3. Look for the work type called Decommissioning Work Type 4. To view the decommissioning records pick the Service (SVC) Area, City, and or State of interest and select the NAS ID of interest and view the Planned Outages Record details. NAD ID 2010 Update Future of Natigational Aids

8 5. The record details will provide the following information: 6. NASAO members may submit comments to pending NAVAIDs decommissioning actions by contacting Debbie-Miller-Adams, When submitting comments, please include the following information: 2010 Update Future of Natigational Aids

9 NASAO Initiative 2011 Update August, 2011 Future of Navigational Aids The FAA is committed to providing a performance-based National Airspace Systems (NAS) as one of the elements towards the implementation of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The FAA is transitioning from a reliance on ground-based navigation architecture to one that is satellite-based. FAA and NASAO have agreed to implement, in partnership, actions to enhance the coordination concerning the implementation and transition to a performancebased navigation service. FAA POCs: Greg Joyner (202) Phil Leman (202) Debbie Miller-Adams (202) Pedro Lopez (202) NASAO POC: Ashish Solanki (410) asolanki@bwiairport.com Status: The FAA provided a NextGen and Navigation Services Overview briefing at the 2010 Great Lakes State Directors' Meeting in Schaumberg, IL. The briefing included new FAA initiatives related to the implementation of a performance-based NAS, with the focus on reducing the current number of VHF Omni-directional Range (VORs) within the conterminous US (CONUS) to a Minimum Operational Network (MON). On-Going: There is an FAA effort underway, which began in 2010, to investigate enabling a reduction in the VOR population in order to transition away from defining airways, routes, and procedures using VORs and other legacy Navaids towards a NAS based on Area Navigation (RNAV) everywhere and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) where beneficial using GPS and the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The rate of discontinuation of VOR services will begin after appropriate coordination, with the goal of full implementation of the MON by 2020 within CONUS. Services will be discontinued first at facilities where those services are not needed or an alternate service is available. This will enable aviation users to equip their aircraft with appropriate avionics and to become familiar with the systems. VORs will remain in service throughout the transition as needed to support IFR operations, and the MON will serve as an independent navigation source in the NAS for those that are equipped with VOR receivers. The FAA plans to sustain existing DME service to support en route navigation and to install additional low-power DMEs to support ILS precision approaches as recommended by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team. The FAA will also expand the current DME network to provide an RNAV capability for terminal area operations at major airports and to provide continuous coverage for RNAV routes and operations at en route altitudes. Likewise, other alternative positioning, navigation, and timing (APNT) initiatives are being investigated, but are still in the early stages of development. The Navigation Roadmap has been officially updated to reflect these efforts in the 2011 Version 5.0 NAS Enterprise Architecture Infrastructure Roadmaps (Navigation), which can be viewed on-line at Since this document has been published, there have been several significant changes, including (but not limited to) the Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) and Navaid Control, Interlock, and Monitoring Equipment (NCIME) Programs being removed from the Navigation Roadmap. The GBAS Program is being further researched and developed at the FAA's Technical Center (FAATC). The business decision was made not to invest in the NCIME Program at this time. These and other internal changes will not be reflected on the Portal (public) site until the release of the 2012 version of the Infrastructure Roadmaps. Accomplishments: On September 30, 2008, the FAA determined the removal of Middle Markers (MM) from the ILS approach does not introduce any additional safety risk in to the NAS and thus completed a rulemaking activity to remove the MM requirement from the United States Code of Federal Regulations. Discontinuance of MMs is on-going, and a complete excel spreadsheet listing is attached. Also, attached is a listing of all stand-alone DME's as well as the NDB Procedures that have been or are awaiting cancellation Update Future of Navigational Aids 1

10 A Strategic Event Coordination (SEC) Tool was developed by the SEC Committee, headed by Lynn Williams, to automate the coordination process required to schedule strategic shutdowns and shutdowns associated with decommissioning actions in the NAS. Shutdowns are known as outages and outages may be planned or unplanned. Unplanned outages are commonly associated with system failures. Access to the SEC tool would allow NASAO an opportunity to preview any pending decommissioning actions for navigational aids. The SEC Tool is also linked to the Operational Information System (OIS), which allows the public/users/faa to track and mitigate any operational impacts and risks to the NAS. The website for the OIS is Through OIS, a user can view planned outages with a work type of decommissioning." Major Planned Activities: Continue the analysis and coordination work necessary to develop a VOR MON in support of NextGen goals. Publish the Federal Register Notice (FRN) of Intent describing "Proposed Provisions of Navigation Services for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Transition to Performance-Based Navigation (PBN)." Continue the development of an alternate positioning, navigation and timing (APNT) network in support of NextGen goals. Continue testing and other necessary activities which will lead to the procurement and installation of stand alone DMEs to optimize a performance-based NAS architecture. Continue updating the NAS Enterprise Architecture Navigation Roadmap for the next approval cycle. In total, there are fourteen Infrastructure Roadmaps, which are updated and published on a yearly basis that can be viewed at the website provided above Update Future of Navigational Aids 2