Date Posted:22:07:45 10/10/08 Fri Author: none Subject: Re: "NextGen" ATC In reply to:
erict
's message, ""NextGen" ATC" on 15:33:32 10/09/08 Thu
Wow. Not even close to accurate. For one, probably more than 95% of all aircraft flying are GPS equiped already (the rare exceptions are Northwest DC-9's and the rare very old private plane.)
"Currently, jetliners move in single-file lines along narrow highways in the sky marked by radio beacons. Many of the routes gently zigzag from one beacon to the next, sometimes forcing cross-country flights to follow sweeping arcs and waste hundreds of gallons of fuel." NO!! We almost always clear aircraft direct whenever they ask for it.
"The planned satellite-driven network, dubbed NextGen, would save fuel by ditching radar technology that is more than 50 years old and enabling GPS-equipped planes to fly the shortest route between two points: a straight line." NO!!!! There are airlines that refuse direct routing and PREFER to stay on the filed airway route saying that it is the shortest, most fuel effecient route based on the upper winds and jet stream that day.
"At least one major U.S. carrier, Southwest Airlines, says it's investing $175 million to equip 500 planes with GPS within a few years. That will allow pilots to fly more efficiently even before the full NextGen system is in place, including quicker landings that burn less fuel." EVERY Southwest plane flying today is already equiped with GPS.
We do talk about NEXGEN and how it is supposed to be an upgraded system, and if what we are told is true, it will be a better system than the current one in place. But for NONE of the reasons listed in the article. It is supposed to improve the equipment and NAS computers currently in use (which are very old).
