February 6, 2012 Washington DC – In our article Air Traffic Controller Basics we had talked about the move from radars to satellites. It looks like the program to do this has just been given a kick in the pants by congress. A bill that will speed up this process was passed today. The bill will also open up U.S. Skies to unmanned drone aircraft as well.

Many other nations have already moved or have begun moving towards satellite-based technologies; however the Unites States has moved cautiously in this direction. The Unites States’s air traffic amounts to 35% of the commercial global air traffic. Additionally the U.S. Has the world’s most complicated airspace due to the large amount of private aviation flights.

The new bill will provide $63.4 billion for the FAA to spend over the next 4 years. This amount will also include roughly $11 billion which will be put toward modernizing the air traffic control system. The bill will accelerate the modernization program by aiming to have it completed by June, 2015. The modernization program will implement new aircraft arrival procedures within the nation’s 35 busiest airports. This will be accomplished through the utilization of GPS navigation which is more precise than radar.

Because GPS navigation provides air traffic controllers with the precise locations of all aircraft more efficient departures and landings are possible. Rather than fuel burning, time consuming, stair-step descents, aircraft will now be able to come in more steeply, gliding while their engines idle. Planes will also be able to take off more frequently, and closer together even in poor weather conditions.

Currently aircraft are able to be picked up on radar every 6-12 seconds, however with on-board GPS units aircraft locations will be updated every 1 second. The FAA aims to have all aircraft outfitted with these new on-board satellite units moving forward.

This move to satellite guided flights is crucial considering the FAA projects air traffic to grow by 50% over the next 10 years.