Examiner Editorial: FAA stalls on collision-avoidance rule for gliders Examiner Editorial 05/09/09 11:00 PM PDT -- Federal Aviation Administration officials say they have no "near-term" plans to develop technical standards for a new high-tech device that would empower individual pilots to stay out of each others' way.
This lackadaisical attitude is disturbing, particularly in light of a new audit by the U.S. Department of Transportation that found the FAA's aging, centralized air traffic control system vulnerable to hackers, and the FAA's own study showing major deficiencies in the current system. Hackers successfully breached security firewalls to gain access to personnel records and network servers, and DOT auditors said the computer systems used to separate aircraft could very well be next. That's all the more reason to quickly certify a compact, portable device developed by McLean, Va.-based Mitre Corp. that would add an extra layer of safety to the nation's crowded airspace. The prototype transceiver is about the size of a pack of cigarettes, runs for 24 hours on four AA batteries and because it makes use of widely available electronic components, would retail for around $450. During the past two decades, nine people have died, three have been injured and there have been dozens of reported near-misses between motorized aircraft and gliders. Many glider pilots who have consistently fought proposals requiring them to carry heavy, expensive transponders would voluntarily invest in such a device, especially if it enabled them to uplink critical weather information. In addition, the FAA's own study, released in 2007, found that even commercial and corporate jets equipped with collision-avoidance equipment frequently came within 20 seconds of crashing in midair at Boston's Logan International Airport, where 1,725 close calls were reported in just six months. That's an average of nine per day. The miniaturized transceiver would signal the presence of an airplane, glider, helicopter, hot air balloon or even a skydiver every second to all pilots in the vicinity, giving them enough time to avoid a close encounter. But for reasons best known to the bureaucratic mind, neither the FAA nor Mitre seem in any hurry to make use of the portable device. Instead of fast-tracking this device, which was originally designed for use on unmanned aerial vehicles, Mitre is not seeking FAA certification at this time; even if it was, an FAA spokesman says, the agency has no technical standards in place to do so. Meanwhile, FAA bureaucrats are currently working on a gold-plated system that many general aviation pilots fear they won't be able to afford. Sooner or later, the agency's stalling could have lethal consequences.
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