WASHINGTON - The Biden administration does not plan to extend a July 1 deadline for airlines to upgrade airplane altimeters, the measuring instruments that are crucial for bad-weather landings, to address potential interference from 5G wireless technology, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, David Shepardson reports for Reuters. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
4 May 2023 -The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive 2021-23-12, which applies to all transport and commuter category airplanes equipped with a radio (also known as radar) altimeter. AD 2021-23-12 requires revising the limitations section of the existing airplane/aircraft flight manual to incorporate limitations prohibiting certain operations requiring radio altimeter data when in the presence of 5G C-Band interference as identified by Notices to Air Missions.
Since the FAA issued AD 2021-23-12, the FAA determined that additional limitations are needed due to the continued deployment of new 5G C-Band base stations whose signals are expected to cover most of the contiguous United States at transmission frequencies between 3.7-3.98 GHz.
This proposed AD would require revising the limitations section of the existing airplane/aircraft flight manual to incorporate limitations prohibiting certain operations requiring radio altimeter data, due to the presence of 5G C-Band interference. This proposed AD would also require modifying certain airplanes to allow safe operations in the United States 5G C-Band radio frequency environment. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.
Related: FAA giving airlines another year to fix altimeters that can’t handle 5G signals
Related: Aviation groups lobby for 5G delay
Related: 5G may have caused dozens of troubling in-flight avionics failures
Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
