DEMONSTRATION OF A helicopter-transportation system at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia in July and August has been extended to include fixed-wing aircraft.
Two general-aviation aircraft, a Cirrus SR20 and a Mooney 201, will be used as airborne platforms to test signal strengths of the global-positioning system (GPS), in a corridor running up and down the eastern USA.
US Federal Aviation Administrator David Hinson describes the Atlanta Short-Haul Transportation System (ASTS) demonstration as an important part of the FAA's "Free Flight" programme to move to a satellite-based air-traffic-management system.
The ASTS is being set up in Atlanta to enable goods, emergency services and VIPs to be transported swiftly over the city during the Olympics. Up to 50 helicopters will take part in the research programme, each equipped with Arnav Systems' GPS receivers and VHF datalinks. FAA controllers will monitor and control helicopter movements using a Harris system, which will display aircraft positions on large computer-screens.
Hinson says that the ASTS project "-is a new endeavour and new sciences and technologies must have a beginning. We are seeing the evolution of vertical flight and the development of the technology of satellite navigation, which I believe is the most important advance in the history of navigation since we started using the stars."
Source: Flight International
