GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
US plan for limited communications system deployment delayed, but Europe moves ahead with introduction this year
Plans for limited deployment of controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC) have been axed by the US Federal Aviation Administration. Talks are under way to keep the programme alive until US airlines can afford to equip for CPDLC and the FAA can afford to begin nationwide deployment, now expected to begin in 2008.
Eurocontrol, meanwhile, is proceeding with plans to introduce CPDLC in Maastricht upperairspace later this year, adding French and German centres in 2005 and other locations in 2006-7. The European air traffic control organisation plans to subsidise the first 100 CPDLC installations and offer incentives to equip additional aircraft.
The FAA's joint resources council has turned down proposals to deploy CPDLC Build 1, now under operational evaluation in Miami, to around eight centres between 2005 and 2007 (Flight International, 11-17 March). Funding for an expanded Build 1A message set has been eliminated, the FAA deciding regional deployment was too expensive and too few aircraft would be equipped.
A scaled-back programme is being discussed that would extend CPDLC to a second centre, add messages to Build 1 and see the FAA subsidise the equipping of additional aircraft. The FAA's technical centre, working with American and Continental Airlines pilots, has simulated adding messages using Build 1's "freetext" capability with "positive results", says ARINC CPDLC programme director John Burks.
"The best we could come out with would be 100 aircraft and two adjacent centres equipped and additional messages via freetext," says Burks. Participants in the Miami trial - American, Continental, Delta Air Lines and FedEx Express - have indicated their support for the scaled-back deployment, he says. The FAA would subsidise equipping 60-70 additional aircraft from the money saved by cancelling Build 1A.
Source: Flight International
