Emma Kelly/LONDON
The US Federal Aviation Administration is to present its final plans for the revised Flight 2000 programme in December.
Flight 2000, formerly dubbed Ha'laska, was intended to be the FAA's operational demonstration of integrated flight system capabilities in Hawaii and Alaska.
The programme, based on flight demonstrations involving satellite navigation, co-operative surveillance, datalink communications and advanced avionics, is designed to demonstrate and validate the capabilities to support free flight. It had not enjoyed wide scale support and many saw it as over-ambitious.
At the request of the FAA, the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics' (RTCA) Free Flight Select Committee has proposed a revised Flight 2000 programme. The recommendations have the support of industry, and are designed to be operationally driven and to mitigate the risks of communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) technologies, says the RTCA.
The RTCA's Flight 2000 "roadmap" identifies desired operational capabilities, relevant CNS technologies and the major risks involved in the move to free flight.
The FAA has agreed with the RTCA's recommendations and is working on the final Flight 2000 structure. Details of the programme will be worked out over the next few months. A presentation by the FAA to the RTCA is planned for 10 December, the agency tells Flight International sister publication Air Navigation International.
The RTCA has renamed the Flight 2000 programme the Free Flight Operational Enhancements Programme. The committee has identified nine major operational enhancements essential in the successful evolution of the US National Airspace System to free flight.
The projects identified involve the use of the flight information system to improve cockpit situational awareness; the avoidance of controlled flight into terrain through the use of a cost-effective terrain database and graphical display; improved terminal operations in low-visibility conditions; enhanced see and avoid; delegation of separation authority to the cockpit; improved surface navigation; enhanced airport surface surveillance for the controller; the use of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) in non-radar airspace and the use of ADS-B-based separation standards.
Source: Flight International
