In Conjunction With The Opening Of The Flight Operations Test Center

On February 7, aircraft from a number airports around Florida will participate in a Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS)/Community Air Service Initiative (CASI) demonstration. The aircraft will fly to Tallahassee, where pilots will see first hand the SATS technologies and learn about the economic development opportunities associated with SATS airports.

The Flight Operations Test Center is a Florida Department of Transportation laboratory designed to test new Aviation Technology to ensure Florida maintains the levels of safety and reliability Florida residents have become accustomed to. Various SATS technologies will be on display at the Flight Operations Test Center.

The demonstration will allow participants to see the advantages of a Small Aircraft Transportation System for rural communities and the resulting economic development opportunities and then they can return home for supper with their families. Ray Wabler, the demonstration coordinator, says "SATS airports will be the off ramps from the super aerial inter-nation highway in the sky. Similar to the economic growth of cities located near the ramps off of interstate highways, future economic development will be in cities that have SATS airports."

The SATS program is a NASA/FAA/industry initiative in response to the demand for expanded intermodal transportation as projected in the next ten years. The nation needs an alternative transportation system to relieve the safety and congestion problems on our highways and in the air. With small airports already in place across the country (in almost every locality) a small aircraft transportation system that is both a safe and affordable alternative to current transportation systems would provide the optimal solution. A solution that offers significant economic growth to any community that elects to take advantage of this opportunity.

Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, and at the SATSLabs are developing integrated airborne systems, cockpit displays and operating procedures for advanced four to ten passenger aircraft. These technologies could help planes safely fly into underutilized rural and suburban airports, including many airfields that don't have radar or air traffic control towers. About 93-percent of people in the US live within 30 minutes of one of these airports.

SATS research is focusing on four operating capabilities that will help people and goods travel faster and farther, anywhere at anytime. These technologies would allow:

• higher volume operations at airports that don't have control towers or terminal radar
• pilots to land safely in low visibility conditions at minimally equipped airports
• increased single-pilot performance
• SATS aircraft to integrate seamlessly into the complex national airspace

FMI: http://sats.erau.edu, www.sats2005.com