Wed, Jan 05, 2005
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
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