Hoping To Drive General Public Toward General Aviation
Quick--how far is the nearest
airport? Not the big airport-any airport? According to NASA, 98% of
Americans live and work just 30 minutes from a convenient small
airport. The country has more than 5,000 such "general aviation"
airports, and NASA thinks they should be better utilized.
Next month ARINC Incorporated and other Maryland aviation
interests will showcase some of the latest electronic technologies
being developed for small airports and general aviation at a
half-day event at Easton Airport in Easton (MD). The event June 16
is part of NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation Systems (SATS)
program, developing new technologies for enhanced operations at
America's "non-tower" airports. The public is invited to the live
demonstration and test flights, scheduled from 9am to 12 noon.
NASA's focus for SATS is to improve air travel and safety by
giving general aviation many of the advanced capabilities of
commercial aviation at large airports. These could include new
digital air/ground communications, new highly-accurate GPS to allow
small aircraft to land safely in poor visibility,
aircraft-to-aircraft locators to maintain safe separation near
airports, and new ground automation and "virtual towers" to monitor
activity and clear flights at unmanned fields.
SATS is NASA's vision for an expansion and integration of
general aviation aircraft into the nation's airways. The long-term
goal is to increase access to smaller communities and improve
mobility for the transportation of people, services, and cargo.
The SATS demonstration is
coordinated with the 2004 Maryland Airport Summit Conference in
Easton. A pre-demonstration of SATS technologies will be presented
after the conference in the Easton Airport terminal building on the
evening of June 15. Live SATS demonstrations will take place
Thursday June 16 from 9am to 12 noon, showcasing several emerging
technologies in the SATS program applied to actual flight
operations at the airport.
The demonstration is sponsored by the Maryland Mid-Atlantic
SATSLab, a partnership of private, public, and university
institutions. The 2004 Maryland Airport Summit Conference is
co-sponsored by the Maryland Airport Managers Association and the
Maryland Aviation Administration.
The Maryland Mid-Atlantic SATSLab team is comprised of state
aviation organizations, private sector companies, end-user groups,
non-profit organizations, and academia. This year's integrated
technology flight validations by the teams will be followed by
further proof of concept flight demonstrations scheduled in
Virginia in 2005. For more information regarding the Maryland
Mid-Atlantic SATSLab contact John McKinley, Director, University
Research Foundation, at 301-345-8664.
NTSB Prelim: Funk B85C
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