The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has launched upgrades to its online database system—an historically flawed tangle of abstruse redundancies that archives, ostensibly, airspace obstructions, runway data, and other data the agency considers safety-critical, as well as non-safety critical data the likes of airport layout plan mapping.
Data contained in the FAA’s online database is generated by contractors, airport authorities, and other stakeholders in the businesses of airport infrastructure and operations. Subject data is salient to the aims of the FAA’s Flight Procedures Office (FPO), which is tasked with maintaining flight procedures conducive to the safe navigation of aircraft at and around airports.
The aforementioned upgrades are reflected in the FAA’s new Airport Data and Information Portal (ADIP)—an expansion of the agency’s Airport Geographic Information System (AGIS). The upgrades started with the incorporation of the Modification of Standards tool, the use of which was made compulsory on 31 March 2018.
To the subject of the ADIP, the FAA sets forth: “The Airport Data and Information Portal (ADIP) helps the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) collect airport and aeronautical data to meet the demands of the Next Generation National Airspace System.
“Guided by Advisory Circulars (ACs), the Airport Sponsor or proponents are key links in the information chain. Use the Airport Data and Information Portal to access airport data and submit changes matching defined business rules. FAA lines of business are notified once data has been submitted and approved.”
The most recent updates include the availability of legacy data from previous surveys, and multiple obstacle databases now consolidated into the so-called Obstacle Authoritative Source.
Obstacle data formerly entered into the FAA’s system has grown convoluted unto, more or less, incomprehensibility. As recently as 2019, FAA databases comprised upwards of thirty-thousand unverified obstacle locations logged for airports across the U.S.—a number the FAA aspires to see decline as a function of the ADIP system’s implementation.
Stated plainly, ADIP enables airports and their consultants to obtain legacy data without having to coordinate with the FAA’s Flight Procedures Office or devise alternate means by which to obtain past airport reports or surveys.
The described improvements to the FAA’s system are apt to save money and time, while directly reducing the incidence of duplication with which the database is currently afflicted.
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