NextGen Now! How the Digital Age of Aviation Will Unleash Abundance in Our National Airspace System Contents

Introduction Unleashing Abundance in our National Airspace System ...... 3 So, What is NextGen?...... 4 By Act of Congress ...... 4 NextGen is the first major Transformational Technologies ...... 4 technological transformation Background of airspace, aircraft and An Abbreviated History of Air Traffic Control...... 5 From Ground-Based to Space-Based Navigation...... 5 airport management systems Tale of the Long Tails in Aviation ...... 5 in over 50 years, using digital Life Cycles in Transportation ...... 6 technology to redefine every Transportation Challenges Thinking in 3-D...... 7 element of air transport— The Tipping Point ...... 7 from communications, Can’t We Just Build Our Way Out?...... 7 surveillance and navigation How Crowded is Our Airspace? ...... 8 We Have Lots of Airports: Why Don’t We use Them? ...... 8 to air traffic management. The 21st Century Solution The Alternative That Makes Sense: Use More ...... 9 Tapping into Our Nation’s Underutilized Resources ...... 9 The Promise of NextGen Technologies From Scarcity to Abundance ...... 10 The NextGen Mental Model...... 10 Using Technology to its Potential...... 11 NextGen Advantages Why Should We Embrace NextGen? ...... 12 It’s Not Just Time , Money and Convenience: It’s the Planet! ...... 13 NextGen Implementation Now Consider the Roll-out ...... 14 Early Adopter Success ...... 14 Implementation Timeline...... 14 Accelerating NextGen in Florida How Can NextGen be Implemented Sooner? ...... 15 Florida NextGen Participants ...... 15 Florida Implementation Timeline...... 16 Expanding Service Beyond the Metroplex ...... 16 NextGen Obstacles What’s in the Way?...... 17 What Does it Cost and Who Will Pay or be Inconvenienced? ...... 17 What You Can Do to Become NextGen Ready How to Get Ready for NextGen—Now ...... 18 Next Steps for Next Gen...... 18 NextGen Technologies Appendix Many thanks to contributing author: A Closer Look at NextGen Technologies ...... 19 Tim Kern INK About DayJet ...... 20 www.TimKern.com

2 Introduction

Welcome to the Digital Age of Aviation Unleashing Abundance in our National Airspace System “It has been apparent Today’s air traffic system has evolved over some 80 communication, navigation, and surveillance for far too long that to years. Given the mix of technology and demands infrastructure. As a result, airspace appears scarce, millions of Americans that are made of it by myriad users, its safety and when in fact, if these constraints are lifted, airspace efficiency are remarkable. However, the current is abundant. who fly, our domestic air system is stressed well beyond its design capac- travel system is broken. At the very least, we have vast regions of ity—as one in three flights persistently encounter underutilized airspace, airports, and runways, all of In 2007 alone, passengers, delays—costing U.S. passengers an estimated 320 which can become accessible in the 21st Century. airlines, and our economy million hours in lost time or $12 billion in 2007. Embracing the technology advancements of the last felt a $41 billion punch in With passenger demand expected to reach one two decades allows us to develop new mental the gut from flight delays, billion by 2015, we face the inescapable fact of a models, based on airspace abundance, which guide and the problem is only two- to three-fold increase in air transportation us toward new solutions. Digital solutions can move demand by 2025 that simply cannot be accommo- us from ground-based constraints to a system-wide going to get worse.” dated in the existing system. Failure to address the need abundance of airspace. U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer for expanded capacity in our National Airspace System Chairman of the Joint Economic To facilitate this transition, several capabilities need Committee (JEC) (NAS) by this time will cost the U.S. economy a to improve: our ability to pinpoint dangerous “Your Flight Has Been Delayed Again” minimum of $22 billion annually in lost economic May 22, 2008 weather events; our ability to keep aircraft activity. separated with greater precision as traffic increases; The solutions to tomorrow’s challenges do not our navigation through complex traffic flows and merely lie in scaling up the present system by airspace architecture with ever-more accuracy; our adding controllers, airports and runways. In fact, navigation and satellite surveillance need to be able even doubling the number of controllers, runways to handle additional routes, more traffic, a greater at large airports, radars, and control towers will not mix of aircraft, and additional destinations; and meet the challenge, much less be affordable. aviation radios need to carry more data, including weather, sequencing, and traffic information more Some would argue that we have a scarcity of airspace, efficiently. when in fact, airspace is in abundance. It does not help with our mental models that the morning news depicts The good news is that the technology needed is airport delays by showing a map of the U.S. with all here, and it is broadly scalable and adaptive enough airborne airplanes covering the country—using to handle needs for the foreseeable future and likely aircraft icons that are the size of small states. We need beyond. We are riding a new wave in technology— a new mental model for the nation’s airspace that is ground-based, aircraft-based, and space-based— based on the principle of abundance. that will continue to expand in capability at an accelerated pace. These new technologies will bring The barriers constraining our 20th Century airspace the digital age to aviation, and with it, a new level of procedures are from physical limitations of where scalability, affordability, robustness, reliability and we have installed radars, instrument landing safety. systems, radio antennae, and other ground-based

3 Introduction

So, What Is “NextGen?” for the many moving parts of the U.S. air transpor- tation system including: the National Aeronautics The umbrella term for the modernization of the and Space Administration (NASA), Department of National Airspace System is known as the Next “Without NextGen, the historic Defense (DOD), the Federal Aviation Administration Generation Air Transportation System, or delays that plague us now (FAA), Department of Transportation (DOT), “NextGen.” NextGen is the first major technologi- Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will soon be known as cal transformation of airspace, aircraft and airport Department of Commerce (DOC), the National the good old days.” management systems in over 50 years using digital Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), technology to redefine every element of air Marion C. Blakey and the White House Office of Science and Former FAA Administrator transport—from communications, surveillance Technology Policy (OSTP). Testimony Before House Committee on and navigation to air traffic management. Ways and Means August 1, 2007 NextGen will boost the capacity and efficiency of Transformational Technologies our nation’s airspace by shifting from ground- NextGen has a number of components, each of based systems using outdated avionics, navigation which is beneficial alone, but all of which, and radar systems to digital-based systems located combined, have synergies much greater than the inside the aircraft. Not only will NextGen safely mere sum of their parts. The NextGen technologies expand the nation’s airspace to serve more encompass performance-based communication, travelers in more aircraft in more cities over the navigation, surveillance and information manage- next decade, it will do so while reducing fuel ment systems. There are other domains affected by consumption, carbon emissions, noise footprint NextGen including system safety, security, and travel time. international harmonization, and environmental footprint. These technologies affect the aircraft, the By Act of Congress airspace, the airports and the climate. This term was developed by the U.S. Joint Planning The systemic nature of the NextGen challenge is and Development Office (JPDO), chartered in 2003 obvious. Less obvious is the fact that all of these by Congress to create strategies for the transfor- changes need to occur in harmony. While NextGen mation of our nation’s airspace to head off the technologies could be implemented in sequence growth of delays in air travel and to increase the (and some are currently being implemented), the effectiveness of air commerce in the interest of our enormous overall benefit of these technologies economy and quality of life. The motive driving the working as a system will not be realized until the JPDO and NextGen is the realization that a two- to system is working as designed: together, mutually- three-fold increase in air transportation demand supportive, and self-reinforcing. The result will be by 2025 simply cannot be accommodated in the transformational. existing system. The critical factor before us now is the early JPDO has established a vision, concept of adoption of the system’s initial capabilities, so that operations and work plan for transformation of the technological progress can be accelerated and lead U.S. air transportation system through moderniza- sooner to a system that adapts as the future unfolds. tion of the NAS. This work is closely coordinated This system concept and its major constituents are among the departments and agencies responsible explained in this paper.

4 Background

An Abbreviated History In the 1950s and 60s, Very High Frequency Omni- of Air Traffic Control Directional Radio navigation systems (VORs) were implemented along with gyroscopes for attitude ATC (Air Traffic Control) and its tools: communica- “We’re left trying to hold control, allowing pilots to “follow the needle” in the tion, navigation and surveillance began as the system together like “steam gauge” cockpits of the latter 20th Century. controlling traffic by knowing where any given This system and its refinements persisted as the MacGyver—with duct tape airplane should be, based on the flight plan, the primary means of navigation until quite recently, and scissors and string.” speed of the airplane and observed winds, and the when GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) technology clock. Later, radar indicated the airplane’s position “Air Traffic Controller Sounds Alarm” became the preferred means of pinpointing Time Magazine and control was based on knowing where the April 26, 2008 locations. airplane is. The next generation of ATC will be based on knowing where the airplane will be. The rest of Yet we still fly the old airways: eight miles wide and this story is about Trajectory-based operations, constrained to the geography locked in place by achieved through performance-based ATC, which those ancient bonfires. These airways continue to be will smoothly transition from the control tower the conduits of choice for commercial and much, if into the cockpit. not most, instrument flight rules (IFR) traffic. We use equipment with better reliability, but our From Ground-Based to traditional problems remain because we are using Space-Based Navigation outdated operations. In the earliest days of air travel, pilots followed roads, bonfires, and signal lights while they sought Tale of the Long Tails in Aviation their destinations. As command of time and Many airways will remain popular because they operating expenses took precedence over the sheer represent the most-traveled routes for the large exhilaration of actually accomplishing a flight, cities; but non-hub and many community airports more-direct routes were demanded, sometimes get left out of the equation. These suburban, rural above or in the clouds, sometimes at night. Low and remote airports’ capacity for convenience, frequency radio was employed: a radio signal was congestion relief, and added safety is lost in the transmitted from the ground, the navigator tuned public debate about fixing the “big” airport system. to it, and the pilot “flew the beacon” to its origin, Think of smaller airports (about 250 surrounding switching frequencies to pick up the next radio the nation’s major metroplex areas, with a potential signal and continuing flight. Thus, early airways for about 3,000 more serving the rest of America) were created. as the small towns that were forgotten when the Interstate system bypassed them.

5 Background

Life Cycles in Transportation For several years, a quiet coalescence of innovation has emerged, affecting new navigation systems, The patterns in the nation’s popular transportation satellite technologies, digital communications evolution are surprisingly similar, as new technolo- “Introducing an innovation abilities, processors and displays, along with the gies (rail, auto, propeller planes and jets) each had such as this—one that would understanding of how to integrate these into a Next gestation periods of early adopters, followed by Generation Air Transportation System. build to demand—must rapid growth. As the growth phase led to general come from a CEO who has acceptance, the matured and preferred mode of On the aircraft-hardware side, engineers and transport became dominant. designers, aware of these “futuristic” capabilities, used emergent strategy have been building them into the most-modern processes to create a During the mature phases of these patterns, very light jet (VLJ) packages; and support compa- economic considerations and aging technologies new-market disruption in nies have examined ways to integrate newer led to consolidation for efficiencies that left another service business. technologies into existing aircraft. These technolo- consumers with fewer choices. These conditions It will require an outside gies and these aircraft exist today. They are faster, became ripe for development and acceptance of safer, and quieter than previous aircraft; and their perspective to enact this type newer, eventually more-popular technology, which fuel-efficiency exceeds the passenger-miles-per- of disruptive innovation in more-efficiently transported more people. gallon rates of automobiles. Many of the smallest the aviation industry.” Today’s airspace architecture, air traffic control aircraft, in fact, deliver 25-30 m.p.g. at well over 100 systems, hub-and-spoke business models, and Clayton Christensen m.p.h. Clearly, modern aircraft efficiencies point to Professor, Harvard Business School regulatory infrastructure are currently approaching the sky as an essential arena for efficient transporta- “Seeing What’s Next,” 2004 the top of the “S” curve of technological innovation. tion in the 21st Century.

Cumulative Intercity Transit Market Growth

Diverted & Induced ADS-B RNP NextGen GPS Transformation in

Jet Transports Air Mobility

Jetliners Displace Props First VORs First DC-3

Propliners Displace Cars Assembly Line Assembly

Model T Cars Displace Trains

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 Today’s airspace architecture, air traffic control systems, hub-and-spoke business models, and regulatory infrastructure are currently approaching the top of the “S” curve of technological innovation.

6 Transportation Challenges

Thinking in 3-D Can’t We Just Build Our Way Out?

Studies by the nation’s transportation research Equipping an existing airport to accommodate community demonstrate the futility of attempting additional traffic, particularly instrument- “Our nation’s air transporta- to build our way out of road congestion. Even so, dependent air traffic, is challenging. Myriad tion system has become a regulations combine with equipage and budgetary as urban communities expand geographically, victim of its own success. the main focus of public administrators has been factors to preclude immediate inclusion of many We created the most on two-dimensional ground transportation. otherwise-qualified airports. The geographical demand consideration of “Who needs an airport effective, efficient and safest Unfortunately, in 30 states, over a third of the where no one wants to go?” also plays an obvious system in the world. population faces serious road-congestion problems. part. This is the classic case of ‘chicken and egg,’ but In three states, over half the population is threat- But we now face a serious consider as an example the growth in prominence ened by daily gridlock. and impending problem... of Atlanta after the massive expansion of Hartsfield- Rail has not made progress either; virtually all the Jackson. The warning signs are nation’s High Speed Rail initiatives are at a everywhere. Flight delays Further, building an airport is a logistical night- standstill. As the 21st Century unfolds, we need to be mare. If an airport is to serve a metroplex area, and cancellations have adept at thinking in the third-dimension, 3-D. What important questions of eminent domain are at the reached unacceptable levels... about the sky above as an asset of value to meeting top of the list in addition to acquisition costs and If we fail to address issues our nation’s mobility needs? access; new airports are near-impossible to build. such as increased capacity in [The last major airport constructed in the US was The Tipping Point a deliberate and focused way, Denver International, over a decade ago.] Already-accepted plans for 20th Century airports we will suffocate the great Even airport expansion is increasingly difficult, as and airlines, operating under the hub-and-spoke engine of economic growth system, concede that six airports and four dwellings and industrial areas are built right up to that civil aviation has metroplex areas will need serious additional the fence. Displacing these buildings involves direct become.” capacity within the next ten years. “Six airports” costs as well as political costs that few are willing to address; and fewer still are capable of paying the doesn’t sound like a big problem—until one Marion C. Blakey realizes that 80 percent of today’s air traffic uses bills. Even with immediate action to build future Former FAA Administrator airports, decades typically pass between concept/ Testimony Before the Committee on just 35 airports. “Four cities” doesn’t sound Commerce, Science and Transporta- agreement and delivery. Solutions are needed now. tion, Subcommittee on Aviation alarming, until one realizes that two of these four July 25, 2006 airports serve New York and Los Angeles, the largest cities in the U.S.

7 Transportation Challenges

How Crowded is We Have Lots of Airports. Our Airspace? Why Don’t We Use Them?

In striving to build a realistic model of the National Though many airports are available, and they are “Aviation is essential to Airspace System (NAS), we measured the corner-to- located at the places people want to travel, direct virtually every industry air connectivity is not possible in a hub-and-spoke corner distance from Maine to southern California. and it is clearly at a crisis Scaling those (everything here is “roughly”) 3,300 system. Consequently, over-utilization of hub-and- point. Millions of business miles down to the 340-foot corner-to-corner spoke airports has forced many people to ride dimension of the in-bounds area of a football field, airliners to places that are inconvenient for their transactions are made we can see that a typical airliner would scale out own travel. possible every day by about the same as a poppy seed. A really big airport Fortunately, not every airplane needs a big airport. aviation—a business trip (like Denver or O’Hare), in this scale, would be about Better yet, efficient new-technology aircraft are to a meeting, a door-to-door the size of a bagel, and a runway would be just a fat starting to carry increasing numbers of travelers air express shipment, a cargo pencil line, accommodating just one landing per efficiently, point-to-point, to small airports that are shipment for international minute. also better-positioned for the travelers’ needs. trade, or a general aviation On any normal day during heavy traffic hours, the Compared to shipping two or three hundred airspace above the continental U.S. may have as travelers to a hub that is not convenient as a final trip to a manufacturing many as 2,000 commercial and 4,000 or so smaller destination, smaller numbers of people can travel plant.” aircraft on IFR flight plans. As “poppy seeds over a to larger numbers of smaller airports, efficiently, Thomas Donohue in smaller aircraft. football field,” their traffic is practically insignifi- President and CEO United States Chamber of Commerce cant; but each hour, most of these aircraft will land Scalability of economics and performance is vital to February 2005 at just a few airports. [Just 67 airports account for any future airspace model. The current hub-and- 90 percent of domestic passenger traffic, while spoke system is difficult to expand; doubling the almost 80 percent of all U.S. passengers are routed capacity of the NAS using the old architecture is through 35 major hub airports.] both physically and financially impossible, even if It’s easy to see that there is plenty of airspace; the the also-impossible scheduling problems could be delays we encounter come from the tiny number of accommodated. We simply don’t have the time, airports we use in our hub-and-spoke system. space, or money to continue using the old model. The airspace between those airport-pairs is To avoid this trap, any new system must be (and overused and congested. NextGen is, by its design) easily expanded without linear (or geometric) growth in cost and further encroachment on metropolitan land. The result is the ability to reach virtually every small community in the nation with air mobility through affordable infrastructure and business models.

8 The 21 st Century Solution

The Alternative That The good news is that 98-percent of the U.S. Makes Sense: Use More population lives within a 30-minute drive of these spoke airports and the more than 3,000 The solution lies in the promise of technology to NextGen will not only safely underutilized public use airports in the nation. unsnarl the airspace around the “Big 35” airports expand the nation’s airspace and use their runways more efficiently: utilize more Not only are these airports potential solutions to to serve more travelers in airspace; spread air traffic vertically, use more the congestion problem, they can promote more aircraft in more cities altitude; allow greater use of altitude-separation. additional benefits: much air travel between hubs The solution also lies in spreading the air traffic to requires additional travel, either to another city (at over the next decade, more airports, lowering the load on the “Big 35” the end of a “spoke”) or to another hub that it will do so while reducing airports while allowing many people to actually get connects to the desired spoke city. These routings fuel consumption, carbon closer to their desired destinations, and cut wasted can add more than 15 percent waste in distance emissions, noise footprint time on the ground. traveled, fuel burned, carbon emitted, and time lost and travel time. resulting from the dog-leg routes required. Another obvious path to additional efficiency and Additionally, much of the air travel that concludes safety is to allow aircraft to have more options when at a hub airport needs to be further augmented by choosing altitudes. Currently, aircraft are spaced no ground transport to bring the traveler to his or her less than 500 feet apart (vertically). It is easy to see ultimate destination, a destination often served by a that, if it were safe to do so, spacing flights at 250- smaller airport. foot vertical intervals would theoretically double the available “enroute” airspace. Benefits of using underutilized airports accrue from three effects: personal travel times are reduced; Today’s technology can do this; tomorrow’s demand additional congestion on the ground is obviated; requires it. The idea is ready and achievable in an and some incremental measure of environmental accelerated timeframe. All we need to do is adopt it, costs is avoided. A fourth major benefit, economic fund it, and implement it. opportunity diffused throughout more of the Tapping into Our Nation’s nation’s population, is also engendered. Underutilized Resources

Air travel, unlike rail or road travel, actually has untapped capacity in the form of underutilized airports, altitudes, and routes. Some 250 airports can be considered “spoke city” airports to the nation’s 35 major hub airports.

9 The Promise of NextGen Technologies

From Scarcity to Abundance And envision aircraft able to separate themselves without radar assistance, by virtue of the satellite Imagine an airway eight miles wide and five navigation and digital communications systems hundred feet deep; picture these airways linking Technology will change they carry on board, with digital radios capable of ground navigation stations designed in the past the way America flies. conducting business using common Internet century on the basis of old airmail routes; envision protocols for two-way information sharing. NextGen will accommodate these airways as only connecting between a fraction Contemplate an airspace with no vectors to the final two to three times the of the airports across the land; comprehend the approach, virtually no missed approaches, no limitations of using aviation radios on a party line current traffic levels by holding patterns, no vectors for traffic, no one-in- with analog voice communications for direction- shifting from 40-year old one-out procedural separation in non-radar giving. These are the realities of the existing airspace ground-based, human-centric airspace, virtually no radio frequencies to adjust. system. These are merely hints of the real possibilities of communications, navigation As an example, out of over 5,000 public-use airports NextGen. and surveillance systems in America, fewer than 1,000 have precision to satellite-based, instrument landing systems. It is like building an Public-Private Collaboration cockpit-enabled air interstate highway system and only having 20 off- Yields High-Performance System traffic management. ramps per state for 50 states. The technical term for this future airspace system is “Performance Based Air Traffic Management.” The NextGen Mental Model The concept of performance-based navigation Now imagine the capacity possible on airways that draws on a fundamental shift in the role of the are a few hundred feet wide and deep; imagine central government from designing, owning, and passing lanes, aerial equivalents to HOV lanes, operating all of the airspace system infrastructure convoys of aircraft moving efficiently along routes to establishing and managing the performance between any and all of the nation’s thousands of requirements of the system that will be provided airports. from others including users (airborne equipment) and contractors (using performance based Imagine that the airports do not require expensive contracts). instrument landing systems to be purchased and maintained. Picture the possibility of some airports This shift allows these systems and their technolo- without control towers, able to handle traffic as gies to advance at the pace of technology and though they had one, and runways without business instead of the pace of governmental approach lighting, able to safely handle airplane organizations. arrivals in bad weather as though they had such lighting.

10 The Promise of NextGen Technologies

Using Technology • Performance Based Surveillance through to its Potential Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), or GPS for planes, which delivers new The technological underpinnings behind NextGen “In the future, an aircraft- technology for tracking aircraft based on shifts us from an analog world to a digital world, centric National Airspace equipment in the airplane instead of radar on and from terrestrial navigation systems to space- the ground. As a result, the positions of aircraft System will be able to use based GPS systems—putting more operational are known everywhere, anywhere, improving technology in a more robust capability directly into the cockpit. This means that safety while increasing airspace capacity. many of the radar surveillance systems of the last way with better navigation century can be replaced with airborne systems to • Performance Based Communication and landing capabilities and safely expand the nation’s airspace capacity. through networked digital radios that bring the thorough, accurate and real- speed and knowledge-gathering qualities of the The technology already available, and foreseeable in time knowledge of weather Internet into the cockpit. As a result, the the near term, is both more efficient and ultimately and traffic conditions. exchange of routine controller-pilot messages more economical than what prevails in today’s and clearance can be made via data, enabling The system will be built on a system. Its reliability makes it inherently safer, and controllers to safely handle more traffic while far more comprehensive its expansion will not require concomitant reducing “routine” workload. expansion of headcount or even scalewise information network than expansion of hardware. It is expandable because it is • System Wide Information Management anything we have ever seen, very adaptive by design. (SWIM) for integrated real-time data on ensuring the right informa- weather, traffic, and airport conditions that will Of the many moving parts of the larger NextGen tion gets to the right person facilitate better and faster decision making as vision, there are four foundational components that at the right time, while information is more easily accessed. As a result, shift us toward an aircraft-centric NAS, enabling the flight planning will take minutes instead of an keeping traffic running safe expansion of the nation’s airspace to serve more hour or more. smoothly.” travelers in the next decade: Nicholas A. Sabatini • Performance Based Navigation through FAA Associate Administrator for RNAV-Area Navigation and Required Navigation Aviation Safety “Flying into the Future,” Performance (RNP) departures, arrivals, and FAA New Technologies Workshop approaches for both intercity routes and airport January 9, 2007 terminal airspace. This cornerstone technology provides new means of accurate navigation and control, trimming air lanes from several miles wide to a few hundred feet. As a result, aircraft will fly more precise flight paths, reducing fuel burn, carbon emissions and noise.

FAA depiction of aircraft communicating at different altitudes via ADS-B.

11 NextGen Advantages

Why Should We accommodate up to three-times the current Embrace NextGen? volume of air traffic. The rollout of NextGen technology will not only improve the We should do it because we have to and because the “Whether you consider passenger experience, but will also attract changes will produce scalable expansion of the commercial travel, air cargo, travelers who today either drive for hours, or nation’s airspace with long-lasting benefits in simply forego travel all together because of military aviation, business footprint, cost, mobility and economic opportunity. the inconvenience. and private travel or general NextGen promises to lower long-term costs, add three-fold capacity and efficiency to the NAS, and • Airline industry benefits, in the form of aviation, the aviation improve safety while boosting the economy (via improved safety and reduced operating costs industry is an essential enhanced air mobility) at the local, state and arising from enhanced pilot situational component of our domestic national level. awareness, greater precision in flight path economy and everyday lives. guidance, ability to increase segments flown We should do it from an operational viewpoint There are challenges and per day, and shorter segment lengths with because the current system is incapable of meeting reduced fuel burn. changes that lie on aviation’s the increasing demands of commercial, GA and horizon which must be emergency response air transportation. We expect • Corporate aircraft travelers, who today fly in no slowing in the expansion of air travel; estimates professionally-crewed, high-performance understood and resolved to call for 1.1 billion commercial US travelers by 2015. aircraft, will have more and safer landing ensure this vital industry Our current air transportation system has simply options open up, ultimately promoting more continues to grow and overrun its usefulness, is not scalable, and additional commerce in smaller communities. succeed.” short-term fixes will cost disproportionately more • General aviation pilots who will not immedi- to implement. Carol Hallet ately receive the large incremental benefits that Former Head of the Aerospace Industries Association will characterize airline travelers will most- As an FAA official put it, “We can’t just keep “Chamber of Commerce Aviation subdividing airspace. When there’s too much importantly not be negatively affected. Summit” AIN, May 1, 2008 [traffic] density in a sector, we divide the sector As NextGen expands to benefit the lower-flying, when possible. We need to include automation that smaller aircraft, they will inherit additional works out the separation, trajectories, etc. benefits; and as their own aircraft capabilities Controllers then become a ‘communications link’ in and their own training progress, they will get this scenario.” With NextGen technology providing increasing rewards from their added participa- separation and routing, controllers will be able to tion in NextGen’s benefits. do more and will have more freedom to assess and • For the nation’s air traffic controllers (ATC), deal with non-routine events, or management by NextGen reduces workload and cost while exception. increasing productivity, capacity and safety. NextGen implementation paves the way to both By shifting from two-way, voice-only communi- tangible and intangible benefits for a multitude of cations for every aircraft traffic movement to a constituents: data communications-enabled system,control- lers are freed-up to “manage by exception.” • For the traveling public, NextGen means fewer This enables ATC to work more efficiently while delays through an expanded airspace able to giving maximum attention to priority areas.

12 NextGen Advantages

• For many communities, NextGen means greater a recent study on flight delays by the U.S. Joint economic development as thousands of the Economic Committee, approximately 740 million nation’s underutilized airports become gallons of jet fuel were expended in 2007 due to “The entire concept of the accessible for commercial use through flight delays. Further, 78 percent of delays occurred airline schedule will be ubiquitous, all-weather access we have come to before take-off—with 58 percent at the gate and take for granted at the nation’s largest airports. 20 percent during the taxi to the runway. redefined as the boundaries between traditional carriers • Even the non-flying public benefits from While larger airports, more gates, and additional NextGen’s favorable footprint in terms of energy, apron (airplane parking) areas clearly help, these and on-demand service carbon, noise and cost of added airspace solutions are expensive; and additional gates will providers begin to merge. capacity. not solve the problem of an overcrowded taxiway. This proliferation of options will effectively enable It’s Not Just Time, Money and More-efficient ground control and coordination Convenience: It’s the Planet! will allow greater throughput using existing customers to choose air infrastructure. As new facilities are built and older Air travel, while extremely efficient on a per- transportation services ones remodeled to accommodate advances in passenger/mile/time basis, still consumes tailored to their needs.” positioning technology, these gains will grow at an tremendous amounts of fuel and produces expanding pace. “Next Generation Air Transportation significant emissions. Though the price of fuel is System Integrated Plan” Even passenger-routing and handling at airports of Department of Transportation spurring rapid efficiency improvements in December 2004 propulsion and flight-planning, and though aircraft various sizes; security procedures; baggage- designs are increasingly carbon-responsible, handling systems and procedures—all these offer efficiencies in the “engine-on” system—ground additional venues for increased efficiency and an support, taxiing, startup, takeoff, climb, cruise, enhanced passenger experience. descent, ground handling and parking—will each As individual components of fuel use are improved, make positive contributions to aviation’s overall the overall effect will be significant steps toward carbon footprint. Each of these activities can benefit making aviation sustainable. NextGen can reduce from a comprehensive overhaul of the NAS. carbon emissions in aviation by 12 to 20 percent Time and fuel are wasted on the ground, as airplanes while lowering fuel consumption and cost for stand in line to take off and as they wait for taxiways industry, and delays for passengers. and gates to open after landing. In fact, according to

13 NextGen Implementation

Now, Consider the Roll-out in aviation-intensive Alaska in 2000, is credited with reducing the accident rate by 49 percent via NextGen is already well-planned; the technology is ADS-B equipped aircraft. both proven and widely available; and implementa- “We’re not waiting around tion is already scheduled. If this sounds like our In 2005, Alaska Airlines in collaboration with the for the Big Bang, or a flip of problems are nearly over, consider that implemen- FAA, implemented RNP approaches at Palm Springs the switch. NextGen is a tation, as currently planned, will take 20 years. International Airport to significantly reduce transformation and it’s landing minima. As a result, Alaska Airlines was able Our problem is now. Waiting any longer won’t make to save over 1,000 approaches between 2005 and happening now, and we’re it any easier to tackle. NextGen can be implemented 2006 that would have been diverted to another moving ahead.” regionally, and in stages, through public/private airport 70 miles away. partnerships that favor the greatest benefits in the Robert A. Sturgell FAA Acting Administrator shortest time. Implementation Timeline FAA Forecast Conference March 10, 2008 NextGen technology covers both aircraft (aircraft- The timeframe for a roll-out of various subprograms based equipment and crew training) and non- and technologies will depend on the political, aircraft (ATC, GPS, satellite and communications) logistical, and economic priorities of each phase. elements. As the non-aircraft parts of NextGen are Early phases can be chosen on the basis of efficacy or added to a region’s capability, qualified aircraft will ease of implementation, or elements of both. After be able to realize the benefits immediately, giving some “critical mass” of implementation has been early adopters a competitive advantage in reached, further implementation will meet less scheduling, dispatch, routing, fuel savings, and political resistance as the public appreciates the safety. These incentives present a strong case to inevitability of it, and as the benefits of full competitors and encourage users, promoting the implementation become increasingly relevant to “pull” strategy that will encourage further everyday life. implementation and utilization. Further, as the economic benefits begin to outweigh Early Adopter Success the direct costs, the program’s own efficiency will gain supporters and in some ways finance further In fact, many of the components of NextGen have implementation. Thus, NextGen becomes a self- already been used in certain areas of the airspace, fulfilling prophecy. with convincing improvements in safety and efficiency. The Capstone Project, first implemented

14 Accelerating NextGen in Florida

How Can NextGen be Sharing its flight data and operational implementa- Implemented Sooner? tion expertise, DayJet will work closely with state and federal agencies to develop priorities for Earlier this year, Department of Transportation “We have selected Florida airspace procedures and airport capabilities. Secretary Mary Peters announced that Florida will as the test-bed for this be the national test bed for accelerating NextGen. Under the agreement, DayJet, over the next five transformational technology. On June 2, 2008 the FAA signed a Memorandum of years, will operate its Eclipse 500 fleet with The Southeast has a Agreement (MOA) with DayJet Corporation to equipment that will enable it to provide the begin a five-year, phased implementation of proven government with data that comprise some of the good mix of traffic and a NextGen technologies throughout Florida in key components of NextGen, which are necessary to good mix of weather— collaboration with Florida Department of achieve Performance-Based Air Traffic Management just the kind of place Transportation Aviation Office and the Daytona System including: to put NextGen Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical • New means of accurate navigation and control through the paces.” University. that will trim air lanes from several miles wide to Secretary Mary Peters The agreement establishes a government-industry a few hundred feet. Department of Transportation partnership responsible for developing replicable FAA Forecast Conference • New technology for tracking aircraft that will March 10, 2008 procedures that can be used for the accelerated make the position of aircraft known everywhere deployment of NextGen technologies nationally. and anywhere based on equipment in the Setting the stage for the first integrated implemen- airplane instead of radar on the ground. tation of NextGen capabilities for passenger services in the continental U.S., the Florida NextGen project • Networked digital radios that will bring the is also the first to focus on the safe expansion of speed and knowledge-gathering qualities of the airspace outside metropolitan areas via Internet into the cockpit. underutilized airports and routings using modern • System-wide Information Management Systems very light jet (VLJ) aircraft operated by a Part 135 for weather, traffic and airport conditions that on-demand air carrier. will reduce flight planning costs, while increasing flexibility and accuracy. Florida NextGen Participants The project will include major participation by the DayJet will be the first air carrier to use NextGen Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronauti- technologies to optimize fleet network perfor- cal University who will be responsible for project mance. DayJet is NextGen-ready by virtue of its real- management, airspace modeling and simulation, time fleet management system, its business model implementing RNP procedures and ADS-B and use of smaller community airports, its applications along with developing curricula for headquarters location in Florida (the NextGen NextGen education. In addition, the Florida national test bed), and its fleet of Eclipse 500 VLJ Institute of Technology will perform studies of the aircraft (with near-term plans for performance- energy, carbon footprint and noise benefits based navigation capabilities). associated with the implementation of NextGen Technologies.

15 Accelerating NextGen in Florida

The Florida Department of Transportation will Expanding Service participate in planning the routes and airports for Beyond the Metroplex NextGen implementation. In addition, the State This Florida project expands NextGen’s focus “Florida has a long history of Aviation office will be involved in the evaluation of beyond the confines of the 35 major hub airports aeronautical innovation and the economic benefits of NextGen at the State and and scheduled air carrier route and airspace firsts. Our state has the local levels. architecture. A core concept of the “mini-NextGen” early implementation project in Florida is that with leadership, expertise and Florida Implementation Timeline additional airports being utilized, concentrations of innovation to take on this Florida’s NextGen capabilities will be implemented aircraft will drop, other things being equal. important project that will in three phases over the next five years as follows: NextGen’s purpose is to optimize existing airport help the nation make usage and thus decongest the airways, allowing • Phase 1—To begin in late 2008 through 2010, informed, successful improve- more-efficient, more-convenient, safer and the first phase of the project will focus on “greener” air transport. ment to the national aviation deploying Performance-Based Navigation to infrastructure.” allow DayJet’s fleet to fly more precise flight This project will define how the community airports paths, reducing fuel burn, carbon emissions, must evolve and adopt an airport classification Florida Representative John L. Mica Republican Leader of the House and noise. system that will ensure the air transportation Transportation and Infrastructure industry and their customers are aware of an Committee In addition, this phase will deploy Automatic airport’s capabilities and services and airport Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) managers have guidelines for requirement technology for performance-based surveillance enhancements. The result will be reduced cost of based on GPS for airplanes that enables pilots to expanded airspace and access to airports for the see other aircraft in their vicinity, improving new generation of on-demand air transport safety while increasing airspace capacity. operators with benefits to underserved communi- • Phase 2—To begin in 2009 through 2011, this ties throughout the nation. phase will implement System Wide Information Management for enhanced weather awareness and management.

• Phase 3—To begin in 2011 through 2013, this phase will deploy Performance-Based Communi- cations for flight planning and flight plan management.

16 NextGen Obstacles

What’s in the Way? What Does it Cost and Who Will Pay or be Inconvenienced? The systemic nature of the change wrought by NextGen requires a degree of deliberation we’ve not First, do no harm. Transition is as important as the “Current radar-based air seen in aviation. The costs of new equipage and end product. All these changes, while sweeping, will traffic control is a relic of not wipe classic old aircraft out of the sky. training are not insignificant, and go beyond mere the 1950s. GPS systems dollars. Aviators, from the low-time private pilot Current-tech machinery, VFR-rated pilots—these in cars or cell phones are who uses his airplane to visit Grandma every month will continue largely unaffected, even as their more sophisticated than the to the 747 Captain who has been flying for thirty numbers and proportion will drop through years, have a decades-long culture that maintains a attrition. [The gas-guzzling muscle cars of the hardware used in passenger certain skepticism about change. The public has 1960s are today a very small portion of the and cargo planes.” hard-earned expectations regarding the safety and pollution problem, even though they, individually, Senator Jay Rockefeller cost and ownership of the national air transporta- guzzle just as much gas as ever. Their numbers will “Senate debates how to make skies tion system. Asking these stakeholders to accept the safer, less congested” not increase; new standards prohibit their AP, April 29, 2008 value of the changes wrought by NextGen on face resurgence; the world can afford to ignore them.] value is not enough. They need proof. Aircraft and operators that will not immediately Legislators reflect their constituencies; they are qualify for NextGen will not see all the system’s generally not experts in aviation. Any change will benefits, but they will not be penalized, either. affect some definable group to a differing degree, At the very least, they should enjoy somewhat lower while the widespread benefits of that change may congestion and better on-time reliability, to the take a long time to recognize, so politicians (elected extent that others are able to take advantage of and career) are reluctant to change unless their NextGen. constituents clamor for change, or unless they can make a compelling case for the benefits.

Fortunately, NextGen (with its improvements for safety, efficient travel, convenience, economic growth, and fuel savings among others) offers direct benefits to many constituencies. Thoughtful presentation and positioning of its compelling arguments will make these benefits clear, and concerned leadership will make them happen.

17 What You Can Do to Become NextGen Ready

How to Get Ready for improving the operational capabilities of your NextGen— Now airport.

The objectives are obvious, efficient, and necessary: • Communicate the operational benefits to based we need to move more people, sooner, improving and transient aircraft owners and operators of Just as with NextGen itself, safety while using fewer resources and doing less being NextGen capable. when every partner pulls damage to the planet. • Appreciate the opportunities to give an airport together, the net result will The technologies are available and proven; the and community a competitive advantage by far exceed the efforts of any being ready to accommodate NextGen equipped strategy is well-formed; the elements of implemen- one, or any combination short tation are in place. aircraft. of full participation. Just as NextGen itself could be implemented State Aviation Planners piecemeal and still provide benefits along the way, • Incorporate NextGen preparedness into state any of the implementation partners (FAA, DayJet, aviation system plans. Florida and other states, Academia, and Industry) could do its part, and some benefits would be • Encourage airport owners and operators to realized by some sectors of society and industry. understand how NextGen technology and And just as with NextGen itself, when every partner airspace procedures design can benefit their pulls together, the net result will far exceed the airport including: mitigating noise issues; efforts of any one, or any combination short of full addressing obstacle concerns; overcoming participation. weather-affected operations; enhancing airport safety. Therefore, it must be stressed that NextGen’s costs and timeline will be minimized exponentially, and • Consider grants supporting NextGen education its benefits— safety, environmental, capacity, programs for airport owners and operators. efficiency, and a working gateway to future • Consider state support for equipage including: expansion—fully enjoyed when we all work √ together, starting right now. All the major team Remote tower services (staffed or members are aligned and in agreement about the unstaffed) goal. Now is the time to start! √ Altimeter setting/RVR/Surface condition √ Enhanced VFR approaches Next Steps for NextGen √ Spacing and merging in IMC Here’s what you can do immediately: √ Precision minima for all runways Airport Owners and Operators √ RNP departures, arrivals for all runways • Incorporate NextGen infrastructure into your √ Alternatives to approach lighting Airport Master Plan. √ RVR for all appropriate runways • Communicate to elected officials and the business community the economic benefits that are possible from adopting NextGen and

18 NextGen Technologies Appendix

A Closer Look at ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance- NextGen Technologies Broadcast) ADS-B works by having aircraft transponders PBN (Performance-Based Navigation) receive satellite signals and using transponder The NextGen system, as already mentioned, consists transmissions to determine the precise locations of of components in space (satellites), in the air aircraft in the sky. Instead of using radar data to keep (aircraft), and on the ground (Air Traffic Control and aircraft at safe distances from one another, signals others). Here are the major components of NextGen, from GPS satellites will provide air traffic control- drawing heavily on official FAA documentation: lers and pilots with more-accurate positional information in the sky and on runways. Compared RNP (Required Navigation Performance) to radar ADS-B is analogous to the difference RNP is RNAV with the addition of an onboard between black-and-white television and rabbit ear performance monitoring and alerting capability. antennae vs HDTV on cable: the clarity and amount An RNP navigation system monitors its own aircraft of information available are astoundingly improved. and alerts the crew whenever flight parameters Eventually with ADS-B, some of the responsibility (altitude, position, heading, speed) are not being for keeping safe distances between aircraft will shift met. RNP can enable reduced obstacle clearance or from air traffic controllers on the ground to pilots closer route spacing without intervention by air who will have displays in the cockpits to pinpoint traffic control. Certain RNP operations require all the air traffic around them, along with local advanced features of the onboard navigation weather displays. At night and in poor visual function and approved training and crew proce- conditions, pilots will also be able to see where they dures. are in relation to the ground using on-board 4-D Wx (Four-Dimensional Weather) avionics and terrain maps.

This system will change the way weather is Furthermore, because the system continuously collected, analyzed, predicted, tailored, and monitors the aircraft position, even on the ground, integrated into aviation decision-making. In the ADS-B will help reduce the risk of runway incur- NextGen era, “the primary role of weather sions. ADS-B holds the possibility for many information is to enable the identification of additional enhancements in tracking, weather optimal trajectories that meet the safety, comfort, display, terrain visualization and other areas. schedule, efficiency, and environmental impact The FAA committed to implementation of ADS-B requirements of the user and the system.” The 4-D in 2005, and early installations will commence in Wx Single Authoritative Source (4-D Wx SAS) will 2010, with full implementation scheduled for 2013. provide seamless, consistent weather information for ATM (Air Traffic Management) decisions.

19 NextGen Technologies Appendix

(SWIM) System Wide Information Management About DayJet

SWIM provides the infrastructure and services to DayJet is the largest fleet operator of next- deliver network-enabled information access across generation very light jet (VLJ) aircraft and the the NextGen air transportation operations. SWIM pioneer of a new type of regional business travel. “DayJet’s ambitious, will provide high-quality, timely data to many users DayJet has developed the world’s first “Per-Seat, technology-driven business and applications— extending beyond the previous On-Demand” jet service that makes the convenience plan could well force a focus on unique, point-to-point interfaces for of corporate jet travel broadly available and rethink of the way nearly all application-to-application data exchange. affordable for more people and organizations, By reducing the number and types of interfaces and turning wasted travel time into valuable business businesses serve their systems, SWIM will reduce redundancy of informa- and personal time. customers.” tion and better facilitate multi-agency information “Per-Seat” means customers only pay for the seat(s) “Custom-Made for All” sharing. SWIM will also enable new modes of Inc. they need, not the entire aircraft. “On-Demand” decision-making, as information is more easily November 2005 means customers fly according to their individually accessed by all stakeholders affected by operational negotiated time requirements. Business travelers decisions. can now book just the seat that they need aboard NextGen Data Communications DayJet’s fleet of Eclipse 500™ very light jets (VLJs); customize travel according to their time and NextGen transformation cannot be realized budget requirements; fly point-to-point between through today’s voice-only communications. This is regional destinations; and return home in a single particularly true in the areas of aircraft trajectory day. Prices start at a modest premium to full-fare based on operations, net-centric and net-enabled economy coach airfares. information access. Initially, data communication provides an additional means for two-way exchange Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, DayJet is the between controllers and flight crews for air traffic first 100% all-digital air carrier. Combined with the control clearances, instructions, advisories, flight speed and efficiency of Eclipse 500 VLJ aircraft, crew requests and reports. With 70 percent of DayJet “Per-Seat, On-Demand” jet service has aircraft data-link equipped, allowing for the created the next major advance in corporate exchange of routine controller-pilot messages and productivity and regional economic development. clearances via data can enable controllers to safely For more information, visit www.dayjet.com/ handle more traffic. NextGen.

20 3651 FAU Blvd, Suite 200 Boca Raton, Florida 33431 561.322.2200 www.dayjet.com

DayJet’s “Per–Seat, On–Demand” business jet service is operated by DayJet Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary, DayJet Services, LLC, an air carrier registered with the Department of Transportation and the holder of an on–demand air carrier certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorizing operations under Part 135 of the FAA’s regulations under Title 49, Subtitle VII, of the United States Code. © DayJet Corporation 2008. All rights reserved. DayJet™ DayPort™ DayBase™ are trademarks of DayJet Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.