Accountability
By Mitch Berg
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:
An altimeter is an instrument which tells you high you are. Pilots rely on them to avoid obstructions on the ground, to maintain separation between aircraft at different altitudes, and to make smooth landings.
The traditional altimeter works on air pressure. Air pressure decreases the higher you go from the Earth. If you properly calibrate your pressure altimeter, it works fine. I flew with one for years.
Modern technology has moved on. The newest altimeters work on radar. They send a radar beam down from the airplane to reflect off the ground. They are much more precise because they’re measuring the actual distance, not the calculated distance (assuming the pressure calibration is correct).
More precise, that is, unless something interferes with the radar. “RaDAR” is actually an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging. A radar wave is a radio wave operating on a certain radio frequency. A ground transmitter operating on a nearby frequency can cause interference, making the radar altimeter malfunction. On a bright, sunny day, not a huge problem. The pilot can see the ground and estimate altitude by experience. At night or in bad weather, losing your altimeter is a terrifying problem. Anything which makes a radar altimeter malfunction is a potential disaster.
Such as, for instance, 5G cell phone frequency, which is also a radio wave. 5G was planned to roll out Wednesday but has been halted because major airlines are canceling flights for fear of it.
This isn’t a new issue. We’ve known it was coming for years. Suddenly, it’s a problem? Suddenly, major airlines are complaining about how the rollout is dangerous? Why wasn’t this worked out ages ago?
Remind me, who’s in charge of transportation issues in the United States? And who’s his boss, the man where the buck stops?
Joe Doakes
The more overwhelmed with bureaucrats our government becomes, the more amateurish it gets.
January 28th, 2022 at 6:28 am
If the Orange Man was still president, this would be headlines across the US, with multiple teams of “investigative journalists” assigned the task of showing just how this was all the result of the incompetence and corruption of the Trump administration.
January 28th, 2022 at 6:38 am
Every day, the DemoCommies expose the depth and breadth of their corruption.
January 28th, 2022 at 6:50 am
Geez, you guys… the poor gal just had a baby. Some things are more important – or is all that Rethuglican talk about the importance of families just talk?
January 28th, 2022 at 7:36 am
Kind of makes you wonder what other Biden FAILS “journalists” would discover if they actually gave a crap about their profession.
January 28th, 2022 at 8:21 am
The Telecomm industry and the previous administration chose to ignore the concerns of the FAA and the aviation industry (follow the money). The RTCA report in 2020 described the issue quite well, however there was no allocation of resources from the $81 billion frequency sale to explore and mitigate the problems it created. In Europe they use 5G frequencies further from the radar altimeter frequency, use lower power near airports, and aim 5G antennas carefully.
That’s a much simpler fix than modifying radar altimeters and going through the lengthy certification and installation process for critical airborne equipment.
January 28th, 2022 at 9:46 am
Since Chinese were the ones rushing 5G to the market and we had to play catch-up, I suspect this is just an intended consequence of the plan Xi. More proof of DC corruption. Term limits is the only solution. Well, and a firing squad for the worst offenders to serve as a deterrent.
January 28th, 2022 at 9:59 am
The system was indeed broken during Trump administration (still is?). The FCC owns this, not the FAA. It is now “too late” but FCC had ample time to publish a Notice of Public Rule-making (NPRM) outlining proposed steps to avoid the conflicts.
In the EU, they listened to the engineers and didn’t auction off the spectrum around the radar altimeter spectrum. They also require lower power around the airports.
The breakdown in managing this dispute appears to have occurred within the FCC. They have the right engineers to analyze radio spectrum interference issues. They simultaneously are the agency that stands to collect $81B. The public needs to understand how this conflict was handled.
January 28th, 2022 at 10:45 am
It’s unfortunate that the Lesko Brandon administration won’t take office for a few more years, won’t have the opportunity to correct the mistakes of past administrations, won’t be able to solve the problems that existed before they took office.
If only Lesko Brandon had taken office a year ago, if only he had appointed his own FCC Commissioner, a woman with long-term experience in the agency, the person who told Bloomberg News last November the problem would be solved. If only there was a strong leader in the White House to mediate between the FCC and FAA, to make the hard decisions.
Yes, it’s a real shame that airline safety is jeapordized by bureaucratic infighting. Too bad the Lesko Brandon administration is incapable of doing anything about it.
January 28th, 2022 at 11:13 am
Looks like it was a short lived crisis:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/20/business/airlines-outlook-5g-truce/index.html
January 28th, 2022 at 11:15 am
JD.
Great post.
Of course, Brando probably would have installed a competent person for that position. You know. Like Pothole Pete as Secretary of Transportation. He now is aiming for zero traffic deaths by insisting that speed limits be lowered. Brilliant!
January 28th, 2022 at 11:38 am
boss, and installing more bike and bus lanes. Nevermind the supply crises at the ports – ALL ports! More bike lanes! That will solve ALL problems! Adults in the WH and no more mean twitts… or wait, nevermind…
January 28th, 2022 at 11:39 am
I hope so, Bill C.
Politicians have a way of doing something and then, when it blows up, of backing away “temporarily” to give the firestorm time to blow over.
The telecom companies backed down for now, but the problem isn’t technological, it’s political. Where can they install radio antennas, putting out how much power, on which frequencies? High powered antennas close to the airport compromise flight safety. Low powered antennas farther from the airport compromise phone reception quality. Somebody has to make a hard decision and we have just the man in the Oval Office to make that call:
Chocolate, or vanilla?
January 28th, 2022 at 12:11 pm
It would be nice if the SiTD editorial board could educate itself a little before writing. The airlines warned about the proximity of the 5G spectrum as allocated in the US for years — but the FCC went ahead anyway. Europe, one the other hand, created a spectrum buffer so the problem does not exist there.
Trump had other priorities like toilets flushing better. Why would he focus on airline safety.
January 28th, 2022 at 12:14 pm
Sounds like the LightSquared fiasco, and how they came close to installing a system that was demonstrably proven to overpower GPS signals. The FCC had to do some serious backpedaling on that as well. That was in 2011, well before Trump’s presidency, Emery.
The FCC has long been a political body first, scientific/engineering body second. The same could be said of any government agency.
January 28th, 2022 at 12:25 pm
FCC incompetence is way older than the Trump administration. I remember an EMC consultant mentioned to me in 2002 that the scariest places he’d seen for EMC issues were air traffic control towers, held together basically with twine and bailing wire. Then you’ve got a botched rollout of airliner routing with GPS (instead of predetermined routes that are not great circle routes) that was going to cost $20 billion.
It’s a miracle that aviation works at all with some of these guys.
January 28th, 2022 at 12:28 pm
Ha! Emery, I predict that if Mitch did have an “editorial board”, your moronic blather would never be seen. Sheeesh!
January 28th, 2022 at 12:28 pm
Educate us, E-Bunch: who’s the President of the United States today, and has been for the last year? Who’s his FCC Commissioner? Who has authority to regulate the telecom industry to protect air safety?
We know from your colleagues that in the past, some people did some things. That’s not the point. The point is the Lesko Brandon administration knew of the problem but let it go all the way to a media storm caused by airlines forced to cancel flights before beginning to take tentative steps to start thinking about possibly doing something, someday.
That’s the kind of bold, decisive leadership we can expect from a man whose toughest decision is chocolate or vanilla. Air safety isn’t even on his radar.
Which is your fault. You voted for him. You covered for those who stole the election for him. When tragedy comes, you’ll be to blame. I hope you’re happy.
January 28th, 2022 at 1:20 pm
at 6:28 AM I wrote:
If the Orange Man was still president, this would be headlines across the US, with multiple teams of “investigative journalists” assigned the task of showing just how this was all the result of the incompetence and corruption of the Trump administration.
I was wrong. It appears that although Trump has been out of office for a year, Lefty “journalism” outfits are still assigning teams of reporters to write about how it is all about Orange Man Bad.
January 28th, 2022 at 1:54 pm
Since this rift involves two industries, the American government has no idea where to put its allegiances (since it takes money from lobbyists from both groups), so the government stayed out so as not to alienate either of its donors.
Also noteworthy are the following differences between 5G in France and the U.S.
1). The 5G technology AT&T and Verizon established is 2.5x stronger than that used in France.
2). The buffer zone around French airports is 97 seconds as opposed to 20 seconds in the US
3). The radio panels are tilted down in France, to prevent aircraft disruption. The panels in the US are not.
Engineers are faced with a problem similar to the abortive Light Squared proposal which was adjacent to the GPS frequencies. There were similar claims there “just add a filter”. Eventually, it was found that, no, a filter wasn’t feasible in very many applications, especially those requiring high precision.
If America had a functional government, all of this could have been worked out. But the previous administration gave the telecommunication companies carte blanche to do what it wanted, and so it did without any serious consideration of how their decisions affected other industries. I’m no fan of the airline industries, but all of the evidence points to this problem falling squarely at the feet of the FCC and the sad state of the American government, which refuses to exert control over any industry, even in the name of public safety.
January 28th, 2022 at 2:04 pm
Yup! DemoCommie law makers made the carriers add a tax on all of their customers that actually pay their bills, to fund free phones for freeloaders. Hey! That would make a catchy marketing tag line!
January 28th, 2022 at 3:07 pm
” . . . the previous administration . . . .”
So that takes care of it? Whatever the previous administration did is dispositive for all time? The present administration simply lacks the power to change course, to make decisions, to break ties?
“Nothing we can do about it now. What difference, at this point, does it really make?”
What a crock.
January 28th, 2022 at 3:18 pm
Whenever I need the straight dope on new technology, I *always* go to a narcissistic, pathological liar. Once again, rat has exceeded all expectations…why he’s my dawg.
January 28th, 2022 at 3:20 pm
Dear God, I thought I’d never say this, but for once Emery got it right. Ajit Pai was a dipshit and ignored the engineers, figuring that it’d all just work out. But the politics of the situation can’t be ignored: AT&T and Verizon were caught flat-footed on 5G, and T-mobile/Sprint had locked up all the better frequencies, so the two “US-based” carriers leaned very heavily on the FCC to throw throw them a bone, and the FCC listened to their paymasters over the engineers.
That said, if there are two more technically incompetent agencies that are trying to regulate highly technical issues than the FAA and FCC, I don’t know of any. (Insert my usual rant about trying to do engineering while abiding by Federal rules here.) Of the two, the FCC doesn’t have its head as far up its ass as the FAA, but just barely. I could make an argument that under Ajit and company the FCC was slightly worse, but only because the FCC under Ajit was more openly corrupt than usual.
January 28th, 2022 at 5:05 pm
5G… pshaw… as long as you put your phone in an airplane mode you have nothing to fear! Oh, and where a mask, be a hero!
January 28th, 2022 at 6:10 pm
You mean Mayor Buttplug can’t fix this….?
January 30th, 2022 at 8:39 am
Nerd, rat Emery didn’t get anything right. You’re agreeing with whom ever he plagiarized from today.