Professional Pilot, March 2018

based augmentation for GNSS while much of the rest of the developed world has radar or other systems for traffic surveillance Radar and other land based surveillance systems such as multilateration do not cover the vast expanses of water covering most of the planet Among possible solutions satellite based ADS B tracking using a worldwide constellation of receivers with the ability to report this information in real time to any point on earth is an answer to this last part of the system Iridium Aireon and Global Beacon On December 22 2017 SpaceX launched 10 more Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit This makes 40 of the planned 66 Iridium NEXT operational or positioning The Iridium NEXT network will be comprised of 6 polar orbiting planes each containing 11 operational crosslinked satellites Currently 32 are operational with 8 more still positioning Iridium Communications Inc plans the 5th Iridium NEXT launch by SpaceX for March 18 2018 This will add 10 more satellites bringing the total to 50 in orbit In addition to the established communications and data transfer of earlier Iridium constellations NEXT has the capability to receive ADS B Out signals The only added requirement for aircraft that are ADS B Out capable is to have a top mounted ADS B antenna Aireon Corp and Flight Aware have a joint venture in Global Beacon Aireon is a joint partnership of Iridium Communications and a number of major air navigation service providers When Aireons Iridium NEXTbased ADS B tracking system becomes 76 PROFESSIONAL PILOT March 2018 fully operational Aireon will offer a public service to the worlds aviation industry for the locating and tracking of ADS B equipped aircraft in emergency situations The Aireon Aircraft Locating and Emergency Response Tracking ALERT is the aviation industrys 1st and only free real time emergency aircraft location service This will be one means to meet the GADSS ADT mandate required for commercial airliners but will be available to all users Flight Aware is the largest provider in terms of numbers of customers for flight tracking Traditionally Flight Aware uses multiple methods to track aircraft including satellite or VHF data link through the Flight Aware website This is termed Flight Aware Global and requires data service with a participating data link provider It combines this data with existing Flight Aware data feeds in more than 50 countries and Flight Awares ADS B ground based data in over 100 countries Global Beacon is the next step in flight tracking A partnership between Aireon and Flight Aware Global Beacon will be a means for commercial air service to meet the GADSS Aircraft Tracking requirement Global Beacon leverages ADS B Out capability installed on more and more of the global aircraft fleet and can meet the November 2018 provisions for GADSS Aircraft Tracking Global Beacon is a 1st of its kind product It will detect aircraft positions in real time everywhere in the world Through Aireons network of Iridium NEXT ADS B receivers aircraft equipped with ADS B Out 1090ES transponders will be tracked automatically Global Beacon is envisioned to be the most cost effective and easy to deploy option available for all international flight operations Combining Flight Awares web interface and worldwide aircraft flight tracking information including origin destination flight plan route position ETA with the NEXT ADS B receiver network aircraft dispatch can monitor their aircraft through the Flight Aware secure platform This real time aircraft tracking dashboard features configurable alerts and will provide immediate notification of abnormal events Should an aircraft deviate from its intended flightpath experience severe turbulence or stop transmitting location then commercial air carriers complying with GADSS will automatically enter distressed status and immediately notify its airline operations center who can take appropriate actions Global Beacon will provide 100 aircraft tracking capabilities starting in mid 2018 and will begin 1 minute interval tracking by the end of 2018 This will far outperform the GADSS 15 minute tracking interval requirement Final thoughts GADSS set a required date for commercial air carriers Regardless the infrastructure is not limiting and the wording of the GADSS plan leaves room for other than commercial airline operators Flight Aware is currently encouraging their Global customers to beta test the Aireon space based ADS B data as the constellation nears completion and is offering incentives for customers who wish to take advantage of bundling Global Beacon with a global subscription Keeping up with a fleet always on the move is not only a safety issue but has manifold benefits for maximum use of valuable assets Flight crews may then concentrate on their 1 job flying the aircraft Bill Gunn is former compliance manager for the Texas Dept of Transportation Av Division He is an ATP CFII and FAA Safety Team rep Bill lectures nationally for a private aviation advocacy group and is an aviation compliance mediator Iridium NEXT Operating in 6 polar orbits at approximately 485 miles above the Earth with 100 worldwide coverage NEXT will initially supplement and eventually replace the current Iridium constellation