The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) wrote a letter of concern to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this week, expressing doubts over a plan to eliminate hundreds of legacy nav-aids and procedures in the transition from ground-based to satellite-based navigation systems.
The FAA intends to do this because, in their eyes, the older systems no longer have value to aircraft operators, but the NBAA does not see this as a one size fits all. While they support the transition, they note that each elimination needs to be evaluated on their own merits, lest business aviation operators risk losing access to airports.
“Before FAA eliminates legacy navaids, such as the ones at TEB, we have to ensure satellite-based performance-based navigation systems are in place so that access is retained,” Heidi Williams, NBAA director of air traffic services, said. “The VOR minimum operational network (MON) is supposed to be in place by 2020, and FAA is going through the elimination process of the legacy systems now, evaluating and allowing for comment periods on the navaids that will not be retained as part of the MON.”
Early elimination of certain procedures could impact access to busy airports, especially since, as in the case of New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport (TEB), air traffic control often uses radials and fixes from the TEB VOR to define the geographic points that enhance situational awareness of operations inbound to the airport, according to Williams. That said, the NBAA supports efforts to reduce the number of overall nav-aids and procedures being maintained by the FAA.