Modernization

Still Doing Today’s Work With Yesterday’s Tools

Those Who Utilize the System Know Best How to Improve It

ISSUE

The United States has the largest and safest air traffic system in the world handling about 60% of the world’s aviation—which includes more than 600,000 air traffic control services each day.  To retain this standing, it is essential that modernization remain at the forefront of the FAA’s mission.  Over the last three years, the modernization effort of the FAA has taken a back seat to almost everything the Administration has wanted to pursue.  In a time when capacity has rebounded and expected to triple by 2015, we have not witnessed a single new modernization program of any significance started under this Administration.  In fact all we have seen during the past three years are reductions and extensions.  The FAA has reduced the number of facilities selected to receive modernization tools while extending the deployment dates.   

NATCA POSITION

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association believes the FAA must place more emphasis on modernizing the National Airspace System, making it more efficient and safer for the flying public.  The current approach this Administration is taking with regards to modernization has been lackluster at best.  Modernizing the air traffic control system will not cure all the ills of the national airspace system.  We will still experience delays due to adverse weather conditions, peak scheduling, and runway acceptance limitations.  The proper tools in place will allow air traffic controllers to make faster and better decisions making the entire system safer and more efficient. 

Continued modernization of the national airspace system will benefit the entire aviation industry.  We currently have the safest and most efficient aviation system in the world, but the ongoing budget cuts threaten the safety and seamless operation of the system. Already, we are starting to see problems float to the surface, impeding the progress of the system, which bodes ill for the future.

When the FAA works in partnership with NATCA, great things are accomplished.  Recently the FAA celebrated the six-month anniversary for the beginning of service of  Domestic Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (DVRSM), which was made possible by the partnership the FAA had with the air traffic controllers.  ASDE-X (Airport Surface Detection Equipment – Model X) was a modernization project the air traffic controllers brought to the FAA, which is a key instrument in mitigating runway incursions according to the NTSB.  Over the summer, Russ Chew praised the collaborative efforts of the air traffic controllers, technicians, union and management that worked together successfully implementing ATOP (Advanced Technologies and Oceanic Procedures) at New York Center.  DVRSM, ASDE-X and ATOP are just a few of the many examples of how important it is to have collaboration between the FAA and the air traffic controllers.  Since the FAA chose to eliminate a very important partnership (liaisons) the chance of successfully implementing new equipment within cost and time schedules will most assuredly be impaired. 

BACKGROUND

Lack Of Stakeholder Involvement - The GAO issued two reports in less than a year on the progress the FAA has made on the National Airspace System.  Both reports specifically mention that due to a lack of input from stakeholders, such as air traffic controllers, modernization tools such as LAAS, WAAS, STARS, CPDLC and ASDE-X had cost overruns.  In the earlier report, the GAO mentions three challenges the FAA faces when approving systems for safe use in the national airspace system.  One of which is that the FAA does not involve appropriate stakeholders, such as users (air traffic controllers) throughout the approval process.  This report goes on to mention that the FAA has taken action in addressing two of the three challenges, but has not taken any action to fully involve stakeholders, such as air traffic controllers.  As we can see from the second report released six months later, the FAA did not take any actions addressing the remaining challenge of involving stakeholders in the approval process.

This past summer after the release of the GAO’s second report, the Administration took further drastic actions to hinder the advancement of the modernization projects by ending the air traffic controller liaison program and sending all technical representatives back to their individual facilities.  This is in complete opposition to what the Administrator said in 2004, “Now, another mutual concern. The agency has made some important strides in modernization. We both agree that we need to do more. There's no question that we need your (NATCA’s) help in deploying equipment to the field. One of the great lessons we've learned is that controller involvement -- early and continuous controller involvement-makes a big difference when it comes to deployment. We've stressed the need for controllers to be there each step of the way.”  ASDE-X was a good example of what can happen when the FAA brings in its stakeholders (air traffic controllers) early and includes them throughout the approval process.  The GAO made mention of this in the November 2004 report, “FAA faced fewer schedule and cost problems in approving ASDE-X for use in the national airspace system. This was, in part, because FAA included stakeholders early and throughout the approval process. The ASDE-X program office brought in stakeholders, including maintenance technicians and air traffic controllers, during the concept of operations phase and continued to involve them during requirements setting, design and development, and test and evaluation.  FAA also brought ASDE-X stakeholders together at technical meetings to provide input on ASDE-X design and development, which allowed the ASDE-X program office to design a system that met requirements and incorporated stakeholders’ needs. By obtaining the input of controllers and technicians at the beginning of the approval process, FAA was able to ensure that ASDE-X requirements were set at appropriate levels and not overspecified or underspecified.”  Without these liaisons working on the individual projects, the controllers will no longer be able to provide the agency with valuable insight on the design and development of current modernization projects, which will hinder the implementation of current and future projects, as mentioned in a 2003 GAO report, “stakeholders are key to identifying critical omissions and ‘no go’ items that could prevent a system from operating as intended.”

Reductions In The Number Of Equipment Deployments - Due to cost overruns and poor planning the FAA often has cut back the number of facilities originally slated to receive newer modernization tools.  In September 2005, the FAA’s Joint Resource Council (JRC) met to discuss Rebaseline Requests for certain modernization tools.  The JRC decided to terminate the deployment of ASDE-X (Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X) at 15 of the original 25 facilities scheduled to receive the system. The FAA’s new plan is to take these 15 systems and upgrade facilities that already have AMASS (Airport Movement Area Safety System)/ASDE-3 systems to a new ASDE-3X system.  As a result of this decision we are seeing increases in the estimated cost of the program as well as a prolonged deployment schedule.  The problem with this decision is that it leaves the 15 airports that were  supposed to receive an ASDE-X system without any ground radar surveillance system.  Likewise there is no guarantee that adding ASDE-X safety logic to an existing ASDE-3 system will work as envisioned.

The FAA’s Joint Resource Council also reduced the number of ASR-11 (Airport Surveillance Radar Model-11) deployments to 70 sites (66 FAA, 3 DOD and 1 HAATS) from the original 112.  ASR-11 was originally designed to be in the field and deployed before STARS but is currently in operation at 29 facilities.  According to the GAO, ASR-11 reduces operational cost, improves safety, and accommodates future capacity increases while also providing surveillance information to existing systems such as STARS in terminal facilities and other systems in en route facilities.  ASR-11 was meant to be the replacement for aging ASR-7 and ASR-8 technology, but the JRC report has also shown that the new ASR-11 will replace the ASR-7 systems and the FAA will digitize the ASR-8 to work with STARS.

STARS (Standard Terminal Replacement System) currently takes the prize for having the largest reduction in the number of deployed facilities.  Originally STARS was to be deployed to 172 facilities but the FAA revised its numbers in May 2004 changing the deployment to a phased approach and reducing the deployment number to 51 facilities for Phase 1 implementation.  Before the end of 2004, the FAA updated the number of facilities and reduced it to 47 facilities.  Currently, STARS is fully operational at 29 facilities with Philadelphia being the largest.

Cost-Overruns And Extensions - The Department of Transportation Inspector General estimates that the FAA has spent a total of $35 billion on modernization projects since the 1980’s.

The GAO reported this past June that STARS could be finally implemented by 2008 for Phase 1 at a cost of almost $1.5 billion dollars, $520 million more than originally projected.  Last October the Department of Transportation Inspector General reported that STARS has a cost growth of 80% at almost $1.7 billion and a final implementation of 2012.  STARS is one of the major programs that had cost growth, schedule extensions and/or performance problems that the GAO contributed to the fact that stakeholders (air traffic controllers and technicians) were not sufficiently involved.

WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) is the most expensive modernization tool currently being implemented in the National Airspace System.  Program costs have ballooned by about 227% since its original cost target of $509 million while complete implementation has extended by 13 years.  The agency acknowledged in retrospect that it didn’t have the technical expertise to address WAAS’s technical challenges.  The agency sought controllers’ expertise in 2000 to help address these issues.  According to the GAO, “this lack of technical expertise contributed to a 6-year delay in WAAS’ commissioning and a $1.5 billion increase in its development cost from the 1994 baseline of $509 million.”  According to the Inspector General’s testimony from October 2004, the current estimated program cost for WAAS is over $2.9 billion, which includes the cost for acquiring the geostationary satellites.  WAAS is another major program that the GAO contributed cost growth, schedule extensions and/or performance problems to the lack of stakeholder (air traffic controller and technicians) involvement.

LAAS (Local Area Augmentation System) funding was cut to a minimum in 2004. Congress approved an additional $10 million in FY2005 for LAAS, even though the agency requested nothing.  To date, LAAS has about a 31% cost growth from the original $530 million estimated in 1998.  As the agency talks of moving to a Global Positioning System based navigation and landing system it is currently in the process of awarding a contract for the purchase and installation of as many as 615 instrument landing systems between 2007 and 2013. Where does the FAA’s GPS LAAS precision approach program stand today?  The GAO reported, “during fiscal year 2006, the program office will develop a business case justification on whether to continue the LAAS program.  At a recent ATC conference, Steve Zaidman, the agency’s vice president of operations services, stated there was currently no business case for the system. Zaidman’s comment echoed earlier sentiments by FAA ATO Chief Operating Officer Russell Chew, who reiterated those statements at the conference, explaining the agency can no longer support projects that are not sound, long-term capital investments or which would burden cash-strapped operators with the purchase of equipment lacking short-term payback.  In both GAO reports from the past year, LAAS was mentioned as having cost growth, schedule extensions and/or performance problems since stakeholder involvement was at a minimal.

The ASDE-X (Airport Surface Detection Equipment-Model X) program was scheduled to include 25 airports with a completion date of 2007, but due to budget cuts in 2004 and 2005, as well as an increase in the number of airports (33) slated to receive ASDE-X, only 15 facilities will have received ASDE-X by that date.  The current estimated cost of ASDE-X is about $85 million more than originally estimated and the agency is now estimating that the project will be completed by 2009.  Most recently in September, the JRC (Joint Resource Council) noted that due to a $31.1 million budget reduction between 2001 and 2005, increased costs and additional software development needed to upgrade the AMASS sites to the new ASDE-3X the project will not be completed until 2011.  Due to this restructure of ASDE-X, the JRC is estimating a total F&E cost of $549.8 million.  This is a $39.6 million increase from the March 2005 figure the GAO released this past June.

The FAA deployed Common ARTS Color Displays (ACDs) systems to 141 air traffic control facilities including 11 of the largest TRACONS in the country. However, only seven of those received the modern ACDs. The agency continues to delay the decision on completing terminal modernization. In July 2005, the FAA announced that it intends to hold a “limited” competition between Raytheon (STARS) and Lockheed Martin (ACDs) for the replacement of the aging displays at the remaining four large TRACONs. Once initiated, this competition will take 14-19 months. This means that under the FAA’s current plan the aging displays will not be replaced at these critical facilities for another two and half to three years – a massive six year delay.  Since FY00, the agency has spent over $73 million on Common ARTS Terminal Sustainment.  Common ARTS Sustainment has funding planned beyond FY2009.

The Next Generation Air to Ground Communication (NEXCOM) system will enhance controller to pilot communication by replacing dated analog equipment with new state of the art digital equipment.  This technology will increase security by requiring authentication upon usage to prevent non-controllers from gaining access to the communications system.  NEXCOM will also alleviate the common occurrence of a stuck microphone that ties up a frequency and does not allow the controller to communicate with the pilot.  The administration terminated funding for this program in 2004 and according to the GAO the FAA has postponed funding for Segment 1B (the ground stations) until at least fiscal year 2008.  NEXCOM was originally scheduled for deployment to 12,000 facilities between 2003 and 2008.  Currently the plan is to deploy NEXCOM to the same 12,000 facilities, but the cost estimates have more than doubled and the current schedule for deployment estimates that it will be well beyond 2008 before the project is completed.

In April 2003, the FAA terminated CPDLC (Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications) because they believed the benefits did not outweigh the cost.  CPDLC will allow controllers and pilots to communicate routine messages digitally back and forth to each other alleviating congestion on the frequencies and helping to increase the capacity a controller can handle.  According to the GAO, “One of the most important aspects of this technology is its intended reduction of operational errors from misunderstood instructions and feedback errors.”  For Fiscal Year 2005, the FAA requested $3 million to shutdown CPDLC at Miami Center, the initial test site where it has been in daily operational use since October 2002.  An American Airlines official told the ATMAC that the development of a single compatible data-link system was going to be a huge factor in the ability of the FAA to create a more-efficient NAS. "This has enormous potential to achieve efficiency," the source said. "It will allow us to manage airplanes very dynamically." CPDLC demonstrations in Europe and Miami have been successful in cutting voice congestion between cockpit and tower while cutting errors.  “CPDLC reduces [controller and pilot] workload. This cut is substantial. The prototype has helped our knowledge of human factors.  Killing the program is necessary because it costs $3 million per year to operate only on a small number of aircraft based in Miami, FL,” said Marion Blakey in March 30, 2004 edition of Inside FAA.

Airport Surveillance Radar Model-11 (ASR-11) was scheduled to replace aging analog radars at 111 facilities (currently 5 sites are commissioned and five more are fully operational).  The FAA’s Joint Resource Council just reduced the number of ASR-11 deployments to 66 FAA sites plus 3 Department of Defense sites and one HAATS funded site.  ASR-11 was originally designed to be in the field and deployed before STARS and that is currently in operation at 29 facilities.  According to the GAO, ASR-11 reduces operational cost, improves safety, and accommodates future capacity increases while also providing surveillance information to existing systems such as STARS in terminal facilities and other systems in en route facilities.  ASR-11 was originally supposed to be fully commissioned by the end of 2005 with an initial cost of $743.3 million.  As of June 2005 the current schedule of deployment has been extended to 2013 while the current cost is around $916 million.  In just 4 months the FAA has decreased the number of ASR-11 sites from 112 to 66, but the cost ($696.50 M) is virtually unchanged from the original estimate with more than a 40% reduction in deployed radar sites.  According to the JRC, the increased cost is mostly due to budget deferrals, update requirements, safety enhancements to equipment and cost estimating and risk.  With budget cuts each year, ASR-11 has not received its full budget request for the past couple of years.  Some of these budget cuts have been self inflicted as the FAA has reprogrammed some of the ASR-11 budget for other functions as in May 2004 when they moved $2.35 million to fund Essential Air Service.  Most recently, we can see the FAA’s budget request to Congress for FY2006 is $26.2 million less than the $86.8 million that was enacted in 2005.

Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon Interrogator-Replacement (ATCBI-6) will reduce cost due to its ability to increase the reliability and capability of the air traffic control system.  According to the GAO, “ATCBI-6 radar beacons will be able to determine both range and direction to and from the aircraft, in addition to forwarding this information to the appropriate Air Route Traffic Control Centers’ automation system.”  ATCBI-6 was initially scheduled to be deployed in 2000 and finished by 2004, but due to budget cuts in 2002 and 2003, that schedule has been pushed back and is now currently scheduled for completion in 2008.

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