MIAMI, FL – Pilots of aircraft flying out of Miami International Airport or any other major airport must get clearance for takeoff and the climb to cruising altitude from air traffic controllers who track the flight by radar and radio.

And while airborne, aircraft often meander along ''airways'' that are not always the most direct route between one city and another.

This system, in place for decades, may be coming to an end as a new satellite-based air traffic control system is gradually installed nationwide, with Miami the first site to house the new operational equipment.

The first phase of the system was formally unveiled at MIA on Tuesday by Federal Aviation Administration officials and executives of the private company, ITT, involved in installation.

Dubbed NextGen or Next Generation, the system eventually may replace conventional radar with satellite GPS signals to track aircraft more precisely -- enabling pilots to fly more direct paths instead of the often circuitous high-altitude and radio beacon airways of today.

FAA officials, however, said the existing radar system will remain in place even after national deployment of NextGen. Radars will be taken out of service gradually over a period of decades, with some remaining operational for a long time to serve as backup, officials said.

System advocates envision a future when pilots will also talk less or none at all to air traffic controllers for takeoff, climb and cruise authorizations -- receiving clearances instead as text messages on cockpit computer displays either sent by human controllers or pre-programmed into software linked to NextGen.

EXCITEMENT

''This is a significant milestone and a remarkable achievement for NextGen and everyone involved in its evolution,'' said Marion Blakey, a former FAA administrator under whose watch the new system began to take shape.

Blakey, who attended the system's MIA rollout ceremony Tuesday, is now president and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Industries Association.

Blakey, current FAA officials, ITT executives, Miami-Dade Aviation Director José Abreu and aviation industry leaders gathered for a three-hour breakfast presentation in a conference room of the airport hotel to mark the occasion.

''We are paying tribute to South Florida as it leads the nation in establishing the next generation of aviation technology and raising the bar in protecting all who fly,'' David Melcher, president of ITT's defense electronics and services business, told the group.

Arthur L. Sullivan, Jr., the FAA's program manager for the eastern U.S. service area, said Miami was picked for NextGen's first phase because the terrain is flat, the weather is generally not extreme and the air traffic corridor not as congested, for example, as that of New York.

What ITT installed at existing MIA air traffic control facilities and several sites around South Florida is equipment and ground transmitting stations of a component known as Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast or ADS-B.

Considered NextGen's cornerstone, ADS-B uses GPS satellite signals to pinpoint positions of aircraft and feed pilots real-time information of other aircraft nearby and route weather conditions.

Though active, the Miami ADS-B is not yet tied to the operational U.S. air traffic control system, according to an ITT statement, but is being evaluated for "operational effectiveness."

System ground stations were installed at several regional airports in South Florida, including airfields in Key West, Boca Raton and Marathon.

The system is now being installed on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, and will be deployed soon in Louisville, Philadelphia and Juneau, Alaska. Later on, according to a list outlined at the meeting, the system will go up at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando, Tallahassee and Pensacola, among other sites. The company estimates national deployment of ADS-B by 2013.

CHANGES AHEAD

NextGen promoters claim the system eventually will lessen the role of air traffic controllers and expand the authority of pilots, dramatically increase the number of aircraft in the air by diminishing separation between them and reducing delays caused by weather and airline congestion.

Sullivan, the FAA official, played down the notion NextGen will replace air traffic controllers and said the agency has no plans to reduce existing aircraft separation requirements. He also said the system, for now, mainly targets private pilots who normally would not have access to sophisticated navigation systems available on large commercial aircraft. But Sullivan said the system eventually will make flight paths between airports more direct.

Copyright 2009 Miami Herald Media Co. All rights reserved. From http://www.miamiherald.com. By Alfonso Chardy.
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