4 ms·

The US seems stuck in a holding pattern of "two more weeks, two more weeks" without addressing any of the potential workarounds like power, directional antennas

The US seems stuck in a holding pattern of "two more weeks, two more weeks" without addressing any of the potential workarounds like power, directional antennas, or even blackout zones. From what I've read, the airlines and FAA haven't really put forward any proposals for compromise, like leaving towers off near airports. It's always no 5G anywhere until they've had more time, as if the planned 5G deployment came as a total surprise. Or why can't the towers be turned off in bad weather only?

houseofzeus 5y ago
My read is either the FAA or the airlines or both want money re-allocated from the FCC spectrum sales or the carriers (or both) to retrofit their dated equipment.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- LocalH 5y ago
  So the airlines are cheap bastards, got it
themaninthedark 5y ago
Maybe key people are out with Covid?
RNCTX 5y ago
Shouldn't be surprising to hear that the FAA doesn't really do anything with this stuff. They appoint a corporate-filled board of avionics companies to do all of the work for them, and then rubber stamp what those companies want.
bin_bash 5y ago
yeah as someone that isn't following this super closely it feels like the airlines are on their back foot and unprepared. These radios are days away from being turned on permanently and they haven't done any smoke testing? Why weren't they working with the telecoms 12 months ago to run trials? I'm not sympathetic to the airlines right now.
- dylan604 5y ago
  >it feels like the airlines are on their back foot and unprepared. maybe the airlines should temporarily reassign the teams that redesign seating arrangements to reduce spacing to allow more people onboard. they seem very efficient at their tasks, and there's really not much left for them to do
- NovemberWhiskey 5y ago
  This is not the airlines problem: the airlines have type certified transport/commuter category aircraft with all kinds of radios - include the radar altimeters that are the problem here - that are required to meet exact performance specifications - which they did. The FAA waited until December to issue airworthiness directives that limit the ability of the airlines to rely on radar altimeters under certain circumstances. The background here appears to be some kind of pissing match between US government agencies including the FAA, the FCC and the NTIA. What exactly do you think the airlines were supposed to do here? Go out and have all their radar altimeters replaced? Replaced with what? The required standards haven't changed, and it's the FAA that writes the standard (technical service orders). This is also not a "smoke testing" problem. This is a "on the worst day, in the worst set of circumstances, what is the degree of compromise of the assumed safety margins" question.
phgn 5y ago
op00to 5y ago
It’s not all 5g, just a new band. They can figure out the technical issues without putting airliners at risk.

houseofzeus 5y ago

My read is either the FAA or the airlines or both want money re-allocated from the FCC spectrum sales or the carriers (or both) to retrofit their dated equipment.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
LocalH 5y ago
So the airlines are cheap bastards, got it

themaninthedark 5y ago

Maybe key people are out with Covid?

RNCTX 5y ago

Shouldn't be surprising to hear that the FAA doesn't really do anything with this stuff. They appoint a corporate-filled board of avionics companies to do all of the work for them, and then rubber stamp what those companies want.

bin_bash 5y ago

yeah as someone that isn't following this super closely it feels like the airlines are on their back foot and unprepared. These radios are days away from being turned on permanently and they haven't done any smoke testing? Why weren't they working with the telecoms 12 months ago to run trials? I'm not sympathetic to the airlines right now.

dylan604 5y ago
>it feels like the airlines are on their back foot and unprepared. maybe the airlines should temporarily reassign the teams that redesign seating arrangements to reduce spacing to allow more people onboard. they seem very efficient at their tasks, and there's really not much left for them to do
NovemberWhiskey 5y ago
This is not the airlines problem: the airlines have type certified transport/commuter category aircraft with all kinds of radios - include the radar altimeters that are the problem here - that are required to meet exact performance specifications - which they did. The FAA waited until December to issue airworthiness directives that limit the ability of the airlines to rely on radar altimeters under certain circumstances. The background here appears to be some kind of pissing match between US government agencies including the FAA, the FCC and the NTIA. What exactly do you think the airlines were supposed to do here? Go out and have all their radar altimeters replaced? Replaced with what? The required standards haven't changed, and it's the FAA that writes the standard (technical service orders). This is also not a "smoke testing" problem. This is a "on the worst day, in the worst set of circumstances, what is the degree of compromise of the assumed safety margins" question.

phgn 5y ago

op00to 5y ago

It’s not all 5g, just a new band. They can figure out the technical issues without putting airliners at risk.