Timely ADS-B Application

[MDPilot]

SANTA EQUIPS WITH AUTOMATIC DEPENDENT

SURVEILLANCE-BROADCAST (ADS-B) SYSTEM

NEW APPLICATIONS ANNOUNCED

HOLD FOR RELEASE UNTIL NOON (ALASKA TIME), DECEMBER 23rd.


Dateline: North Pole
12/23/05

In an announcement made today at the North Pole, Santa Claus declared that his reindeer sled has been equipped with emerging avionics technology intended to safely speed delivery of gifts this Christmas season. Indicating his elves had been busy working on this project for quite sometime, Santa and his team successfully equipped their new state-of-the-art sled with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) surveillance technology. ADS-B broadcasts “own-sled” position, as well as other message set elements, and is intended to reduce the likelihood of both airborne and surface collisions with other traffic.

“We had no choice but to equip,” said Santa. “With the revitalization of air travel this past year and the increasing number of near-misses I’ve encountered in recent years, our move to this new technology was necessary to protect my sled and its precious cargo. With ADS-B Sled Display of Traffic Information (SDTI), Santa, as well as his helpers back at North Pole Dispatch, can now electronically “see” potentially conflicting air traffic, vastly enhancing Santa’s situational awareness. The associated ground-based Flight Monitoring Application will allow Santa’s Dispatchers to monitor his progress and react more quickly to any unforeseen difficulties. “It really will make a difference as to how we self-separate the reindeer and sled from private, and commercial air traffic,” said Santa during today’s press conference.

A new addition for the 2005 Christmas season will be a Constant Descent Arrival capability, or CDA. Using CDA, reindeers can just lean back and do an idle-pull descent so that they can arrive -- very quietly -- on top of each rooftop. “CDA allows our reindeers to rest up between deliveries, vastly improving their operational efficiency. Additionally, we can save extra hay and oats by not having our reindeer waste energy trying to pull the sled around at low altitude, needlessly. It’s a welcome solution for us,” commented one of Santa’s senior helpers.

Mrs. (Karen) Claus, in real life also a Boeing 747 management pilot for a major airline, was quite positive. She said, “Can you imagine what might happen in bad weather, when we deliver all those gifts and land on the roofs of apartment houses? With our new onboard multifunction SDTI displays, we can significantly reduce the likelihood of both roof-incursions as well as Controlled Flight Into Rooftop (CFIR) accidents, the latter being a collision between the sled and one of many obstructions in a city obstacle-rich environment. The avionics incorporates weather data link along with terrain and obstacle databases…those old television antennas on those Cape Cod style roofs can be treacherous. Also, high television antenna concentrations are especially dangerous, and prevalent around large apartment complexes.”

Roof incursions and CFIR accidents, although rare, have dramatically increased in recent years with the building of large apartment and condominium complexes, especially in and around large cities, according to Mrs. Claus. “Our new ADS-B and SDTI equipment will help us safely make multiple sled deliveries in highly populated, downtown, city centers,” said Mrs. Claus.

Meanwhile, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials announced in Washington, DC that a modest number of Ground Broadcast Transceivers (GBTs) to support this technology have been deployed to provide updated traffic, weather and aeronautical data to Santa’s sled. Santa had been cooperating with the FAA’s Safe Flight 21 Program and the Alaska Capstone Program to evaluate this technology in Alaska and the lower 48 States. In September of 2005 the FAA announced that ADS-B will likely become a coast-to-coast surveillance system in the near future. Santa said that, since 2001, his reindeer had been participating in initial flight evaluations in the vicinity of Bethel and Juneau, Alaska, using first generation GBTs produced by Sensis Corporation, and with avionics manufactured by GARMIN AT. Bethel is just a few short “hops” by reindeer from Santa’s headquarters at the North Pole.

“We participated in the Bethel tests because we saw immediate benefits to our operations,” said Santa. “My Dispatch / Operations Center can now use ADS-B to efficiently track my progress, thereby helping my elves provide more efficient ramp turn-around management and inventory control for my frequent returns to reload my sled. We can receive up-linked traffic from traditional radar sites as well as real-time weather data, and we’ve agreed to participate in flight monitoring testing so FAA can track me as I head south”.

In a separate development, the FAA is planning to continue to expand its ADS-B radar-like services within the Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (ANC ARTCC) with five additional sites to be commissioned by year’s end, and another 18 due on-line in 2006. Additionally, the FAA’s Safe Flight 21 Program is cooperating with academic institutions such as Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), Middle Tennessee State University, and the University of North Dakota, as well as several state aviation organizations, to deploy a limited ADS-B network in the lower 48. “An Initial Operational Capability Notice to Airman (NOTAM) announcing expanded services to aircraft was released last spring and we expect further announcements shortly,” commented one senior FAA Official, who wished to remain anonymous.

As part of an innovative installation approach to conserve weight, Santa’s elves have devised a way to use each reindeer’s antlers to mount the two ADS-B antenna, vastly reducing the time and cost required for installation of the overall ADS-B avionics system. While some FAA certification officials said that they initially had some serious certification issues and “heartburn” with this approach, FAA’s concerns were addressed as part of a dedicated flight test program. “The Applicant showed us an equivalent level of safety to other aircraft as well as other reindeer operations,” said an FAA spokesperson in Seattle. “We had no reason to delay Santa’s installation.”

Upon hearing the news that this new equipment would be available for use this Christmas, Rudolpf, the lead reindeer with his nose so red, exhibited good pilot etiquette and judgment when he said, “I’ll drink to that -- but not on Christmas Eve when I’m still on duty!”


CORPORATE BACKGROUND: Santa Claus operates the world’s largest one-day-only point-to-point small package delivery system. Santa delivers more packages to more households on Christmas Eve than does all the other small package delivery services combined. The FAA’s Safe Flight 21 and Capstone Programs are very real, and hold promise in 2006 and beyond for providing significant safety, capacity, and efficiency benefits to all airspace users. Happy Holidays!
Santa, on his FAA checkride "Hey, what's the shotgun for? Inspector says "I'm not supposed to tell ya, but you're gonna lose one on takeoff."

[JEP]

Sweet !!!!! The kiddies are watching Santa Claus is Coming to Town right now. Too Funny. They can't wait to catch the Santa Claus tracker to see where he is at on that day.

[ASpilot2be]

He really needs Capstone. Oh wait, it comes unplugged in bumpy weather . True story, it really did come unplugged when the pilot was in "pea soup" .

[Ophir]

Think about how easy it used to be for Santa before 1903! Damn airplanes crowding the sky. Talk about S/A