NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM: OBSERVATIONS ON THE WIDE AREA AUGMENTATION SYSTEM. TESTIMONY

This is the statement of Gerald L. Dillingham, Associate Director, Transportation Issues, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division before the Subcommittee on Aviation, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives. FAA is acquiring the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) - a network of equipment on the ground and in space - to enhance DOD's Global Positioning System (GPS) so that the system can meet civil aviation requirements; specifically, so that the system can be available virtually all of the time. Satellite based navigation, using GPS/WAAS, is expected to improve the safety of flight operations, allow the fuel-efficient routing of aircraft, increase airport and airspace capacity to meet future air traffic demands, and enable FAA to phase out its costly network of ground-based navigation aids. The purpose of this testimony is to aid congressional oversight by providing insights into the cost, schedule, and technical issues that have drawn considerable attention to the WAAS program. The testimony discusses: (1) the likelihood of WAAS' satisfying key performance requirements within current program cost and schedule estimates; (2) the importance of avoiding delays in FAA's timetable for shutting down (decommissioning) ground-based navigation aids; and (3) the potential impact of cost increases and decommissioning delays on the benefit-cost analysis for the WAAS program.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.21949/1403859
• 
• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12570
• Corporate Authors:

  U.S. General Accounting Office

  441 G Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20548
• Publication Date: 1997-10-1

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Tables;
• Pagination: 20 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air traffic; Aircraft; Benefit cost analysis; Costs; Flight; Global Positioning System; Navigational aids; Routing; Safety; Satellite navigation systems; Schedules; Traffic delays
• Identifier Terms: National Airspace System; Wide Area Augmentation System
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Finance; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00761135
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: GAO/T-RCED-98-2
• Files: NTL, TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 12 1999 12:00AM