DESPITE CONTROVERSY, FAA TO PUSH FORWARD WITH 1998 WAAS ROLLOUT

KANSAS CITY, Mo.–Contrary to press reports, a lawsuit and rumors, the Federal Aviation Administration expects to meet its phase I deadline for the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) by late 1998, said Dave Peterson, FAA WAAS program manager at the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee (CGSIC) meeting here.

"A lot of things have been said about WAAS, but it is alive and doing well," Peterson said. "Five fingers have been poked into my chest–including the [FAA] administrator’s–to get it done by 1998.

He said the program did not lose ground when the FAA dumped its prime contractor, Wilcox Electric Inc., earlier this year and replaced it with Hughes Aircraft Co. [GMH]. "In fact, we may have gained ground. The Hughes contract is on schedule," Peterson said. "A lot of people said the program won’t fly. My response to that is ha ha."

As far as funding for WAAS is concerned, Peterson said that the program took a big hit in fiscal year 1997 funding, partly because of Wilcox Electric’s protest. "1997 was just a bad year. We went from no funding to more than $600 million for the program [in just a few years]," he said. "We asked for an additional $27 million for the program in 1997–a move that was supported by aviation users–but it was cut in a [House] committee. In a cost analysis of WAAS, the benefits were shown to be a four-to-one [ratio]. With factors such as free flight thrown on to it, that ration improves to 28-to-one."

Airlines are concerned that the cost of deploying WAAS will be passed onto them, said James Miller, a staff specialist with United Airlines. "We are concerned that fulfilling WAAS will mean that the airlines will have to pay for it through passenger facility tax and a 10 percent excise tax. The FAA argues that WAAS will be a strong system for aviation–that doesn’t justify having the airlines fully fund the system," he said.

He said the FAA is planning five Canadian stations and three additional in Mexico and one in Iceland to augment WAAS, which will cover the continental United States with ground-based capability by its final phase in June 2001 to October 2001. Ashtech receivers are being used in WAAS/GLONASS tests.

International standards and integration are the No. 1 concerns for many overseas aviation officials. "The United States made the decision to do their own thing concerning WAAS," said Ian Mallet, an official with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Australia. "We want to have a pilot landing at JFK in New York be able to land with the same box at Heathrow [in London]."