A still not fully resolved problem — one that the Federal Aviation Administration and commercial airlines have known about for years — could bring even more air travel woes for Americans this weekend and make a mess of airports as peak summer travel season arrives.
The issue lies with increasing the power of 5G signals from cell towers and the interference they cause for some older radio altimeters, two technological wonders that, as it turns out, don't play well together. That matters because altimeters play a rather vital role for a plane and its crew and need to be accurate, especially when a plane is landing in inclement weather that causes low visibility, during one of the most critical points of a flight.
Due to caterwauling from airlines over the costs associated with upgrading their fleets to ensure boosted 5G signals wouldn't interfere with radio altimeters — and concerns from the FAA over 5G's impact to planes — a full 5G expansion slated for 2021 was delayed — first until early 2022, then pushed back to July 2022, and eventually set for July 1, 2023. Now, federal officials say there won't be any more extensions and the full expansion of 5G signals will take place in the middle of the weekend before Independence Day.
Two legitimate and necessary roles of government are spectrum management and air safety.
— Steve Roemerman (@SDRoem) June 24, 2023
But the US is repeatedly failing at both as government agencies fail to coherently implement policies across their fiefdoms. This is the latest example. https://t.co/n3ZcaPh75X
That means airlines with planes not upgraded to mitigate 5G interference won't be allowed to land at airports where such interference exists and the conditions require a functioning, accurate radio altimeter. As it turns out, it's rather important for a flight crew to know how far above the ground they are when taking their 100+ ton jet back toward earth at around 2,000 feet per minute without being able to see the runway.
According to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, roughly 20 percent of planes in domestic airlines' fleets haven't been upgraded yet and 35 percent of the aircraft operated by international carriers for flights to America have yet to have interference mitigation completed.
That is, to kick off a holiday weekend in which AAA estimates a record-setting 4.17 million Americans will travel by air, one in five domestic planes might not be allowed to land at their destination in addition to one-third of international aircraft.
According to former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, this potentially chaotic situation was brought about through "a classic 'dog ate my homework' excuse on the part of the aviation industry."
"Airline passengers... should feel just fine," says @AjitPai after @SecretaryPete warned that the 5G rollout could delay flights. "This is a classic 'dog ate my homework' excuse on the part of the aviation industry." pic.twitter.com/8dRQmY3jxH
— Last Call (@LastCallCNBC) June 23, 2023
For the Biden administration's part in this, Secretary Buttigieg said "there's a real risk of delays or cancellations" as a result of airlines not completing upgrades for all planes before July 1. The situation, according to Buttigieg, "represents one of the biggest — probably the biggest — foreseeable problem affecting performance this summer."
While Buttigieg may be right that air travelers will face even more chaos while flying starting on Saturday, the 5G situation is far from the only foreseeable problem affecting airlines and their passengers. In March, the Biden administration's failure to preempt or take meaningful action to mitigate an Air Traffic Control staffing shortage caused the FAA to require a cut to airlines' summer flight schedules at busy hubs on the East Coast — making conditions worse for passengers and putting more stress on airlines.
As Townhall reported at the time:
There's no reason why the FAA, Buttigieg, or Biden wouldn't have known there'd be issues in the upcoming summer travel season unless staffing shortfalls were addressed. Yet, they apparently did not do anything to avert the problem, at least nothing that made a difference, and now flight schedules in America's largest city and the nation's capital are being slashed.
Under Biden and Buttigieg, America's air travel system has been facing increased stress and cascading interruptions. On Wednesday morning alone, and even before Saturday's 5G boost that could sideline 20 percent of domestic aircraft depending on fickle summer weather, more than 1,700 U.S. flights had been delayed and more than 700 were canceled — including 12 percent of LaGuardia departures.
For those keeping track at home, we're at ~35,000 nationwide flight disruptions so far this week.
— Zach Griff (@_ZachGriff) June 28, 2023
Here's the daily breakdown (delays/cancellations):
Sunday: 9,902/1,412
Monday: 8,850/2,252
Tuesday: 7,749/2,199
Wednesday (as of 10am ET): 1,660/707
Let's see what happens today!🤞
The FAA, under Biden, still does not have a Senate-confirmed administrator, leaving the critical agency without permanent leadership as it struggles to keep America's air transportation system safe and in working order.