NEXTGEN

    NEXTGEN, or the Next Generation Air Transportation system is a change in how we all currently fly. NEXTGEN increase safety as well as reduce fuel usage by few delays. The purpose of NEXTGEN is to provide an all around better flying experience.

     NEXTGEN is based upon four pillars. These pillars are economic impact, sustainability, flexibility and safety. In terms of importance, I rank these pillars in order from most important to least important as safety, economic impact, sustainability and finally flexibility. I rank safety as number one because any advances in safety to help further protect human life agains disasters is always a great thing. After safety, I rank economic impact because of the fragile state of our economy. It is said by the FAA that the economic impact of civil aviation creates over 10 million jobs and circulates over 1.3 trillion dollars. This accounts from over 5% of the U.S. GDP, a rather significant number in my opinion.

     Safety will be improved by NEXTGEN by using advanced satellite-based surveillance which will deliver weather, airspace and traffic notifications to flight crews in a quick manner. By having this up-to-date information, flight crews will have an advantage in making important decisions.

     The economic impact of civil aviation is tremendous. Because of this, it is important that the air traffic control system to be advanced and up-to-date.

     With new equipment helping flight crews to enhance routes, minimize ground time and holding time, less fuel will be burned. Not only will this save money, but it will have a smaller detrimental effect of the fuel usage on our planet and atmosphere.

     Flexibilty in travel routes is important for several reasons. One being that companies will spend less time in the air traveling the same route, lowering the cost of operation, therefor increasing profit margins. As well as the monetary benefits, NEXTGEN will also improve flight crew ability to circumnavigate bad weather, increasing safety and of course, burning less fuel.

     NEXTGEN may sound great, but it does have its negatives. ADS-B, Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast is the technology that NEXTGEN will utilize. This equipment, which will be required by a majority of aircraft is quite expensive. This equipment may cost upwards of several thousands of dollars to over tens of thousands of dollars, is just not affordable to the average weekend flyer who happens to own his or her own aircraft.

     I believe that NEXTGEN is a great thing and it will benefit the aviation community, as well as the economy. I foresee increases in travel, therefor creating more jobs for pilots and ground operations.