The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working with airplane makers, airlines, and wireless carriers to reduce the potential impact of a new 5G service set to begin on Jan. 19.
Last year, the FCC auctioned off spectrum for $80 billion to AT&T and Verizon Communications. On Jan. 3, the two companies agreed to buffer zones around 50 airports to reduce the risk of interference. They also agreed to delay deployment for two weeks, averting an aviation safety standoff.
The FAA published hundreds of notices offering details on aircraft that won’t perform low-visibility landings where 5G is deployed. The FAA did not respond to how many in total will be published.
The wireless industry has been working with the FAA to ensure that its 5G deployment will not cause interference with aircraft landing procedures. The industry provided additional transmitter location data. The FAA determined that in the initial 5G deployment, aircraft will land in low-visibility conditions on some runways without restrictions safely.
The FAA has determined that specific GPS-guided approaches will continue to be possible at significant airports like Miami and Phoenix. The FAA said Wednesday that it expects to provide updates soon about the estimated percentage of commercial aircraft equipped with altimeters that can operate reliably and accurately in the 5G C-Band environment.
After testing several radar altimeters, the FAA has not determined which ones will be reliable and accurate when the 5G C-Band is deployed in the United States. On Friday, they selected 50 U.S. airports with buffer zones when wireless carriers turned on their new 5G C-band service.
