Page 32 - AAA JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2022 Online Magazine

COLUMN

5G ‘Goldilocks

Frequency’

NATIONAL TO REGIONAL TO AN INTERNATIONAL in most if not all commercial as well as military
CHALLENGE transport aircrafts which provides the capabil-
ity to land with ‘zero’ range-of-vision scenarios
through Instrument Landing System (ILS).
Fahad ibne Masood, MRAeS, Squadron Leader (R)
Radio altimeters, as they are synonymously
known, operate from 4.2-4.4 Ghz are crucial
Words like ‘Catastrophic’, ‘Delinquent’, ‘Irresponsible’, ‘Delays’ components of the bigger system which pre-
do not resonate with aviation operations especially on the com- cisely inform flight deck managers real-time
mercial aspect in which thousands if not millions of passengers height above ground level to variance of 2 feet
are involved. And those are exactly words Tim Clarke, Emirates till 2500ft above ground level. Amongst the two
President, fell back to while giving interview on an international times when aircrafts are close to ground, the
news channel (CNN) after he decided to cancel flights to United take-off and landing, the latter is considered
States. This decision came after US cellular network service provid- most critical by all aviators. So, during approach
ers, AT&T and Verizon, finally announced the long-awaited launch & landing phases, this equipment enables the
of 5G services to occur on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. He is pilots to gain situational awareness with regard
not alone and earlier Air India, All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, to ground-proximity, initiate positive control
Lufthansa as well as British Airways all announced changes to inputs to stay on glide path and most impor-
some flights, citing the issue. tantly, make decisions staying towards the safe
side of risk management both on automated
The tussle between multiple US Airlines and cellular service stal- flight-decks as well as in manual modes.
warts came into the limelight with a pressing AD (Airworthiness
Directive) issued by FAA in December 2021 which forbid pilots to C-Band is the bone of contention between
from using the potentially affected radar altimeters around airports the 5G network and radar altimeters. Turf-war
under detrimental visibility conditions. Recent-most AD related to started between U.S. Federal Communications
Boeing 787 pilots which is considered even more prone to this inter- Commission (FCC) & Federal Aviation
ference. The altimeters in question are avionics utilized & installed Administration (FAA) when the earlier

32 January/February 2022 WWW .GBP .COM.SG/ AAA