Looks like the ongoing battle between telcos and airlines is never-ending.
In the United States, the transition to 5G has been rocky. The cellular service’s introduction has been delayed in part due to concerns that it could endanger plane safety. Emirates, British Airways, and Air India all canceled flights to the United States on Wednesday due to worries about 5G tower interference.
The aviation industry is outraged, despite Verizon and AT&T agreeing to limit the rollout near important airports. Carriers, airlines, pilots, and passengers are all fucking pissed off, according to scientific standards. What you need to know about the drama is listed here.
What’s the source of the issue?
Verizon and AT&T both use the C-band spectrum for their 5G networks, which is a collection of radio waves that is supposed to give more coverage and faster speeds. There is, however, one major drawback: the frequencies are very close to those utilized by sensitive flight instruments. This has generated concerns that 5G antennas near airports would interfere with radio altimeters, which provide information about an airplane’s altitude and help it land safely.
What might this mean for planes?
The Radio Technical Committee for Aeronautics (RTCA) issued a warning in 2020, predicting “catastrophic failures resulting in several fatalities in the absence of effective mitigations.”
Concerns have also been raised by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Last November, the FAA warned that 5G might cause “safety equipment to malfunction” and “degrade the capabilities of safety systems and other equipment that rely on radio altimeters, particularly during low-altitude operations.”
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On Monday, executives from some of America’s largest airlines revealed new concerns. They claimed in a joint letter to government officials published with TNW that 5G might lead to substantial flying limitations and the grounding of large swaths of planes. Due to the fact that radio altimeters transmit important information to other safety and navigation systems in current airplanes, a number of modern safety systems will be rendered useless.
However, there is no evidence that 5G conflicts with any of these systems. 5G networks can safely use the C-band spectrum, according to the CTIA, a telecoms lobbying group, “without causing significant interference to aviation equipment.”
What does the aviation industry want?
The airline executives demanded that 5G signals be kept out of “about two miles of airport runways at affected airports as specified by the FAA on January 19, 2022.”
The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents over 61,000 pilots in the United States and Canada, also wants the implementation limited.
Because other countries do not use the same 5G frequencies as the United States, the problems haven’t had as much of an impact.
