The
Next Generation Air Transportation system (NextGen) according to the FAA’s website
at its most basic level represents an evolution from a ground-based system of
air traffic control to a satellite-based system of air traffic management. This
evolution is vital to meeting future demand, and to avoiding gridlock in the
sky and at our nation’s airports. The NextGen air system will rely on four major
pillars: economic impact, sustainability, flexibility, and safety.
In my opinion safety is and always
will be the FAA’s first priority. The implementation of NextGen will increase
safety by allowing ATC to see more accurate aircraft location information. With
NextGen being such a large change in the way our industry operates it seems
obvious that this change would not be made if it was not improving the overall
safety.
Economic impact I feel would be the
next most important pillar because this is what the general public will notice
most especially in today’s economy. An article by The Washington
Post is a perfect example. This article focuses on how much money it is
costing the U.S.
I feel that the next two pillars flexibility
and sustainability go hand in hand with each other. For example in order for
NextGen to be sustainable over the many years to come, it has to be flexible
and be able to adapt along with all the new technological advancements.
The presidents proposed plan for
user fees is to charge $100 per flight to help cover the costs of this new
system. As I understand the need for user fees, I believe that it needs to be
done differently. I think that the government should charge according to who
uses the system the most this of course would be the airlines. However, if the
user fees are put into place the airlines would end up passing on the price to
its customers by raising the ticket prices. With this being said I feel that it
will have a negative impact on the aviation industry. NextGen will have a large impact on my career
as it will change the way the National Airspace System is operated.
