Page 14 - Volume 11 Number 10

What’s Happening in Aviation
by Kim Blonigen
ATC Proposal May be Headed Tto a Vote Soon
he latest hearsay regarding the ATC Proposal is that a vote may soon be on the Senate floor – the “first few weeks of October,” but we’ve
heard many predictions before. Not only are the general aviation groups still voicing their opposition, but now there are videos with well-known astronauts and famed military pilots (former Blue Angels and
Thunderbirds pilots) who have come forward to voice their disapproval of privatizing the ATC.
Business and general aviation groups have recently asked House and Senate leaders to strip the ATC measure out of the bill and adopt at least a six-month extension of the FAA’s current authorization which would provide continuity for NextGen and airports projects and allow a longer-term FAA reauthorization to be hashed out.
FAA Aligns North Atlantic Nav Ops with ICAO Specs
On September 29, 2016, the FAA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) which proposed to “harmonize the FAA’s regulations regarding the North Atlantic Track (NAT) Minimum Navigation Performance Specifications (MNPS) with those of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)” whose NAT Region had transitioned from a decades-old MNPS navigation specification to a more modern, Performance-Based Naviation (PBN). This included requiring PBN specifications to operate in NAT high level airspace by January 2020. Accordingly, the FAA proposed to remove all mention of MNPS in Part 91. The proposed rule
12 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
OCTOBER 2017
AVIATION ISSUES