Alaskan Officials Ask Senate for Further FAA Support

A surprise retirement announcement by the Federal Aviation Administration's regional administrator, Pat Poe, at a U.S. Senate field hearing set the tone for the future of services to the aviation industry in Alaska.

Poe and FAA administrator Marion Blakey gave the news to a stern-faced Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens July 5.

"I tried to talk Pat out of this in several different ways, but he insists on leaving us," Blakey told Stevens. Poe came to Alaska in 2001, and announced his retirement during the Fourth of July holiday.

Industry and state aviation officials gathered at Anchorage's Loussac Library to testify before Stevens, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Testimony centered around Alaska's aviation infrastructure and funding challenges, and meeting future safety, capital and technological needs.

Industry witnesses for the field hearing included state Department of Transportation deputy director John Torgerson, Frontier Flying Service operations director Bob Hajdukovich, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport director Mort Plumb and Tom George, Alaska representative for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Missing were representatives from rural Alaska and the Alaska Native community.

While all of the witnesses thanked Stevens for his part in getting funding for aviation infrastructure improvements in the state, all asked for additional funding to put toward aviation safety and infrastructure improvements.

Blakey, the first to speak, showed her support as the administrator for the ADS-B, or Capstone, Medallion and Circle of Safety programs by re-iterating the increased safety record of Alaska carriers.

The Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast program, known as ADS-B equipment, is a system used to track aircraft in areas where radar does not reach. It has been used in Alaska for six years and is credited for improving aviation safety in Western Alaska. Developed under the Capstone program, ADS-B uses GPS coordinates on an ultra-high radio frequency to transmit digital data and receive information in real-time between aircraft, as well as from aircraft to ground controllers, detailing an aircraft's altitude, speed, type and direction.

Recent figures from a study by the University of Alaska Anchorage and Mitre Corp., a not-for-profit organization chartered to work in the public interest, showed that commercial aircraft safety has improved as much as 47 percent since these programs were instituted in Alaska.

"ADS-B will improve aviation safety in the air and on the ground, as well as increase capacity," Blakey said. "Capstone, which began installing equipment in aircraft in July 2000 in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, has served as a critical test bed for this important technology."

Blakey then explained why the signal showing ADS-B-equipped aircraft was taken off air-traffic controller's screens with no warning to pilots in March.

"Unfortunately, there were unintended consequences with the operator fleet monitoring and the display of traffic information in the control tower at Bethel," Blakey said. "Upon learning this, we took corrective action to reinstate the capability of air traffic control spacing and display of traffic information in the Bethel tower, both of which are now restored."

Sen. Stevens also wanted to know about the future of the state's airport improvement plans, notably for aviation infrastructure in rural Alaska.

Stevens last March had objected to the FAA's cutting $22.9 million for Alaska from the fiscal year 2007 budget. Stevens said that the state needs $30 million to improve and maintain its aviation infrastructure.

Blakey responded with a commitment to fund rural access, and reminded Stevens of the FAA's funding plan, a 44-page initiative for aviation improvements through the fiscal year 2011. Alaska is the only state specifically listed in the document.