WAAS Going Away?

[LifeofReiley]

I have a friend that is does avionics repairs and has for about 20 years. We were in a discussion at the hangar last weekend and he made a statement that WAAS will be shut down in the near future due to contract and pricing conflicts for the service. Anyone else heard of this?

[Auburntsts]

Haven't heard that, but we had a Chapter Fly-in this past Saturday and our treasurer (and -7 builder) works for the FAA on the GPS WAAS system. I was talking to him about my panel and he was strongly pushing me to at least have one certified WAAS box (ie a 430W, etc). I'll cautiously infer from the conversation that WAAS appears to be alive and well, but will caveat that with we didn't specifically talk about potential near term issues. He is from the FAA, after all.

[Ron Lee]

But that would be a surprise. Many approaches using WAAS-augmented GPS for lower minimums obviously need WAAS.

Their ADS-B Out NPRM (which I am opposed to) apparently sets performance parameters so tight as to only have a WAAS solution.

[lostpilot28]

Could he have meant Mode-S?

[ergie63]

No indication from the AOPA that something is awry with WAAS. I can't imagine they'd let that one go. Your radiohead must have been thinking NDBs, LORAN or possibly a VOR or two. Contracts and pricing? Was he thinking of the miserable privatized flight service?

[gmcjetpilot]

Well what are we talking about. From Wiki

"Wide Area Augmentation System" (WAAS) is currently being deployed in the U.S., the error is reduced to a cube about 10 feet on a side. This allows precision instrument approaches (with lateral and vertical guidance) with landing weather minima nearly as low as the Category I Instrument Landing System -- but no ground-based equipment except for a relatively few units that determine the WAAS correction signals relayed through satellites to user aircraft. Further refinements include "Local Area Augmentation System" (LAAS) which will probably allow Category III approaches (practically speaking, landings in "zero-zero" weather) -- again, with minimal requirement for ground stations. LAAS is planned to use the same VHF band for its correction message. This might require some existing VOR facilities to be shut down or shifted to different frequencies to avoid interference issues.

I have not heard about WAAS program shutting down overall. May be he meant WAAS at your local airport? Sometimes original contractors with the FAA, who produce equipment and installations fall short and they need to change over to a new vendor or spec at that one location?

WAAS will evolve to LAAS. Why would they replace it and what would replace it, keep VOR's and ILS? The concept of WAAS is solid, built on the back of GPS, which will be around way after we are kicking. I don't see a replacement for GPS in the next 50-100 years. It makes sense they will try to use it for approaches. WAAS is the obvious solution. The ILS will be around for at least 50 years. I see inertial & GPS only NAV airways, much like the Oceanic routes are today, just over the USA. The need to save fuel, fly direct and avoid WX delays is there as well.

ADF? yes beacons (NDB's) are going away all the time. Can you imagine the cost of maintaining all those antennas, radio shacks with APU's and leasing the land. Than the FAA has to go around and fly all those Navaids to test them. GPS will solve that. My guess is most will go like the Lighthouse. The VOR and ILS will be around longer, may be 50 years but a few will stay around until something better comes along. Right now I can't see a GPS replacement.


On a related note:

I remember when MLS (Microwave Landing System) was going to be all the rage in the early 90's. It's like a ILS on steroids and can do curved final approach paths, saving planes from long straight ins and allowing simultaneous approaches to different runway's at the same airport. Never really took off. There are a few in the USA mountainous airports for ski destinations. It's more than a DME arc its precision curved approaches. MLS is being replaced. By what? Guess.

Again from Wiki:

The FAA suspended the MLS program in 1994 in favor of the GPS (Wide Area Augmentation System WAAS) that may supplement or replace existing MLS systems. Many countries in Europe (particularly those known for low visibility conditions) have embraced the MLS system as a replacement to ILS. Phasing down of MLS systems in the U.S. is planned to begin in 2010. However, it is unclear whether all the systems will be replaced or taken out of service, but (like LORAN-C) it is reasonable to speculate that if funding becomes unfeasible, they will be.

[LifeofReiley]

WAAS as I'm told in proprietary, developed out side of the FAA. The government pays for the service. Is this true? As I'm told, the price is going WAY up and that there are contract issues for renewal. I'm just looking for more insight before investments are spent. Loran is here to stay for now, that's a known...

I might add... this gentleman is a certified avionics engineer and has designed many products we use today in the certified market.

[Ron Lee]

"May be he meant WAAS at your local airport?"

Nope. WAAS consists of ground based receivers (for the GPS signal) and facilities to determine corrections, alerts, etc, transmit that to GEO satellites which then transmit the WAAS signal throughout most of the US and other areas.

WAAS and LAAS are two entirely different systems. LAAS is a localized GPS augmentation (hence the acronym).

[etekberg]

I just happen to work for the FAA on the WAAS program. The government owns the ground based WAAS equipment and leases bandwidth on the GEO satellites that broadcast the WAAS signal (and also the ground based uplink equipment). WAAS is not going away.

Originally Posted by LifeofReiley

WAAS as I'm told in proprietary, developed out side of the FAA. The government pays for the service. Is this true? As I'm told, the price is going WAY up and that there are contract issues for renewal. I'm just looking for more insight before investments are spent. Loran is here to stay for now, that's a known...

I might add... this gentleman is a certified avionics engineer and has designed many products we use today in the certified market.

[dhammer]

He probably was thinking about TIS. Looks like the government will sanction ATSB instead.
Don