Embry-Riddle president pushes for satellite air traffic control

One of the biggest challenges facing the aviation industry is to establish safer, more secure airways, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University president John Johnson said Tuesday.

"We need to adapt to a nationwide system of satellite air traffic management," Johnson said after speaking at the Wichita Aero Club luncheon meeting. "The technology is there."

Embry-Riddle is one of three institutions working with the Federal Aviation Administration on an effort to move from today's radar-based air traffic control system to a satellite-based system.

Embry-Riddle has taken a leading role in field testing the equipment that will make it possible.

"It's been working great," Johnson said.

Embry-Riddle's fleet of 100 aircraft used in flight training are equipped with ADS-B satellite technology, which allows aircraft to automatically transmit or receive data — such as identification, position, altitude and speed — through a satellite data link.

The ADS-B technology allows pilots to see all the traffic in their airspace, he said.

"It's vital for future safety," Johnson said. It also will allow more airplanes to fly in less space, he said.

Eventually, the new technology will supplement and then replace radar , Johnson said.

Another challenge for the industry is an upcoming worldwide shortage of pilots, he said.

"We're cranking them out as fast as we can," Johnson said of Embry-Riddle.

The school, based in Daytona Beach, Fla., was founded in 1926. It now trains 23 percent of all professional pilots and 10 percent of all aerospace engineers, he said.

The school has 35 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. Its students are involved in a variety of aviation-related endeavors.

One day Johnson said he received a call from NASA saying it had a request from Embry-Riddle students wanting to borrow a launch pad. After speaking with Johnson, NASA granted the request, and students launched a two-stage rocket, setting a record for a student launch.

The school is also working with biofuels. In tests on a twin-engine aircraft, students put aviation fuel in one engine and biofuel in the other.

The issue with biofuels isn't performance but pricing.

"What can we buy a gallon of biofuel for?" he said.

A challenge facing universities such as Embry-Riddle and aviation-related companies will be fewer foreign nationals coming to the U.S. for training and jobs.

India has established its own training facilities and there are jobs to go to, Johnson said.

"India's doing amazing work," he said.

"We have to move faster."

Still, he said, the U.S. has the best aerospace industry in the world, one that keeps 10 million people working.

America's gross domestic product is $15 trillion, he said. The country with the next highest GDP is $4.1 trillion.

"We have the lead in the world, and we need to remember that," Johnson said. "This nation is poised for greatness."

This story was originally published August 17, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Embry-Riddle president pushes for satellite air traffic control."