Airspace Design Updates for Bizjet Operators

Ken Elliott reviews current airspace design, specifically as it applies to Bizjet operators.

The world has a governing body for aerospace, including responsibility for both its design and integration given the varying air traffic management responsibilities across different regions. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is headquartered in Montreal, Canada and has 193 member nations, with a 39-member Governing Council.

Each member state further maintains its own airspace and may invoke variations to the ICAO rules and standards. Some collective states, such as Europe, have a governing entity.

In the case of Europe, that governing entity is the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), but even within its collective authority, EASA members can adopt regional applications to general airspace guidance.

Aviation is coordinated in Europe via Eurocontrol, a separate body and Europe’s link to ICAO on airspace issues. EASA focuses on regulation and safety, while Eurocontrol coordinates and manages air traffic.

EASA and the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) are highly regarded and mostly responsible for the initiation of airspace guidance that is later adopted elsewhere, including by ICAO. Other noteworthy agencies that are very active representing ICAO member states are: • Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – United Kingdom • Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) – Australia • Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) • Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) – India • National Civil Aviation Agency (NCAA) – Brazil.

Many former colony nations founded their civil aviation authorities on the system of the former colonial ruler, but although still under influence, these authorities function independently and rely heavily on ICAO rules and guidance for their own airspace.

Technologies to Accommodate Increasing Number of Airspace Users

Other Airspace Users: Airspace design is driven by the growth and route demands of its users, as well as the need to accommodate emerging technologies.

Because of transitioning through, and sharing of, airspace, operators of business aircraft should remain well informed of the progress in emerging aircraft technologies. Subject to world order and economics over the next several years, everyone can expect an exponential introduction of both unmanned and urban airspace that will be a challenge for pilots to stay informed.

Growth of Traditional Aircraft Users: Growth is a significant factor today as earning power grows, and demand for more aircraft seats increases. Route demands are mostly driven by efficiency. Operators want to save time and fuel, while providing the least disruption to their passengers, so they request the most efficient routing for each leg of the flight. Naturally most aircraft of similar performance capability, request optimum altitudes and navigation routing, creating popular air corridors that must be managed.

Airspace Procedures & Technologies: From growth and route preferences come airspace designs and tools that are framed in transitional phases of rule implementation, these include: MNPS Oceanic & Remote; RVSM; PBNSBAS (WAAS-LPV) and GBAS; PBN-RNP; CPDLC FANS 1/A+ (Oceanic & Remote); CPDLC ATN B1 VDL Mode 2 (Europe); and CPDLC-DCL (US).

The proximity of aircraft and peak periods of high airport throughput creates equipage needs to operate within the narrow constraints of popular flight corridors. The right equipage ensures adequate spacing, optimum data and voice communication, correct 3D fight path, and terrain avoidance.

The equipage needed to meet these demands is significant, and some systems serve to satisfy all the criteria. Here are the influential onboard systems… • Flight Management Systems (FMS) w/qualified GPS • RVSM qualified air data systems • Satcom w/data • VHF 8.33Khz Comms Spacing • VHF with Mode 2 data • Dual HF • MNPS-RVSM qualified air data systems • TCAS/TAS • TAWS • ADS-B Out • ADS-C • Data-capable Transponders.

As the airspace continues to expand in complexity, several of these systems, as well as emerging ones, will need to be further upgraded to accommodate airspace improvements. Today’s new business aircraft should find themselves future-proofed for most upcoming changes. For example, they can be updated using enabling software, with minimal hardware interruption.

Because air carriers typically require more catch-up, using their clout-tactics to delay implementation due dates, it means legacy business jets and turboprops may have more time to meet new requirements, using the Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) process.

When upgrading your aircraft, try to ensure new systems are ready for the future and not likely to suffer from obsolescence several years hence. These systems include: • TCAS • FMS and GPS • Satcom-data • Transponders.

Aircraft systems designers struggle to stay abreast of airspace improvements and have become accustomed to established implementation dates being delayed several times over. As an operator you can only ask that a proposed upgrade is capable of handling future airspace realignments, as an open architecture, and is capable of evolving integrations and complex software updates.

An example for testing this assurance is EASA’s plan to rely only on PBN (IR) procedures, after June 6, 2030, supplemented with navigation supported by CAT II/III landing systems, where necessary. This plan excludes the use of conventional procedures after that date.

Modern aircraft will be proficient in using PBN procedures, but they may need to be capable of working with EGNOS SBAS satellites and be upgradable to operate with future European PBN procedures.

Application Variability: Multiple delays of implementation requirements are not the only aggravation aircraft manufacturers and operators need to endure.

Airspace resolutions, to meet the increasingly high rates of air traffic, are not applied universally to equipage, procedure, or implementation timing.

This lack of consistency forces international operators of business aircraft to equip according to where and when they intend to operate, while being constantly attuned to regional variation and change.

Furthermore, operators must remain alert to specific requirements at individual airports. Very specifically is the ability to fly steep approaches into individual runways, such as London City, or to navigate RNP-AR approaches into Washington Reagan.

For these the aircraft themselves must be equipped, and the flight department certified. Procedure requirements may be considered efficiency opportunities when less productive traditional procedures, using legacy airport and aircraft equipage, are still available.

FIGURE 1: ICAO Performance Areas & Blocks, Showing Threads of Connected Modules in One Area

COURTESY OF ICAO

Airspace Deadlines

Operators and flight departments not only need to be sensitive to the currency of technology, but they need to consider a wide range of airspace adjustments, happening almost weekly. Upcoming known requirements from April 2022 through 2023 include:

April 2022 • Australia: Comments deadline for 10-year roadmap for remotely powered aircraft and advanced air mobility (AAM for eVTOL aircraft). • US: Comments deadline for Vertiport design via draft engineering brief (EB105), for use with AAM. • Columbia: Compliance deadline for ADS-B Out.

June 2022 • US:

Pilot database reporting FAA Part 111. Pilots in commercial ops (Part 135 & 91K) to commence reporting records on medical, training, proficiency and disciplinary actions. December 2022 • Canada:

Duty rest changes for commuter and air taxi operators. • New Zealand:

Compliance deadline for ADS-B Out, down to surface. • Mexico: FDR-CVR mandate, end of incremental introduction of requirements since 2020.

January 2023 • Saudi Arabia & Curacao: Compliance deadline for ADS-B Out.

February 2023 • Canada: Compliance deadline for ADS-B Out (2026 down to surface).

June 2023 • Europe & Guatemala: Compliance deadline for ADS-B Out. • US: Pilot database reporting FAA Part 111. Pilots in commercial 

commuter & air taxi ops to complete reporting records on medical, training, proficiency and disciplinary actions, since 2015. Note that records from before 2015 are required to be submitted by September 2024.

September 2023 • US: Compliance deadline for operating

Remote ID for unmanned aircraft.

Flight Data Recording as Potential Future Mandate

With respect to deadlines, a recent Transport Canada (TC) consultation period expired in March 2022. This call for comments centered around a Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) for a requirement for commercially-flown aircraft to be fitted with a Light Data Recorder (LDR).

How this intention proceeds, is anyone’s guess but it is noteworthy because of the wider call for some form of digital flight record, useful to investigators of incidents.

Based on European standards, the intention is to record aircraft data, cockpit audio, airborne images and data-link messages. It appears a future regulation could require devices to be active by Spring 2025, but as expected there is significant pushback and a call for General Aviation flexibility.

Flight Data and Cockpit Voice Recorders (FDRs & CVRs) and Quick Access Recorders (QARs) have been around for some time. Note that CVRs must be capable of recording datalink messages for FANS operators.

Unlike FDRs & CVRs that are installed based on requirements, QARs are optional and are not designed to survive crashes. QARs are popular with business aircraft flight departments because they can record and download (or save for easy download later) large amounts of data.

One example is that engine manufacturers can closely monitor turbine performance and track fault or degradation trends. It is likely that there will be a wider call for the recording of aircraft data, however, either onboard or in the ‘cloud’, for a combined use of accident investigation and performance monitoring. Anticipate future mandates, applicable to any aircraft flying for hire.  FIGURE 2: Current & Future Airspace Architecture Showing Greater Inclusivity and Integration of the European Airspace

COURTESY OF EUROCONTROL; NOTE: U-SPACE REFERS TO RPAS/UAS AIRSPACE

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Ongoing & Future Airspace Designs

World/ICAO: Commencing with ICAO, the focus is on global harmony, providing flexibility for each member state to advance and manage their own requirements. Airspace design focuses on capacity and efficiency, where the environment and mobility are both addressed. ICAO mirrors these principles. Performance areas for improvement are: • Airport operations • Global interoperability • Optimized capacity and flexibility • Efficient flight paths.

ICAO’s Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) implements improvements, in the form of Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBU). The beauty of the ASBUs is that they contain Modules that states can apply as they deem necessary for their airspace, as long as in the longer term there’s no major discontinuity across multiple regions.

There are four ‘Blocks’ with commencement milestone dates depicted in Figure 1 (previous page). Interestingly, ICAO states that a typical CNS deployment cycle can be between 20 and 25 years, including ground and aircraft retrofits.

EASA/Eurocontrol/European Commission: Under the Single European Sky ATM Research Joint Undertaking (SESAR JU-3) program, the European Commission modernizes Air Traffic Management (ATM) over a 10-year period between 2021 and 2031. Solutions are defined, developed, then deployed, following a timeline with milestones and linked to ICAO planning and procedures.

For operators flying to, and within, Europe today, EASA has introduced a dynamic PDF that is updated online. This Easy Access Requirements (EAR) document, republished this year, permits the user to easily navigate through all the current operational requirements for Europe.

The document Easy Access Rules for Air Operations, Rev 17, EU 965-2012, simplifies the regulation discussion and allows the reader to quickly grasp an understanding of European airspace rules for operators.

US FAA: The United States FAA NextGen has closely aligned itself with ICAO and European plans/guidance through harmonization, to ensure continuity. As with Europe, it also retains its individuality, in this case, by deploying FANS domestically and implementing airspace improvements via the FAA’s NextGen Segment Implementation Plan (NSIP).

These segments are introduced in groups of time spans, like ICAO’s Block program (see Table A, below).

FAA’s NextGen includes Key Programs that help to focus the airspace community on the most important future intentions, to improve overall efficiency. These are: • Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) • Data Communications • Performance Based Navigation (PBN) • Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) • Decision Support System Automation • System Wide Information Management (SWIM) • Weather • Other Improvements • Safety • Environment & Energy.

Some specific FAA NextGen developments pertinent to business aircraft are: • Data com en route as extension to current departure clearance (DCL). • Expansion of DME/DME RNAV as a default for GPS outage, including from malicious intent. • Widening the use of ADS-B for conflict detection, overlapping ground radar, search and rescue, reduced separation, and including Space-based

ADS-B. • ADS-B In as the onboard aircraft traffic view is now optional but may be required at some point.

FAA TBO

Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) is a major goal of FAA NextGen with three implementation phases of, Initial (iTBO), Full, and Dynamic. Dynamic TBO can be viewed as 4D operations, where arrival times at virtual waypoints are provided to traffic, to ensure proper flow and separation.

Dynamic TBO introduces predictive navigation and permits real-time flight tracking adjustments to aircraft to account for weather and any unplanned airspace occurrence. The FAA Annual Report Fiscal Year 2020 provides a good overview of current and future FAA NextGen initiatives.

In Summary

For many reasons, future airspace for business aircraft is not totally predictable, but strong indications of the general direction do exist. Harmonization across the world’s regional authorities ensure some continuity and aids equipage requirements. Ample material can be

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FIGURE 3: How TBO Integrates the US Airspace, as with Europe’s Future Architecture

COURTESY OF FAA

found on the ICAO, SESAR, EASA and FAA websites, supporting robust future airspace implementation programs.

Once the surface is scratched, the programs reveal very specific milestones for many individual improvements, not all of which require a change to your aircraft. However what decreases predictability is the actual process of implementation, involving a collaboration and cooperation of airports and the different user groups.

The NBAA is the optimum advocate for Business Aviation, and is in lockstep with those who intend to improve their flight trajectories. The association also ensures its members are informed of short-to-long-term developments within airspace operations.

New user groups, focused on low altitude and urban airspace, will present many challenges, and while those users will need to equip to operate, there will inevitably be some equipage expectations for all airspace users. One of these systems is Aircraft Collision Avoidance System for NextGen (ACAS-X), which will come in several flavors: • ACAS-Xa to replace TCAS-II • ACAS-Xo as advanced TCAS • ACAS-Xu for UAS • ACAS sXu for small UAS • ACAS Xr for rotorcraft and AAM/UAM applications.

There will be also other tweaks and additions to existing technologies to meet these challenges, so sit tight and plan your long-term budgets accordingly. ❚

KEN ELLIOTT

has more than 50 years of aviation experience focused on avionics in General and Business Aviation. Having a broad understanding after working in several countries on many aircraft types and avionics systems, he has contributed to several work groups and committees, including for NextGen, Airport Lighting, Human Factors, Unmanned Aircraft and Low Vision Technology. In retirement, he is striving to give back the knowledge gained with an eye on aviation’s future direction.

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