The cockpit of the plane.
The FAA has cleared about 78 percent of US planes for landing in low-visibility conditions, which appears to be the end of the FAA's fight against AT&T's and Verizon's new 5G deployment. The process of ensuring that airplane altimeters work in 5G areas is not that complicated, according to one airline CEO.
The FAA has granted clearances for 13 altimeters that can filter out 5G transmissions from the C-band spectrum that is licensed to wireless operators. The US will likely be close to 100 percent capacity soon.
We'll cover that later in this article, but there could be another fight in about six months when AT&T and Verizon lift temporary 5G restrictions around airports. Even though the FAA hasn't said that the temporary 5G limits around airports will be lifted, airline CEOs seem to be satisfied.
There will be no material disruption going forward.
"It's taken a while to get to the right spot, but I feel like we're in the right spot," American Airlines Doug Parker said yesterday, according to a CNN article. "I don't think you're going to see material disruption because of this."
The good news is that we now have everyone engaged, the FAA and DOT at the highest levels. We don't have a final resolution yet, but I'm confident we'll get there.
"The technical experts that are working on it tell us that it's really not that complicated once they all are able to share information and work on it," she said. They are encouraged that we will be able to address this in a way that will allow for full deployment of 5G, including near airports. I don't think anyone will want to go through this again, so I don't think anyone will turn on anything near airports.
Just three days later, these statements marked a sudden shift, coming just after the two men signed a letter stating that 5G on the C-band would cause "catastrophic disruption" to air travel.
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The FAA waited two years to test the instruments.
The FAA started a process to evaluate and approve altimeters after claiming without proof that 5G on C-Band spectrum would disrupt altimeters that use spectrum from 4.2 GHz to 4.4 GHz. While the Federal Communications Commission created a 220 MHz guard band to protect airplane equipment, poorly built altimeters may be unable to filter out transmissions from other spectrum bands.
When the Federal Communications Commission approved the use of C-Band spectrum for 5G, the FAA didn't start evaluating the actual altimeters used by airplanes. After the FCC auctioned off the spectrum to wireless carriers, the FAA didn't start the evaluation process. The FAA continued to argue that the deployment of 5G should be stopped long after carriers start using the C-band.
The FAA should have started setting up the process to evaluate altimeters shortly after the FCC approved the use of the spectrum for 5G, according to Harold Feld, a long-time telecom attorney and senior VP of consumer-advocacy group Public Knowledge.
They spent a lot of time looking at the whole thing. It was reckless for the FAA to proceed without any plan B, and Secretary Pete Buttigieg personally intervention and the White House intervention forced the FAA to stand this process up.
The C-band is safe to use.
The FCC found that the C-band spectrum was safe to use in part due to the fact that airline-industry research did not investigate whether interference would occur in any realistic scenario. The FCC imposed power limits in the 220 MHz guard band because carriers are not yet using the upper part of their licensed spectrum. In about 40 other countries, the C-band spectrum is being used for 5G without reports of interference to altimeters.
The FCC said when it approved 5G usage that it should not receive any significant interference. The minimum guard band requirement for the 220 MHz guard band is double what was discussed in initial comments by Boeing and ASRC, according to the FCC.
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