Date of Award

5-1-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Aviation

Abstract

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), current delays in air traffic across the United States cost the country’s economy roughly 9.4 billion dollars annually. With air traffic expected to triple again over the next several decades, the FAA has been in the process of implementing The Next Generation Air Traffic Control System (NextGen) in order to handle this increase in traffic. One of the key elements to NextGen is the transition from the current ground based radar monitoring system to a satellite based system using the Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast System (ADS-B). The FAA has set a mandate which requires all aircraft to be ADS-B equipped by the year 2020 in order to continue operating in the National Airspace System. However, the FAA has not set forth any training requirements for aviation instructors or designated examiners. As ADS-B continues to be implemented across the United States, it is important that pilots gain knowledge and training about this new system. When the Global Positioning System (GPS) was fully implemented in 1994, there was a delay in reaching the FAA’s goal of using this as a primary source of navigation because of a lack of training and training standards. This study looked at how ADS-B is currently being taught among aviation higher education across the United States, and how important this training is to current aviation curriculum. With the information collected, it was determine that only a minimal amount of ADS-B training is currently taking place across the country, and the training that is taking place is non-standardized and limited do to the perception that ADS-B is only to be used as a traffic advisory tool. Several factors were discovered as to why there seems to be no current urgency among aviation educators to train their students in this new technology, as well as what recommended steps the FAA could take in order to help aviation educators with the ADS-B training process.

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