By Juan Pedro Sanchez Zamudio
Turpial Airlines Provides Its Aircraft with ADS-B System
Venezuelan carrier Turpial Airlines has updated the first of three Boeing 737-400s implementing the ADS-B system as part of its objective to provide the best quality, safety and technology to its passengers.
According to Aviacionaldia, Turpial Airlines is the first Venezuelan airline to comply with this requirement, having successfully completed and evaluated the installation of the ADS-B in the aircraft registered YV613T. The flight test was carried out to satisfaction on August 19, during a positioning flight between Maiquetía and Valencia.
The 737-400 with registrations YV621T and YV622T will also be soon equipped with the ADS-B system. With these new updates, Turpial Airlines will become the best-equipped fleet with surveillance and navigation systems in Venezuela.
Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is developed by ADS-B Technologies, an Anchorage, Alaska engineering and technical consulting firm that provides specialized air traffic management and air traffic control services. Specifically, it provides support in the deployment of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and its related Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) technologies throughout the world.
This system allows pilots and air traffic controllers to “see” and control aircraft with more precision, and over a far larger percentage of the earth’s surface, than has ever been possible before.
ADS-B Description (photo: ADS-B Technologies)
Much different from radar, which works by bouncing radio waves from fixed terrestrial antennas off of airborne targets and then interpreting the reflected signals, ADS-B uses conventional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology and a relatively simple broadcast communications link as its fundamental components.
Also, unlike radar, ADS-B accuracy does not seriously degrade with range, atmospheric conditions, or target altitude and update intervals do not depend on the rotational speed or reliability of mechanical antennas.
In a typical application, the ADS-B capable aircraft uses an ordinary GNSS receiver to derive its precise position from the GNSS constellation, then combines that position with any number of aircraft discrete, such as speed, heading, altitude and flight number. This information is then simultaneously broadcast to other ADS-B capable aircraft and to ADS-B ground, or satellite communications transceivers which then relay the aircraft’s position and additional information to Air Traffic Control centers in real-time.
The installation of this system for civil aircraft is stipulated in the Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP). The implementation of this system is mandatory for all countries that have some type of operation in the United States, in which its use is mandatory for civil aircraft from January 1.
In Latin America, no country has issued a law that requires the implementation of ADS-B System. There are Latin American airlines that already have some aircraft in its fleet with ADS-B System, in part thanks to the renewal of its fleets, which already have the technology from the factory.
The three things Juan loves most about aviation are aircraft, airports, and traveling thousands of miles in just a few hours. What he enjoys the most about aviation is that it is easier and cheaper to travel around the world and this gives you the opportunity to visit places you thought were too far away. He has traveled to different destinations in North, Central, South America and Asia. Born, raised and still living in Perú, Juan is a lawyer, soccer lover, foodie, passionate traveler, dog lover, millennial and curious by nature.
