Story ID: 
Florida Airspace Changes Could Bring Headaches
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: Shortly after the FAA published an advisory circular aimed at increasing capacity in busy Florida airspace by making changes to Rnav routes, SIDs and STARS
Word Count: 212
Shortly after the FAA published an advisory circular aimed at increasing capacity in busy Florida airspace by making changes to Rnav routes, SIDs and STARS, NBAA queried the agency about the apparent technical shortcomings of certain FMS equipment that might disqualify a number of business jet operators from flying the new procedures. At issue is the GPS RAIM (receiver autonomous integrity monitoring) requirement of AC 90-100, which calls for tight track-keeping accuracy using DME/DME and DME/DME/IRU if any GPS satellites are scheduled to be out of service. Because there is usually at least one GPS satellite scheduled to be out of service at any given time, operators flying with FMS gear that does not support the AC’s RAIM requirement presumably would need to use a RAIM software tool before departure to predict whether the outage might affect their flight. The FAA has confirmed that certain Collins and Universal FMS boxes do not meet the RAIM standard but said it is developing Web-based software to help affected operators meet the RAIM requirement. For its part, Rockwell Collins has told operators flying with its FMS equipment that it will make available a PC-based pre-departure RAIM tool by year-end. The revised Florida procedures are scheduled to go into effect on September 1.