Old airplane altimeters are now the main focus of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The aviation department announced that it is urging airlines to replace their aircraft's old altimeters with new ones.
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An aircraft flies through London skies leaving a vapour trail on February 2, 2007 in London, England.
This decision was made two years after the Federal Communications Commission released a notice regarding poorly designed wireless systems.
FCC specifically targeted models that receive transmissions outside their allotted frequencies. Although the telecom agency commonly focuses on transmitters, altimeters that can't filter 5G signals are also among its main concerns.
Old Airplane Altimeters To Be Replaced?
According to Ars Technica's latest report, FAA now wants airline companies to retrofit their old altimeters. Experts said that they can do this by integrating the new antenna filters.
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Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion captain Wing Commander Rob Shearer's hand is seen in front of the altimeter showing the flight elevation while the aircraft searches for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, over the Indian Ocean on March 31, 2014.
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The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed its new decision via its latest meeting with the telecom and airline industry.
During their discussion, FAA said that retrofits with antenna filters should be among the main goals since changing the old altimeters can prevent 5G signal interferences.
FAA added that the needed antenna filters are already in production. However, the agency explained that integrating these new antenna filters will be quite difficult since identifying airplanes with inefficient altimeters is hard, as reported by Reuters.
Why Altimeter is Important
For those who are not familiar with airplane altimeter, this tech is a type of barometer that measures the vertical distance to the surface.
The information it provides is essential for pilots since it allows them to maintain the needed or assigned altitude during flight.
Altimeters are specifically designed to detect pressure differences. It can do this using the so-called static system.
There are different types of altimeters, such as the drum model, sensitive type, and the absolute model. Since these models still experience major issues, including position error and nonstandard temperature issues.
If an altimeter is inefficient, it can affect the pilot's navigation performance, which can lead to accidents. You can visit this link to see more details about altimeters.
Meanwhile, AerinX and Magnetic MRO decided to work together to implement a new high-tech aircraft maintenance resolution.
On the other hand, Rolls-Royce's electric airplane successfully flew in 2021.
For more news updates about altimeters and other techs used in airplanes, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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Written by: Griffin Davis
