FAA Sounds Louder C-Band Safety Alarm

 The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is ratcheting up its concern about airline safety when 5G deployments begin on C-band, a fear it’s been sounding an alarm about for a year, Inside Towers reported. Now that network carriers are expected to begin using the spectrum starting December 5, starting in 46 markets, the FAA plans to issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin and an airworthiness directive about the issue, two officials told Reuters, confirming a Wall Street Journal report.

FAA Deputy Administrator Bradley Mims wrote in a previously unreported October 6 letter the agency shares, "the deep concern about the potential impact to aviation safety resulting from interference to radar altimeter performance from 5G network operations in the C-band." An FAA spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday it "continues to engage with other agencies so that aviation and the newest generation of 5G cellular technology can safely coexist." Continue Reading