Mobile mast problems

5G could bring chaos in the US.

Worldwide airline bosses have sounded the alarm on a potential aviation crisis with US telecom companies about to launch 5G.

US carriers in a letter to senior officials in the Biden administration have made the point very clear.  Overseas carriers including Air India, ANA, British Airways, Emirates and Japan Airlines, have expressed concern due to potential 5G mobile interference.

“Unless our major hubs are cleared to fly, the vast majority of the travelling and shipping public will essentially be grounded,” says a letter by the Chief Executives of American Airlines, Delta, Jet Blue, Southwest and United, as well as parcel carriers FedEx and UPS.

Airline bosses have warned that ‘C-band’ 5G technology could interfere with vital instruments, such as radio altimeters which detect an aircraft’s distance from the ground. It could also affect low-visibility operations, they claim.

“This means that on a day like yesterday, more than 1,100 flights and 100,000 passengers would be subjected to cancellations, diversions or delays,” noted Airlines for America, a lobbying group.  “To be blunt, the nation’s commerce will grind to a halt.”

The letter, obtained by the Reuters news agency, was sent to Brian Deese, Director of the White House National Economic Council, and Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s Transport Secretary, as well as other senior officials.

The 5G rollout had been scheduled for the first week of January, but telecoms companies accepted a two-week delay and agreed to create buffer zones around 50 US airports. Airlines had requested that 5G not be implemented within two miles of airport runways. The US crisis seems to have been averted, at least for the time being.

Airlines for America has previously warned that “multiple modern safety systems on aircraft will be deemed unusable” following the implementation of 5G technology. “Airplane manufacturers have informed us that there are huge swathes of the operating fleet that may need to be indefinitely grounded,” it added.

www.airlines.org

www.faa.gov/5g

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