Concern about interference between the “fifth generation” and radar altimeters

The "5G" network warns of an aviation crisis... and the exit of large numbers of aircraft from service

Many airlines canceled their flights to American cities.

From the source

Air travelers know the importance of turning off their phones before take off.

However, in the US at least, for now, carriers want mobile phone companies not to run their networks.

catastrophic crisis

On January 17, the heads of many American airlines warned of a crisis they described as “catastrophic”, unless mobile phone companies delay operating parts of their networks with the new fifth generation technology “5G”, which is what the mobile companies planned to implement on January 19, 2021.

The heads of American airlines, including: "Delta", "United" and "Southwest", stressed that large numbers of planes could become unusable in this case.

They wrote a letter to the White House and the US Communications and Air Travel Regulatory Authority saying: "5G networks can harm aircraft."

technical interference

Airlines are concerned about the supposed interference between 5G transmitters near airports, because it interferes with radar altimeters, instruments in aircraft that use radio waves to determine an aircraft's altitude from the ground.

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates commercial use of radio spectrum in the United States, examined the matter in 2020, concluding that the two systems could work together.

But the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is responsible for air travel, has opposed this, saying that "flighting may be unsafe."

cancel trips

In turn, The New York Times says that after months of wrangling, the two agencies reached a "compromise" this month, as mobile phone networks will implement "no-go zones" around specific airports, while more studies are being conducted.

And the last-minute announcement by the airlines indicates that the agreement has now stopped, although the US carriers, Verizon and AT&T, agreed on January 18 to turn off some wireless towers.

On the same day, many international airlines, including Air India, Emirates Airlines, and Japan Airlines, canceled their flights to many American cities, due to concerns about the “fifth generation” network.

Frequency gap

There is a large gap in the radio frequency spectrum between the 5G networks in question, which operate between 3.7 and 3.98 GHz, and altimeters that use frequencies between 4.2 and 4.4 GHz.

Some experts speculate that the aircraft at risk may contain older, lower quality altimeters and more susceptible to interference.

In turn, the Federal Aviation Administration has acknowledged that the cost of replacing the altimeters will be "significant", and airlines, which have been affected by the outbreak of the "Covid-19" virus, may not be willing to bear that cost.

It is also likely that "political intervention" will be needed to break the impasse, especially with airlines canceling about 200 flights on Wednesday.

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