This is the third in a series of articles looking at the impact of NextGen on GA pilots. As we race through each generation of the National Airspace System (NAS), technology clearly is the biggest driver contributing to its evolution. Last month we discovered that the expansion of the NAS was started by the U.S. Postal Service. Because of the inability to fly at night, navigational beacons were first introduced by using bonfires spaced a few miles apart. This gave pilots beacons of light to fly by during night operations, improving safety and increasing the amount of mail delivered throughout the U.S. This month the power of electricity comes into the picture, beginning a series of advancements in the NAS that will eventually become our new Next Generation Air Traffic Control System (NextGen). Continue Reading »

===> Posted on October 4th, 2011 by Jeffrey Boccaccio. No comments. © GAN 2011.