FAA Issues Airworthiness Directives to Guard Against 5G Interference

Both prohibit certain operations requiring radio altimeter (RadAlt) data when in the presence of 5G.

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, December 08, 2021 at 04:16 PM ET

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AT&T and Verizon voluntarily agreed to delay their plans for deployment of 5G until January 2022. Credit: Adobe Stock

Key Takeaways:

The FAA has issued two airworthiness directives (ADs) prohibiting certain passenger-carrying aircraft operations that rely on radar altimeter data when 5G C-Band wireless transmissions are present.
Radar altimeters, critical for accurate altitude awareness during approaches and departures, particularly in bad weather, cannot be relied upon due to potential interference from 5G's 3.7-3.98 GHz frequency band.
These ADs mandate revisions to airplane flight manuals and will result in NOTAMs at specific airports, restricting operations like ILS approaches, automatic landings, and the use of enhanced vision systems where 5G interference is identified.

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The FAA has released two airworthiness directives (AD) requiring operators of passenger-carrying aircraft to prohibit certain operations requiring radar (or radio) altimeter data when in the presence of 5G wireless transmissions.

When installed, this type of altimeter provides information critical to situational awareness, including the aircraft’s altitude in absolute terms above the ground. This is particularly important during approaches and departures in inclement weather.