FAA's Alaska Aviation Safety Initiative

FAA’s Alaska Aviation Safety Initiative

Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at 03:51 PM ET

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General aviation is by far the best way to get around Alaska, but the state's size, terrain, weather and lack of infrastructure can make it riskier than in the Lower 48. Here, a float-equipped Cessna A18SF Skywagon operated by the U.S.Department of the interior departs Anchorage's Lake Hood, the largest seaplane base in the world. Photo Credit: Jereon Stroes Aviation Photography

Key Takeaways:

The FAA Alaska Aviation Safety Initiative (FAASI) identified that Alaska's aviation infrastructure is significantly outdated compared to the lower 48, contributing to a much higher accident rate for vital air travel.
Critical infrastructure gaps include a severe lack of instrument approaches, certified weather reporting stations, and modern communication/surveillance coverage, hindering safer Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations.
Existing navigation routes are largely obsolete and reliant on phasing-out technology, while new satellite-based routes face surveillance and communication limitations, and some legacy IFR routes are becoming unusable due to unsupported equipment.
FAASI's recommendations for addressing these long-standing issues are predominantly general, emphasizing continued study, evaluation, and seeking funding rather than concrete, immediate actions.

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Due to Alaska’s wide-ranging geography and limited road system, residents are heavily dependent upon air travel. In October, the FAA released the final report of its Alaska Aviation Safety Initiative (FAASI), which provides an up-to-date look at the continued problems plaguing the state’s aviation infrastructure. Completed in response to a 2020 recommendation from the NTSB, FAASI was designed to work with stakeholders in Alaska to “review, prioritize and integrate” the state’s safety needs with the FAA’s own processes.

The end result included input from about 100 individuals and organizations, who offered their insight and opinions on problems ranging from poor weather reporting to a lack of IFR routes. While the FAASI recommendations are all largely general in nature and skewed toward continued evaluation, development and study of various concerns, the final report (along with its earlier interim report released in April) is a document well worth reviewing.