by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:35 AM ET, Thu November 4, 2021
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a special information bulletin to the aviation industry warning of potential issues with 5G telecommunications technology causing interference with sensitive aircraft electronics.
According to Reuters.com, FAA officials have been working with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the potential safety concerns related to the increased use of additional spectrum for 5G wireless networks, starting on December 5.
As part of the information bulletin, the FAA told airplane manufacturers, operators and pilots they should "be prepared for the possibility that interference from 5G transmitters and other technology could cause certain safety equipment to malfunction, requiring them to take mitigating action that could affect flight operations."
"There have not yet been proven reports of harmful interference due to wireless broadband operations internationally," the FAA said in the bulletin.
The warning called for pilots to tell passengers with portable electronic devices equipped with 5G to turn them off or switch to airplane mode during flight. The FAA also called on manufacturers to continue testing to determine the susceptibility of specific radio altimeters to 5G interference, "particularly during low-altitude operations."
FAA Deputy Administrator Bradley Mims said the agency shares "the deep concern about the potential impact to aviation safety resulting from interference to radar altimeter performance from 5G network operations in the C band."
In response, wireless trade group CTIA said 5G networks could safely use C-band spectrum "without causing harmful interference to aviation equipment," and cited numerous active 5G networks using this spectrum band in 40 countries.
In addition, the busy summer travel period may have passed, but incidents involving unruly passengers are on the rise, according to the latest statistics released by the FAA. In total, there have been over 4,600 incidents so far in 2021.
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