The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. civil and commercial aviation regulatory body, ordered Boeing 787 operators to adopt certain procedures when landing on contaminated runways near 5G transmitters.
The problem, according to the FAA, would be a consequence of 5G networks interfering with certain systems onboard the 787, which could lead to aircraft needing longer runway lengths to land. The issue might not even be unique to the model, as the FAA has asked Boeing and Airbus for information on their equipment and could add more units to the list in the coming days. «Aircraft with unapproved radio altimeters (RA) or aircraft that need to be retrofitted or replaced outright will not be able to perform low-visibility landings in areas with 5G coverage,» the agency said in a statement.
According to Seattle Times, the agency advised airlines that interference of the 5G signal with the AR «could delay the automatic deployment of certain systems such as thrust reversers.» This could affect the aircraft’s braking ability on contaminated runways as only the brakes, which lose effectiveness if the runway surface encounters water, ice or snow, would be activated. This «could prevent the aircraft from stopping before the end of the runway,» the FAA said.
The problem reported based on information provided by Boeing would be that 787s may «not transition correctly from flight to landing mode» in case of 5G signal interference with onboard systems, which could delay the automatic activation of certain systems that help to brake the aircraft.
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At this time, the procedures will apply only to the 787, affecting 137 aircraft in the United States and 1,010 worldwide. The procedure indicates that flight crews must take into account in their landing performance calculations the possible delay or total failure of automatic inverter deployment and excess power on the ground when moving the thrust levers to the neutral position.
