FAA approves additional altimeters for U.S. planes

5 G words and an airplane toy are placed on a printed U.S. flag in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. REUTERS Dado Ruvic Illustration File Photo

WASHINGTON, Jan 25, Reuters - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration FAA on Tuesday issued approvals for additional altimeters that allow 90% of the U.S. commercial aviation fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports where 5 G wireless is deployed.

The FAA said it had cleared seven additional altimeters, bringing the total approved to 20. It had cleared about 78% of commercial planes last week.

AT&T T.N and Verizon Communications VZ.N agreed on January 18 to delay switching on new telecom towers near key airports even as they turned on the new 5 G C-Band service.

Radio altimeters are used to give data on height above ground for bad weather landings and 5 G technology could cause interference.

The issue is disrupting landings at smaller airports in poor weather. Alaska Air ALK.N said Monday that the new 5 G band is still disrupting regional air travel. The carriers and administration work on a permanent solution, according to sources told Reuters.com, not turning on about 500 towers near airports.

Some U.S. airlines are concerned about Verizon's plans to turn on additional towers around Feb. 1 and want to know if those new towers could affect current operations. Verizon did not immediately make a statement.

The FAA has released an airworthiness directive on the Boeing 777 and 747-8 airplanes, stating that interference could affect multiple airplane systems using radio altimeter data. The directive does not prevent operations at nearly all large U.S. airports. Alternative means of compliance for the airplanes have been approved by the FAA.

Airplane models with cleared altimeters include Boeing 717, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, 787 MD 10-11; Airbus AIR.PA A 300, A 310, A 220, A 320, A 321, A 330, A 350, A 380, and Embraer EMBR 3. SA 120, 170 and 190 regional jets, All CL 600 CRJ regional jets, DHC 8 and ATR turboprops.