The US Federal Aviation Administration said 5G wireless operations could affect radio altimeters on most Boeing 737 aircraft, affect crew workload and aircraft landings.
According to a Federal Register notice published online, this situation could complicate Boeing’s 737s, except for its 200 and 200-c series. According to the document:
“Radio altimeters cannot be relied upon to perform their intended function if they experience interference from wireless broadband operations in the 3.7-3.98 GHz frequency band (5G C-band).”
The regulators concluded that during the approximation, landings and turns, as a result of this interference, certain airplane systems may not work correctly.
According to the agency, this could cause “an increase in the workload of the light crew during the approach with the flight director, autothrottle or autopilot activated, which could reduce the ability of the crew to maintain the safety of the flight and the landing of the plane”.
It should be remembered that telecommunications networks are deploying 5G systems that the FAA has previously warned could affect sensitive aircraft electronics, such as radio altimeters.
For the same reason, the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have committed to improve coordination in spectrum management, which was launched in January after Verizon Communications and AT&T agreed to delay the deployment of 5G wireless towers near airports.
At the moment, Boeing has declined comment on this topic.
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