GCO - Ground Communication Outlet
Reprinted from Flyer (formerly GA News & Flyer)
Wisconsin pushing new radio system
MADISON, Wisconsin — The state’s Bureau of Aeronautics is well into the initial
phase of a new project aimed
at improving pilots’ access to ATC at every airport in the state with an instrument
approach.
According to the bureau, the preliminary work is already underway to help those eligible
airfields obtain an
Airport Remote Radio Access System.
ARRAS, as the system is known, bridges radio and telephone communications using a low-cost
auto-dialer.
The system lets pilots contact ATC for opening, amending or closing flight plans
regardless of how far the
airport is from the nearest repeater.
By making such remote access available, pilots won’t have to chose between climbing
out of the airplane to make
a phone call or launching into marginal conditions to gain the altitude needed for radio
contact.
Bureau staffers are performing a final survey of users and managers at New Richmond Municipal and Taylor County
airports, where the state has operated systems as a pilot project for the past six months.
But the preliminary input has been positive enough to prompt the state to proceed with the
project while the final
analysis continues.
The next phase calls for the bureau to identify the communications needs and the level of
IFR traffic of each
eligible airport.
The staff will then develop a priority list and begin inviting airports to apply for the
systems, as well as the grant
money to pay the estimated $10,000 expense of each installation.
State grants are available to cover up to 80% of that cost, with low-cost loans available
if needed to defray the
balance.
Initial ARRAS systems installed under the program should be operational in 1999.