<FONT SIZE="+3"><B>Washington Wire</B>
<B>New Carriers, More Accidents</B>
New airlines experience higher accident, incident and enforcement action rates during their first five years of operation than established carriers do, says a new report compiled by the General Accounting Office for the House Aviation Subcommittee.
But that doesn't necessarily mean new carriers are unsafe, GAO officials cautioned. The GAO pointed out that the data it analyzed came from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, and the two agencies differ in their definition of an accident.
Moreover, GAO said, "FAA officials told us that they did not know why new airlines as a group experienced higher incident and enforcement rates, especially during their early years of operations. However, they theorized that new airlines may encounter more incidents because their fleets expanded faster than their organizations' ability to absorb growth, train their staffs and maintain their fleets."
<B>DOT Chooses Tech Test Sites</B>
Four metropolitan areas have been named to participate in the Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation System Infrastructure, which are demonstrations of technology created to cut the travel time of people in congested areas by 15 percent over the next 10 years.
In Phoenix, the test project involves coordinating the freeway and traffic signal systems across jurisdictional boundaries. In San Antonio, 400,000 vehicles will be equipped with Intelligent Vehicle Registration Tags, which will allow them to serve as roving traffic probes, reporting on current travel times throughout the metro area. The Seattle project will link the traffic signal systems of 15 jurisdictions. In the New York City metro area, the pilot project will include a radio and television traffic information service that will provide personalized information to the public for a fee.
<B>Satellite System To Benefit Airlines</B>
The Federal Aviation Administration last week awarded a contract worth nearly $500 million to Hughes Information Technology Systems in Fullerton, Calif., to develop earth-based stations to refine the accuracy of satellite signals.
Known as the Wide Area Augmentation System, the system will allow aircraft to use the satellite Global Positioning System for all operations, from en-route navigation to actual airport landings. This means more direct routing of aircraft, which will result in a saving of time, fuel and money, the FAA said.