Eric Colburn, PLS

Chairman Thomas Petri's Opening Statement at GPS Hearing

THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AVIATION HEARING EXAMINES GPS USE IN AVIATION INDUSTRY

On Wednesday, February 8, The Subcommittee on Aviation held a hearing to review of issues associated with protecting and improving our nation’s aviation satellite-based global positioning system infrastructure.

Here’s are interesting statements by the Honorable John Porcari, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation:

GPS is at the center of FAA’s Next Gen air traffic control modernization program, which will optimize air traffic controller performance, consolidate obsolete facilities, enhance safety improvements, and improve operational efficiency of the national airspace system. The Honorable John Porcari, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, testified to the benefits of NextGen this morning: “The FAA and industry have invested as much as $8 billion into NextGen. The FAA conservatively estimates that the benefits of NextGen will total $23 billion by 2018 and over $120 billion by 2030.”

Porcari added, “In addition to the transportation applications I mentioned, GPS is essential for the operations of first responders, search and rescue, resource management, weather tracking and prediction, earthquake monitoring, national security, and critical infrastructure such as dams and power plants, financial transactions, surveying and mapping, and industries such as precision agriculture, where the ability to fertilize plants with centimeter-level accuracy increases conservation, reduces waste run-off, and saves American farmers up to $14-30 billion, annually.”

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