New Bill Would Give Contract Towers ADS-B-Based Surveillance Boost

A new Senate bill introduced Thursday would equip almost 100 contract towers with an ADS-B-based surveillance technology. The Airborne Position Reference Tool (APRT) uses ADS-B data to allow tower controllers to “visualize” traffic near the airport. The bill, called the Air Traffic Situational Awareness Enhancement Act, will equip towers that do not have radar with the APRT gear, improving their situational awareness. “As our airspace grows more congested and complex, far too many controllers do not have access to critical, 21st century technology,” said Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., who sponsored the bill along with Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. AOPA welcomed the improvements. “Federal contract towers are a vital part of our national airspace, and this legislation closes a longstanding gap,” said AOPA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Advocacy Jim Coon. 

Last year, the FAA allowed airports to install the gear on their own and described it this way. “Airborne Position Reference Tools (APRTs) are supplemental surveillance tools for increasing airborne situational awareness,” the agency said in a notice. “They are intended for use in air traffic control towers that are staffed by non-federally employed controllers and not equipped with Standard Terminal Automation Replacement Systems (STARS).” With that notice came a qualification that the system is to be used only to supplement the binoculars and radio mics now used to augment the controllers’ “visual observations.” uAvionix makes APRT units and prepared this video for contract tower controllers.