Cab It to the Hinterlands!

With new technologies, such as a GPS-based 3-D cockpit display that shows the positions of nearby aircraft, several planes can be routed safely through the soup. This collision-avoidance device, several versions of which will be available for lightweight planes next year, can coordinate with similarly-equipped planes to guide pilots toward the best traffic sequence. It can also communicate with a virtual air-traffic controller on the ground, sparing cash-strapped communities the seven-figure expense of installing a tower.

Other tools that will make flying air taxis easier include head-up displays that project instrument panels onto the windshield and forward-looking radar that generates images of oncoming terrain. All of these technologies will be featured at the Danville demo, where six planes, including a Cirrus SR22 single-engine prop and an Adam Aircraft A700 jet, will be on display, and several will take off and land under the supervision of a virtual controller.

Meanwhile, a few air-taxi firms are already gearing up for business. POGO Jet in Bridgeport, Connecticut, run by Peoples Express founder Donald Burr and former American Airlines CEO Robert Crandall, has ordered 75 of the $2.1-million A700s. And DayJet in Delray Beach, Florida, plans to buy several hundred of the new sub-$1-million six-seat Eclipse business jets.

Yet full deployment of SATS could take 20 years or more as puddle-jumpers and unequipped aircraft are upgraded with the new technologies. “This is a paradigm shift,” says Peter McHugh, the SATS program manager at the FAA. “Five years ago the FAA was not talking about small airports as part of the transportation system. There was no national strategy. Today there is.”