Adrian is Auckland bureau chief for Aviation Week, based in New Zealand. He covers commercial aviation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Adrian was previously based in Aviation Week’s Washington office for nine years, writing for a range of the group’s publications and covering many aspects of the commercial aviation industry. He has won Australasian and international awards for his aviation writing.
Prior to joining Aviation Week in 2002, Adrian covered aviation industry and policy issues for two other publishing companies in Washington. He has also worked for newspapers in Texas and New Zealand, covering a wide range of topics. Adrian graduated from Auckland University with a degree in history and English in 1992.
Although the FAA has missed a near-term milestone for deploying its new en-route air traffic control system, the agency says it will still make major progress by the end of December. The en-route automation modernization (ERAM) program has been plagued by high-profile cost and timetable overruns (see related story). ERAM is to be the backbone system at 20 en route ATC centers, and an essential precursor to many NextGen technologies.
Boeing is working with Lion Air to implement satellite-based approaches at Indonesian airports. In conjunction with Indonesian aviation authorities, Boeing and Lion are introducing required navigation performance-authorization required (RNP AR) approaches at the “terrain-challenged” airports of Ambon and Manado. Validation flights have been performed to test the procedures. Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen designed, charted, and helped certify the RNP procedures.
The FAA has charged Boeing with conducting further research into how required navigation performance (RNP) can increase air traffic management efficiency. The $3.1 million project comes under the broader SE2020 contract, which was established by the FAA to assign NextGen work to aerospace companies.
