AOPA wins prestigious award for work on Safe Flight 21
 AOPA's Randy Kenagy (right) accepts the achievement award from RTCA Chairman Amr Elsawy. |
RTCA Inc., a federal advisory committee that develops consensus-based recommendations used by the FAA, awarded AOPA with its highest honor for the association's work on Safe Flight 21, a government/industry initiative to modernize the National Airspace System (NAS). AOPA Senior Director of Advanced Technology Randy Kenagy accepted the achievement award on behalf of AOPA Wednesday at the RTCA Forum and Annual Awards Luncheon in Washington, D.C.
"This award recognizes the great work Randy does on behalf of AOPA members to make sure that ATC modernization discussions include general aviation," explained Andy Cebula, AOPA senior vice president of government and technical affairs. "Often, he is the lone GA voice presenting the practical realities of smaller aircraft cockpits, including piston aircraft flown in IFR conditions, and the needs of VFR pilots."
Kenagy has worked with the FAA on its Safe Flight 21 program and a sister program in Alaska called Capstone. The programs strive to bring affordable technologies like automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) to general aviation. ADS-B uses GPS technology to send the aircraft's real-time position once every second to other ADS-B equipped aircraft. Associated ground stations entered developmental service along the East Coast in April, and they are transmitting free weather data to aircraft equipped with ADS-B and a multifunction display.
Other Safe Flight 21 team members honored with AOPA include the FAA, Alaska Region's Capstone Program, and MITRE/Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development.
May 26, 2005
