Pete Buttigieg warns of air travel disruptions due to 5G rollout
KM Cargo CEO Mike Coffield joins 'Fox & Friends' to explain how 5G expansion may impact airlines and lead to serious delays.
Biden administration officials have warned that an upcoming 5G rollout may cause serious travel disruptions starting July 1.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said roughly 80% of domestic airlines have already made the necessary changes to prevent the 5G from interfering with equipment, but the threat of delays still remains.
"There's a real risk of delays or cancelations," Buttigieg said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. "This represents one of the biggest, probably the biggest, foreseeable problem affecting performance this summer."
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Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks during a press conference on June 28, 2021, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Aviation expert Mike Coffield, CEO of KM Cargo and former airline pilot, explained how 5G interferes with airline communications by drawing the comparison to a swimming pool.
"The communication lanes and a pool are set up in specific segments, and if you stay in those lanes, there's not any issues. But as they up the power on the 5G, we'll see some kind of push against those lane walls," Coffield explained on "Fox & Friends" Monday.
Coffield told host Steve Doocy that he experienced something similar in his own career. While running a test system at Newark (N.J.) airport, he noticed the autopilots were "cutting off" as planes neared the ground due to interference.
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"We continued to see this over the test period of about a month or so," he said, noting that the New Jersey Turnpike is located alongside the runway.
"It turned out that radar detectors on trucks on Interstate 95 were encroaching on the airlines’ lane markers for the communication ability."
Coffield said it’s unlikely airline passengers will know whether their flight has been updated to accommodate for the new 5G expansion, but one indication may be if a flight is canceled.
Aircraft that lack updated radio altimeters may not be allowed to fly in bad weather where visibility is an issue.
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And while the 5G may be of benefit for airlines, Coffield remained skeptical of the need for the expanded coverage.
"The technology is going to be greater to allow the carriers to use new technologies and be more efficient. However, this wasn't the solution," he said.
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