KC-135 TANKER CIRCLES GLOBE IN 10-DAY TEST MISSION CHECKED AIR TRAFFIC SYSTEMS.Byline: Daily News EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - A KC-135 tanker made an around-the-world flight to test Global Air Traffic Management equipment. The 10-day test was designed to improve the tanker's capability to perform its air-refueling mission within an increasingly congested con·gest·ed adj. Affected with or characterized by congestion. congested ENT adjective Referring to a boggy blood-filled tissue. See Nasal congestion. airspace. ``We have to ensure the aircraft is interoperable with the various air traffic system units before turning it over to the user,'' said John Welker, 418th Flight Test Squadron Global Air Traffic Management chief project engineer. GATM GATM Global Air Traffic Management GATM L-Arginine:glycine Amidinotransferase is the Department of Defense's concept for satellite-based communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management. The Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control and the International Civil Aviation Organization International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), specialized agency of the United Nations, organized in 1947, with headquarters at Montreal. The objective of the ICAO, which has 187 member nations, is to encourage the orderly growth of international civil aviation, , a special agency of the United Nations, established GATM standards in 1997 to maintain control over all airspace around the world. Eventually, aircraft without GATM will be denied access to certain airspace. ``Unequipped Adj. 1. unequipped - without necessary physical or intellectual equipment; "guerrillas unequipped for a pitched battle"; "unequipped for jobs in a modern technological society" airplanes may be forced to fly at lower, less fuel-efficient altitudes and risk being denied entry to heavily trafficked areas,'' said Maj. Andy Freeborn, 418th Flight Test Squadron tanker flight commander and project pilot. ``The KC-135 and all other military aircraft don't have that flexibility; we have to be capable anytime, anywhere.'' The around-the-world flight involved 61 hours of testing and covered nearly 30,000 miles. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) A KC-135 tanker has finished an around-the-world mission to test Global Air Traffic Management equipment. Master Sgt. Dave Nolan/Air Force |
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