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I've read a couple of stories about this such as: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60036831
"US airlines warn of impending 5G flight disruption"
I don't understand why this is a problem in the USA. We've already had 5G in Europe for a while and we also have aircraft of similar types. If there had been any incidents where 5G affected the safety of a flight I'm pretty sure we would have heard about it.
Can anyone explain?
I believe US 5G is higher power than used in Europe but I don't understand either,
I'm not sure but I"m guessing that it's something to do with "C band".
US 5G uses an additional high frequency band (about 28 GHz and 39GHz)
The FAA has concerns about C Band 5g (3.8 ish to 4.4 ish GHz from memory) and fear it could interfere with various instruments and in particular altimeters. The CAA and most other such bodies do not think it is a problem and are happy for C band to be used and planes to fly (or, if the FAA is correct, crash).
Its all a bit confused.
The issue is that the 5g transmitters can, potentially, interfere with some radio altimeters which could be slightly inconvenient. In theory it shouldnt be a problem since the altimeters should have filters on them but in practice people arent so confident.
The US do have higher power transmitters and also a 5g broadcast range closer to the altimeter broadcast range but it does seem the FAA, after their recent screwups, is definitely erring on the side of caution.
They agreed a delay, in theory giving time for more studies / filters to be added to kit, that did expire recently IIRC.
Another compromise is just to turn down the 5G tx power a bit on the base stations right next to Airports.
This not about anti-vaxx pilots then?
In theory, if all 5G devices on an aircraft are switched off, the potentially/allegedly/possibly disruptive signal from the base station should be of a lower power towards that aircraft. On any low visibility approach, those devices should already be off anyway, but good luck trying to get everyone to do that.
I think it's just a very cautious approach from an authority whose attitude towards safety has rightly has been questioned over the last few years.
It's been covered on Ars Technica. A strongly anti-FAA analysis here: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/11/faa-forced-delay-in-5g-rollout-despite-having-no-proof-of-harm-to-aviation/.
5G uses different frequencies in the USA and some of those are very close to the protected frequencies used by radio altimeters, and so interference can occur and result in both radio altimeters going into a no-computed-data state.
On a modern aircraft this breaks a lot of stuff - autopilot, autothrust, flight directors, TCAS, GPWS etc etc. Not a big deal on a lovely day but a big headache if it gets foggy and this happens when you're on minimum fuel.
It's been known about as an potential problem for years but it takes the FAA a little while to pull their thumb out of their arse.
@Flaperon - Band C 5G is Band C 5G though worldwide and the frequency allocation for it is the same in the US as anywhere else. So why are the CAA (or anyone else for that matter other than the FAA) not concerned about it? It does seem to the be the FAA with a be in its bonnet here.
You can see all the countries using the same frequencies for Band C here
Agree Ars article is a good start on the subject. Whilst the FCC are allowing the Telco's to operate at significantly more power output on Band C than the rest of the world, the Telco's are going to use a 220Mhz guard band from the top of Band C to the radio altimeters which is a heck of lot more than normal between frequency allocations.
I suspect that the FAA have allowed some pretty shonky designs on the equipment, given their proven track record of letting manufacturers mark their own homework with tragic results (737 Max) and doing covers ups.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54174223
https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/18/22189609/faa-boeing-737-max-senate-report-coverup-tests-whistleblowers
Hmm and now its come out that they are worried about the 787 one of their most modern jets, wonder what other corners have been cut apart from the the exploding batteries?
At least the US DoD chose the Lockheed Martin F35 over the Boeing version, imagine the 5G death rays swatting stealth fighters out of the skies (well rather than the RN and forgotten engine covers)