FAA National Obstacle Verification Study
Woolpert was selected by the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, Mission Support Services, Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) to provide the geospatial services necessary for confirming and improving obstacle accuracies. AIM is tasked with improving and maintaining the as-built feature information to support charting and instrument flight procedures, such as Performance-Based Navigation (PBN).
Using a combination of geospatial methods, including remote sensing and field surveys, Woolpert teams verified the existence and accuracy of more than 3,000 obstacles in the FAA Digital Obstacle File (DOF) database. Similar tasks are planned on a charting-cycle basis to support the FAA’s NextGen programs’ (specifically, Surface Analysis and Visualization and Nav Lean) efforts to modernize and streamline airspace management and flight procedure design processes.
Woolpert’s efforts have resulted in significantly improved, fuel-efficient flight procedures and reduced airspace violations and obstacle buffer zones at the following airports:
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
- Boston Logan International Airport
- Baltimore Washington International Airport
- Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport
- Denver International Airport
- Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
- Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
- Washington Dulles International Airport
- Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport
- Orlando International Airport
- Chicago Midway International Airport
- Memphis International Airport
- Miami International Airport
- Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
- Orlando Executive Airport
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
- Salt Lake City International Airport