RTCA’s Program Management Committee (PMC) held its summer meeting and reviewed and approved one new document and two revised documents for publication, accepted one white paper, approved six Special Committee (SC) work plan schedules, received updates on important SC activities, and discussed several significant topics.

Chaired by Dr. Chris Hegarty of The MITRE Corporation, the 21-member PMC is the RTCA oversight body charged with producing timely and robust standards and guidance documents to ensure interoperability of aviation systems and equipment. The standards encourage innovation and serve as the basis for meeting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. An important responsibility of the PMC is ensuring the operational application of the technical standards.

Key areas and issues discussed:

•       Approved Documents:
        DO-220B – Minimum Operational Performance Standards for Airborne Weather Radar Systems, with Supplement, presented by SC-230, Airborne Weather Detection Systems –            added requirements and test procedures for a high-altitude ice crystal detection function for airborne weather radar.

DO-385A – Minimum Operational Performance Standards for Airborne Collision Avoidance System X (ACAS X) (ACAS Xa and ACAS Xo) Volume I and II, presented by SC-147,              Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) – This document sets forth minimum operational performance standards for the ACAS X equipment to improve air safety by            acting as a last-resort method of preventing mi-air collision between aircraft.

DO-400 – GM for Lost C2 Link UAS Behavior, presented by SC-228, Minimum Performance Standards (MPS) for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems – This document provides guidance            to stakeholders that could be affected by UAS operations that may encounter a Lost C2 Link while operating in the United States National Airspace System.

Note: These documents are available (along with their detailed descriptions) on the RTCA Store at: https://my.rtca.org/nc__store

•       Accepted Report:
        Internal Report – SC-206, Aeronautical Information and Meteorological Data Link Services – presented a report addressing turbulence standards. This report made several                      recommendations, one of which was approved to be added to the SC-206 task list.

•       Other Items:
SC-239 – Low Range Radar Altimeter leadership provided a status update and an action item resulted to determine recommendations on closing a document comment                              resolution to allow publication of the document. The PMC received recommendations on way forward for SC-240 – Topics on Software Advancement and the Forum for                            Aeronautical Software. Additionally, the group received updates on AAM activity, Forum on Digital Flight Operations, International Coordination, SC Chair reports, and The FAA          provided updates on actions on published documents.

The next PMC meeting is scheduled for September 21, 2023.