FAA Administrator Marion Blakey last month reiterated the agency’s position that automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) is the “backbone” of the next-generation air traffic management system.

Speaking at a press conference hosted by Aviation Communications & Surveillance Systems at the Farnborough Air Show, Blakey touted the technology for its ability to provide pilots with a real-time cockpit display of traffic information. The FAA plans to install 400 ADS-B ground stations by 2014 while decommissioning more than 100 ATC radars.

“I was in Alaska several days ago,” she told the audience, “where the Capstone program has seen a good proportion of airplanes equipped [with ADS-B technology], and the safety results are phenomenal.” Equipped aircraft have shown a consistently lower accident rate, down 49 percent compared those without it, she said.