Data / Federal rules / 2026-00051
Requirements for Interference-Tolerant Radio Altimeter Systems
The Federal Aviation Administration published this proposed rule in the Federal Register on January 7, 2026. Comments closed on March 9, 2026.
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What the agency says
In July 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Section 40002 of that law re-institutes the Federal Communications Commission's general auction authority and specifically directs the Commission to complete a system of competitive bidding for not less than 100 megahertz in the 3.98-4.2 gigahertz band (Upper C- band). To ensure safe, efficient, and reliable aviation operations in the presence of wireless signals in the Upper C-band, the Federal Aviation Administration is proposing new regulations that would require all radio altimeters to meet specific minimum performance requirements. These new radio altimeters must withstand interference from wireless signals in neighboring spectrum bands and continue to provide accurate altitude readings to both pilots and integrated aircraft safety systems. The minimum interference tolerance requirements proposed in this rule reflect the best achievable interference rejection using current technology without compromising radio altimeter system performance. These regulations would require all aircraft equipped with radio altimeters operating under part 121 and those aircraft with radio altimeters operating under part 129 with 30 or more passenger seats or a payload capacity of more than 7,500 pounds to comply with the minimum performance requirements by the date the Federal Communications Commission authorizes wireless services in the Upper C-band. All other aircraft equipped with radio altimeters would be required to comply with the same minimum performance requirements two years later. This proposed rule is a companion to the Federal Communications Commission's NPRM to expand the ecosystem for next-generation wireless services in the 3.7-4.2 gigahertz band by making as much as 180, and at least 100, megahertz of the Upper C-band available for terrestrial wireless flexible use via a system of competitive bidding.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2026-00051
- Type
- Proposed rule
- Action
- Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM)
- Agency
- Transportation Department; Federal Aviation Administration
- Published
- January 7, 2026
- Comments due
- March 9, 2026
- Dates
- Send comments on or before March 9, 2026.
- Docket
- Docket No.: FAA-2025-5666; Notice No. 26-02
- Regulation ID (RIN)
- 2120-AM21
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 14 CFR 91; 14 CFR 121; 14 CFR 129
- Topics
- Air carriers; Air taxis; Aircraft; Aviation safety; Safety
- Pages
- 32
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Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-24. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.