More items for those interested in the play-by-play level of developments, as the date of January 5 looms large.
The U.S. airline trade association, Airlines For America, filed an emergency petition with the FCC seeking to delay the start of 5G service. (It's a full-blown legal document, although as is typically the case, reading the first few pages or sections would provide a good overview and most (if not nearly all) of the main points being argued.)
Link is from an FCC filings website:
Emergency Petition for Stay -- Final.pdf (fcc.gov)
Also, on Twitter, a very knowledgeable person has posted a couple of threads examining some of the technical issues (way over this SLF/atty's level of antenna and electromagnetic spectrum knowledge). @Satcom_Guru
One thread examines the 2020 RTCA report on these issues, which (if I'm getting the message correctly) the wireless carriers say has been debunked and discredited, while the airlines are continuing to rely upon it.
Perhaps most significant considering the source, the U.S. Representative who holds the chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, Hon. Peter DeFazio (of Oregon) has issued this statement (from Committee website):
"In light of the fast-approaching deadline for deployment, Airlines for America has taken the prudent step of filing an emergency petition to stay 5G deployment. I support their efforts and urge both the aviation and telecom industries to continue working together to find a safe way to deploy 5G technologies. For years—and as recently as this fall-- I have urged the FCC to put aviation safety first and thoroughly examine all risks involved. We can’t afford to experiment with aviation safety. I’ll continue to work with the federal government and the aviation community to make sure we’re not putting corporate profits above the safety of our skies."
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This is going to end up in a courtroom, one would forecast without great concern for overstatement.
Edit: After reading a good portion of A4A's Emergency Petition for Stay . . . well, bad call on my part, in response to kiwi grey's question way up-thread. That question was whether U.S. airlines might benefit from suing FCC. What I had not realized, or thought enough about to anticipate, is that there already has been extensive agency proceedings before FCC in this matter. The initial Report and Order granting licenses for 5G in the C-Band, followed by petition(s) for reconsideration, and other filings, extensive in scope and amount. The "aviation community" has presented extensive evidence to FCC - evidence which A4A's current Petition argues the FCC has inexplicably ignored (and unlawfully ignored).
So my earlier (flippant, perhaps) comments were wrong, because I took the question as addressing a lawsuit from scratch. That was, actually, very wrong. Also, the politics around this matter are a bit trickier than at first impression. Despite strong objections during the first portion of the agency proceedings (that is, before FCC), the auction of spectrum took place in early December 2020 - during the transition between White House administrations. Draw your own conclusions about whether or not cooler heads did prevail, or even could have prevailed, during that time period.
So, to go back to kiwi grey's inquiry.
Well, reading the A4A Emergency Petition - and KUDOS to the lawyers for anytime you see a brief with some catchable typos, you know the time-pressure they were under was killer, killer - I would say that the FCC is going to get a very severe thrashing in federal district court. Well worth the price of popcorn - and I'm buying, kiwi grey, because after further review, indisputable legal reasoning shows I made the wrong call. Cheers!