The FAA and aviation stakeholders in Alaska collaborate through the Don Young Alaska Aviation Safety Initiative (DYAASI)—formerly the FAA Alaska Aviation Safety Initiative (FAASI)—to address the state’s unique aviation safety challenges.

The FY2025 DYAASI report highlights several key milestones across DYAASI’s major safety and infrastructure programs and elements:

• AWOS Recovery at Crooked Creek: DYAASI funding enabled the redesign and relocation of the flood-damaged Automated Weather Observation System at Crooked Creek Airport to higher ground, with full operational status targeted by September 2026.
• VWOS Expansion: Backed by $5.0 million in funding, site selections and initial surveys are underway to deploy ten new Visual Weather Observation Systems across Alaska.
• WCAM Upgrades: An investment of $5.4 million in DYAASI funds is supporting a technical refresh of the weather camera network, including upgraded 360-degree equipment across 32 of an initial 110 sites.
• ADS-B Coverage: Initial operating capability and flight evaluations were completed for seven new Ground-Based Transceivers, expanding surveillance coverage by up to 27% in remote airspace.

Looking Ahead to the FY2026 Report

Building on the accomplishments of FY2025, the DYAASI team is actively moving forward with several key safety and infrastructure initiatives that will be reflected in next year’s report:

• Finalizing ADS-B Expansion: The final service volume (SV 335) in the current expansion framework will move into its final stages, targeting the completion of two ground-based transceivers to bring surveillance coverage to the Galena and Allakaket.
• Starlink & Telco Modernization: Following a comprehensive 20-site feasibility study comparing Starlink satellite connectivity, LTE, and fiber technologies, physical deployments will commence to dramatically improve telecommunications resiliency at remote FAA sites.
• Nighttime Access: Using priority criteria established in late 2025, the team will coordinate necessary funding and assessments to support future FAA flight inspections to validate instrument approach procedures that will restore safe nighttime operations at key remote airports.
• AWOS Dashboard Launch: The FAA will complete development of a centralized Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) service dashboard, which will integrate live system-status information directly into the popular Weather Camera (WCAM) website.
• Commercial Operator Guidance: The Flight Standards Service will support commercial air carriers as they transition to updated GPS-navigation templates and non-standard VWOS text options, ahead of the compliance deadline on December 30, 2026.