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Joe Hoffman |
Eyes on the Skies
Joe Hoffman
March 2008
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of a delayed or
cancelled flight. Finding solutions to this growing nationwide challenge
is the focus of Joe Hoffman's work.
Hoffman, a senior principal simulation modeling engineer in MITRE's
Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), is an internationally
recognized expert in airspace redesign. For the past seven years,
he has supported the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in its
overhaul of the airspace around New York City—from Connecticut
down to Delaware. With a third of all commercial flights in the
U.S. affected by New York airspace, it's understandable why this
project is a priority for the FAA.
"Everybody uses the New York airspace for so many flights per day,"
he explains. "So if you take off from Newark in the morning and
you're late, then it impacts everything else you do that day, and
all those other legs of the flight are delayed, too."
Improving Efficiency, Promoting Safety
Demand for air transportation has increased exponentially in the
past 20 to 30 years. This increase helps account in large part for
major delays in the sky and on the nation's runways.
To meet demand and reduce costs, many airlines have cut down on
ground staff and try to get much more usage out of every airframe
they buy, "so the system is a lot more brittle now than it used
to be," explains Hoffman. "When something disrupts operations—like
a thunderstorm in Pennsylvania or a huge new surge of flights at
JFK—then that ripples across the country immediately."
Hoffman and his team, which involved more than 30 people over time,
built a simulation to determine how to make the New York airspace
more efficient and flexible. They used a leading airspace simulation
tool as a basis and built additional models as needed. The team
worked closely with air traffic controllers to develop various redesign
scenarios.
"Our job was largely to test the operational efficiency of the
different alternatives and to measure what was happening in the
system to prove what had gotten better or worse given each option,"
Hoffman explains.
"In our model, airplanes spent less time waiting on the ground
for their departure clearance and less time holding in the air,
which burns less fuel," he says. "Anything that minimizes this is
good for the airlines, good for the people in the neighborhood who
breathe the air, and good for Air Traffic Control because you don't
get the congestion in the airport that can make conditions unsafe."
Safety is paramount. "Everything in the system is based on the
assumption that the radios could go out at any moment—so you
never set up a situation where intervention is required to fix it,"
says Hoffman. "You make sure that everything is safe at all times
and that you have very clear procedures in place for separating
aircraft and maintaining safety."
As a result of his work, Hoffman sees everyday life through a different
lens than most. "After you've simulated an airport surface—where
everybody has to work in a very organized way for maximum safety—I
find I drive differently," he says. "I'm willing to take the long
way out of a parking lot if it puts me onto the highway with a right
turn instead of a left."
Temporary Layovers Turn Permanent
Hoffman first joined MITRE in 1990, after teaching physics for
a year at Florida A&M University. (He holds a doctorate in physics,
specifically theory of nuclear structure, from Florida State University.)
"I took this job as a temporary one," he says with a laugh. "That
was 17 years ago. The best thing about my job is that I never know
what I am going to be doing next."
Hoffman also appreciates MITRE's enterprising culture. "I would
recommend MITRE to anybody who is really creative and technically
solid," he says. "The fact that the company is willing to support
innovative research with internal funding—that's a great thing."
When Hoffman's not working on ways to make the skies more efficient,
he can be found fencing. "Fencing is a sport you get into by reading
too many books," he says. "What I like about fencing is that there's
no disqualification based on age, size, or shape. It's a very simple,
elemental competition between two people." Now in his 25th season,
he is the three-time Virginia division champion in both foil and
épée and the four-time Southeastern sectional champion
in épée.
In addition to competing locally and nationally, Hoffman teaches
beginning fencing classes through the City of Alexandria's Department
of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities—a position that
also started as a temporary one. "I would step in for the teacher
when he couldn't be there," says Hoffman. "One day, I noticed he
was gone, and I appeared to be the teacher. That was about 15 years
ago."
—by Karina H. Wright
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