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Near-Term Procedural Enhancements in Air Traffic Control
2001 Award Winner
Wayne W. Cooper, The MITRE Corporation
Laurence M. Gordon, The MITRE Corporation
Bradley T. Hargroves, The MITRE Corporation
David R. Maroney, The MITRE Corporation
Joseph Spelman, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
As the National Airspace System (NAS) of the United States grows in usage and complexity, there is continuous improvement in the procedures that support the NAS. Of particular interest are the improvements that can be made to the NAS, without requiring the acquisition of new automation or systems. Fundamentally, these are changes to how operations are performed today, that make better use of the tools and capabilities that are currently available to the users and service providers. These changes are collectively called "procedural enhancements". The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has identified a number of procedural enhancements that can be implemented in the 1998-2002 timeframe, which has been labeled the "near term" timeframe. Due to financial constraints, not all of the enhancements can be implemented, so the FAA has selected several that could yield efficiency benefits to the NAS. In partnership with FAA, MITRE’s Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) is assisting with the implementation of several of these near term procedural enhancements. This paper outlines four of these efforts, and discusses the results and improvements to date. These include Lifting the 250 Knot Speed Limit, Improving North American Route Program (NRP) Transitions, Reducing Flow Restrictions, and Eliminating Air Traffic Control (ATC) Preferred Routes. Each of these procedural enhancements was found to provide incremental benefits, and has helped to validate how well the NAS is currently operating. Analysis and implementation of procedural enhancements by FAA and CAASD continues, to assist system efficiency while new automation and tools are being procured.
Publication
Published in 2001. Transportation Research Record, Vol. 1744, pp. 24-29.
Additional Search Keywords
air traffic control, procedures, enhancements
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