NASA gave the Federal Aviation Administration new software that could help air traffic controllers better manage runways and reduce the chance for missed or delayed flights.
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Air traffic controllers face that kind of scheduling challenge every day as they work to move thousands of passengers and tons of cargo efficiently and safely through every phase of an airplane's journey from airport gate to gate.
Take departure, for example. Controllers must smartly direct aircraft from a terminal gate, along the taxiway, onto the runway and then into the sky, allowing the airliner to join smoothly with the busy air traffic lanes overhead.
To do this, controllers must determine as best they can the precise amount of time it will take for an airliner to get from its gate to a fixed spot in the sky, and therefore be able to predict when pilots should receive clearance to push away from the terminal.
Now a new computer software tool developed by NASA's aeronautical innovators - the Precision Departure Release Capability, or PDRC - will soon help controllers better manage that part of the airplane's trip.
"NASA and the FAA have become extremely effective at combining our unique skills and rolling up our sleeves to find solutions to the extremely complex challenge of improving air traffic management," said Jaiwon Shin, NASA's associate administrator for aeronautics.
With PDRC, controllers will be able to improve the overall efficiency of air traffic management by reducing missed or delayed departures and allowing more aircraft to depart within a given timeframe.
Tests of the software conducted during the past few years show that PDRC could help fill as much as 80 percent of the slots in the constant overhead stream of air traffic that usually go empty because of timing issues on the ground.
With its automation features the PDRC software also will help controllers react more quickly when conditions change because of weather or other problems, as well as reduce their overall workload in one of the most stressful jobs in aviation. ■
A very active and complex mid-May weather pattern is set to produce numerous areas of severe weather, heavy rain, high winds, and anomalous temperatures through this weekend.