4 ms·
But none of the suggestions would increase the density of aircraft around major airports. They're already operating at runway capacity during peak times.
by AnodyneComplex 10y ago
But none of the suggestions would increase the density of aircraft around major airports. They're already operating at runway capacity during peak times.
- LeifCarrotson 10y agoThey would increase the ability of the controllers to deal with that density. Or more precisely, they would offload it to software. As described, there is a lot of tedium, inaccuracy, and potential for human error in the ATC system. They're passing strips of paper back and forth, and making sure that no two strips put two planes in the same spot, and relaying the information over verbal radio commands. It's begging to be automated.
- bryondowd 10y agoYep, and the FAA is working on automating and improving all the time. Being tied up by funding seems to be the main issue. I'm a developer working on flight data input/output, and it amazes me how old so much of the tech we use is. It's not that we are unwilling or unable to upgrade, it's a lack of resources. I get to listen to managers talking about how they are finagling multiple funding sources just to try getting 'simple' things like ethernet equipment into the towers so we can get off of serial interfaces, and which group is responsible for what and how much. I know very little about the financial end of things, or what would or would not solve the problem, but it does seem like a saner funding system would go a long way. Most people I've spoken to here seem skeptical at best about suggestions of breaking us off from the FAA.
- AnodyneComplex 10y agoIt's of course fine to suggest the current system could be improved. But it doesn't rise to the level of the title "how to fix flying". The current system, for all of its warts, has proven to be amazingly safe.