MANAGING THE WORLD'S AIR TRAFFIC

There is currently little air traffic, except near major international airports. Ground-supervised aircraft fly along specific routes and, as part of the air traffic management (ATM) process, air traffic controllers at various facilities negotiate with individual pilots on the routes and altitudes to be used. On long-distance flights, as aircraft burn fuel and become lighter, pilots would like to fly at higher altitudes to increase their efficiency. This requires permission from the ATM system, which can be hard due to high-frequency voice communications. Therefore, communications satellites are starting to be used for such exchanges. During the next decade--and certainly by the year 2007, 50 years after the launch of Sputnik 1--the FAA will start relying heavily upon satellites to perform many of the day-to-day communications, navigation, and surveillance activities associated with managing air traffic.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0740722X
• Corporate Authors:

  American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

  1290 Avenue of the Americas
  New York, NY  United States  10019
• Authors:
  • Simpson, T R
• Publication Date: 1993-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos;
• Pagination: p. 14-17
• Serial:
  • Aerospace America
  • Volume: 31
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
  • ISSN: 0740-722X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air traffic control; Airline pilots; Altitude; Communications satellites; Flight paths; Satellite communication
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00642778
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 18 1994 12:00AM