A senior FedEx Express executive believes the US Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) recently released 10-year operational evolution plan (OEP) must be reviewed to speed up a radical overhaul of the USA's air traffic control system.
Donald Barber, FedEx's senior vice president of air operations, says the OEP's emphasis should shift from technology development to resolving operational issues.
He says "time-to-touchdown" and "time-to-gate" are the true measures for ATC system efficiency. "Only standards like these will force the system to safely use all of the capacity that is available, whether we have new runways or not," he says. "Far too much attention has been focused on a particular hardware suite that either automates or supplements existing systems. The result is operational short-sightedness that has us settling for incremental progress. I suggest we take modernisation to the next level. We don't need an overhaul. We need to reinvent the system with new rules, using new tools," he adds.
A key element of Barber's concept is implementing "dynamic formation flying and control" in which air traffic would line up in along a "superhighway" in the sky. Aircraft would merge in and out of the traffic lanes as required. State-of-the art onboard communication systems ensure that all aircraft in the formation stay in place through aircraft-to-aircraft data links, which is not part of the OEP. He also urges "4D transitional airspace management" which uses precise time sequencing to plan and execute ascent into and descent out of protected airspace.
Peter Challan, the FAA's deputy associate administrator for air traffic services, says FedEx's concept "is a dramatic new look at different approaches at enhancing capacity. I believe it is worth looking at. It is not there, but the OEP is a dynamic document...If we can execute the additional functionality, it will be put into the plan."
He says Barber's suggestions are "clearly interesting. It's a concept of how we can radically change the direction of the business." The FedEx executive says ATC modernisation must now be put "on a fast track" but Challan called the OEP timetable "finite, specific and funded. I think everybody believes we have a realistic plan, but we all want more out of the OEP."
Source: Flight International
