Don Nolan-Proxmire

Headquarters, Washington, DC February 14, 1996

(Phone: 202/358-1983)

Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA
(Phone: 415/604-9000)

Les Dorr, Jr.

Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/267-3461)

RELEASE: 96-31

NASA/FAA TESTING NEW AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT TOOL

NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are

testing a new software tool designed to help air traffic
controllers manage aircraft more efficiently and reduce
delays by up to 20 percent.

Tests of the Final Approach Spacing Tool (FAST),

developed by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA,
are being conducted at the Dallas/Fort Worth International
Airport's (DFW) Terminal Radar Control Facility. Tests of
the first phase began last week and will continue through
May.

"We believe that FAST can provide valuable benefits to

all airspace users," said Robert M. Valone, Director of
FAA's Office of Air Traffic Systems Development. "The tests
at DFW will help us prove that."

"The main purpose of these field tests is to validate

the new software tools before the FAA displays them
nationally," said Tom Davis, an Ames aerospace engineer and
FAST project leader. The project goal is to have FAST
installed in 5-10 airports by the year 2000.

"If FAST is implemented on a national basis, we should

see a significant decrease in delays and an increase in
capacity at major airports," Davis said. He said FAST could
increase an airport's capacity to handle arriving aircraft
by 20 to 30 percent while reducing arrival delay times by 20
percent.

"This system also will assist controllers in making

runway assignments which should help decrease arrival
delays, particularly during marginal weather conditions,"
said Earl Wolfe, manager of air traffic control for American
Airlines.

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"We're looking forward to cooperating with the FAA and

NASA and doing the prototype at DFW," Wolfe said. "We
expect that this system will be of great assistance to both
controllers and the airline industry in increasing
efficiency and capacity of airports throughout the United
States in the coming years."

Depending on the size of the aircraft, FAA separation

criteria require aircraft to stay three to six miles apart
from each other for safety reasons. "Controllers typically
will give themselves an extra buffer of approximately half a
mile between aircraft in order to guarantee they can meet
the spacing requirements," Davis said.

"We can safely reduce that buffer by two-tenths to

three-tenths of a mile with this technology," he said.
"When you add up how that affects more than one hundred
airplanes arriving each hour at a major airport like Dallas
Fort Worth, this will substantially increase the airport�s
arrival capacity," Davis said. "This should result in
significant savings to the airlines and hopefully, lower
ticket prices for passengers."

The main function of FAST is to provide advisories to

help controllers manage arriving aircraft and achieve an
accurately spaced flow of traffic on final approach. The
field tests will investigate the FAST advisories that
recommend which runway to land on and the landing sequence
for the aircraft.

"FAST accurately predicts arrival times based on

specific knowledge of the type of aircraft, weather
conditions and airport landing procedure," Davis said. FAST
also advises the air traffic controllers how to accurately
meet the schedule and assure the required aircraft
separations for safety purposes.

"FAST issues advisories to the air terminal radar

controllers recommending which runway to land, aircraft
landing sequence, where to turn and where to slow down in
order to implement this reorganized plan all the way to the
runway," Davis said.

Research and development of the FAST software began at

Ames in 1989. In 1991 the FAA began a joint research effort
with NASA to take the newest technology available and
incorporate it into their facilities and equipment to
improve their service to all of the users in the National
Airspace System.

-end-