FAA and NASA Test NextGen Tech to Shorten Flights and Cut Delays

It’s near the end of a long flight. You’ve been stuck in the middle seat for hours, elbowed by your neighbors, left starving by an airline that stopped offering meals years ago. At least, you think, it’s almost over. Until the pilot’s voice comes through the speakers: Hey folks, things are a bit gummed up on the ground, so we’re gonna do another loop before touching down. The misery continues.

But not for much longer. This month, the FAA and NASA are running a series of trial flights aimed at making airport arrivals far more efficient. It’s just one part of NextGen, the FAA’s decades-long, $35 billion overhaul of America’s aging, inefficient air traffic control system. By 2030, the idea is to address each phase of flight, from preflight prep to arrival, introducing modern planning software, digital instead of voice communication, and GPS-based position-reporting over imprecise radar-based tracking.

Today, air traffic controllers use radar data to guide aircraft in to land, talking the pilot through the process. “The problem is that because radar data is imprecise—and because voice communication between humans introduces delays—greater spacing between airplanes is necessary,” says NASA project manager Leighton Quon. Revamping the system for more precise tracking and faster communication should allow for a smaller safety buffer between airplanes.

“This will create more efficient flight patterns, save fuel, and improve on-time arrivals,” Quon says. And cut down your time in the middle seat.

The core of the new system is an on-board GPS receiver and data transmitter known as ADS-B, which can broadcast an aircraft’s position to other aircraft and ground controllers with far greater precision than radar. The setup, already on many business and private aircraft, will be required on commercial airplanes by 2020, mostly to communicate their positions to nearby aircraft, as a safety measure. Folding in the approach management element, Quon says, is a bonus.

The pilot, instead of chatting with an air traffic controller, will follow automated directions beamed to a so-called electronic flight bag. That’s essentially an iPad with navigational software, which communicates with the airplane’s onboard systems and updates the flight crew with confirmations that they’re hitting their scheduled approach parameters (or not). “These new tools will help controllers manage the approaches to the extent that excess spacing can be minimized,” Quon says.

To test this whole thing out, teams from the FAA and NASA put together what they call ATD-1, for Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1. They’re flying a Boeing 757, a Honeywell business jet, and a Boeing 737 around Grant County International Airport, about 120 miles east of Seattle. The planes, each carrying the necessary tech, will run simulated approaches, so the folks in charge can see what works, and what needs work.

So far, the tests, which could run through February 28, have been successful, Quon says. The GPS-based technology is handily guiding airplanes in from cruise altitudes at 35,000 feet, all the way through descent, and then to their final approaches. The new way of doing things can’t touch down soon enough.