Air Traffic Controller Performance in Free Flight Simulation
Overview
Under the current FAA system, air traffic must follow certain routes which may be envisioned as highways in the sky. Free flight proposes to lift restrictions, enabling planes to fly the most direct route to their destination. Because of the change that would occur in the number and direction of routes, it is important to look at how this will affect the workload of the air traffic controller. It is vital to understand whether the unpredictability of the free flight system will compromise air safety. This experiment tests air traffic controller performance in simulated free flight conditions. In the first part of the experiment, controllers will observe an air traffic display and predict which two planes will conflict. In the second part controllers will try to reroute planes without creating new conflicts. The results of this experiment should yield important information about the feasibility of the Free-Flight proposal.
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