My nephew, an electrical engineer is working in the Atlantic City airspace to upgrade the FAAs flight rules. Today air spacing by altitude and trail distance is based on 1970s technology. Enroute radars were such that an aircraft blip was about 1/2 mile in diameter. Thats why east west air highways were vertically spaced at 2000 feet separation and trailing by about six miles. The navy has been landing fighter jets on aircraft carriers using GPS technology and Boeing has landed a 737 with a touchdown of lass than 100 yds from its intended touchdown point.
It is time to bring air traffic control technology into the 21st Century!
“It is time to bring air traffic control technology into the 21st Century!”
They have been. RVSM is standard fair anymore and direct GPS routes as well. Airport Moving Map, AMM, is also a reality. Enroute routes are 1,000 foot separation and have been for years. They even co-mingle with VFR airways at 500 feet separation. Airport separation is now only 3,000 feet. Class 3-C landing systems, which land the plane without ppilot intervention, are now operational. Glass cockpits, not the older round dial, are now standard equipment on most new airplanes, small and large. Retrofitting of GPS systems happen every day for older airplanes. WAAS, a GPS augmentation system, has been implemented and now has many ground systems augmentations.
The aviation industry has been updating, and you haven’t seen anything yet. Just this year’s product releases are going to make pilots of all kinds smile.