Drucella Andersen

Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

September 30, 1993
(Phone: 202/358-4727)

Keith Henry
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
(Phone: 804/864-6120)

Hank Price
Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C.
(Phone: 202/267-3447)

RELEASE: 93-172

NASA/FAA RESEARCH AIMS AT MORE EFFICIENT AIRSPACE

OPERATIONS

NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today

described innovative new aeronautics research programs that will
let airports across the nation and around the world handle more
planes with fewer delays while maintaining today's high level of
safety.

"Delays not only inconvenience travelers, but also cost U.S.

airlines hundreds of millions of dollars annually," said Herbert
Schlickenmaier, Program Manager at NASA Headquarters, Washington,
D.C. "We want to solve that problem with affordable,
human-centered automated tools in the cockpit and on the ground."

A key NASA/FAA research effort called the Terminal Area

Productivity program is studying how to achieve aircraft
separation distances in low-visibility conditions similar to those
allowed under visual flight rules for both single and multiple
runway operations. This would let airports handle the same number
of flights in almost any weather.
 Researchers first need to understand today's safety levels to
assess new technologies and come up with new procedures and
modified separation criteria. NASA and the FAA are using today's
operations as a benchmark. They will then create new standards
that reduce separation distances while assuring safety.

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The results will be tested in 1995 based on studies of wake

vortex phenomena -- swirling air currents that stream from an
aircraft's wingtips and cause turbulence for following planes.
Current FAA rules for pilots and air traffic
controllers specify vortex separation distances based on aircraft
type, weather and visibility.

NASA researchers believe new technology for ground-based

sensing of weather conditions can reliably predict when wake
vortex separations can be reduced safely. These forecasts will be
incorporated into the NASA/FAA Center/TRACON Automation System, a
set of computerized tools that helps controllers orchestrate
aircraft arrivals.

If the effort succeeds, controllers also would have at least

20 minutes notice that a combination of weather conditions and
aircraft types may create a wake vortex hazard.

NASA also is researching advanced instruments and cockpit

displays that would let airline pilots fly and land safely in
very-low-visibility conditions. This would greatly increase the
number of flights in poor weather, decrease delays and help
airlines cut operating costs.

A computer would fuse data from infrared sensors, radar and

cameras into realistic electronic cockpit displays on which pilots
could "see" the runway and other airplanes through fog, rain and
snow. The image probably would appear with helpful superimposed
symbols in a "heads-up display" -- a glass screen that also lets
pilots see though the front windows.

NASA researchers believe that this "enhanced vision"

technology could be ready for service in commercial airliners
before the year 2000.

The Terminal Area Productivity and enhanced vision research

plans were outlined at a joint NASA/FAA windshear conference in
Hampton, Va.

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