{"82711":{"#nid":"82711","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Professor Says Better Coordination Needed to Save U.S. Aviation System From Peril","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA Georgia Tech professor, who helped develop the findings of a recent National Research Council report on the state of air transportation in the U.S., says the system is in peril, as is the nation\u0027s dominance in world aviation. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe report, called \u0022Securing the Future of U.S. Air Transportation: A System in Peril,\u0022 was released in September and looks at a broad range of problems in the aviation industry, from safety and security, to the capacity of the air transportation system, to consumer satisfaction. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAmy Pritchett, an associate professor who holds dual appointments in Georgia Tech\u0027s schools of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Aerospace Engineering, was a member of the report committee. The group was charged with helping to plan the nation\u0027s aviation strategy for the next 50 years. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022While the European Union, China and India all have ambitious aerospace agendas, the United States is falling behind, without a clear, long-term plan and without a broad base of basic research to support long-term innovation,\u0022 Pritchett said in an interview this week. \u0022While air transportation is a vital part of our growing economy, the capacity of our air traffic control system is reaching fundamental limits to growth. These limits can\u0027t be solved by technology alone, and there is no one \u0027silver bullet\u0027 solution.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EInstead, Pritchett said she believes the nation needs to change the underlying operational concepts, economic structures, and role of humans and machines used in air transportation, while maintaining a safety level unique to aviation.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe report committee concluded that the government should institute a focused national leadership for aviation, guided by a strategic vision that will enable the airline industry to meet increased travel demand in the future. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022While capacity may not seem to be a pressing issue today, as recently as the summer of 2001 extremely high demand for travel caused record delays at airports and dramatically lowered customer satisfaction,\u0022 said David Woods, a member of the report committee and a professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Ohio State. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHe continued: \u0022As painful as the present economic situation is for the industry, the current travel slump provides breathing room to step back and coordinate changes across the different parts of the industry and government - before demand for air travel increases again.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe report illustrated the need for strategic coordination among the airlines, as well as all the other stakeholders in air transportation. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESuch strategic coordination will require new technology - specifically, computer networks that coordinate decisions among the stakeholders. One of Pritchett and Woods\u0027 areas of expertise - how people interact with computers to make decisions in high-risk environments - will be critical in carrying out the committee\u0027s recommendations. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPritchett said: \u0022Making the system function as an efficient whole is a complex issue - especially when decisions will impact many different airlines and customers in ways that they may not have chosen for themselves. We cannot do this without computers - but we can\u0027t automate it completely either. Instead, we need to develop collaborative, human-interactive technologies that enable operating concepts that we haven\u0027t even conceived of yet.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWoods said computer systems will have to be designed so that airline employees can monitor what is happening in the entire United States air travel system and accurately project the consequences of certain actions. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022As daunting a task as that sounds, he said, \u0022such a system is necessary for the airlines to make appropriate decisions that affect safety and performance.\u0022 Woods offered an example. \u0022Say weather in one area begins to delay a few flights. If I\u0027m in charge of dispatching for an airline, I can make certain changes that will help my aircraft minimize delays and schedule disruptions. But what helps me could create bottlenecks for other aspects of the overall system.\u0022 \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETo make good decisions, he said, dispatchers must be able to see the big picture, such as what is happening at the other airlines. The system must then be able to adapt to maintain capacity. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe National Research Council is part of the National Academies, which also comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology and health policy advice under a congressional charter.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EPritchett and Woods\u0027 colleagues on the Council committee included researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Texas A\u0026amp;M University System, as well as members of the military and aviation industry: Durango Aerospace Inc., Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management, Flight Safety Technologies Inc., GE Aircraft Engines, United States Air Force, Rolls Royce North America, Airports Council International-North America, The Boeing Co. Phantom Works, RJR Aviation LLC, Aviation Planning and Finance, and RAND Corp. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWith nearly 25 years of experience diagnosing the factors behind human error, Woods has won awards for improving the safety of automated cockpits. He recently advised the Columbia Accident Investigation Board on its efforts to diagnose the contributors to the Shuttle disaster.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"A Georgia Tech professor, who helped develop the findings of a recent National Research Council report on the state of air transportation in the U.S., says the system is in peril, as is the nation\u0027s dominance in world aviation. The report, called \u0022Securing the Future of U.S. Air Transportation: A System in Peril,\u0022 was released in September and looks at a broad range of problems in the aviation industry, from safety and security, to the capacity of the air transportation system, to consumer satisfaction.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27304","created_gmt":"2003-11-19 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:02","author":"Matthew Nagel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2003-11-19T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2003-11-19T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"82721":{"id":"82721","type":"image","title":"Feature Story","body":null,"created":"1449178087","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:28:07","changed":"1475894698","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:58"}},"media_ids":["82721"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.nas.edu\/nrc\/","title":"National Research Council"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=lgrovenste3\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}