Flight to the future : human factors in air traffic control

007422990309056373https://doi.org/10.21949/1403345National Academy of Sciences1997PDFIn BookAir traffic controlAutomationHuman factorsAviation safetyStudiesRecommendationsNational Airspace SystemUnited StatesUnited StatesNational Academy PressNational Research Council (U.S.). Panel on Human Factors in Air Traffic Control AutomationWickens, Christopher D.Mavor, Anne S.McGee, James P.NTL-AVIATION-Air Traffic ControlNTL-AVIATION-Aviation Human FactorsUS Transportation CollectionThe nation's air traffic control system is responsible for managing a complexmixture of air traffic from commercial, general, corporate, and militaryaviation. Despite a strong safety record, the system does suffer occasionalserious disruption, often the result of outdated and failed equipment. Whenequipment failures occur, system safety relies on the skills of controllers andpilots. Under these circumstances, safety is maintained by reducing the numberof aircraft in the air. Pressures to provide the capacity to handle a greaternumber of flights in the future and to maintain high levels of safety andefficiency have led to proposals to provide more reliable and powerful equipmentand at the same time increase the level of automation in air traffic controlfacilities-that is, to use advances in technology to take over tasks that arecurrently performed by humans. Such proposals have raised concern thatautomation not compromise the safety or efficiency of the system bymarginalizing the human controller's ability to provide the necessary backupwhen disruptions occur. The Panel on Human Factors in Air Traffic ControlAutomation was convened at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) for the purposes of gaining an understanding of, and providingrecommendations on, the human factors characteristics of the current airtraffic control system, the national airspace system, and future automationalternatives in terms of the human's role in the system. The panel's chargedivides the tasks into two phases. The first focuses on the current system andits development as a means to: (1) understand the complexities of and problemswith the current air traffic control system that automation is intended toaddress; (2) describe the manner in which some levels of automation have alreadybeen implemented; and (3) provide a baseline of human factors knowledge as itrelates to the functions of the air traffic controller in the system. Thesecond phase is to assess future automation alternatives and the role of thehuman operator in ensuring safety and efficiency in the air traffic controlsystem. This report provides the results of the panel's work during the firstphase. The link in this record leads to the frontal material of the study,Flight to the Future: Human Factors in Air Traffic Control. By clicking on theDocument Homepage button at the end of the web page, the viewer is taken to apage which offers ordering information for the hardcopy book of the study (384p.)and a link to the left to a hypertext Table of Contents from which the viewercan select portions to read as desired on-line.84