FAA celebrates 75 years of air traffic control

[News_Editor]

FAA celebrates 75 years of air traffic control

2011-07-07 07:36:44 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of federal air traffic control.

The FAA was launched on July 6, 1936 with a total number of 15 workers that operated in three control centers (Newark, New Jersey, Chicago, Illinois and Cleveland, Ohio); 75 years later, the agency has become a world leader, pioneering safety improvements and developing new technology to speed up flights, save fuel and improve safety.

The 15 employees who made up the original group of controllers took radio position reports from pilots to plot the progress of each flight, providing no separation services. At the time, the fastest plane in the commercial fleet was the Douglas DC-3, which could fly coast-to-coast in about 17 hours while carrying 21 passengers.

Today, the air traffic system has expanded from three control centers to include 131 federal stand-alone airport traffic control towers, 132 towers for terminal area approach control, 29 stand-alone terminal radar approach controls, and 21 en route traffic control centers.

Furthermore, the number of controllers has grown from 15 to more than 15,000, which handle an average of 50,000 flights each day. The speed of the DC-3 is no longer comparable to jet aircraft that can carry hundreds of passengers and fly from New York to Los Angeles in about five hours.

"The United States has the safest air transportation system in the world," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "But as the last 75 years show, we will never stop working to make our system even safer."

On its anniversary, the FAA stated that it continued to pioneer new technologies that will make air traffic control safer and more efficient. The Next Generation Air Transportation System is expected to transform air traffic control in the U.S. from a system of ground-based radars to one based on satellites.

In parts of the country, controllers already are beginning to track aircraft via satellites with a state-of-the-art system called Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast ADS-B, which are planned to be available nationwide in 2013 and would be enabling more direct routes, saving time and money while also lowering the industry's environmental footprint.

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