Girlawhirl feels like everyday she flips on the news there seems to be another bombshell about the airline industry. From carriers folding, to outrageous delays, FAA groundings and entire fleets needing mechanical updates, it just seems like one jumbo jet-sized headache after another. She's fallen victim to atrocious delays – some that even stretched into days rather than hours. But now Girlawhirl has some hope that a solution to the problem is just around the corner...
Air traffic congestion is getting worse and worse. The reason: air traffic controllers today manage the airways the same way they have for the past 50 years – using a system of radars to update plane location information every 5 to 12 seconds. Therefore, planes are spaced miles and miles apart for safety reasons. In some cases where radar coverage is lacking it can be up to 75 miles. Right now a pilot's only reference for the location of surrounding planes comes from air traffic controllers on the ground. All of this causes scheduling delays.
But a new system, called the Next-Generation Air Transportation System, is set to revolutionize air traffic. Instead of depending on ground based radar to relay messages to air traffic controllers who in turn inform pilots, it can be done plane-to-plane via this new GPS satellite style system – called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast [ADS-B] – in only one second.
In an interview with David Pouge, Federal Aviation Administration head Robert Sturgell said air traffic is expected to grow by two or three times by 2025.
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Girlawhirl can't wait for the new, safer, system to take effect and really make a difference in her travel plans. Though it is expected to take about 20 years for a world aviation upgrade, some planes already have the technology. And Girlawhirl sees that as a very welcomed start.