The next generation air transportation system Research Paper

The next generation air transportation system - Research Paper Example The Next Generation 2010plan was developed with a plan to focus on theimprovement of the operations. In 2003 a Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) was developed to plan and coordinate the development of the system. Next Generation Air Transport System is majorly designed to relieve airspace congestion problems at high density airports (Rodrigues and Cusik). These airports are said to have a lot of flights taking place within 24 hours and human traffic is also high per year. Therefore FAA has rated them top in the list to receive this upgrading; an example is the New York Airport and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. This system has been in demonstration in Delta Airlines and FedEx. Refining and improving satellite navigation through augmentation systems will assist pilots in all flight phases that are: taxing, to take-off, en-route flying and landing in all weather conditions, reaching the level of safety thatwill be required to cope with the continuous increase in the number of flights. It is an important development because flights could be for commercial purposes or leisure purposes within the same airspace thus the need to separate them. The old system provides navigation to pilots through the aid of equipment like Non Directional Beacon (NDB) which is a radio transmitter put on the ground at a known location from which the aircraft can track to or from, whereas VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) which is used to provide a more accurate directional information. Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) providesdistance information to and from the facility. Lastly, there is Instrument Landing System (ILS) that provides lateral and vertical guidance to aircraft approaching landing. All these facilities had to be located in positions where they were accessible for maintenance and optimum navigation purposes. Currently in the old systemdomestic airspace is monitored by the radar and there are