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The future of ATC for general aviation?

Former Member

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Going back 100 years ago, before automated traffic lights were invented, a traffic cop (police officer) would stand in the middle of the intersection and direct vehicles with a whistle to avoid collisions and frustration. Along came traffic lights, and the cop would then stand on the corner, and manually change the light depending on the traffic flow. Fast forward 30 years, and we had automated, timed traffic lights, and also pressure sensors on the roads to let the traffic light now there was a car there.

Ive been flying in small aircraft since I was a kid with my dad. Back then, we didnt have an encoding altimeter, but had a unicom that allowed us to broadcast our position and intentions to other pilots aloft. That was decades ago, but today, general aviation is still using vocal transmission to get clearances, and communicate with ATC.

Im wondering what the next step is for general aviation and ATC? Will it be non-verbal communications, with an automated ATC? Computers are great devices to use on mundane, or repetitive, stressful tasks, and from friends I have that are ATC, say its one of the most stressful jobs in the world. With automation these, days, what would it take to migrate or evolve from what we have now to a more automated ATC?
 
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Going back 100 years ago, before automated traffic lights were invented, a traffic cop (police officer) would stand in the middle of the intersection and direct vehicles with a whistle to avoid collisions and frustration. Along came traffic lights, and the cop would then stand on the corner, and manually change the light depending on the traffic flow. Fast forward 30 years, and we had automated, timed traffic lights, and also pressure sensors on the roads to let the traffic light now there was a car there.

Ive been flying in small aircraft since I was a kid with my dad. Back then, we didnt have an encoding altimeter, but had a unicom that allowed us to broadcast our position and intentions to other pilots aloft. That was decades ago, but today, general aviation is still using vocal transmission to get clearances, and communicate with ATC.

Im wondering what the next step is for general aviation and ATC? Will it be non-verbal communications, with an automated ATC? Computers are great devices to use on mundane, or repetitive, stressful tasks, and from friends I have that are ATC, say its one of the most stressful jobs in the world. With automation these, days, what would it take to migrate or evolve from what we have now to a more automated ATC?
most things we do now days involve some sort of electronic interaction between people and devices from simple drive by wire throttles in cars to the complex ones in aircraft, and now the beginning of self driving cars.the biggest problem with all these devices, is the ability for them to be attacked from outside by being hacked. i think there would have to be a lot of redundant capacity and the ability to have multiple computers in case of failure in one system
 
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most things we do now days involve some sort of electronic interaction between people and devices from simple drive by wire throttles in cars to the complex ones in aircraft, and now the beginning of self driving cars.the biggest problem with all these devices, is the ability for them to be attacked from outside by being hacked. i think there would have to be a lot of redundant capacity and the ability to have multiple computers in case of failure in one system

It's true. I guess if someones life depends on it, there will have to be rigorous testing.
 
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I'm private pilot also,sure hope they never get rid of atc

What would be your reason for wanting to keep it manually run? ATC has tried to kill me on at least 3 different occasions since I got my ticket. All from vectoring me into oncoming traffic.
 
FAA doesn't do anything quickly, trust me I know. They have gone from chain smoking 50 year old baby boomers, to shorts and flip-flop wearing millennials, but that did take about 30 years. NextGen ATC is pretty cool, but I'm not sure you'll see the human factor eliminated anytime soon. FAA tends to run 10-15 years (or more) behind the technology curve, but for good reason.
 
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FAA doesn't do anything quickly, trust me I know. They have gone from chain smoking 50 year old baby boomers, to shorts and flip-flop wearing millennials, but that did take about 30 years. NextGen ATC is pretty cool, but I'm not sure you'll see the human factor eliminated anytime soon. FAA tends to run 10-15 years (or more) behind the technology curve, but for good reason.

Absolutely for good reason. I agree. I was hoping that all the great technology would catch up faster.
 
I just upgraded to ADSB out and in. It is nice to get traffic and weather. Will drones ever be mandated to have an ADSB out so they can see us?

That is very exciting technology! Back in the 60's, there was alot of excitement about transponders, and these days almost every aircraft has one, but it's still a manual process to squawk. Your ADSB unit looks like it turns on and stays on when the A/C powers on, and automatically ID's you to ATC and nearby A/C. Very nice.
 
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