An ISyE professor, who helped develop the findings of a recent National Research Council report on the state of air transportation in the U.S., says the system is in danger, as is the nation's dominance in world aviation.

The report, called "Securing the Future of U.S. Air Transportation: A System in Peril," was released in September 2003 and looks at a broad range of problems in the aviation industry, from safety and security, to the capacity of the air transportation system, to consumer satisfaction.

Amy Pritchett, an associate professor with a dual appointment at ISyE and the School of Aerospace Engineering, was a member of the report committee. The group was charged with helping to plan the nation's aviation strategy for the next 50 years.

"While the European Union, China, and India all have ambitious aerospace agendas, the United States is falling behind, without a clear, long-term plan and without a broad base of basic research to support long-term innovation," says Pritchett. "While air transportation is a vital part of our growing economy, the capacity of our air traffic control system is reaching fundamental limits to growth. These limits can't be solved by technology alone, and there is no one 'silver bullet' solution."

Instead, Pritchett says she believes the nation needs to change the underlying operational concepts, economic structures, and role of humans and machines used in air transportation, while maintaining a safety level unique to aviation.

The report committee concluded that the government should institute a focused national leadership for aviation, guided by a strategic vision that will enable the airline industry to meet increased travel demand in the future.

"While capacity may not seem to be a pressing issue today, as recently as the summer of 2001 extremely high demand for travel caused record delays at airports and dramatically lowered customer satisfaction," says David Woods, a member of the report committee and a professor in industrial and systems engineering at The Ohio State.

He continues, "As painful as the present economic situation is for the industry, the current travel slump provides breathing room to step back and coordinate changes across the different parts of the industry and government, before demand for air travel increases again."

The report illustrated the need for strategic coordination among the airlines, as well as all the other stakeholders in air transportation. Such strategic coordination will require new technoogy — specifically, computer networks that coordinate decisions among the stakeholders. One of Pritchett and Woods' areas of expertise — how people interact with computers to make decisions in high-risk environments — will be critical in carrying out the committee's recommendations.

Pritchett says, "Making the system function as an efficient whole is a complex issue, especially when decisions will impact many different airlines and customers in ways that they may not have chosen for themselves. We cannot do this without computers — but we can't automate it completely, either. Instead, we need to develop collaborative, human-interactive technologies that enable operating concepts that we haven't even conceived of yet."

Woods says computer systems will have to be designated so that airline employees can monitor what is happening in the entire United States air travel system and accurately project the consequences of certain actions.

"As daunting a task as that sounds, such a system is necessary for the airlines to make appropriate decisions that affect safety and performance. Say weather in one area begins to delay a few flights. If I'm in charge of dispatching for an airline, I can make certain changes that will help my aircraft minimize delays and schedule disruptions. But what helps me could create bottlenecks for other aspects of the overall system," says Woods.

To make good decisions, he says, dispatchers must be able to see the big picture, such as what is happening at the other airlines. The system must then be able to adapt to maintain capacity.

The National Research Council is part of the National Academies, which also comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter.

Pritchett and Woods' colleagues on the Council committee included researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Texas A&M; University, as well as members of the military and the aviation industry.



• Winter 2003 Engineering Enterprise Table of Contents
• Engineering Enterprise Home Page



Web Site © Copyright 2020 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. and ISyE, Georgia Institute of Technology. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher.


Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
34 Hillside Ave
Phone: +44 23 8110 3411 |
E-mail:
Web: www.lionheartpub.com

ISyE / Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0205
|
Web: www.isye.gatech.edu