The Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS) is a product for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) developed to monitor and react to air traffic congestion in both real time and in the future. The system is capable of issuing ground delay programs (GDPs) and ground stop programs (GSs). Ground delay programs are instituted on a particular airport or group of airports to alleviate volume or if there is severe weather.
The system works much like a hub and spoke system where an ETMS hubsite will send and receive data to and from many remote sites. The hubsites report directly to Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Warrenton, Virginia [1] .
ETMS hubsites generate the data used by ASDI (Aircraft Situation Display to Industry).
Other organizations (e.g., the airlines, Department of Defense, NASA, and international sites) also have access to the ETMS software and/or data. [2]
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a U.S. federal government agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation which regulates civil aviation in the United States and surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic control, certification of personnel and aircraft, setting standards for airports, and protection of U.S. assets during the launch or re-entry of commercial space vehicles. Powers over neighboring international waters were delegated to the FAA by authority of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airspace. The primary purpose of ATC is to prevent collisions, organize and expedite the flow of traffic in the air, and provide information and other support for pilots.
Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCs, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control towers on the ground, they monitor the position, speed, and altitude of aircraft in their assigned airspace visually and by radar, and give directions to the pilots by radio. Controllers apply separation rules to keep aircraft at a safe distance from each other and within proper airspace in their area of responsibility and move all aircraft safely and efficiently through their assigned sector of airspace, as well as on the ground. Because controllers have an incredibly large responsibility while on duty and make countless real-time decisions on a daily basis, the ATC profession is consistently regarded around the world as one of the most mentally challenging careers, and can be notoriously stressful depending on many variables. Many controllers, however, cite high salaries, and a large, unique, and privileged degree of autonomy as major advantages of their jobs.
An airfield traffic pattern is a standard path followed by aircraft when taking off or landing while maintaining visual contact with the airfield.
Dothan Regional Airport is a public airport in Dale County, Alabama, United States, seven miles northwest of Dothan, a city mostly in Houston County.
Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport is a civil-military airport in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States, three miles (6 km) northwest of downtown Springfield. It is owned by the Springfield Airport Authority (SAA).
In air traffic control, an area control center (ACC), also known as a center or en-route center, is a facility responsible for controlling aircraft flying in the airspace of a given flight information region (FIR) at high altitudes between airport approaches and departures. In the US, such a center is referred to as an air route traffic control center (ARTCC).
Ryan Airfield, also known as Ryan Field, is a city-owned, public-use airport located 12 miles southwest of the central business district of Tucson, a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a reliever airport. It is mostly used for general aviation but also serves a significant amount of law enforcement and military helicopter activity. Approximately 50% of Ryan's traffic is training-related.
Air traffic flow management (ATFM) is the regulation of air traffic in order to avoid exceeding airport or air traffic control capacity in handling traffic, and to ensure that available capacity is used efficiently.
An air traffic control ground delay program or FAA Flow Control is a traffic flow initiative that is instituted by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the National Airspace System.
The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is an ongoing United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) project to modernize the National Airspace System (NAS). The FAA began work on NextGen improvements in 2007 and plans to finish the final implementation segment by 2030. The goals of the modernization include using new technologies and procedures to increase the safety, efficiency, capacity, access, flexibility, predictability, and resilience of the NAS while reducing the environmental impact of aviation.
As of December 2017, there are 229 commercial airports in China.
The Air Traffic Organization (ATO) is an air navigation service provider in the United States of America. The ATO is the operational division of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) is an aviation surveillance technology and form of electronic conspicuity in which an aircraft determines its position via satellite navigation or other sensors and periodically broadcasts its position and other related data, enabling it to be tracked. The information can be received by air traffic control ground-based or satellite-based receivers as a replacement for secondary surveillance radar (SSR). Unlike SSR, ADS-B does not require an interrogation signal from the ground or from other aircraft to activate its transmissions. ADS-B can also receive point-to-point by other nearby equipped ADS-B equipped aircraft to provide traffic situational awareness and support self-separation.
Next Generation (NextGen) Data Communications, an element of the Next Generation Air Transportation System, will significantly reduce controller-to-pilot communications and controller workload, whilst improving safety. NextGen comprises complex integrated and interlinked programs, portfolios, systems, policies, and procedures. NextGen has modernized air traffic infrastructure in communications, navigation, surveillance, automation, and information management.
Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (PAZA/ZAN) is an Area Control Center operated by the Federal Aviation Administration and is located just outside the main gate of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson at 700 North Boniface Parkway in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. The Anchorage ARTCC is one of 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers in the United States.
Ground Equipment Facility QRC is an FAA radar station that was part of a Cold War SAGE radar station for aircraft control and warning "from Massachusetts to southern Virginia, and as far out to sea as possible." Benton AFS was also the first operational "regional data processing center" for the GE 477L Nuclear Detection and Reporting System.
The FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center is an aviation research and development, and test and evaluation facility. The Technical Center serves as the national scientific test base for the Federal Aviation Administration. Technical Center programs include research and development, test and evaluation, and verification and validation in air traffic control, communications, navigation, airports, aircraft safety, and security. They also include long-range development of aviation systems and concepts, development of new air traffic control equipment and software, and modification of existing systems and procedures. Through a series of initiatives known collectively as NextGen, the Technical Center is contributing to the Next Generation Air Transportation System.
West Mesa Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 9.5 miles (15.3 km) west of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was closed by the Air Force in 1968 and turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The site is now data-tied into the Joint Surveillance System (JSS).
Airport surveillance and broadcast systems are a set of runway-safety tools that display aircraft on and near an airport.