Aviation Industry - Air Traffic Control

Abstract

The aviation industry continues to grow day by day at an unprecedented rate throughout most parts of the world where advancements in technology expand with the demands influencing its development. Air traffic controllers (ATC’s) are primarily responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flight of aircraft, while continuously being vulnerable to unforeseeable and/or extenuating circumstances and influences beyond his/her control and all past, present, and future predictions point towards evidence suggesting that there will be a immeasurable increase in aircraft quantities in the sky. There is no evidence suggesting a decrease or anything otherwise. Consequently, air traffic controllers must find a way to accommodate the demands that are continuously on the rise. However, rational minds cannot ignore the fact that an increase in traffic flow causes an increase in the workload of the controller. A preliminary review of the organizational structure of our national airspace system (NAS), with respect to the air traffic control profession and analysis of human-centered professions in partnership with machinery, demonstrates the need for not only refinement of job training, but also the improvement of situational awareness from crew resource management training (CRM), as well as the development and refinement of existing computer assistance equipment in relation to the air traffic controller and their job duties, and the need of improved automation design and/or finely tuned technology that allows the controller to handle more traffic without degrading any other job-related tasks (Advisory Circular).

A Brief History of Air Traffic Control

Historically speaking air traffic control did not exist before the Wright Brothers. It was only possible to fly during the day when human vision was the prevailing instrument at their disposal, whereas at night it was impossible to see or help guide other aircraft. ATC presently speaking, is the key element in our NAS that keeps our skies safe and seamless in its functionality between pilots, ATC personnel, crewman, and all aviators of the community.

It was not until more than a decade after the Wright Brothers that on February 22, 1921, the US Postal Service conducted a night-flight experiment, lighting a transcontinental route (imagine a straight line from New York to San Francisco) with a series of bonfires, thus allowing aircraft to fly at night for the first time. Additionally, the technology that was produced from after World War I helped people realize that unless there was a method invented that directed or controlled airplanes, they would crash into each other as witnessed during the development of human flight. The USPS's initial experiment failed because all dispatched aircraft failed to make it to the destination. (Again, imagine a straight line from New York to San Francisco, only with two routes lying on the north and south side of the 'straight' line.) The plane on the southern route crashed right after takeoff, thus killing the pilot instantly. Of the two aircraft on the northbound route, only one survived the snowstorm that both aircraft encountered purely out of extremely heroic effort. By 1925, the USPS proved to Congress that over the years through its development, that its operations were successful, "faster than the railroad system by an average of 29 minutes", and could be utilized by the government (NATCA). Congress then passed the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925, thus birthing the beginning of the airline/aviation industry. (2015).

During the following year in 1926 the Air Commerce Act was born out of the necessity of safety due to the increasing volume of traffic in the skies. The Air Commerce Act set air traffic rules, mandated that pilots and aircraft be certified, and established airways and operating aids to navigation.

The next year, Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic by himself; however, at his hometown of St. Louis the aviation industry was popular and booming. In 1929, the first US Air Traffic Controller, Archie W. League, began his work. Comically, he had nothing but his umbrella for shade, his lunch and drinks, sunglasses, a notepad, and a flag to wave at aircraft to tell them either "GO" or "HOLD". (2015).

Although pioneer ATC's used basic methods to control traffic, it was still extremely risky to fly. Only the USPS flew at night with the guidance of the bonfire-lit beacon towers along with few other skilled, instrument-rated pilots. Otherwise, visual flight rule certified pilots mainly flew between sunrise and sunset.

It was not until after the mid 1930's that two-way communications were invented. This invention made it possible for pilots and controllers to communicate between each other during the day or the