ACCOMMODATING USER
PREFERRED ROUTING
Free Flight Phase 2 builds on the successes of Free
Flight Phase 1 to improve safety and efficiency within
the NAS. Implementation of Phase 2 will include the
expansion of Phase 1 elements to additional FAA facilities.
This program will deploy a number of additional
capabilities, such as CDM with collaborative routing
coordination tool (CRCT) enhancements and CPDLC.
The National Airspace System status information
(NASSI) tool is the most recent CDM element to be
introduced. NASSI enables the real-time sharing of a
wide variety of information about the operational status
of the NAS. Much of this information has previously
been unavailable to most airspace users. NASSI currently
includes information on maintenance status and
runway visual range at over 30 airports.
The CRCT is a set of automation capabilities that can
evaluate the impact of traffic flow management rerouting
strategies. The major focus of this tool is
management of en route congestion.
IMPROVING ACCESS TO
SPECIAL USE AIRSPACE
Special use airspace (SUA) includes prohibited,
restricted, warning, and alert areas, as well as military
operations areas (MOAs), controlled firing areas, and
national security areas. The FAA and the Department of
Defense are working together to make maximum use of
SUA by opening these areas to civilian traffic when they
are not being used by the military. The military airspace
management system (MAMS) keeps an
extensive database of information on the historical
use of SUA, as well as schedules describing when
each area is expected to be active. MAMS transmits
this data to the special use airspace management
system (SAMS), an FAA program that provides current
and scheduled status information on SUA to
civilian users. This information is available at the following
link http://sua.faa.gov/. The two systems
work together to ensure that the FAA and system
users have current information on a daily basis.
A prototype system called SUA in-flight service
enhancement (SUA/ISE) provides graphic, near-realtime
depictions of SUA to automated flight service
station (AFSS) specialists who can use the information
to help pilots during flight planning as well as
during flight. Pronounced “Suzy,” this tool can display
individual aircraft on visual flight rule (VFR)
flight plans (with data blocks), plot routes of flight,
identify active SUA and display weather radar echoes.
Using information from the enhanced traffic management
system, AFSS specialists will see this information on a
combined graphic display. This data may also be transmitted
and shown on cockpit displays in general and
commercial aviation aircraft.
The central altitude reservation function (CARF) coordinates
military, war plans, and national security use of
the NAS. While SAMS handles the schedule information
regarding fixed or charted SUA, CARF handles
unscheduled time and altitude reservations. Both subsystems
deal with planning and tracking the military’s
use of the NAS.
The FAA and the U.S. Navy have been working together
to allow civilian use of offshore warning areas. When
adverse weather prevents the use of normal air routes
along the eastern seaboard, congestion and delays can
result as flights are diverted to the remaining airways.
When offshore warning areas are not in use by the
Navy, the airspace could be used to ease the demand
on inland airways. To facilitate the use of this airspace,
the FAA established waypoints in offshore airspace
along four routes for conducting point-to-point navigation
when the Navy has released that airspace to the
FAA. The waypoints take advantage of RNAV capabilities
and provide better demarcation of airspace
boundaries, resulting in more flexible release of airspace
in response to changing weather. These new
offshore routes, which stretch from northern Florida
to Maine, are an excellent example of how close coordination
between military and civil authorities can
maximize the utility of limited airspace.
HANDLING EN ROUTE SEVERE WEATHER
Interpreting written or spoken weather information is
not difficult, nor is visualizing the relationship of the
weather to the aircraft’s route, although verbal or textual
descriptions of weather have inevitable limitations.
Color graphics can show more detail and convey more
information, but obtaining them in flight has been
impractical, until recently. The graphical weather service
(GWS) provides a nationwide precipitation mosaic,
updated frequently, and transmitted to the aircraft and
displayed in the cockpit. Whether the display is used to
strategize navigation, to avoid weather en route, or for
departures and approaches, consideration must always
be given to the timeliness of the graphic update. Pilots
can select any portion of the nationwide mosaic with
range options of 25, 50, 100, and 200 NM. In addition to
providing information on precipitation, this service can
be expanded to include other graphical data. Some systems
will place the detailed weather graphics directly on
a moving map display, removing another step of interpretation
and enabling pilots to see the weather in relation
to their flight path. [Figure 6-11]
![](images/6-11.jpg)
|