Performance Metrics for Oceanic Air Traffic Management

Abstract

Metrics of voice communications between pilots and air traffic control provide important indices of NAS system performance. They help to characterize current operations, define requirements for future systems, and establish baselines against which performance of new systems can be compared. This article presents a review of studies of communication metrics in actual operations. It summarizes what is objectively known about various aspects of communication performance, including: the number of controller transmissions per minute, the characteristics of pilot responses, communication error rates, and the time required to transmit a message. Gaps in performance data are identified, empirical links between communication performance and other measures of system safety are explored, and the implications for system specification and evaluation are discussed.

Central East Pacific Flight Routing

“…1, controls approximately 21.3 million square miles of airspace and borders the Anchorage FIR to the north, the Tokyo FIR to the west, the Aukland FIR to the south, and the coastline of the contiguous United States on the east. 1 In contrast, the twenty Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) in the contiguous U.S. encompass roughly 3 million square miles. Despite the vast amount of airspace controlled by Oakland Center, flights, for the most part, are required to fly along fixed route structures and adhere to lateral separation standards that extend up to 100 nmi, longitudinal separation standards extending up to 15 min, and vertical separation standards of 1000 ft. 2 These stringent separation standards are required because of the limited surveillance capabilities in the ocean and the FAA's legacy Oceanic Display and Planning System (ODAPS).…”