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TASAR Flight Trial 2: Assessment of Air Traffic Controller Acceptability of TASAR RequestsIn support of the Flight Trial (FT-2) of NASA's prototype of the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) concept, observations were conducted at the air traffic facilities to identify and assess the main factors that affect the acceptability of pilot requests by air traffic controllers. Two observers shadowed air traffic controllers at the Atlanta (ZTL) and Jacksonville (ZJX) air traffic control centers as the test flight pilot made pre-scripted requests to invoke acceptability issues and then they interviewed the observed and other controllers voluntarily. Fifty controllers were interviewed with experience ranging from one to thirty-five years. All interviewed controllers were enthusiastic about the technology and accounting for sector boundaries in pilot requests, particularly if pilots can be made aware of high workload situations. All interviewed controllers accept more than fifty percent of pilot requests; forty percent of them reject less than ten percent of requests. The most common reason for rejecting requests is conflicting with traffic followed by violating letters of agreement (LOAs) and negatively impacting neighboring sector workload, major arrival and departure flows and flow restrictions. Thirty-six requests were made during the test, eight of which were rejected due to: the aircraft already handed off to another sector, violating LOA, opposing traffic, intruding into an active special use airspace (SUA), intruding into another center, weather, and unfamiliarity with the requested waypoint. Nine requests were accepted with delay mostly because the controller needed to locate unfamiliar waypoints or to coordinate with other controllers.
Document ID
20160010099
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Contractor Report (CR)
Authors
Idris, Husni (Engility Corp. Billerica, MA, United States)
Enea, Gabriele (Engility Corp. Billerica, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 5, 2016
Publication Date
June 1, 2016
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
NASA/CR-2016-219215
NF1676L-24629
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 330693.04.30.07.05
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNL12AA06C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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