We have NASA to thank for making our future flights that much less painful. The space agency is currently working on a new app that will help airlines reduce flight times and cut down on fuel consumption.
CUTTING DOWN ON FLIGHT TIME
NASA’s Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) app connects to an aircraft’s avionics information hub to make “traffic aware strategic aircrew requests (TASAR),” according to David Wing, the leader of TASAR at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The project was first revealed two years ago; since then, the same technology has been tested in simulators and was recently introduced to a live Piaggio P.180 Avanti aircraft.
According to William Cotton, the pilot of the test flight from Virginia to Kentucky, the system worked well and was used “to make a route change request from air traffic control, which they granted,” he stated. The shortcut saved the crew four minutes of flight time.
Successful tests have now cleared the software for a more thorough three-year testing program in conjunction with Virgin American and Alaska Airlines. Flight crews utilizing the technology will be able to manage in-flight data via tablets. The application can detect a plane’s position and route, among other real-time data, which it will use to find alternative routes or altitude positions that could expedite a flight, thereby helping to also conserve fuel. The suggested options can either be accepted or declined by the pilot.
Before implementing any route changes, air traffic control must first approve them. To make this process easier, TAP scans an aircraft’s Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) signals to detect any nearby air traffic that could cause a collision.
THE FUTURE OF THE APP: FLIGHT TIME AND CARBON EMISSIONS
Although the application is still relatively new, it holds a lot of potential for both the airline and travel industries. NASA currently does not provide an estimate about how much time or money can be actually saved on each flight. However, the long-term effects of the technology are certainly worth nothing. Even a few minutes off many flights across multiple airlines could translate to significant cuts with regard to carbon emissions and finances.
