RWM, Perhaps you are aware of something that I'm not. Eastern's shuttle as you say of the 60's had "free flight" but remember the majority of domestic traffic flows are east-west, west-east. The shuttle was on the perimeter of the flow and outside of it. Not certain it will reduce number of controllers. If it does it will be so negligible that you won't even notice. Free Flight and this may as I said get you there faster but at the 33 pacing airports you'll likely hold longer or be slowed down earlier. Remember the only common tool an air traffic controller has is airspeed. Picture 33 funnels around the country. It's only measurable by what comes out the bottom. LAHSO was the only "tool" the controller got recently that helped handling traffic. Al ----- Or iginal Message ----- From: "RWM" <RWM@RWMann.com> To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 7:09 AM Subject: Re: New system to enhance air traffic, safety > No, but we'll all have to read the tiny screen instead of the panel, or > having eyes outside, and we'll have to learn to type > better/faster/cheaper... All of which is slower than issuing and > intuitively responding in realtime to verbal command across 8.33 khz > frequency spacings. > > "Free flight" has been around since the 1960's and Eastern Shuttle Electras > used Sperry "4-D" guidance. It's here now as "fly direct". And both break > down after top of descent into to the terminal area, as you say. > > You're not losing anything. But it require fewer controllers to do the job. > > - RWM > > Allan9 wrote: > > > > Gosh, I love all this great technology. We will be able to let the aircraft > > fly closer and where they want (free flight) and all arrive at their > > destination at the same time and enter the holding pattern because the > > runway acceptance rate will not handle them. Maybe I'm loosing something in > > the translation. > > > > Al > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Roger James" <ejames@escape.ca> > > To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> > > Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 11:58 AM > > Subject: New system to enhance air traffic, safety > > > > > New system to enhance air traffic, safety > > > > > > WASHINGTON (AP) =97 Federal officials are working on a navigation system= > > > that=20 > > > will let planes fly closer together, prevent crashes into mountains > > and,=20 > > > perhaps, become part of a system to prevent hijackers from flying > > planes=20 > > > into buildings or other structures. The Federal Aviation Administration=20 > > > will establish the automated system at San Francisco International > > Airport= > > > =20 > > > next month, and plans to eventually deploy it at other airports. Many=20 > > > commercial aircraft already have the equipment required to use the > > system.= >