Watchdog Worries About NGATS

Editorial Staff

Friday, February 16, 2007 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) aims to reinvent the National Airspace System and accommodate triple the air traffic by 2025, but faces significant coordination, budget, and implementation challenges.
The DOT Office of Inspector General (OIG) deems NGATS a high-risk effort due to potential multibillion-dollar investments, questioning financial impact on airspace users and the lack of specific direction within involved agencies.
Concerns include the shift of air traffic separation responsibility to the cockpit, unclear roles for pilots and controllers, and the anticipated workload, leading to a recommendation for human factors analyses to ensure safety.

See a mistake? Contact us.

The FAA’s Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) is making progress towards the lofty goal of reinventing the National Airspace System, but there’s a minefield of coordination, budget and implementation issues ahead, according to a report from the Department ofTransportation’s Office of Inspector General. OIG said the creationof the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) is “anextraordinarily complex and high-risk effort given the potentialmultibillion-dollar investments by FAA and airspace users.” Whilethere seems to be an overall plan to coordinate a bunch of agenciestoward the goal of accommodating three times the air traffic of todayby 2025, the OIG worries that there’s a lack of specific directionwithin those agencies to make sure the work actually gets done. TheOIG is naturally interested in just how the FAA is going to investall those billions of dollars in NGATS equipment and facilities, butit’s also concerned about the financial impact on those who will usethe system. Among the big questions is what equipment aircraftwill need and who’s going to pay for it. It’s a given that NGATS willinvolve a shift of more responsibility for separation to the cockpitand that satellite-based gear is going to facilitate that. But justwho will do what in the new system and whether pilots and controllersalike can handle the anticipated workload are open questions. “We arerecommending that the JPDO conduct sufficient human factors analysesand studies to ensure that the changes envisioned for NGATS can besafely accomplished,” the DOT OIG concluded.