Free Flight: Human Factors Implications

There is a real possibility that the air traffic control system in the United States will change radically in the next decade. One vision–“free flight” or “free routing”–is to move most of the responsibility for navigation and separation back to the cockpit and away from ground based air traffic systems. The basic notion of free flight is that each flight would be completely determined by the user, i.e. by some form of airline/pilot combination, and would not need to follow pre-defined airways or altitudes. The airlines would inform the air traffic system of each aircraft's intentions, but would not have to seek any prior air traffic approval. The job of the air traffic system would be to meet the user's requirements, but not to suggest what those requirements should be. However, the air traffic system would be expected to collaborate with the airlines to ensure the safe passage of flights and to intervene when aircraft separation requirements are jeopardized or violated. Such a system would bring with it dramatic changes in the roles of all the human members of the aviation system, and as such, would have significant human factors impacts. The goal of this panel will be to identify and discuss some of those issues.