Analysis of deficiencies in terminal operations

A key step in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system development lifecycle is an examination of current U.S. National Airspace System (NAS) operations to determine the highest priority operational needs. There exists literature on the subject of identifying deficiencies in the (NAS); however, much of this literature's originating perspective is from that of an engineer or data analyst. Less literature exists from the originating perspective of current operational experts working within NAS field facilities. MITRE/CAASD is supporting the FAA in establishing an outreach-based approach for identifying and analyzing operational deficiencies in the NAS. As an initial effort, the FAA has selected the terminal arrival/departure domain to validate this approach. As opposed to focusing on the “latest technology”, the identification of deficiencies is guiding the FAA's system development strategies by giving decision-makers greater insight into the most important capabilities needed in future operations. This will help to achieve the vision set forth by the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). For this initial effort, MITRE/CAASD worked with the FAA to assemble a team of representatives currently working within terminal arrival/departure field facilities across the NAS to elicit their expertise and input. Operational representatives were solicited with experience in a wide range of operational environments, which is key to identifying a comprehensive set of deficiencies. For contextsetting purposes, situations that a TRACON controller would encounter and an associated line of questioning to help guide the discussions was prepared. Several outreach sessions were then conducted, and the results were analyzed and synthesized into structured cause and effect assessments. Selected results are provided in this paper. This paper documents the process that was used to ensure that the originating perspective from theoperational representatives was retained; that sound systems engineering techniques were applied; and that the focus remained on identifying and prioritizing deficiencies (i.e., examining solutions will come in later steps). The findings of this work will be used to aid investment decision-making for the TRACON environment, and the methods described here may be refined for outreach and analysis in identifying operational deficiencies in other operational domains such as en route, traffic flow management and surface.