Air traffic control studies of small aircraft transportation system operations

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) small aircraft transportation system (SATS) higher volume operations (HVO) research team collaborated with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) William J. Hughes Technical Center to provide a real-time simulation environment for conducting three proof of concept investigations of SATS HVO from an air traffic control (ATC) perspective. For the complete final test report (Magyarits et al., 2005). The main intent of the simulations was to collect data from certified professional controllers (CPCs) on workload and feasibility of SATS HVO in the operational environment from terminal and en route views (Magyarits et al., 2005). CPCs provided feedback on SATS procedures, phraseology, and the display of SATS related information. The information obtained will assist NASA researchers in the continued development and refinement of the SATS HVO concept.