A collaborative regional airspace and procedure team toolset

The MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) has been working with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Air Traffic Procedures (ATP), Aviation Flight Standards Services (AFS), and Aviation System Standards (AVN), and other organizations to harmonize several aspects of the Required Navigation Performance Area Navigation (RNP RNAV) procedure design and implementation process. Because air carriers want more procedures that leverage their advance avionics capabilities, the demand for new RNP RNAV procedures has increased. Process harmonization across several FAA lines of business is needed to identify methods for streamlining and compressing implementation timelines without compromising quality and safety, while constrained by limited resources. Currently the process for RNP RNAV procedure development has been manual and paper driven. As the FAA moves forward in implementing e-government initiatives, automation allows the FAA to standardize and streamline processes while improving productivity and quality. There are nine FAA regions responsible for the procedures and airspace within their geographic boundary. Different FAA divisions have offices located in the region that manage procedures, airspace, and airports within the region. These offices are also responsible for coordinating their activities with either FAA Headquarters or a national office such as the National Flight Procedures Office (NFPO). Organizations which share tasks can profit from information sharing process standardization, task status, data sharing, and coordination. Diversity in geographic location, business cultures within and across divisions, and differing organizational missions contribute to the importance of getting all affected stakeholders onto a common page for shared tasks. Activities such as procedu