It's ironic. For more than a year your association has been opposing the concept of a quasi-government corporation, similar in structure to the U.S. Postal Service, taking over the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control system. One of our concerns has been direct user charges for operating in this proposed system. Imagine my surprise when, late last year, I saw senior airline representatives wearing buttons on their uniforms with big, bold letters that spelled out: "Free Flight." For a moment I thought the airlines, which would control this new corporatized ATC system, had changed their minds and come over to our position of reforming the FAA but leaving it within government.
This wasn't the case, however, since their advocacy of "free flight" was not dollar oriented. Instead, it referred to a concept for more freedom of route determination in the air traffic system. Before you think your AOPA president has lost his general aviation perspective and now is advocating airline-type issues, let me assure you that this is not the case. The air transport industry is championing the cause for free flight, but a full understanding of the concept is essential for all pilots as this initiative progresses.
Basically, free flight provides pilots visual flight rules (VFR) flexibility while maintaining the traditional protection afforded under IFR. Hypothetically, sometime in the future, one might make an instrument flight, from takeoff through landing phase, and never talk to a controller. Air traffic restrictions would be imposed only to ensure separation from other aircraft, to preclude exceeding airport capacity, to prevent flying through special-use airspace, and to ensure safety of flight.
Since the invention of the first ground-based navaid, pilots have been flying dog-legged paths through the air. With the widespread development of loran in the 1980s and GPS in 1990s for aviation use, pilots are now able to return to a "pre-navaid" era when flying could be freely accomplished along a direct route. As many of us know from experience, however, the air traffic system doesn't always accommodate these direct routes, particularly when flying in IFR weather.
Two technological developments have led to seeing a new and different way of approaching air traffic management: GPS and data communications and processing. Today's reliable GPS signals have been proven for enroute navigation and stand-alone, non-precision approaches. Important to general aviation is that the equipment is affordable and greater enhancements to improve approach capability are under way. Data communications and processing can be looked at as the information superhighway of aviation. Just as the Internet has allowed worldwide data communications on the ground, so will various forms of aviation data-link communications provide air-to-ground, ground-to-air, and air-to-air messaging. Knowing your exact position in the sky, through loran and GPS, new systems will be able to data-link that to the ground, other planes, or even transmit it as a replacement for enroute surveillance radars and ELTs.
Recognizing this opportunity, general aviation, airline, and military pilots have been jointly developing new air traffic control procedures and concepts to maximize the advantages from this new generation of navigation signal.
Because the transition to new navaids and avionics will occur over many years, the ATC system's change also will be evolutionary. Many of the changes needed to support free flight will require new hardware and software for controllers. In addition, many simulations of projected traffic levels as well as potential conflicts must be made to ensure that both controllers and pilots are able to maximize flexibility while maintaining safe operations. Such was the work of RTCA, Inc., a non-profit government and industry technical organization, when it ran two simulations of domestic air traffic. One used our traditional structured flows (airways, etc.), and the other allowed traffic to go along its own path (direct, optimized for winds).
Surprisingly, the number of traffic conflicts was about the same, with the free flight number being slightly lower in the enroute phase.
The FAA has begun to implement free flight concepts in selected parts of the United States at certain altitudes. During 1995, this limited initial program will be expanded geographically and to lower altitudes, but it will provide little benefit to general aviation pilots — except those flying high-performance aircraft above FL290. AOPA is working to identify portions of the airspace that could be opened up for free flight as early as possible. Once these areas are identified, pilots will have additional incentives to invest in advanced avionics that permit direct routings that save fuel and time.
AOPA remains an active participant in the free flight concept to make sure it avoids imposing restrictions on aircraft not equipped for direct navigation. The clear intent of the concept is to create benefits for those who invest in advanced navigation systems, thereby providing a direct return from the upgraded equipment, but we must make sure there is no penalty for aircraft owners who do not. The ultimate goal of free flight is to create additional ATC system efficiency and capacity while at the same time saving pilots and aircraft owners valuable time and money. Just as NDBs and VORs modernized air navigation in their day, loran and satellite navigation systems will modernize navigation in the decade ahead. Given the technology development, certification of equipment, procedures design, and training required to transition from one navigation system to another, it will be many years before this new concept is used widely. However, the initial steps are being planned, and AOPA is on the scene to ensure that general aviation stands to benefit from a more customer-oriented air traffic system that allows airplanes and pilots to do what comes naturally — fly direct.
"How odd," I remarked to the airline types wearing the free flight buttons. "Here you are extolling the virtues of flying direct, with less control, when we have had that in general aviation since cross-country flying began; it's called VFR. Trouble is, you in the airlines have been chipping away at our ability to fly direct with your support of special- use airspace, control towers, and the like."
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