Radio frequency congestion is a major issue in throughput. One of the many issues at La Guardia in NYC is being able to even get a word in to let ATC know you’re ready to taxi. Aircraft are sitting on the ramp waiting to move and in turn aircraft that have landed are waiting to park because the outbound aircraft can’t get out of the way because they can’t get clearance to taxi. It’s a major pain.
Last week I witnessed first hand how enroute frequencies are jammed as well. Flying in and out of Atlanta as severe thunderstorms surrounded the arrival corridor aircraft were diverting everywhere. You could hardly get a word in in time to tell them you were diverting around the storms.
Hopefully CPDLC will alleviate some of this. Something certainly needs to change.
Isn't radio an "old system" ripe for change? The cellular network accommodates millions of users in a space the size of Manhattan. Why do airplanes need to use a channel with such narrow throughput?
Also, voice uses far, far more bandwidth than text.
>And those will be less of a problem after 1/3 of aircraft turn into pumpkins when they "forget" to do the mandatory ADS-B installation this year.
Explain? Are 1/3 of planes not going to get ADS-B installed, and therefore can't fly? Are these commerical planes? If so, are businesses really this incompetent?
Did we read the same article? One of the problems specifically mentioned about old ATC systems is that they rely on voice communication while text messages would be more efficient.
Have a digital frequency for routine communication: like authorization to taxi, take off, clearances, flight plans, pattern requests, confirmations, and traffic. Keep an analog frequency for communicating through emergencies (kind of like Guard).
Sometimes dangerous situations are averted by pilots realising the controller had made an error, like clearing a plane to cross a runway while another is taking off [0]
This kind of thing might be much harder to catch if clearances are given in text, or even impossible if they are routed only to the specific aircraft.
Actually "old systems" aren't the bottleneck.
It's limited gates and radio frequency time.
And those will be less of a problem after 1/3 of aircraft turn into pumpkins when they "forget" to do the mandatory ADS-B installation this year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_dependent_surveillan...