Selected Studies

A Comparison of Great Circle, Wind Optimal and Actual Flight Trajectories

This study compared two approaches for analyzing National Airspace System efficiency by quantifying the differences between great circle routes, and wind optimal routes.

Analyses of Operational Test Results of the Federal Aviation Administration CRU-X Database Management System

The FAA has developed a software application called CRU-X, to support administrative processes across all air traffic control facilities. These facilities vary in size, number of personnel, and types of equipment used. CNA was asked to analyze the ability of the new software to support the workload at large air traffic control facilities throughout the FAA.

Air Traffic Analysis of Military Airspace in Southern Indiana

The Great Lakes Region of the FAA asked for assistance in studying air traffic patterns in the vicinity of four military operational areas (MOAs) that are used by the Indiana National Guard. The Guard was interested in changing the size of these MOAs to allow them to better train their personnel. CNA analysts helped FAA determine the impact of such changes on local and national air traffic flows.

An Overview of the Air Traffic Airspace Laboratory Metrics Web Pages

CNA developed a web-based airspace/air traffic performance metrics system for the FAA to allow FAA managers and analysts to observe the current status and trends at various levels of granularity in the National Airspace System (NAS). The web metrics system provides the FAA with access to performance metrics at the NAS, center, TRACON, sector, airport, and city pair levels on a daily basis via a web site located on the FAA's intranet.

Operational Evolution Plan Metrics Data Requirements

This paper documents efforts to streamline data collection, analysis, and storage efforts in support of the Federal Aviation Administration's Operational Evolution Plan.

There has been increasing concern in the aviation community about the growing gap between the demand for air transportation services and the capability of the National Airspace System to meet the demand, as evidenced by increased flight delays. In 2001 the FAA published an operational evolution plan, a framework for infrastructure improvements needed to increase capacity and efficiency. As part of this effort, CNA is developing metrics to ensure that infrastructure and avionic investments are having the desired effects.

Selected Papers and Presentations

• Mike Bennett, "Economic Benefits of an Increase in En Route Sector Capacity from Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC)" presented at the Transportation Research Board annual conference, January 2004.
• Dan Howell, Mike Bennett, James Bonn, "Estimating En Route Efficiency Benefits Pool," presented at the 5th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management and Research Development Seminar, 2003.
• Joe Post, "The Use of Traffic Density Spatial Cross-Correlations to Estimate the Efficiency of En Route Airspace" presented at the IEEE/AIAA Digital Avionics Systems Conference, November 2002.
• Dan Howell and Joe Post, "The Effect on Arrival Delay of Rerouting Internal Departures Bound for ATL" and "Estimation of an En Route Weather Severity Index Using Lightning Strike and Flight Plan Data." Presented at the ATCA annual meeting, August 2002.
• Joe Post, "An Operational Assessment of Terminal and En Route Free Flight Capabilities" presented with MITRE at the 4th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Conference in Santa Fe, NM, January 2002.