Can technology fix the FAA's air traffic troubles?
(CNN) -- New technology to modernize America's aging air traffic system promises to help air traffic controllers, and may have prevented a recent tarmac collision between two aircraft at a New York airport, say experts.
As part of its "NextGen" plan to overhaul traffic management, the FAA plans to replace its current radar tracking system by 2020 with a more accurate GPS-based network.
With the new technology, pilots and controllers can see surrounding aircraft in real time -- without the 10-second delay that comes with the half-century old radar technology.
What's going on with air traffic controllers?
GPS-based tracking displays certainly would have had a role to play in preventing the April 11 collision on the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, said Bill Voss, former FAA air traffic development director and current president of the Flight Safety Foundation.
The incident occurred when a taxiing Air France Airbus A380, widely regarded as the largest commercial airliner, collided with a much smaller Comair Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jet, which was parked.
No one was hurt in the collision, but wings on both planes were damaged, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Video of the incident showed the smaller plane appearing to turn at about a 45 degree angle after the giant Air France jet taxied by.
Typically, planes taxiing at airports are tracked by air traffic controllers watching from towers. They use radar and other technology to track aircraft when bad weather makes it hard to see.
But during good weather controllers usually follow planes by using their eyes -- even at night.
"You'd be surprised -- almost all of this is done with pieces of paper, an eyeball and a pencil," said Voss. "It is a very visual and manual activity."
If either the Air France or the Comair pilot had access to a GPS cockpit surface map, the JFK collision might have been avoided, he said. Under NextGen, animated surface maps in the cockpit will be a critical safety improvement, said Voss.
Specifically, cockpit displays "might have shown the A380 crew that the regional jet was not pulled up as far as expected," Voss said. "It also may have alerted the regional jet crew that the world's biggest airliner was about to taxi behind them, in which case he might have pulled up a bit further.
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As part of its "NextGen" plan to overhaul traffic management, the FAA plans to replace its current radar tracking system by 2020 with a more accurate GPS-based network. With the new technology, pilots and controllers can see surrounding aircraft in
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