ON THE CUTTING EDGE: New Air Traffic Control Program May Help Avoid Weather-Related Creeping Delays
The Federal Aviation Administration is going to expand a pilot program used 40 times last year to reduce weather-related flight delays heading to the eastern U.S. To prevent congestion caused by thunderstorms, the FAA currently orders "ground stops" that halt flights on routes that are near areas of severe weather, even when flights on that route will not be passing pass through the storms. The Airspace Flow Program uses computer software that isolates only those flights scheduled to pass through the affected airspace and allows air traffic controllers to delay only those flights; airlines are then given the option of suggesting an alternate route that avoids the storms.
The Stiletto flies at least twice a month on business, and has come to think of Chicago O’Hare as the airport version of a Roach Motel: Planes fly in, but they can’t fly out. She will withhold judgement on the new program’s efficacy until she is no longer hanging around O’Hare for 4 to 6 hours, being strung along by a creeping delay that pushes the departure time of her flight to New York City forward 30 to 45 minutes at a time.
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