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The next generation of air traffic management will only use radar
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if the GPS system fails
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Nextgen is also targeting another weakness in the current system, the radio.
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Today pilots and controllers use radios to talk to one another.
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We are now descending to one-niner-zero...
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The system depends on clear, precise language.
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Misunderstandings are common and they've caused
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some of the most tragic air disasters in history.
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As the FAA test flight flies high west of Atlantic City,
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its radio keeps the pilots in touch with controllers.
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But in the air traffic system of the future,
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pilots and air traffic controllers will communicate less frequently.
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The controller and the pilot can now work together
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to solve issues, instead of wasting time explaining what the issues are.
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Mistakes can be made for a number of reasons.
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English is the international language of aviation,
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but pronunciation, accent and emotion alter
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the way any language is spoken.
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Nowhere is this better understood than in
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the air traffic control tower at JFK international airport.
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If you listen on any control frequency, you're going to hear
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a lot of people say "say that again", "say again, over, please"
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the airspace above JFK is frequented by
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one of the most international collection of pilots in the world.
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Maintaining clear radio communication can prove
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challenging to controllers here.
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There's pressure, because that's the business area.
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The business is moving passengers from A to B.
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That's what airlines are paid, the controllers are paid to help that work.
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When pressure mounts, small misunderstandings
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can have enormous consequences.
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January 25, 1990. In the skies over New York,
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Avianca 052, expect further clearance time in 20 minutes.
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I think we need priority, we are passing out of fuel.
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... Avianca Flight 52 is trying to land in New York,
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but a driving rain is delaying air traffic
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into and out of the area. The flight began in Columbia,
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on its way to New York, it's been routed through
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a series of holding patterns by air traffic controllers.
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Bad weather is delaying landings all along the North-eastern seaboard.
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There was a system moving through the Great Lakes moving east, there were couple other systems
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converging, and a lot of times they converge in the NY area and the whole NE is down.
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Avianca 052, roger, and what's your alternate?
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We said Boston, but we can't do it now, we'll run out of fuel.
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The pilots are growing increasingly desperate for clearance to land.
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They've used up almost all of their fuel while waiting their turn.
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What is his speed now? Not sure to be honest.
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Slow him to 180 knots and I'll take him.
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After more than an hour in holding patterns,
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controllers finally give the pilots of the Avianca flight
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permission to land. Descend and maintain 3000.
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But in this critical handoff from one controller to another,
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no-one mentions the plane is running out of fuel.
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Avianca 052 heavy, contact Kennedy Tower 119.1, good day.
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At JFK, only one runway is being used for landings.
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Weather at the airport is making approaches difficult.
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Avianca 052 heavy, Kennedy Tower 22L, you're no. 3 following 727 traffic on a 9 mile final.
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Avianca 052 roger. Avianca 052 say airspeed.
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145 knots. Are we cleared to land now?
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Yes sir, we are cleared to land.
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Stand by,
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The avianca crew were being handled off to an approach controller
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and given a heading and lower altitude.
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I'm sure in their minds, they thought, (well, they even commented on the cockpit voice recorder)
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"Are we being handled, are we being taken care of?"
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4km from runway 22L, and with fuel running dangerously low,
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the flight hits ferocious winds.
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A dramatic change of winds throws the aircraft
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off its descent path as it makes its approach.
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Glide slope! Runway, where is it? I don't see it!
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The plane is thrown towards the ground by the winds.
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(screams)
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The airplane was about 200 feet from the ground
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2 miles from the runway, which was well below glide slope
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and very dangerous, so the airplane almost
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crashed on its first approach.
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Landing gear up!
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When you get a missed approach, (it) changes
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the whole ball game.
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Request another traffic pattern.
