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Week Three: Airport Surface Detection Equipment

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     A piece of technology used by Air Traffic Controllers that has had a massive impact on aircraft safety and airport effiencey is Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE). This system is impoyed at 30 of the busiest airports in the United States to aid the ground controller in their job of safety moving the aircraft from their parking locations to the runways and back ( United States Department of Transportation, 2020) . Its does this by using ASDE to give the ground controller a live view of all the aircraft moving on their airport, it is a radar for the ground. This is important being at large airports the ability to view where any aircraft is at any point in time reduces the amount of radio calls that need to be made and reduces the overall workload of the controller. As you can see below on the airport diagram for JFK International Airport, there are over 40 miles of taxiways and it is very easy to loss track of individual aircraft. ASDE alowes for more aircraft ...
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Week One: President Ronald Reagan Fires 11,000 Air Traffic Controllers

     An event in the aeronautical industry that had a massive impact on me would be when President Ronald Reagan fired 11,000 Air Traffic Controllers in 1981.  This was  done in  response to those controllers  going on strike for the perceived harsh working conditions and low pay. I currently work as an air traffic controller and the firing of those controllers and subsequent hiring of new controllers paved the way forward for the air traffic controllers of today in a couple of ways.   First off, most of those controllers that were hired to replace the fired controllers are retiring right now,  opening those positions at the FAA up for new hires. This is turn has caused a continius under staffing at our Air Force ATC facilities as military controllers are leaving to work for the better perceived jobs at the FAA. One of the benefits of the firing is that there have been rules put in place limiting how long a controller can work and t...
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