Control Concepts of the AN/GSN-11 Terminal Air Traffic Control System

Capabilities of a newly completed terminal-area air traffic control system are discussed, in terms of recent theories of flow control. Adaptability of the system to gain the benefits of early arrival scheduling, time separation, sequencing, schedule resolution, shortest common path, dual and crossing runways is described. The author defends close-control vectoring as the only means to achieving both improved safety and increased traffic rate and discusses the system´s philosophy of increasing precision with decreasing range. Getting back to the pilot, means by which the system simplifies approach procedures, reduces congestion aloft, and provides continuous radar tracking are also discussed.