Air Traffic Control

GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) efforts to provide automation support to improve oceanic air traffic control. GAO found that: (1) air traffic control services in oceanic areas not under radar surveillance have not changed significantly since 1950; (2) oceanic air traffic controllers lacked a modern automated system and manually updated flight progress based on periodic radio reports; (3) the labor-intensive manual process required controllers to maintain large distances between aircraft; (4) an automated system could facilitate a more efficient use of airspace, resulting in shorter flights and fuel savings; (5) FAA designed the Oceanic Display and Planning System (ODAPS) to provide an automated display of aircraft locations based on periodic radio reports, but ODAPS would not change the current pilot reporting communications procedures or permit a reduction in aircraft separation standards; (6) ODAPS experienced cost increases, was 3 years behind schedule, and was not fully operational; and (7) the FAA long-term Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) project plan to use satellites to provide position information on a real-time basis was dependent upon ODAPS success.