NTL Record

Title Analysis of reportable events in Kansas City air route traffic control center
Record ID 60878
Personal Name
Creator
Cardosi, Kim; Lennertz, Tracy; Yost, Alan
Source 27p. in various pagings
Corporate Creator John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
Corporate
Contributor
United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Human Factors Research and Engineering Division
Publisher John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)
Publication Date 20170210
Language English
Abstract The implementation of Controller‐Pilot Datalink Communications (CPDLC) in domestic en route airspace will change the controllers’ and pilots’ tasks, which will, in turn change the types of observed errors. This study characterizes the current (pre‐implementation) pilot and controller errors at the expected initial implementation site for CPDLC. The analysis included 1,761 mandatory occurrence reports (MOR); 670 reports related to pilot/controller error—nearly 70% of these related to loss of communication. The majority (20%) of reports that included information on how the event was discovered involved an aircraft that was transferred into a sector without radio communications. Loss of communication events tended to be more frequent for General Aviation than for Commercial aircraft. Of the reports that cited a potential cause for the loss of communication, the most common cause was mechanical issues, followed by the failure of the controller to issue the frequency change or the issuing of the wrong frequency. Forty‐three Pilot Deviation occurrences were examined—the majority of these included a loss of communication event. Many of the identified factors could be mitigated by CPDLC. These results contribute to a baseline of communication performance, prior to the implementation of CPDLC, and can be compared to a future analysis of post‐implementation performance.
Rosap ID dot:12419
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/12419
TRT Terms Voice communication; Air pilots; Air traffic controllers; Errors; Data analysis; Performance measurement
General Subjects Data Comm; Controller pilot data link communications
Classification NTL - AVIATION - AVIATION;
NTL - AVIATION - Air Traffic Control;
NTL - AVIATION - Airports and Facilities;
NTL - AVIATION - Aviation Human Factors
Geographical
Coverage
Kansas
TRIS Online
Accession No
1632236
Contract Number FA16CA
Report Number DOT-VNTSC-FAA-17-05; DOT/FAA/TC-17/11
Availability Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center
Resource type Tech Report
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/60000/60800/60878/DOT-VNTSC-FAA-17-05.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository