air traffic control sumulator
The air traffic control program designed by NASA to simulate real-time plane direction. Speeds and routes are changed to safely land a certain number of planes. Problems completed in this exercise are 3-4 and 4-4
3-4
This is a problem of planes landing too close together, so to reduce danger of three planes colliding at the landing point, the speed of two planes were reduced to 540 knots and subsequently restored to 600 knots in one minute increments. The first image shows all three planes at the staring point. The second shows the speed of AAL12 being restored to 600 knots at the one minute mark. The next image shows DAL88 being restored to 600 knots at the two minute mark, and the final image demonstrates the safe distance of the planes upon the final plane landing. This all occurs in a three minute, thirty-six second time-frame
4-4
Problem 4-4 is another problem with conflicting schedules. Planes would overlap at exact times, causing a collision. Similar to problem 3-4, courses and speeds had to be changed in one-minute increments. Flight AAL12 would have its flight immediately changed from MINAH-OAL-MOD to just MINAH-MOD. This would prevent a collision with DAL88, who had a conflicting and unchangeable flight path. Just changing the flight path at the start wasn't enough, though. SWA and UAL both had to have their speeds reduced to 540 knots immediately at the start. At the one minute mark, SWA23 has its speed restored to 600 knots. At the two minutes mark, UAL74 has its speed restored to 600 knots. This leads to all four planes landing safe distances apart and within the target time of 3:54. Image one shows the planes at the start. The second image demonstrates the speed restoration at one minute, and the third image shows the same at the two minute mark .The next image exemplifies the planes lining up for landing at the three minute mark, and the final image shows all four planes landed safely at the 3:54 mark.