AT THE AIRPORT...Collision Avoidance

Bumping into a thunderstorm in an airplane is no fun. But bumping into another plane is definitely worse!

American skies are crowded with aircraft, especially around airports. Even in the mid-1950's aviation groups began looking for ways to warn pilots if they were getting too close to another plane. But it wasn't until the 80's that more advanced technology allowed a system reliable and cheap enough to be installed on thousands of passenger planes.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) led the development of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TACS). NASA's Ames Research Center was in charge of testing the system's human performance factors. This means they wanted to be sure that pilots could accurately and quickly use the system.

How did NASA test this collision avoidance system? With huge airborne games of chicken? No! (Thank goodness!)

Using ground-based flight simulators, NASA tested how well airline pilots understood the TACS, and how long it took them to react to various situations. The TACS' software was then modified to make it easier and faster to use.

Just about any passenger plane you fly in now has a TACS. After NASA helped get the system ready, FAA required that TACS be installed on all passenger planes with 10 or more seats by 1995.