As the population grows so too does air
traffic to meet the needs of the air

freight industry and
the traveling public increased air traffic

like increased ground traffic contributes
to more air and noise pollution and

increased consumption of scarce
fuel resources how to manage

air traffic in a more densely populated
sky while generating less air and

noise pollution and how to realize fuel
savings that have a significant financial

impact on the aerospace industry is
the focus of research being conducted at

the Air Transportation lab at Georgia Tech
in collaboration with the F.A.A. and

Delta Airlines C.D.A. is an acronym for
continues to center rival and

as the name suggests we're eliminating
the level segments that you

typically see when you're landing and
airport and simply put rather than doing

the traditional step down approach
is you have a smooth glide slope.

So unless it's a power glide down in
the conventional arrival to haul the level

out of here you have to use thrust and
eyes are just going to stall and

fond of the sky but with continuous the
center rivals are continuously descending

so you can have your engines
all the way back at idle and

use minimal amount of fuel
the vantages are huge you burn

a whole lot less gas also because
airplanes essentially quieting him.

There's a whole lot less wear and tear on
the aircraft the other thing is there's

there's generally less
communication on the radio.

So again that's kind of less clutter in
the overall operational environment and

again it allows the Polish to really

have the potential to conduct a safer
operation because they've got more time to

monitor the system from on the flight path
of the aircraft rather than communicate.

Craftspeople we became
very interested in C.D.A.

as and means of trying to help
use modern avionics modern

air traffic management centers in order to
reduce aviation's environmental footprint

as we continue to expand operations
in the United States by keeping

in a close working relationship with
industry and with government operators.

We are able to really understand
what the real problems are we get to

work with industry directly and
number one we get to see our results.

Our I work in use in real time the Georgia
Tech folks that we've worked with everyone

from J.P. Clark to Jim Brooks to all of
your students who have been involved have

been absolutely outstanding in that the
primary thing they bring to the table is

certainly a heck of a lot of brainpower
and a good analytical capability and

then also some great ideas of how we might
be able to proceed to get the maximum

benefit out of the program and
that's where it becomes art and

science because you need the experience
at the airport to understand

what you can give up and what you can't
give up that will affect the operation and

you need to feedback from Georgia Tech to
understand that if you make this decision.

This is what you're going to be giving up.

We actually go and we build wind
models for airports and then we model

various aircraft types across varying wind
conditions to see how the compression

changes and then we can then recommend to
the air traffic control is if you keep

these airplanes this distance apart then
the airplanes can progress normally and

they will have no problem there was a time
you know forty years ago when fuel costs

were not a huge issue and noise and
pollution all of these things have become

much bigger issues as we start flying
a lot more planes and a lot larger ones

solving the environmental constraints
is the essential strategy.

To allow aviation to grow not just
here in the U.S. but really worldwide.

It's very important to our to
the United States that we continue to be

the world leader in aviation and
Georgia Tech has really been a big part

of that we are motivated to try to find
solutions to the pressing problems and

we apply techniques of engineering and
mathematics to

we have to solve that I think that's for
me is what engineering is all about.

So just something to remember next
time you're flying into Los Angeles

from New York City or
into Atlanta on a red eye flight.

You'll be fine a procedure that
you take as a sign as air traffic

continues to increase the aerospace
industry will be constantly looking for

new ways to manage air traffic in a more
cost effective and environmentally

friendly way Georgia Tech's air
transportation lab is already on the job.