A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
An investigation is underway to learn how a helicopter collided last week with an American Airlines flight over Washington D.C. The crash killed all 67 people on both aircraft. In the aftermath, the Trump administration and its officials have raised concerns over America's air traffic control system. Now, without directly linking it to the collision, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the air traffic system antiquated. Here he is on Fox News Sunday.
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SEAN DUFFY: A lot of the technology dates back to World War II. We developed the best technology in this country, but we don't implement it here.
MARTÍNEZ: With us is Margaret Wallace. She teaches air traffic control and airport management at the Florida Institute of Technology. So Margaret, let's start by just putting all this into perspective. How many flights does the air traffic control system have to keep up with?
MARGARET WALLACE: Well, there are about 10 million scheduled passenger flights every year.
MARTÍNEZ: Ten million scheduled. That's a heck of a lot of flights to keep up with.
WALLACE: Yes. And that's just passenger. That doesn't include cargo or regular civilian traffic.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, there are multiple systems that monitor air traffic. What are some of the oldest parts?
WALLACE: The oldest part is probably our primary radar systems. That's what Sean Duffy was talking about. That radar does date back to World War II.
MARTÍNEZ: And how effective is it? I mean, if it's so old, that's a long time ago that we're talking about, and it's relying on it to keep up with modern-day aircraft.
WALLACE: Very true, very true. It basically sends out radio waves, and if it hits a object, it sends back a signal, and that's the only information you get from that particular type of radar. Now, we do have additional radar systems, things that work off the transponder on the aircraft so it's more of a digital system. But we are well behind compared to other countries.
MARTÍNEZ: So why hasn't the U.S. found a way to either quickly or slowly implement newer things?
WALLACE: Well, they have started a program called Next Gen, which started maybe 30 years ago, and it has brought some new systems in. For instance, GPS tracking, which gives us more real-time data as to where aircraft are and their altitudes and things like that. So we have done some improvements. We're just a little slow to implement it. It requires government funding, but due to bureaucracies and the powers that be, we're just not at the same pace as some of the other countries like EUROCONTROL and Canada and China.
MARTÍNEZ: Are other places using things like artificial intelligence to help?
WALLACE: There are some that are moving into that - particularly China, Canada. They are moving into AI systems, which could help controllers with predicting possible events at an earlier stage than what they currently have the ability to do.
MARTÍNEZ: And is that something that the U.S. could actually integrate short of doing a whole overhaul?
WALLACE: I mean, I see why not. We've got technology. We use it in other programs - SpaceX, things like that. I don't see why we couldn't use it in air traffic.
MARTÍNEZ: So Margaret, what kind of training does it take to be part of an air traffic control system?
WALLACE: As far as the air traffic control side, it takes two to five years for an air traffic controller to become a certified controller. And that technology and using the technology, maintaining it, is all incorporated in that two to five years.
MARTÍNEZ: Considering that, you know, the equipment - some of the equipment that's being used dates back to World War II, how confident should people feel about flying in the United States?
WALLACE: It is still the safest form of travel. I know there's been recent circumstances that may concern people, but you're more likely to have an incident in a car than you are in an aircraft. So what we call an acceptable risk.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Margaret Wallace. She teaches air traffic control and airport management at the Florida Institute of Technology. Margaret, thanks.
WALLACE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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