NASA and the Development of Air Traffic Control

One thing you might not have known about NASA is their role in the development of air traffic management. According to the FAA there are an average of 45,000 flights every day in the US, and every one of those planes needs to be able to take off, fly, and land in an incredibly complex network of tangled paths, all without running into one another.
Images courtesy NASA.
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Script by JCG
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[@6yjjk]

There was a cartoon in the ATC tower at the airfield where I worked, depicting the Wright brothers and their Flyer. "Well, Wilbur, that works just great, let's build another one!" "HELL NO! If we do that, some asshole will invent Air Traffic Control!"

[@efoxxok7478]

As a retired controller ( 30 years in Chicago) thank you for a very well done video. In my years as a controller (1985-2015) I saw tremendous change in the system. I was privileged to work on three systems called DSR, URET, and ERIDS. One small comment though, in my nearly 50 years in aviation have never heard Tracon pronounced the way you did. The correct pronunciation is tray-con.

[@septembersurprise5178]

Proper pronunciation, like chastity, can be carried too far! Apologies to Mark Twain.

[@N1njaSnake]

I envy you a career when so many legendary airlines and airliners were flying.

[@Marin3r101]

​@@septembersurprise5178 how this guy ^ can read your comment, then promptly have so many grammatical errors is beyond hilarious.😂😂😂😂

[@idkjames]

Lol im a track con controller. Have seen a lot of changes since 2006 too. Esp while i was a military controller.

[@AEVMU]

​@@Marin3r101Not everyone speaks English as a first language. Your ignorance of that is not an excuse for rudeness.

[@-jeff-]

Thank you for showing the evolution of ATC from Archie at Lambert to the massively complicated systems we have today.

[@RetiredSailor60]

Happy New Year from Ft Worth TX History Guy and everyone watching. My father was a private pilot for 61 years. His first plane was a Stinson. Then he owned a 1947 Cessna 140 and 1959 Cessna 172 Skyhawk. He passed away in 2019.

[@Antishyster2]

I wish that I had everything that's needed for my Dad's story. When he took his medical retirement from the FAA, he was qualified to fly more airframes and powerplants than any FAA Air Carrier Inspector. Donald C. Donaldson is remembered in the U.S.Congressional Record by Congressman Ralph Hall.

[@marshaparham7286]

Excellent! My dad flew us about in a small airplane in the early 60's. I loved it; he loved it more. We listened to omni stations beeping locations. He spoke of times when local water towers were a pilot's best friend! This incredible excelleration and harnessing of technologies reminds me of when, "many shall run too and fro, and knowledge shall increase" in Daniel 12:4. written in the 500's B.C.

[@Idrinklight44]

I flew in S-58 helos in late 90s, water towers were still our best friends.

[@RCAvhstape]

Under VFR water towers are still great aids.

[@abitofapickle6255]

Video suggestion: The Flying Tigers and how they helped create FedEx

[@semigoth299]

Did you know that Pappy Boyington was among the flying tigers and their leader was Clair C and later pappy became the leader of the black sheep squadron during WW2 in the Pacific the black sheep was referred as unassigned pilot’s.

[@robertewalt7789]

FedEx’s founder, submitted the idea as a class assignment in business school, got only a mediocre grade. His father ran a fleet of intercity buses in the south, his grandfather ran a fleet of steam boats, again in the South.

[@MsAnneofgreengables]

There are so many good stories about the Flying Tigers (the airline). Example: the day the Tigers moved their Swingtails from base at BUR over to LAX. A lot of swagger you don’t see from airlines anymore with perhaps the exception of Virgin and Richard Branson.

[@hankw69]

"Statistically speaking, of course, it's still the safest way to travel." Superman

[@tayzonday]

Frank Sinatra released his single and titular album, “Come Fly With Me,” in 1958 when mass-market commercial flight felt new and paradigm-shifting, like the World Wide Web did in the 1990s.

[@skyden24195]

Whenever I hear that song (anymore) I always think of the scene in "Catch Me if You Can" when the song is played during one of Leo DiCaprio's escapes. (Leo's character name escapes me at the moment).

[@SeanA099]

Man. It’s always wild seeing you pop up in the comments

[@orbyfan]

That was around the time the Boeing 707 began flying, which has been credited with beginning the Jet Age and Jet Set.

[@Marin3r101]

You just clout-chasing?

[@StephenCole1916]

Another thing that NASA helped aviation with was streamlining check lists in cockpits after the crash of northwest 255 after it was found that they pilots had skipped steps in the checklists. NASA was able to help airplane manufactures and airlines setup checklists so they were better organized and the flow of steps were much more fluid as well as making sure certain steps were checked more than once to prevent future mishaps of that kind of error.

[@rexmyers991]

Very good history report. I flew professionally from 1979 to 2007. TRACON is pronounced tray con, by the way. I saw many changes and improvements in ATC during my career.

[@douglasgriswold2533]

I just have SEL certification. Back in 1990 I got hooked on a 'fun' little 'game' called TRACON (from Wesson)...it was like three floppy discs for my PC. I got to where I was comfortable with it, then they came out with a version that could actually hook up with Microsoft Flight Simulator, so you could 'play' with a friend via modem connection - one person would be the pilot in Flight Simulator, and the other person could be the ATC. Had a lot of fun with it...

[@michaelkclark6981]

Happy New Year, The History Guy !

[@DeanStephen]

Thanks. Some of this was new to me. And thanks for mentioning Lambert. Most people today have no idea why Charles Lindbergh named his plane The Spirit of St. Louis, or of the city’s significance in the development of air travel.

[@luannnelson547]

Very interesting! Son is a flight instructor, so I find anything aviation-safety related fascinating these days.

[@dougwhitesell5640]

ASRS is an amazing thing, and should be regarded as the "gold standard" for safety reporting systems in complicated life-critical operations. The ability to honestly and anonymously disclose one's mistakes without fear of retaliation or sanction means that you will fully and frankly disclose such things.

[@shelbybrown8312]

Good morning from Chicago heights Illinois and a happy New Year

[@Guangrui]

Happy New Year THG

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Back in the Saddle Again Naturally

[@jbrhel]

Happy New Year to THG and all of my fellow subscribers.

[@seeburg220]

FYI, RADAR is an acronym for Radio Detection And Ranging.

[@wgoconnor33]

I learned ATC in the AF in 1981 then 32 years at Chicago Center, it was a amazing job , everyday, it was my life’s work.

[@carwashslayer4235]

The intro is amazing and honestly I love the episode on the Westminister Quarters. I love your channel.

[@fastfiddler1625]

Great video. I'm an airline pilot. And while there are some really bad days, the public has no idea how many pieces have to work together to create a seamless flight. I am just two days away from my tenth anniversary from my first airline job. And I'm still amazed that I've only completed a full turn in a holding pattern less than half a dozen times. That's how well ATC manages flights.

[@vbscript2]

Minor quibble: Ground control controls traffic on the ground, especially the taxiways. Tower controls the runways, including traffic on final approach to land (they are the ones who grant landing clearances) and traffic that has just departed a runway. They wait a bit after a departure before handing the aircraft off to Departure (which is part of the TRACON.)

[@frogandspanner]

9:05 That's the Control Tower at my nearest airport (EGBB/BHX), although I usually fly from EGBE or EGBW as they are outwith the main flight routes around Birmingham(EGBB), and there is less turbulence for a 2-seater to cope with. I also worked for 4 years close to Croydon Aerodrome (the first control tower) a couple of miles north up Purley Way.

[@VosperCDN]

It's so easy to overlook the aeronautics part of NASA with all the space events taking place. Thanks for highlighting this vastly important aspect of their work.

[@lynnmartz8739]

Thank you for yet another eye-opening lesson! HAPPY NEW YEAR and safe travels. -CIncinnati OH

[@joelbrown3479]

Happy New Year & all the BEST for you and your family 😎😎😎😎😎

[@frankgulla2335]

Great summary of th history of the FAA and NASA's role in upgrading it over the years. Thank you.

[@mrfancypants29]

Wonderful work History Guy! What an extensive look into the timeline of the complex, yet simple system that allows aircraft to avoid obstacles while in flight. I was acclimated with the ATC system that was in place in the early to mid 90s when I was a teenager riding my bike to the local airport on Saturdays and catching rides with students who were “hour builders”. I spent enough time around it and studied it enough that before we left the ground they would say it’s your airplane, as they took the right seat and let me take the left and control the airplane. That was a little bit of an expensive hobby so I wasn’t able to take it up at the time. After a head injury that resulted in epilepsy a pilot’s license is no longer an option for me. The knowledge and longing for flight is still in my head that was placed there back then. Once in the air, you never want to return to earth! I think statistically speaking with current safety systems in place, overall, air travel is the safest form of transportation.

[@leelay-townhouse]

If you haven't yet you should cover the ATC strike in the 80s where Reagan fired all the controllers, and the aftermath of the NAS system that ensued due to the controller shortage.

[@machdaddy6451]

Could you consider doing an episode on the history of landing on carriers, including catapult take-offs?

[@jasonlockhartsr4415]

As a pilot who earned his wings in 1978, I enjoyed this one very much. But I winced each and every time you said TRACON. The circles that I have always traveled in always pronounced it TRAy-CON. Long 'A'.

[@sinnedsinister]

Thank you THG for airing yet another video of history most wouldn't even think of. I love these little snippets of well-known things, like NASA, doing unknown things.

[@dougharvey9803]

You might want to also look into the FAAs Technical Center located at Atlantic City which conducts aviation research into everything from air traffic control to aircraft landing gear!

[@spamlessaccount]

William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC) works very closely with NASA on research programs.

[@skeetrix5577]

As a lifelong St Louisian, I'm proud that my city was on The cutting edge of this technology in it's heyday. It's certainly history that I didn't know about and definitely deserves to be remembered!

[@traxiii]

Glad to see you make another video from your visit here at Ames. Another great program.

[@randomaniacs6954]

For January 19th, I would like to request a video on the Great South Florida Snowstorm of 1977. This event had the only event of snow it south florida in its modern history and it’s barely talked about. One could only hope to see this happen again. My home was flooded in hurricane Ian, so it would be some better extreme weather. Happy New Year THG!

[@Russia-bullies]

I’ve blogged this before & I’ll do it again:NASA has lots “on its plate” for a budget that was,recently,as low as 0.4 % of the US budget.Thanks for featuring NASA’s contributions.

[@keithrosenberg5486]

The Berlin Airlift created an air traffic control system with large scale radar capability.

[@orbitingeyes2540]

Great episode! I worked at the SLC ARTCC and was at Weber State right after NUSAT, I worked on the next mission, WeberSat.

[@garylawson5381]

Your videos are always interesting and enjoyable to listen to.

[@bcd5024]

An excellent summary of the history and current state of Aviation and ATC. As a private pilot who can't get enough aviation content, this really hit the mark. Excellent work as always THG!

[@kennethpalmer7345]

As an air traffic controller I have filed my share of NASA reports over the last 30 plus years. A few months back I got a letter from NASA that they had received my most recent safety report. My girlfriend was bringing in the mail and asked why NASA was sending me mail. I told her I was going to Mars.. I had a good laugh over it.

[@donalddodson7365]

Thanks everyone at THE HISTORY GUY (THG). Praying you all have a marvelous 2024, certainly "worth remembering." 🙏🤲🕊🤗

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Thank you!

[@anthonygray333]

Great show. As a frequent flyer I am impressed by the relative smooth operation of our ATC system.

[@matthewcain7324]

Great video! But you forgot to mention the first infrastructure of the NAS! Our orange arrows! Thanks for the video.

[@Harudian]

Happy new year sir. Thanks for the video.

[@dannileigh6426]

Happy new year to you and Ms. History Guy

[@Me1le]

NASA has lots of interesting contributions. In food industry HACCP is the mandatory approach to ensure food safety. This approach was originally developed by Nasa to ensure safe astronaut food.

[@DrDirigible]

Nice photo of an AN-2 on your wall.

[@allendyer5359]

Kind of an invisble bottom wing on that Biplane, but seeing it now. I'd expect to see 4-blade AN2. Was think'n of that Spirit of St Louis painting low over storm clouded ocean, but that was 2 blade prop. Next thought Fokker F-10 Knute Rockne TWA crash in '31 but that was tri-motor. First thought was with outstreched landing gear a DeHavilland DHC-2 Beaver. But yeah Antonov Annie fits passanager or bush pilot outa nowhere story. - Up on shelf maybe Sixer Dart & Boeing 707, once again hiding that F4U4 (top middle shelf folded wing?) behind THG head (becomes a radioactive P-51 at end). New Year Happy 2ya

[@warren5699]

I started flying in 1975. First US controller - wheelbarrow with umbrella and two flags. That's too funny.

[@BenjySparky]

Happy New Year to you and yours! Peace

[@hwizell7478]

Happy new year HG🎊

[@doowael]

My father’s first cousin, Jack Gandy, was the pilot of the TWA plane that crashed in the Grand Canyon (6:10).

[@ScottMyersOfTheEarth]

well that is very interesting. Thank you!

[@Lesleycb71]

Very interesting. I grew up few miles from Prestwick in Scotland where there is an air traffic control centre that controls a lot of the flights passing over the North East Atlantic

[@mattgeorge90]

Happy New Year! Starting the year off with an episode from The History Guy. Always a great way to start the year!

[@quantumleap359]

Thanks, History Guy for an very informative and interesting look at a very complex and necessary system.

[@johnopalko5223]

I don't know if it was called "see and be seen" back in the day but, today, it's called "see and avoid." Even in this day of near-universal radar coverage, it plays a major role. To quote the _Aeronautical Information Manual,_ "When meteorological conditions permit, regardless of type of flight plan or whether or not under control of a radar facility, the pilot is responsible to see and avoid other traffic, terrain, or obstacles." (Paragraph 5-5-8a)

[@danimal0921]

Happy New Year Professor G!

[@richb313]

NASA is more involved in peoples lives than they are aware of thanks for shedding some light on this subject.

[@scottk9806]

As a current pilot in this modern system. Thank you for a great video. Todays air traffic system wouldn’t be what it is today without all these advancements in technology

[@A.J.1656]

As the owner of an African Cichlid, thank you for your comment.

[@skyden24195]

I have a question and a "fun fact": Question: What about the integration of recommendations for air safety provided by the findings of the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)? Fun Fact: Disney Parks Imagineers commissioned modified vertical motion simulators, used by the FAA & NASA, that would become the passenger vehicles for the Star Wars themed attraction, "Star Tours."

[@hapyharyhard0n581]

Gawd, i love your content.

[@jeanthony4003]

Thank you for another great history lesson.

[@dehaney4021]

Another great lesson.

[@MGB-learning]

Great video

[@towcub]

A nit: TRACON is pronounced tray-con. Loved this vid, thanks.

[@kennethswain6313]

That was the best explanation of air traffic management that I’ve heard. It seems like the weakest link is still the fallibility of humans. happy new year and thanks

[@colinbballin.]

As an English/Japanese bilingual fascinated with linguistics & aviation, I feel that the recent deadly runway incursion here in Tokyo might (should) raise a lot of questions on the state ATC practices in this country.

[@TrickiVicBB71]

And there people that say, "NASA needs to be dismantled and defunded cause we learn nothing from space nor anybody cares." I will point them to this video. If they want more plane crashes

[@scotcoon1186]

Fun fact: As many as 200 helicopters, mostly volunteers, flying with no ATC in New Orleans had 0 in-air collisions in the hurricane Katrina rescue.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hneZnqisas9-kKssi=vANwVR4n1Ng0ohgU

[@J.A.Smith2397]

Good l great start to the new year

[@13Photodog]

Many years ago on January 1st a reproduction of the plane used on the first scheduled airline was flown repeating that first flight. I enjoyed watching it from the municipal pier in St. Petersburg, FL.

[@bwhog]

A stat for you (if I found the right numbers): Depending on the source, it is estimated that, globally, around 1,300,000 people are aloft at any given time of the day aboard >9,000 airplanes. Think about that!

[@therakshasan8547]

Happy New Year .

[@davidlobaugh4490]

This fella consistently does a bang up job that's well researched and delivered, with a dash of charm no less. 🤠 One of the best on the interwebs.

[@shawnr771]

Thank you for the lesson. I knew NASA has done a lot for Aeronautics but not as much as was listed. The next time I hear a person speak of cutting their budget. I will know they have no idea where the money really goes. Thank you NASA for helping keep us safe. Happy New Year.

[@jamesengland7461]

To be fair, NASA does squander money on other, less important and more costly, projects.

[@shawnr771]

@@jamesengland7461 No it doesnt. Less than 1 percent of the federal governments budget is allocated to NASA. The total amount of money allocated to NASA from 1957 to today is less than one year of the US Defense Budget. Public private partnerships with NASA have resulted in 100s of Trillions of dollars in spin off techmologies built and sold to the public over the last 66 years. The astronomical return for the miniscule amount of money invested is well worth it.

[@ericfrazer4736]

cool vid, thanks

[@patriciasmith4800]

That was awesome

[@sheilatruax6172]

Interesting. Just reinforces my support of NASA!

[@janlindtner305]

👍👍👍Happy new year❤👍🤟

[@pugs11ful]

MITRE Corporation, that runs the FAA Federally Funded Research and Development Center, has behind a lot of this work on behalf of the two agencies, especially the data analysis.

[@froginthewaves8450]

Very Cool

[@spamlessaccount]

Excellent summary. BTW TRACON is pronounced "Tray-kahn"

[@unmanaged]

Please do a video on the AEDC...

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

*I ❤️ AVIATION!* *EDIT→* FWIW, I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida. My first full-time job, from 1979 to 1980, was working the line crew at _"Bay Air Services"_ at Albert Whitted Airport. That airport is very close to the site where the _"St. Petersburg - Tampa Airboat Line"_ operated from. ALSO FWIW: My job at Albert Whitted... *_"Seems a thousand centuries ago."_* *-- APOCALYPSE NOW [1979]*

[@mrfancypants29]

My mother-in-law lived in St Pete until she passed a couple of years ago. My wife and I still like to fly there and land at St Pete Intl Airport (PIE). We like to go to Indian Rocks Beach when we visit. It caught my attention when he mentioned the Airboat Svc that operated out of that area. That part of FL has a special place in my heart.

[@kpreilly]

THG: Excellent video! 👍👍 Would like to FB share but story doesn't post an image with the share. Just a black box.

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

Hey History Guy 🤓and Fellow Classmates may this year be your 5th most profitable and 8th most rewarding of the rest of your lives!😊

[@Sacto1654]

Didn't NASA also help refine the Traffic Collision Avoidance System?

[@stillstanding123]

Very interesting but it left me with a number of my own questions, at what point did European ATC evolve and both sides of the pond harmonise their procedures? How did English evolve as the international ATC language? Does NASA work with other international aviation safety research bodies?

[@hokie6384]

The requirement for English and other standards for international travel was determined in 1946 in a conference in Canada that was initiated by President Harry Truman

[@daneclark3161]

We had the most money and airplanes. 🙄

[@senica8500e]

Love you vids. You might want to check into the V. O. R. s. It's what every pilot is taught to use for navigation across the country.

[@geneharrel773]

It's predecessor was NACA - National Advisory Committee for AERONAUTICS.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWbNc5aQm6ljp5Isi=Mf0TbrfvnPqWzyES

[@buzbuz33-99]

What a great way to begin the year! Someday, when you have time, I hope you are able to discuss the history of NACA, the predecessor to NASA, which helped manufacturers by extensively testing different wing shapes and engine cowls. That research was largely responsible for improving airplane safety and performance starting in the 1930s and sped up the development of cutting edge aircraft during WWII, such as the P-51 Mustang and Boeing B-29, and post-war jet aircraft. If that video is as thorough as this one, I'm sure I will learn a lot. All the best to you and your production staff in the New Year!

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oWbNc5aQm6ljp5Isi=BO3fKSxdlYioLMkr

[@norlockv]

Alfred Lawson went on to found the pseudoscience of Lawsonomy. Its core principle was that energy didn’t exist.

[@ag7898]

Chloe on Disaster Breakdown does a fantastic job at explaining how ATC works and such.

[@DeconvertedMan]

Neat! :)

[@MotDoiAnLac258]

Bài bình luận rất sâu sắc, rất hay !

[@conradsieber7883]

Next topic development and evolution of NTSB and how it enhances safety through accident investigations.