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The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Technology Section October 30, 2004

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Technology/03TechEAST04TECH103004.htm

Technology could spur Jetson era

By BOB KOSLOW
Staff Writer

Last update: October 30, 2004

SEBRING -- Imagine small planes at the DeLand or Flagler County airports waiting to buzz travelers to their airline flights out of Orlando, Jacksonville or even Atlanta airports.

That kind of taxi service beats fighting highway traffic to catch flights at busy commercial airports.

Sounds expensive, but the technology exists to make such Jetson-age dreams reasonably affordable in the near future, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach is a leader in the research to make it happen.

"The Jetson era is not that far away. It's a valid and real vision," ERAU Provost John Johnson said referring to the 1960s-era futuristic cartoon.

On Thursday, officials from NASA, airports, manufacturers, universities, governments, trade associations and hi-tech companies met at Sebring Regional Airport for a demonstration of the Small Aircraft Transportation System.

The system is an automated control tower, on the ground at small airports, that sends data to a receiver on small planes. A cockpit computer screen shows weather and flight patterns, helping to speed landings.

The nation's commercial aviation system is becoming as congested as highways. Delays are the norm. Florida has more than 7.1 million landings and takeoffs a year. That number is expected to double in 10 years without new airports being built, said Ray Wabler of the Southeast SATSLab Consortium, the group developing the technology at Embry-Riddle.

"I remember when President Eisenhower started the interstate highway system. Car driving boomed," Johnson said. "We are at the same point with creating an intersky system."

About 35 percent of the U.S. population lives an hour or more from the 500 busiest commercial airports. On the other hand, about 95 percent of the population lives within 20 miles of one of 5,000 general aviation airports.

Seeing those numbers, NASA, the aviation industry and the state are spending more than $15 million to test and promote technologies that increase the use of smaller airports, even those without radars and control towers, such as DeLand and Flagler County.

The system, contained on a 10-by-20-foot trailer, landed five planes in 30 minutes during Thursday's demonstration of bad-weather landings. Without the technology, such landings at smaller airports are limited to two to three an hour.

It is also hoped that, during bad weather, the system will help diverted planes touch down at alternate, unmanned airports.

Increasing the use of small airports reduces traffic and delays at major airports and opens more areas to travel and economic development, said Ken Hespe of the National Consortium for Aviation Mobility.

"The equipment is more reliable than today's instruments and they make new pilot training easier," he said.

Researchers say everyday use of the system is still five to 10 years away, but Jim Jarrell, manager of Flagler County Airport in Bunnell, has seen the technology work in demonstrations.

"We went from the Wright Brothers to the moon quickly in 66 years. Why can't we keep going?" he asked Friday. 'We can have a plane taxi out here flying to Atlanta in the time it takes to drive to Orlando or Jacksonville."

bob.koslow@news-jrnl.com

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Flight of fancy

CAROL ELLIOTT

Air travelers weary of flight delays, shoe searches and the indignities of being "wanded" may one day --soon -- have another alternative.

Some aviation enthusiasts believe that affordable on-demand air taxi service to and from about 5,000 airports and airstrips in the United States could be only years away.

The Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) project is a five-year, $69 million federal effort dedicated to envisioning and developing the next big thing in air travel -- point-to-point travel that will make flying a readily available alternative to hopping in a car for a three-hour drive.

"Suppose there's a company in Ligonier and suddenly they have to be in upstate New York," said Bob Wearley, vice president of the Indiana SATS Consortium.

The company representative would most likely have to negotiate two regional airports, two hub airports, drive part of the distance, endure hours of delay and typically an overnight stay, just to conduct an hour's worth of business, said Wearley.

In the SATS scenario, the trip begins with a simple phone call to arrange pick-up and drop-off times and locations from the nearest community airport. Travel time is compressed to about three hours, which is easily accomplished in a day, said Wearley.

Organizers recently brought the SATS vision to Michiana during a day-long conference at Ivy Tech State College in South Bend that featured speakers from NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and other aviation experts, as well as economist Morton J. Marcus and physics professor Albert-László Barabási of the University of Notre Dame.

The purpose was to show the community how SATS could usher in not only easy access to air travel but opportunities for economic growth. About 70 people, including many area business people, attended last week's event.

"The goal is that people will buy into this so we will have a strong vibrant economy in Indiana," said Wearley.

"(SATS) opens up a whole new world."

Scrubbing the hub

At its heart, SATS is as much an effort to get people to elevate their thinking as it is about air travel itself.

"Pie in the sky?" said Bruce J. Holmes, associate director for NASA's Airspace Systems Programs Office and consultant to the SATS project. "That's fine. I think a reasonable amount of skepticism is a very natural thing."

But as skepticism becomes tempered with education about how innovation changes lives, the cultural evolution begins, added Holmes.

The SATS model relies on network theory such as that developed by Barabási, who is the Emil T. Hofman Professor of Physics at Notre Dame.

Barabási is author of "Linked: The New Science of Networks," which analyzes connections as a way of explaining certain events in science, business and everyday life.

Part of the book describes what travelers through Chicago's O'Hare International Airport already know --the hub-and-spoke system for air travel is a flawed network. The elimination or even partial cutback of one critical hub such as O'Hare can have dire reverberations through the entire network.

Instead, Barabási envisions a mesh aviation system, with hundreds of point-to-point links between airports across the country.

The system is much more flexible than hub-and-spoke, utilizing small, fast, fuel-efficient jets or turboprop-engine planes and on-demand flight schedules.

An example of the type of aircraft envisioned by SATS organizers is the Eclipse 500, a twin-engine jet that can be flown by one pilot and carry six people for 1,500 miles at 400 mph. The plane costs about $1.2 million, said Wearley. Boeing's new 217-seat 7E7 Dreamliner costs about $120 million.

The next big development in air travel might be -- small. The SATS project envisions small jets such as the six-seater Eclipse 500 providing passenger service to community airports nationwide.

Holmes said travelers would still travel to a hub airport and get on the big jets for long trips, but for travels to locations an hour's flight away, they could take one of the "air taxis" as routinely as taking a bus.

Part of the SATS effort involves developing technology that provides plane-to-plane communication, instead of being routed through an air traffic control tower. This allows pilots to use smaller community airports.

Planes would utilize GPS -Global Position System -- instead of relying on the costly current technology of instrument landing systems, said Wearley. An airport could install a GPS server for about $50,000.

Other developing technology makes deliberate crashing of an airplane into a building, the ground or another plane extremely difficult if not impossible, said NASA's Holmes.

"This is gee-whiz stuff we read about in Popular Mechanics years ago, said Wearley of Indiana SATS. "But the technology is available now."

The economic edge

The idea of opening up commercial aviation to small airports introduces the companion purpose to the SATS program: economic development.

"With this kind of technology, we liberate a small town," said economist Marcus, who is a professor emeritus at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University in Bloomington, and economic adviser to the Indiana SATS project.

Fast, affordable, easily accessible air travel removes boundaries to conducting business, seeking better health care, even visiting family, said Marcus.

Also, economic activity traditionally follows modes of travel, such as seaports, rivers, railroads and the interstate highway system, flourishing where access is readily available. Again, the SATS system would provide this access to smaller towns with currently underutilized airports, said Marcus.

For Indiana, the project presents an opportunity to transform its economy, from a "metal-bending" manufacturing base to the forefront of aeronautic technology, said Marcus, which would in turn lead to a revitalization of the state's educational system.

"We can be part of the process of development rather than waiting for them to come to Indiana."

Stuff of dreams

But will SATS fly?

In one sense, it is already launched. Holmes said SAT's organizers will be presenting a blueprint to Congress and the White House in December. Air travelers will probably see the startup of the system by late 2006.

At the same time, other efforts to establish air taxi service are under way.

POGO, an air taxi service formerly known as iFlyAirTaxi, offers the same sort of convenient travel using small aircraft as the SATS project.

The company is headed by Donald Burr, who was the founder of People Express, and Robert Crandall, the former chief executive officer of American Airlines.

But SATS is not without its obstacles.

There is the cost factor, considering most air passengers balk at paying more than $200 to travel anywhere.

The scenario envisioned by SATS for point-to-point travel is much like the one followed by the development of computers, cell phones or air travel, for that matter.

In the beginning, high-end users like the new technology and can afford the luxury prices. Their early investment provides the capital base, which, in turn, allows further innovations that eventually bring down costs.

Another obstacle is that people don't like shooting across the sky in "flying buckets," or smaller aircraft.

True -- for now, said Holmes.

But with time and technology providing increased comfort, people will adapt, said Holmes, much as they did with air travel to begin with.

Holmes of Indiana SATS also acknowledged work needs to be done in the areas of safety and security.

But SATS proponents argue, with the present air travel system showing critical signs of wear, the economic health of the nation depends on searching out the next generation of ideas.

"Imagine 100 years ago, a conference on the automobile and the numbers of people that would have said, "'I'm not going to waste my time on this. It's nothing but dreams,"said economist Marcus.

"That's where we are (with air travel)."

Last modified: June 28, 2007