NATCA Bookshelf

4 NextGen Now | Winter 2014 Patricia Gilbert EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT NATCA NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION Paul Rinaldi PRESIDENT Welcome to our second edition of NextGen Now! This edition continues our mission to provide updates and perspectives from aviation industry leaders and stakeholders on the progress of the modernization of the National Airspace System (NAS), and our worldwide aviation system. Our first edition, published earlier this year in July, was read by thousands of people, in over 60 countries throughout the world. NextGen is happening now. We've said it before, and we'll continue to say it, because it's true. We see it in Houston and in North Texas now, with the recent implementation of new procedures in the airspaces to make flights more efficient. We see it in the successful implementation of TAMR and STARS equipment at multiple facilities throughout the country this year, with 17 scheduled for installations next year, and 90 through 2018. We see it at Memphis, where Wake Turbulence Recategorization (RECAT) has increased flight output by 22 percent, and in Atlanta, where RECAT has reduced taxi and departure delays for air carriers. Read this publication to see for yourself that NextGen is happening now. This edition includes updates on the progress and successes of ADS-B, OAPM, PBN, RECAT, TAMR and TBFM. It also provides you insights from organizational leaders of the national and international aviation community about the need to improve stable funding for NextGen, how NextGen makes us stronger, the new collaboration model of the NextGen Integration Working Group and the progress of modernization in the international aviation industry. Currently, we run the largest, safest, most efficient, most complex, most diverse airspace system in the world. Aviation is a major driver of the U.S. economy – it drives nearly 12 million jobs that contribute $1.5 trillion to the nation's gross domestic product. Two million passengers fly on 70,000 flights every single day. Our system is incomparable, unequaled, and unrivaled by any country's system in the world. The NAS is considered the gold standard in the world aviation industry. Our collaboration with the FAA and the industry couldn't be better. We are advancing NextGen together, and we can continue this advancement and achieve so much over the next several years.

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