Galileo

In the "Economist" of London, there is an article on
Galileo, a Europe-China rival to GPS that is supposed
to be accurate within 1 metre.

That aside, I am puzzled over this paragraph:

====

Galileo’s backers believe that, although some users will have to pay
for it, its guarantee of continuous availability, combined with its
greater accuracy, will make it much more attractive for commercial
uses, especially safety-critical ones: one day it might be used to
allow “free flight” by commercial aircraft, with their pilots using
the system to choose their own route without the expense and
complication of ground-based air-traffic

=====

As a "mere" air traveler, I have trouble understanding how
commercial pilots could choose their own routes, without
knowledge of what the other planes are doing -- information
that would be supplied by ground-based air controllers.

???

-

Traveler

Wesley Clark for President
www.DraftWesleyClark.com

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 18:40:55 GMT, wrote:


In the "Economist" of London, there is an article on
Galileo, a Europe-China rival to GPS that is supposed
to be accurate within 1 metre.

That aside, I am puzzled over this paragraph:

====

Galileo’s backers believe that, although some users will have to pay
for it, its guarantee of continuous availability, combined with its
greater accuracy, will make it much more attractive for commercial
uses, especially safety-critical ones: one day it might be used to
allow “free flight” by commercial aircraft, with their pilots using
the system to choose their own route without the expense and
complication of ground-based air-traffic

=====

As a "mere" air traveler, I have trouble understanding how
commercial pilots could choose their own routes, without
knowledge of what the other planes are doing -- information
that would be supplied by ground-based air controllers.

???

OK, I know the above sounds naive, but I really don't understand;
would appreciate enlightenment.
--

Wesley Clark for President
www.Clark04.com

As a "mere" air traveler, I have trouble understanding how
commercial pilots could choose their own routes, without
knowledge of what the other planes are doing -- information
that would be supplied by ground-based air controllers.

The idea is that a plane will be able to choose a direct route without the
need for intermediate waypoints for navigation purposes. And with the advent
of bi-directional communications, the plane can then constantly report its
position, speed, altitude to air traffic control. Think of trans pacific
flights instead of flights between new york and washington national.

In the past, because ATC didn't accuratly know a plane's position at any
moment in time, there was a greater separation between planes to allow for
errors. With more precise positioning and more frequent reporting of position,
it is possible to allow greater freedom to planes.