https://www.isegoria.net/2010/07/flexible-and-efficient-flight-paths/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Sun, 31 May 2026 02:04:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 https://www.isegoria.net/2010/07/flexible-and-efficient-flight-paths/comment-page-1/#comment-5941 David Foster Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:26:54 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=20667#comment-5941 It’s interesting, in the first era of air traffic control, in the 1930s, there was no radar coverage, and the pilot had to inform the controller of his location, which he knew precisely only when passing over a radio marker beacon or radio-range station. With the coming of radar, the controller often knew where the airplane was as precisely (sometimes, more precisely) than the pilot did, although reversion to non-radar modes was/is always possible in the event of equipment failure or coverage loss due to terrain. With the coming of GPS, the pilot knows his position independent of ground-based navigation facilities. And with ADS-B, the airplane now informs the controller (and other aircraft) of its own location. Full circle.

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