Air Traffic Control: Be Careful Out There

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More modestly, the FAA is starting to install new computers at its en-route control centers. It has also proposed a $24 billion long-term airport and air- traffic control modernization program. Where the money will come from has not been decided. The FAA's critics want the agency to use some of the $8 billion that has accumulated in an aviation trust fund, which comes mainly from an 8% tax on all airline tickets. This reservoir of cash has been hoarded by the Administration to keep the federal deficit from looking worse than it is.

Though final Administration and congressional approval of the modernization plan remains uncertain, the need is clear. The expansion of air travel will continue relentlessly: domestic airline traffic is expected to * grow by 5% in each of the next four years. Unless more steps are taken soon to remedy the serious shortcomings in the nation's air-traffic system, the recent good luck of millions of sky travelers could run out.

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CREDIT: TIME Chart by Renee Klein

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DESCRIPTION: Color illustrations (three): Shows air traffic in billions of passenger miles; Total number of air traffic controllers and those at full performance level, in thousands, 1980-1986; Pilots, average experience of new hires by major airlines in 1983, 1984, 1985.