FLL air traffic controllers get a tech upgrade. What that means for flights

Air traffic controllers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport are leaving behind the paper-and-pencil age and entering the digital era in an upgrade likely to make their tough jobs more manageable and flying a little bit safer.

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The change will permit the workers to spend more time keeping their heads up so that their eyes are at the level of airplanes while reading or recording critical data.

The new tool is called electronic flight strips. They replace paper strips that had long been used to document flight information.

FLL is the 19th airport to make the technology upgrade. The Department of Transportation has pushed to get these installed across U.S. airports. In February, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport switched to electronic flight strips.

The move to use electronic strips is part of what’s dubbed the Terminal Flight Data Manager, an air traffic control tower initiative to improve management and efficiency, led by the Department of Transportation. In March, Miami International Airport made the change and Secretary Sean Duffy visited to mark the occasion.

The change “increases both safety and efficiency by providing real-time updates and stream-lining the flight-planning process,” the FAA said in a statement.

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The move will likely bring benefits to air traffic controllers — and ultimately travelers, an FAA official said.

Controllers can share information with each other more easily.

“The strip also can move from one controller to another, with the touch of a button,” Amee Patel, FAA air traffic systems director, said in a video recording.

She said it adds to safety in several ways:

“Controllers now have more heads-up time,” Patel said, referring to their ability to physically keep their heads up. “So rather than looking down and making changes, they’ll be able to look up at their tray and make changes while their eyes are still looking at the aircraft.”

Another benefit is that the upgrade now creates a common platform “that is used by the controllers, the pilots, the airlines and the airports,” Patel said. “So everyone is using the same information and being able to manage the traffic on the same sheet of music.”

The FAA official said that paper strips will always be available, as a backup, should there be problems with the electronic system.

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