Oct. 2, 2019
A new tool, Pacer, offers pilots predictive departure data at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport (LAS) and Henderson Executive Airport (HND), as well as Dallas Love Field Airport (DAL) in Texas. The technology was developed by MITRE in partnership with the Clark County Department of Aviation, the FAA and industry stakeholders.
“Pacer is an innovative tool that gives the FAA better insight into business aviation departures, while allowing flexibility and insight for the operators,” said Heidi Williams, NBAA’s director of air traffic services and infrastructure. “It is a predictive, mobile app which – importantly – uses devices pilots already have access to and use regularly.”
MITRE began work on a similar tool at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in 2018. While airlines already shared anticipated taxi times with the FAA and NASA for planning purposes, there was no tool for business aviation departures to provide similar information. The Charlotte project demonstrated the viability and usefulness of a business aviation departure tool that enables departure information exchange. The Pacer tool is an evolution of the tool developed for Charlotte.
Pilots of business aircraft flying to NBAA’s Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) are encouraged to use the Pacer tool.
“By using Pacer, operators and the FAA can significantly decrease departure delays,” said David Pace, FAA traffic management supervisor in Las Vegas. “Sometimes even a 15-minute adjustment to departure time makes a huge difference in congestion and wait time.”
Pace explained there was previously no appropriate tool in the Las Vegas area to help the FAA and industry meter out departures.
“Las Vegas is an event-driven city,” said Pace. “Our goal is to reduce compacted departure demand, not just during NBAA’s event, but for several other large events throughout the year.”
“Pacer allows pilots to submit their anticipated taxi time and monitor the future predicted departure demand,” said Paul Diffenderfer, MITRE senior air traffic management advisor. “They can use the demand information to make more informed decisions about the best time to depart to minimize delay.”
“NBAA encourages all pilots flying business aircraft to NBAA-BACE to use the Pacer tool to plan their departure,” said Williams. “Not only will using the tool help alleviate departure congestion at this year’s convention, but by providing data, the FAA and pilots will have more accurate information for future planning.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.