Instead, parts of airspace are reserved dynamically and automatically in a distributed way using computer communication to ensure the required separation between aircraft.
[citation needed] Free flight is a new concept being developed to take the place of the current air traffic management methods through the use of technology.
True free flight eliminates the need for air traffic control (ATC) operators by giving the responsibility to the pilot in command.
As in most complex systems, distributed yet cooperative decision making is believed to be more efficient than the centralized control characterized by the current mode of air traffic management.
[citation needed] ATM created instrument flight rules (commonly known as "IFR") to manage the growing numbers of aircraft.
This helped control air traffic, but required a significant amount of time, effort, and resources to maintain IFR flight.
[citation needed] Twenty years earlier Crocker Snow used television cameras to locate his position when flying an aircraft.
[citation needed] The key components of free flight were identified in 1971 by United Airlines systems manager William Cotton, although the technology to implement it was not available for another two decades.
[citation needed] In 1991 the International Civil Aviation Organization created the Future Air Navigation System Panel.
The first hearings on implementing free flight were held in August 1994 by Representative Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota), chair of the House subcommittee with investigative jurisdiction over the FAA.
[1] In 1995 David Hinson, the FAA administrator, organized a task force to draw up detailed plans to implement free flight.
Surely, if this was a one-on-one scenario, it would be easy to solve, but if multiple aircraft were involved, the difficulty of finding a solution compounds.