Another Reagan AP Accident; AI to the Rescue?

WASHINGTON - April 10, 2025 - PRLog -- After suffering still another accident plus an almost deadly near miss at trouble-plagued Reagan Airport - DC's Notoriously Dangerous Reagan Airport Hit by Another Collision Between Planes Months after Deadly Crash (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14596487/Reagan-Airport-hit-collision-planes.html) - it may be necessary, given the serious shortage of air traffic controllers and the length of time required to train new ones, to at least try using a computer running an existing AI program to help by warning controllers of potential collisions, says Professor John Banzhaf.

It would be like having an ever-vigilant and indefatigable genius, who can project scenarios and provide warnings of potential collisions in milliseconds, looking over the shoulders of very busy controllers in airport towers, says Prof Banzhaf, an MIT-trained engineer with two U.S. patents and considerable experience with computers and vehicle safety.

More importantly, rather than waiting years to train new controllers, and/or spending millions to update antiquated accident-prevention systems at airports, an off-the-shelf desktop computer running an AI program, and monitoring radio traffic, as well as existing radar and ground camera inputs, could be operating within a week, tested within a month, and operating at all major airports within a year, says the professor.

After all, Banzhaf notes, computers running already available AI programs can do many things no air traffic controller can possibly do, and do it in milliseconds, including:
■ monitor the dozens of different relevant frequencies, including commercial, helicopter, small craft civilian, military, Homeland Security, other nearby airports, etc.
■ in the case at Reagan Airport for example, simultaneously monitor all radar at DCA as well as nearby from Bolling AFB, plus any from the Pentagon, White House, etc.
■ calculate various flight paths and foresee possible crashes in less than a second
and then alert an air traffic controller - but not pilots - if there seems to be a problem.

Professor Banzhaf's detailed analysis of how such a supplemental warning system would work, and how it can be tested quickly and safely, has been featured in many forms on the Internet, including:

Let's Try Using New AI to Reduce Airport Runway Incursions; (https://www.valuewalk.com/lets-try-using-new-ai-to-reduce...)
AI Programs Can Easily Monitor Radio Traffic, Detect Objects, and Analyze (https://www.valuewalk.com/lets-try-using-new-ai-to-reduce-airport-runway-incursions/)

There's Been Still Another Potentially Fatal Airplane Near Miss; (http://prsync.com/george-washington-university/theres-bee...) 2 Injured (http://prsync.com/george-washington-university/theres-been-still-another-potentially-fatal-airplane-near-miss--injured----especially-with-some-fatal-isnt-it-time-to-stop-the-c-4294392/)
Especially With Some Fatal, Isn't It Time to Stop the Coverup and Use AI (http://prsync.com/george-washington-university/theres-been-still-another-potentially-fatal-airplane-near-miss--injured----especially-with-some-fatal-isnt-it-time-to-stop-the-c-4294392/)

JOHN F. BANZHAF III, B.S.E.E., J.D., Sc.D.
Professor, George Washington University
FAMRI Dr. William Cahan Distinguished Professor
Fellow, World Technology Network
Inventor of the "Banzhaf Index"
(202) 994-7229 // (703) 527-8418
http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf