Two More Planes Almost Collide; Duffy's Announcement Ignores

WASHINGTON - April 20, 2026 - PRLog -- Two fully loaded Southwest jets almost collided over Nashville, and a mass casualty event much larger than the recent one at Washington National was only narrowly averted by the fortuitous reactions of the pilots even before the air traffic controller realized his mistake; and this is only the latest recent fatal commercial airline collision following an almost weekly number of near misses.

Yet when Secretary Sean Duffy announces a new system using AI to regulate commercial airline flights [SMART], it will be to help airlines save lots of money by planning for bottlenecks and anticipating schedule conflicts, but it apparently will not seriously try to use the tremendous but largely untapped power of AI to prevent deadly collisions and almost weekly near collisions, says Professor John Banzhaf of George Washington University (GWU).

The professor, an MIT-educated engineer with two U.S. patents and considerable experience with computers and vehicle safety, notes that computers running existing AI programs can help air traffic controllers do what they can't possibly be expected to do, and do it tirelessly in milliseconds . . .

Fortunately there is something which can be up and running - and be operational at all major airports - much sooner, and at a cost far less than to simply update Newark's (or any other individual airport's) outdated equipment (Newark still relies on floppy disks) - argues Professor Banzhaf.

An off-the-shelf already-available desktop computer using a modern AI program could provide a significant increase in air traffic safety - like having a lightning-fast eidetic genius looking over the shoulder of each busy air traffic controller, and providing warnings of potential collisions in milliseconds - claims Banzhaf.

Indeed, at GWU it has been demonstrated that AI programs can listen to and understand airplane radio communications, and use what it heard to compute flight paths, he says. . .

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

Let's Try Using New AI to Reduce Airport Runway Incursions (https://www.valuewalk.com/lets-try-using-new-ai-to-reduce...) AND
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/)

Fortunately, the professor is no longer alone in calling for testing and using AI to making flying safer: . . .

Important work at GWU on using AI to enhance airplane safety includes: . .

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf