The Relationship of Sector Characteristics to Operational Errors

An exploratory study was conducted on the relationship of air traffic control (ATC) complexity factors to operational errors (OEs). This study consisted of a detailed examination of OE data during 1992–1995 from the Atlanta en route center. The Systematic Air Traffic Operations Research Initiative (SATORI) system was used to collect data for the analysis. Sectors were categorized into zero-, low-, and high-error groups. It was found that 15 sector and traffic flow variables had statistically significant correlations with OE frequency. There were 4 variables that were higher for the high-error group as compared with the zero-error group. Sector size was smaller for the high-error group as compared with the combined zero- and low-error groups. A significant multiple correlation was found between overall OE rate and a subset of the ATC complexity measures. The data were also analyzed to define relationships between the complexity measures and controller situational awareness (SA) at the time of the OE. The only statistically significant difference between OEs with and without SA was for horizontal separation. In addition, high-error sectors were characterized by low SA for errors. Certain sector and traffic flow characteristics were associated with these high-error sectors, suggesting that these factors may negatively affect SA. It was concluded that the results demonstrated a relationship between sector complexity and OE rate. Such findings, if extended, could assist with traffic management, sector design activities, and the development of decision-support systems.