 One of the main reasons for air travel delays is an increasing demand for flights. The number of planes in service grows every year, while a number of airports remains the same. Since building new facilities is a costly and often unrealistic solution, NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia is taking another approach. The program is called ATOPS, short for Advanced Transport Operating System. Its goal? Make more efficient use of existing resources. A major part of the effort is this modified Boeing 737. From outside, it looks like another 737. And that's not what black could do yet. I would tell you that from his perspective, it also performs routinely when he gets to fly it. Behind him, in this plane within the plane, there's another working cockpit. It's more advanced than the one out front, that houses technology capable of helping solve many problems plaguing today's commercial airlines. Using advanced display systems, NASA pilot Lee Person flies the plane from back here. Okay, we're ready to operate. The objective is to develop simpler, more useful displays for pilots. In standard level, the pilot reads information from numerous gauges scattered about the cockpit. Reorganizing and re-presenting this information, for a few easy to read CRT screens, allows the pilot to span less time searching for data and more time actually flying the aircraft. For example, he always knows exactly where he is, relative to his planned flight path. The computer displays stars called waypoints to fly through people on the wings and tells the pilot what adjustments are needed. The system offers a more precise way of flying. Greater precision means enhanced fuel efficiency and safety. Since this technology is still in the experimental stage, Flight Director Jim Cotto and the team of ATOP's program people carefully monitor system performance during a flight. Up front, Dickie Enne can assume control at any time. Every one hour of flying, 20 hours are spent in this simulator, testing and redesigning to ensure feasibility. Another side of the ATOP's research effort has to do with the air traffic control system. Using sophisticated computer programs, NASA engineers are developing a way for controllers to better regulate aircraft arrival times. Here the computer calculates that continental 134 at the top of the screen needs to slow to 160 knots to arrive on time. Making adjustments like this could avoid costly delays and keep everyone on schedule. When fully developed, this time-based air traffic control system, along with the new cockpit displays, should provide you with a better way to fly.