The Federal Aviation Administration named the first five sites in its rollout of a new information display for air traffic controllers on November 5. Three are airports: Atlantic City International, Nashville International and Greater Rochester International. The other two are data processing hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City. The agency targets 435 sites by the end of 2028, but that is a rollout goal, not a list of sites already using the system.
What the new display replaces
The floppy disks in the announcement are part of the older equipment the FAA is moving away from. The Enterprise Information Display System, or E-IDS, replaces four legacy information display systems. It brings information such as equipment outages, weather impacts and advisories onto a common platform at controller workstations. It is an information display upgrade, not a replacement for radar or a new cockpit display.
Two priorities are easier handling of pilot weather reports and faster distribution of NOTAM information. A pilot report, or PIREP, describes weather an aircraft actually encountered. A NOTAM can flag a temporary change, such as a closed taxiway or unavailable navigation aid. Both are useful to a controller, but they answer different questions: what conditions did someone encounter, and what has changed in the operating environment?
What pilots should take from it
The announcement describes a change on the controller side. It does not announce a new pilot briefing process or give an installation date for Southern California facilities. The FAA’s Aeronautical Information Manual preflight section remains the reference for how NOTAMs fit into a preflight briefing. Our San Clemente Island GPS testing brief is a local example of the kind of temporary information a notice can convey, not a source for current flight planning.
