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The FAA’s Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART) is a planning and scheduling aid, not an aircraft autopilot. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) says FAA staff review its recommendations and local facility leaders decide whether to accept them. The Washington-area rollout has nevertheless raised questions about controller involvement, training, communication and independent safety testing—and the public material reviewed so far does not provide independent test results or measured safety outcomes.
What is the FAA’s SMART system?
SMART stands for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories. USDOT announced it on September 21, 2026, describing a platform that brings together 200 data streams, including weather, flight paths, traffic flow and controller staffing metrics. The intended result is a shared picture of developing traffic and weather or capacity constraints, giving FAA specialists information to make forward-looking scheduling recommendations.
SMART sits within the FAA’s Flow Management Data and Services (FMDS) program. In a June 22, 2026 announcement, USDOT said the FAA selected Air Space Intelligence for FMDS, which organizes demand, capacity and traffic-management data. SMART is described as an enhancement for coordinating schedules and trajectories before departure. The agency’s stated aim is to improve traffic management; expected benefits such as fewer delays, more capacity or lower costs should not be mistaken for results already demonstrated.
Nextgov/FCW reported that the FAA contract for SMART and FMDS is worth $875 million over 12 years. That figure comes from the outlet’s September 21, 2026 reporting; USDOT’s June announcement, as described in the public material reviewed here, names the contractor and program but does not state the contract price or term.
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Is AI controlling planes at DCA or replacing air traffic controllers?
No, not according to USDOT’s description of SMART’s decision boundary. The department says the tool cannot take control of an aircraft or replace controllers. FAA staff review recommendations, and local facility leadership may accept or pass on scheduling suggestions. These are the agency’s assurances about how the system is intended to work, not an independent audit of each recommendation or proof of how every recommendation is handled in practice.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a September 22 post, quoted by Nextgov/FCW, “HUMANS still control the airspace and HUMANS still make the calls.” That is Duffy’s characterization of the arrangement. The available information describes support for planning and traffic management—not an AI system issuing flight-control commands from airport towers.
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The distinction matters: a scheduling recommendation can affect when flights are managed or sequenced without giving software direct authority over an aircraft. USDOT’s fact sheet says a team of FAA specialists would staff a SMART center around the clock during the staged rollout, analyze data and send recommendations to the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center. Recommendations would then go to local facility leadership for consideration.
Where did SMART begin, and what prompted concern?
USDOT announced limited initial use in the Washington, D.C., area on September 21, 2026, with gradual expansion planned. Nextgov/FCW identified Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Dulles International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) as the first deployment locations. The airports identify the region involved; the reporting does not mean that SMART was installed in or took control from their airport towers.
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In an October 2 follow-up, Nextgov/FCW reported that Rep. Don Beyer said a conversation with FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford had eased some of his concern. According to Beyer’s account, Bedford told him experienced controllers had designed the tool and that it operates at the region’s Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility in Warrenton, Virginia, rather than in the Dulles or National airport towers. These details are Beyer’s account of the conversation, not an independently documented description of the design process or a published FAA record of training.
Beyer had called for suspending use in a September 21 statement, citing what he viewed as inadequate public explanation, questions about controller consultation and training, reports that schedules and potentially routes might be adjusted, and the need for independent stress testing. His statement said 24 million people travel through DCA each year; that is his office’s figure, not an independently verified statistic in the material reviewed here. Beyer wrote, “The FAA should not use my constituents as guinea pigs for an unproven AI air traffic control system.” That is his criticism and requested safeguard, not proof that testing was absent or that the tool is unsafe.
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Controller participation is a separate, unresolved question. In the October 2 report, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) said it “has not been involved in the design, testing or implementation of SMART” and could not yet speak to workforce effects. That statement does not independently settle who designed the tool; it does show that the union reported it had not participated. The public accounts reviewed do not reconcile NATCA’s statement with Beyer’s description of Bedford’s account, or establish what training individual employees received.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What safety testing and performance evidence is public?
USDOT’s September 21 fact sheet says testing, employee training and assessment would continue during the staged rollout. That is a description of the agency’s ongoing deployment plan. The public material reviewed here does not disclose SMART-specific test protocols, independent validation, a safety case, controller training records or measured performance outcomes. Beyer’s demand for independent testing records a concern; it does not establish that no testing has taken place.
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USDOT’s September 2024 white paper, Understanding AI Risks in Transportation, provides general context rather than a SMART assessment. It says risk depends on factors including the AI function, operating context, responsible parties, applicable rules and the system’s role in cyber-physical operations. Those factors help explain why the distinction between making recommendations and exercising operational authority matters, but the white paper does not validate SMART.
Similarly, USDOT’s AI activities page describes departmental work on safely integrating AI into aircraft and traffic-management operations and references alignment with federal AI governance guidance. It does not document SMART-specific compliance, testing or safety results. Until SMART-specific evidence is published, claims about realized safety improvements, delays avoided or added capacity remain unverified in the sources reviewed here.
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