Time Flown is calculated as the difference between Wheels Off (DZ) and Wheels On (AZ), if both are present. The Distance Flown is the Great Circle Route calculated using the latitude and longitude of each end as found in the TFMS_Locids table. If there is no equipment type by carrier, this is assigned a default number of seats and equipment set to "O" for Other. TFMS reported equipment type by carrier identifies the number of seats. Number of seats, weight class, and type of flight are determined from the foreign, domestic, or oceanic flags. Some fields in TFMSC are derived fields created for policy research and other purposes.Įquipment observed in the TFMS records is identified as Business Jet or Regional Jet using the APO system look-up tables. Records are updated at the end of the month for the prior month's data. TFMSC records are available from January 2000 to present less one month. value-added equipment weight class (heavy, 757, large jets, medium, small, other).value-added equipment type (piston, turbine, jet, helicopter, other).source-provided user class (commercial, air taxi, freight, general aviation, military, other).flight type (domestic, foreign, US to foreign, foreign to US).In TFMSC, data are arranged by the following: TFMSC data are typically not modified or updated after the monthly files are received, except in the rare case of the discovery of a significant problem with the data files. The Airports module reports flights for the larger airports (generally the top 1000). The City Pair module of TFMSC interface reports flights for all airports contained in TFMSC. The others are waypoints or other references to locations not associated with an airport. In addition, of the 35,000 location identifiers reported over time, only the top few thousand, accounting for over 95% of traffic, are reliable. First, due to limited radar coverage and incomplete messaging, TFMS may exclude certain flights that do not enter the enroute airspace and other low-altitude flights. While TFMS reliably captures the vast majority of IFR traffic and some VFR traffic, it has several limitations and challenges. Preliminary next-day TFMS data and enhanced five-day data are used to construct ASPM records, but these preliminary data are not reported in the TFMSC data access system. TFMSC data are available by day from January 2000 and is updated monthly.ĭata for each month are made available to the TFMSC data access system within 31 days after the end of the month. Missing AZ or DZ may cause the flight to be assigned to the 25 hour. For example, flights may be missing DZ or AZ time (or both), or may have incorrect or missing airport codes and equipment codes. These flight records may be incomplete records when one end is missing, or when only planned components are available. The flight counts reported in TFMSC are derived from flight records assembled by the FAA NAS Data Warehouse by threading the many TFMS messages together. It includes information about Commercial Traffic (air carriers and air taxis), general aviation, and military to and from every landing facility as well as fixes, both in the US and in nearby countries that participate in the TFMS system.ĭata for each month are made available to the TFMSC data access system within 30 days after the end of the month, i.e., June data areĪvailable no later than August 1. TFMSC contains every flight record constructed. The three views provide different perspectives on the TFMSC data. TFMSC has three views: Airport, City Pair, and Distributed OPSNET. Traffic Flow Management System Counts (TFMSC) records are assembled by the FAA NAS Data Warehouse by combining electronic messages transmitted to the En Route Modernization Automation Modernization (ERAM) system for each flight into a complete record of that flight. TFMSC source data are created when pilots file flight plans and/or when flights are detected by the National Airspace System (NAS), usually via RADAR. Most VFR and some non-enroute IFR traffic is excluded. It includes data for flights that fly under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) and are captured by the FAA’s enroute computers.
Traffic Flow Management System Counts (TFMSC) is designed to provide information on traffic counts by airport or by city pair for various data groupings such as aircraft type or by hour of the day.