As the United States’s transportation system becomes more congested and time becomes more precious, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has explored ways to address these problems. In the early 1990s, NASA formed the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) program to develop technology that would operationalize a small aircraft transportation system (SATS) and take the country into the next century of transportation. This analysis employs the research methodology of the case study to investigate the success of AGATE and relates its description to the continued formation of SATS. AGATE’s success stemmed from facilitating industry cooperation and providing practical application of its outputs. Although AGATE and SATS had different goals and participants, SATS may benefit by recognizing problems the earlier program faced. By examining the lessons learned in AGATE, SATS will be better able to achieve its goals and help the American people take flight.
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