--- title: "Thursday Buzz: Smooth Flying in the Future?" id: "31772" type: "post" slug: "thursday-buzz-smooth-flying-in-the-future" published_at: "2016-01-21T21:42:10+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-16T15:21:53+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2016/01/21/thursday-buzz-smooth-flying-in-the-future/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2016/01/21/thursday-buzz-smooth-flying-in-the-future.md" excerpt: "Boarding and takeoff at airports may soon be faster and more enjoyable, thanks to math. Plus: Addressing and clarifying your organization’s tax status to the public." taxonomy_category: - "Operations" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AI" - "Algorithms" - "AssociationsNow" - "flight scheduling" - "Meetings" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Director" - "Executive Team" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Thursday Buzz: Smooth Flying in the Future? Imagine if sitting on the runway before taking off was eliminated altogether. “Ready, set, takeoff” may be a possibility, all thanks to a new algorithm by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) designed [to prevent planes from needlessly idling to maximize fuel savings and minimize passenger frustration (opens in a new tab)](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tarmac-flight-delays-mit-study_us_569cb1e3e4b0b4eb759efc4b?section=science) . “In 2022, there’s going to be systemwide congestion, and the belief is [that] most of the benefit of airport operations management is going to come from some sort of departure metering,” Hamsa Balakrishnan, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at MIT, [said in a news release (opens in a new tab)](http://news.mit.edu/2016/cut-airport-congestion-fuel-waste-0114) . “What you need in order to do departure metering is a way to predict what’s actually going to happen, and use that to meter. So we’re building the models to help us achieve that.” But how? What the MIT formula does is look at a number of factors, including weather conditions and runway and flight traffic. The algorithm predicts how long a specific flight has to wait for its turn to takeoff. That means passengers can wait at the gate and there won’t be lines of planes idling on the runway. The formula has [already been testing (opens in a new tab)](http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/mit-system-cuts-down-airport-runway-queues/) at some U.S. airports. The research, partly funded by the National Science Foundation, was done at Newark Liberty International Airport, Boston’s Logan International Airport, LaGuardia Airport in New York, Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, and Philadelphia International Airport, starting back in 2007. Hope it works since nobody wants “systemwide congestion” in six years. ### Identifying a Nonprofit **The tax status of a cultural organization or museum** may not matter or even be clear to visitors. How can such an organization make it clear? Colleen Dilenschneider, of her blog *Know Your Own Bone*, suggests a few things an organization can do to strengthen its mission and clarify its nonprofit status [in her latest video and article (opens in a new tab)](http://colleendilen.com/2016/01/20/nonprofit-recognition-what-matters-more-to-visitors-than-your-tax-status-data/) . ### A Couple Links for Your Day **Chrome may be getting faster in the future.** Faster? Really? Google [is rolling out a new compression algorithm (opens in a new tab)](http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/20/10797268/googles-new-algorithm-chrome-run-faster) called Brotli to speed up internet processes in the browser. Mozilla, the makers of Firefox, says it may adopt Brotli as well. **We all have that voice in our head**—that inner dialogue of doubt or insecurity. [Andrea Ayres at Lifehacker explains (opens in a new tab)](http://lifehacker.com/how-to-overcome-your-inner-dialogue-of-doubt-and-get-st-1754102855) how to combat it and get stuff done. **Cloud philanthropy:** Microsoft plans to donate $1 billion in cloud resources to aid nonprofits and university research, [CEO Satya Nadella announced (opens in a new tab)](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2498142,00.asp) at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (iStock/Thinkstock) [Patrick deHahn](https://associationsnow.com/author/patrick-dehahn/) Patrick deHahn is a contributor to Associations Now. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/patrick-dehahn/) Tags: [#AI](https://associationsnow.com/tag/ai/) [#Algorithms](https://associationsnow.com/tag/algorithms/) [#flight scheduling](https://associationsnow.com/tag/flight-scheduling/) [#Meetings](https://associationsnow.com/tag/meetings/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Tech Stack: How AI Is Changing the Association PlaybookOctober 29, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/10/29/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-tech-stack-how-ai-is-changing-the-association-playbook/) - [PodcastAssociations NOW Presents: Industry Partner Edition-Helping Associations Thrive in the Age of AIJuly 16, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/07/16/associations-now-presents-industry-partner-edition-helping-associations-thrive-in-the-age-of-ai/) - [VideoSkip the Search. 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