HUMAN FACTORS LESSONS LEARNED FROM A SURFACE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SIMULATION Deborah Walton, Cheryl Quinn, and Stephen Atkins ABSTRACT The Surface Management System (SMS), being developed at NASA Ames Research Center in conjunction with the FAA, is a decision support tool that helps air traffic controllers and air carriers manage aircraft movements on the surfaces of busy airports. By presenting information and advisories to the Air Traffic Control Tower, Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), En-route Center, and air carriers, SMS creates shared departure situational awareness, thereby increasing the efficiency, capacity, and safety on the airport surface. This paper discusses the human factors lessons that were learned during the real-time simulation of SMS that was conducted in January, 2002 at the Future Flight Central facility at NASA Ames Research Center. Five active Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Tower controllers participated in the simulation. This paper discusses one of the main objectives of the three-day simulation; to conduct human factors studies to better understand the challenges involved with introducing automation tools into the Tower environment. To this end, studies observing controller coordination were conducted, usability, suitability, and acceptability questionnaires were administered, and informal debriefs were held after each of the nine runs.