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THE CONTROLLER A \ ' / V;
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selenia
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Programming features modular design
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correlation between radar data and
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fl i g h t p l a n d a t a
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SIGNAAL
radar, weapon control, data handling and air traffic control systems N . V. H O L L A N D S E S I G N A A L A P PA R AT E N H E N G E L O
The International Federation
of Air Traffic Controllers Associations A d d r e s s e s a n d O f fi c e r s AUSTRIA
FRANCE
Verband Osterreichischer Flugverkehrsleiter A 1300, Wien Flughafen, Austria, Postfcch 36 President A. Nogy
Association Professionnelle de la Circulation Aerienne
Vice-President
France
H.
Secretary
Kihr
H.
Bauer
F r e n c h A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l A s s o c i a t i o n
B. P. 206, Paris Orly Airport 94 President
Francis
Zammith
Deputy Secretary W. SeidI
First Vice-President J. M. Lefranc
Treasurer
Second Vice-President M. Pinon
W.
Chrystoph
General Secretary J. Lesueur Treasurer
BELGIUM
Belgian Guild of Air Traffic Controllers Airport Brussels National
Zaventem 1, Belgium President A. Maziers Vice-President M. van der Straate
Secretary C. Scheers Secretary General A. Davister
Treasurer H. Campsteyn Editor J. Meulenbergs I FAT C A L i a i s o n O f fi c e r J . A e l b r e c h t
J.
Bocard
Deputy Secretary R. Philipeau Deputy Treasurer M. Imbert I F A T C A L i a i s o n O f fi c e r A . C l e r c
G E R M A N Y
G e r m a n A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l l e r s A s s o c i a t i o n
Verband Deutscher Flugleiter e. V. 3 Hannover-Flughafen, Germany Postlagernd Chairman
W.
Kassebohm
Vice-Chairman
H.
Vice-Chairman
C A N A D A
Canadian Air Traffic Control Association 56, Sparks Street Room 305
Ottawa 4, Canada
President
Vice-Chairman
J.
D.
Lyon
First Vice-President R. McFarlane
Second Vice-President D. M. Diffley Managing Director G.J.Williams Treasurer A. Cockrem
Chairman IFATCA Comm. R. Roy
von
Bismarck
H.W.
Secretary
H.
Treasurer Editor
Guddat
E.
J.
K.
Kremer
Klinke Piotrowski
L.
Goebbels
I F A T C A L i a i s o n O f fi c e r W . G o e b e l
GREECE
A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l l e r s A s s o c i a t i o n o f G r e e c e
10, Agios Zonis Street, Athens 804, Greece
President
C.
Vice-President
Theodoropoulos N.
Protopapas
General Secretary E. Petroulias DENMARK
Treasurer
S.
Sotiriades
Danish Air Traffic Controllers Association
Copenhagen Airport — Kastrup
H O N G K O N G
Denmark
Chairman E. Vice-Chairman
T. O.
Larsen Christiansen
Secretary E. Christiansen Treasurer M. Jensen I FAT C A L i a i s o n O f fi c e r V. F r e d e r i k s e n
Hongkong Air Traffic Control Association Hongkong Airport President
A.
Secretary
R.
A.
L.
Treasurer
Allcock
Ayers R.Lo
ICELAND FINLAND
A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l A s s o c i a t i o n o f I c e l a n d
Association of Finnish Air Traffic Control Officers
Reykjavik Airport, Iceland
Suomen Lennoniohtajien Yhdistys r. y.
Chairman
A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l
Secretary Treasurer
Helsinki Lento
G.
Kristinsson
K.
S.Trampe Sigurosson
Finland
Chairman Fred. Vice-Chairman Va i n o Secretary Heikki
Treasurer Deputy
Aimo Viljo
Lehto Pitkdnen Nevaste
Happonen Suhonen
IRAN
I r a n i a n A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l l e r s A s s o c i a t i o n
Mehrobad International Airport Te h e r a n , I r a n
Secretary General
E. A. Rahimpour
IRELAND
RHODESIA
I r i s h A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l O f fi c e r s A s s o c i a t i o n
R h o d e s i a n A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l A s s o c i a t i o n
AT S
Private Bog 2, Salisbury Airport
Shannon
Ireland
Rhodesia
President J. E. Murphy V i c e - P r e s i d e n t P. J . O ' H e r l i h y Gen. Secretary J. Kerin
President
Treasurer
T.
Secretary
C.
W.
C.
Treasurer
P.
W.
Drake
Flavell Va n d e w a a l
Lane SWEDEN
Asst. Gen. Secretary M. Durrack
S w e d i s h A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l l e r s A s s o c i a t i o n
Fack 22, Sistuna, Sweden
ISRAEL
Chairman A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l l e r s A s s o c i a t i o n o f I s r a e l
L.
Secretary
Berkenstam.
A.
Karlahag
P. O. B. 33
Treasurer
Lod Airport, Israel
IFATCA Representative G. Atterholm
Chairman
Jacob
Vice-Chairman Treasurer
C.
A.
Starkman
Wachtel
W.
Katz Medina
E.
SWITZERLAND S w i s s A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l l e r s A s s o c i a t i o n
V. P. R. S., P. O. Box 271
CH 1215, Geneva Airport, Switzerland
ITAL^
Associazione Nazionale Assistenti e Controliori
Chairman
Secretary
della Civil Navigazione Aerea Italia
J.
D.
T.
Monin
Roulin
Via Cola di Rienzo 28 TURKEY
Rome, Italy P rrees isd iedn te n t
Dr.
G.
Bertoldi,
M.
P.
Tu r k i s h A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l A s s o c i a t i o n
Secretary
L. Mercuri
Yesilkoy Airport, Istambul, Turkey
Treasurer
A. Guidoni
President UNITED
LUXEMBOURG
Altan
Koseoglu
KINGDOM
G u i l d o f A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l O f fi c e r s
Luxembourg Guild of Air Traffic Controllers Luxembourg Airport President
Alfred
Feltes
Secretary
Andre
Klein
14, South Street, Park Lane London W 1, England Master A. Field, QBE E x e c u t i v e S e c r e t a r y W. R i m m e r
Kimmes
Treasurer
Treasurer
J.
P.
Bradshaw
URUGUAY
NETHERLANDS
N e t h e r l a n d G u i l d o f A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l l e r s Postbox 7590
Th.
Secretary
M.
F.
Treasurer
van
M.
J.
P.
Asocia(;i6n de Controladores Aeropuerto Nacional de Carrasco To r r e d e C o n t r o l
Schiphol Airport Central, Netherlands President
E.
Gaalen
Mente
Kalff
Member, Publicity A. Vink M e m b e r, I FAT C A - a ff a i r s B . H . v a n O m m e n
Montevideo, Uruguay Chairman
Secretary Treasurer
U.
J. M.
Pallares
Beder Puchkoff
VENEZUELA
A s o c i a c i o n N a c i o n a l d e Te c n i c o s e n NEW
Tr a n s i t o A e r e o Ve n e z u e l a
ZEALAND
A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l A s s o c i a t i o n
Dept. of Civil Aviation, 8th Floor, Dept. BIdgs. Stout Street
V^ellington, New Zealand President
Avenida Andres Bello, Local 7 8129 Caracas, Venezuela President Manuel A. Rivera P. S e e r. G e n e r a l V. A l v a r e z . J i m e n e z
E.Meachen
Secretary
C.
Latham
YUGOSLAVIA
Jugoslovensko Udruzenje Kontrolora Letenja Direkcija Za Civiinu Vazdusnu Plovldbu Novi Beograd, Lenjinov Bulevar 2
N O R W A Y
Lufttrafikkledelsens Forening Box 51, 1330 Oslo Lufthavn, Norway
Yu g o s l a v i a President
A. Stefanovic
Chairman
Vi c e - P r e s i d e n t
Z. Veres
Secretary Treasurer
D. Zivkovic D. Zivkovic
Member
B. Budimirovic
G.
Vice-Chairman
E.
K.
Nilsen
Christiansen
Secretary
J.
Kalvik
Treasurer
E.
Feet
4
I FAT C A
JOURNAL
OF
AIR
TRAFFIC
CONTROL
THE CONTROLLER Frankfurt am Main, Jan./March 1969
Volume 8 • No. 1
P u b l i s h e r : I n t e r n a t i o n a l F e d e r a t i o n o f A i r T r a f fi c C o n
trollers' Associations, S. C. II; 6 Frankfurt am Main N.O. 14, Bornheimer Landwehr 57a.
Officers of IFATCA: M. Cerf, President; J. R. Campbell, First Vice President; G. Atterholm, Second Vice Presi
dent; G. W. Monk, Executive Secretory; H. Guddat, Honorary Secretary; B. Ruthy, Treasurer; W. H. Endlich. Editor. Editor: Walter H. Endlich, 3, rue Roosendael,
Bruxelles-Forest, Belgique Telephone: 456248
Publishing Company, Production and Advertising Sales Office: Verlog W. Kramer & Co., 6 Frankfurt am Main N014, Bornheimer Landwehr 57a, Phone 434325,492169, Postscheck Frankfurt (M) 11727. Rate Card Nr. 2. Printed by: W.Kramer&Co., 6 Frankfurt am Main NO 14, Bornheimer Landwehr 57a. Subscription Rate*. DM 8,-
C O N T E N T S
RICA 1968 Annual Assembly Meeting per annum (in
Contributors are expressing their personal points of view and opinions, which must not necessarily coincide with t h o s e o f t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l F e d e r a t i o n o f A i r T r a f fi c Controllers' Associations (IFATCA1.
Controller Manpower and Training . . F. Lee Bailey ATC Automation in the U.S.A. . . Ferris j. Howiond
IFATCA does not assume responsibility for statements made and opinions expressed, it does only accept re sponsibility for publishing these contributions. Contributions ore welcome as are comments and criti
cism. No payment can be made for manuscripts submitted for publication in "The Controller". The Editor reserves
the right to moke any editorial changes in manuscripts, which he believes will improve the material without altering the intended meaning.
Written permission by the Editor is necessary for re
ARTS In-Service Improvements J. Milton Hatchell
Area Navigation R o b e r t W. M a r t i n
Collision Avoidance Systems . . Frank C. White
Digital Communications B. F. McLeod
printing any part of this Journal.
An Airport Surface Traffic Control System Louis .Achitoff ' C AT C A
'69"
1 9 6 8 — a n a c t i v e Ye a r f o r t h e N e t h e r l a n d s ' G u i l d
Advertisers in this Issue: Seleni S.p.A. (Inside Cover); The Decco Navigator Co., Ltd. (Back Cover); Deutsche Philips GmbH (Inside Back Cover); Elliot Space and Weapon Automation Limited (1); N. V. Hollondse Signaalopporaten (2).
Picture Credit: Vickers (28, 29); The Yugoslav Air Traffic Controller's Association (7); The Yugoslav Consulate, Brussels (7).
Pacific SAR Symposium Tirey K. Vickers What's New in Montreal?
Airlines Launch ATC Study . Digital ATC Simulator for Eurocontrol Institute for Air Navigation Services 5
Corporation Members of the International Federation
of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations The Air Traffic Control Association, Washington D. C., U.S.A. The Air Transport Association, Washington D. C., U.S.A.
Wolfgang Assmann GmbH., Bad Homburg v.d.H. Compagnie Generale de Telegraphie sans Fil Malakoff, Paris, France Cossor Radar and Electronics Limited, Harlow, England
The Decca Navigator Company Limited, London ELLIOTT Brothers (London) Limited Borehamwood, Herts., England FERRANTI Limited
Bracknell, Berks., England Glen A. Gilbert & Associates, Washington D. C., U.S.A.
IBM World Trade Europe Corporation, Paris, France
International Aeradio Limited,
Southall, Middlesex, England ITT Europe Corporation, Brussels, Belgium
Jeppesen & Co. GmbH, Frankfurt, Germany The Marconi Company Limited Radar Division Chelmsford, Essex, England N.V. Hollandse Signaalapparaten Hengelo, Netherlands N.V. Philips Telecommunicatie Industrie Hilversum, Holland
The Plessey Company Limited Chessington, Surrey, England Selenia - Industrie Elettroniche Associate S.p.A. Rome, Italy The Solartron Electronic Group, Ltd. Farnborough, Hants., England Telefunken AG, Ulm/Donau, Germany Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas 22, Texas, USA Whittaker Corporation, North Hollywood, California, USA
The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations would like to invite all corpora tions, organizations, and institutions interested in and concerned with the maintenance and promo tion of safety in air traffic to join their organization as Corporation Members. Corporation Members support the aims of the Federation by supplying the Federation with technical
information and by means of an annual subscription. The Federation's international journal "The Con troller" is offered as a platform for the discussion of technical and procedural developments in the fi e l d o f a i r t r a f fi c c o n t r o l .
Bd^tcuU 8 t h A n n u a l I FAT C A Conference
2 4 / 2 8 t h M a r. 1 9 6 9 H o u s e o f Yo u t h
House of Youth, the venue ot the Conference
The building ot the Yugoslav Federal Assembly at night
Belgrade Airport
RTCA1968 Annual Assembly Meeting Meeting
the
t r a f fi c
volume
air
demands was
the
of
ever-growing
motto
of
the
1968
Annual Assembly of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, which was held from September 25th/26th at the Statler Hilton Hotel, Washington, D. C. The theme of the Conference was broken down into four
All subjects were covered by an impressive number of excellent papers, some of which are reprinted in this issue of 'The Controller".
The RTCA was assisted by an illustratious gathering of expert Speakers and Panel Members, and such distinguish ed Moderators as
areas:
F r a n k W. L e h a n
Associate Secretary for Research & Technology
1. The R&D effort
Department of Transportation
Scope: Current and planned R&D effort and programs i n t h e fi e l d o f a v i a t i o n e l e c t r o n i c s a n d t e l e c o m m u n i c a
Oskar Bakke
tions.
Associate Administrator for Plans Federal Aviation Administration
2 . A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l
Scope: Some answers — and questions — on what is being done or planned to increase the capability of
Maj. Gen. J. Francis Taylor, Jr. USAF (Ret.)
Senior Vice President — Planning
a i r t r a f fi c c o n t r o l .
Aeronautical Radio, Inc.
3. Communications
George B. Litchford
Scope: What are the plans or programs dealing with
Aviation Consultant
communications via satellite, digital communications,
and public air/ground telecommunications? 4. Aircraft Operations
Scope: What is being done to satisfy V/STOL require ments, provide airport surface guidance system and on Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS) / Pilot Warning Indicators (PWI)?
stimulated the lively discussion. Wayne W. Parrish, President of America Aviation Pu blications, Inc. was Guest Speaker at the RTCA Luncheon. Untiring J. R. "Dick" Campbell, First Vice-President of IFATCA, represented the Federation at this most interest ing Conference.
C o n t r o l l e r M a n p o w e r a n d Tr a i n i n g
By F. Lee Bailey Executive Director of the
Professional Air Traffic Controllers' Association
to the 1968 RTCA Annual Assembly
Mr. Bakke has explained my intrusion into the business of Air Traffic Control as something other than a user of the
system. It is recent; last January, to be precise, but it has been most intensive. I probably have shaken the hands of four or five thousand of the traffic controllers in every major facility in the country and some minor facilities. The original purpose of the organization is to solve some of the problems confronting the controller as an individual.
The heart of the system, no matter how many computers or
more, and what ought they to be? These ore some of the
problems that we have confronted, digested and tried to present to the aviation industry to try to get some feed back on them, because early in 1969 we hope to present to the Congress some legislation to rectify problems we see sitting right on the edge of the horizon, and some of them perhaps could be directly described as being in our laps. The Air Traffic Controller today, if nothing else as a common denominator, is a young man, especially in
automated cockpit systems we are able to install and de
high density areas. We have seen a number of studies
pend on, nonetheless, is the human hand and the human
which have been made by psychologists, psychiatrists and
voice somewhere down on the ground in a shaded room or in a control cob. Just as no one has thought to diminish
other specialists in the business of human stress and men
the importance of skilled judgment and highly specialized
that this is so.
training on the part of the pilot simply because Mr. Lear and others have built us auto-pilots that can drive you
One of the pieces of evidence upon which I rely is the board of directors of this organization which consists entirely of working controllers and which has an average of thirty-three years and eight months in age. On the other hand, we don't find too many of them who ore working front-line positions and the boards at ffty. We know very
down the glide-slope just about as well as any human can do it, the same is true of Air Traffic Controllers. No matter how sophisticated the system may become, there is always the possibility of malfunction in some areas, perhaps the
probability, and then we've got to depend on somebody using techniques that rely on that 180-pound unskilled labor computer* that we alluded to a little while ago. Now, who is the Air Traffic Controller today? Why are we in short supply? Where are we going to get some See page 13, ATC Automation in the U.S.A.".
8
tal drain, to find out why this is so. We know empirically
well that a fifty year old pilot is more than capable and probably as good as he will ever get, so, there is a dis parity there.
We have tried to compare the Air Traffic Controller
with his compadre at the other end of the system. We know that any skillful pilot, well-equipped with avionics
and ground aids, con get his plane anywhere in the Gol
could see that we would be at saturation in certain areas
den Triangle without anybody's help. The problem is that he can't get there without encountering someone else along the way. The odds sharply increase every day that that encounter will take place — were it not for some
today. The best evidence of saturation became dramatically apparent last July, when in the peak season of travel in
separation not accomplished from the cockpit.
who had had just about enough of the so-called "manmade rule on separation" began looking for a common guideline and simply went back to the rulebook. As you
The Air Traffic Controller, then, is properly described, I think — as the Australians formally describe him — and
that is as The Separator. Without his separation function, the very busy airways of the United States could become a holocaust all of a Tuesday afternoon. Now, unlike the pilot, whose business has been described perhaps jokingly, and perhaps seriously, as "hours of boredom punctuated by a crisis at either end", the working day of the Air Traf fic Controller at the high density facility is likely to be hours of panic punctuated by a little bit of boredom — if he gets time off for lunch. So, one of the qualities that we know he needs in order to exist is a great degree of re
silience. And probably the requirement of that resilience is one of the explanations for the average age of the
front-line working controller. On the other hand, simply burning men out in their early-to-middle-age is not an advantageous way to attract the best personnel to the
system or to be left with a bunch of people that have to go somewhere sometime after that age has gone by. So we first turn our senses to what might be done to alleviate these pressures and see whether or not we're going to rely on that alleviation to the extent of abandoning techniques
which, some years ago, were considered to be mandatory. When I learned to fly instruments, and I'm sure when many of you did, we took the static-laden low-frequency
range and tried to distinguish an A from an N and we would try to give the controller a "guesstimate" of where we thought we were, and, if he was on the ball, he'd
come back and report somebody else thought he was in the same place and we'd better watch out what was
going on. But that doesn't work anymore. The reliability, the reliance, indeed has necessarily shifted from the cock pit, where in many circumstances and certainly in the soup, we're all but helpless to accomplish any kind of separa tion. Insofar as the jets are concerned, because of the higher rate of speed and the opposing speeds, again we're almost helpless to depend on visual separation; which I assume prompted the FAA to rule that everybody above certain plateaus would be under positive control and thus insuring the separation which they couldn't guarantee
themselves. I foresee the day when 90% of all traffic any where near a high-density zone has got to be under some sort of control.
the New York / Chicago and other areas, the controllers
recall, the press began to search for the cause for what was termed initially a "slowdown". First reports suggested that the Administration was blackmailing the Congress.
The next report said that the controllers were blackmail ing the Administration. Indeed, when I walked in 45 minu tes late to a conference with General McKee and a great
number of others at the roundtable in the FAA Building,
he said to me in an aside, "Lee, I think you've been hoist on your own petard", because United Airlines was 45 minutes late. But in looking back, I think that the picture has fairly well developed despite the rather caustic com
ments of the rich man's Joe Pyne, which calls itself Time Magazine. Nobody was calling a slowdown for higher pay. Indeed, higher pay wouldn't cure anything for any body. It's just one facet of the system that may deserve a little attention, in conjunction with all the rest.
Our controllers today came largely from the military — although not all. Some were military pilots, many were
military controllers, some have been given on-the-job training. Most of those in the business regard this as an
unsatisfactory way in which to indoctrinate someone into the complex and precise business of Air Traffic Control. Recently, we were informed that the educational institution
at Oklahoma City has been re-opened after some years of napping and that some controllers are going to be trained there formally.
The programs of this training are something about which the working controllers today hope to hove some say, because the programs are of extreme importance.
First of all, we will need to do some screening. I don't believe, and I don't think the controllers believe for one
minute, that everyone is adapted to this kind of work.
There are certain people in my primary profession (which is fastly receding to a secondary profession) who are not
adapted to do trial work. The punch-ond-go, as we call it
— the moment-to-moment decisions which con never be
anticipated or planned out, but must be made and forever laid to rest, no matter how aggressively they may have been made — simply emasculate the methodical people to the point where they begin to get ulcers and heart attacks in their mid-30's. Regarding this as unsatisfactory,
they go to the infinitely more profitable business of re
The maddening thing about today's air traffic system, and the most puzzling circumstance confronting a con
presenting corporations such as yourselves. Fiowever, ex
troller, is the mixture of traffic. I'm sure that pilots feel
that action, I might point out.
pretty much the same way. They are continually being given what are euphemistically called Advisories — "You hove traffic at 12:00 o'clock; altitude and speed unknown".
be formulated to see whether or not a man can accept
Slow moving or fast moving — he's squawking VFR or he's a primary target — but the pilot's head immediately goes on the swivel. And he may well be looking for somebody
cept for occasional anti-trust violations, I see very little of But, psychological testing of some kind, I m sure, can
multiple flight patterns at one time. Now the commander
of the airplane has his co-pilot — a luxury that I think
most controllers would like to have, a co-pilot. Indeed, he
precision that is going to be needed, if anything like the
would like to have also the luxury of back-up systems. I can't think of anything I have in my Lear Jet that I don t have two of, sometimes three — including the stewardii. But, if the controller's radar goes out, he is unlikely to be
projections of increased traffic come true. I tend to think
able, at the present time, to switch on another set, because,
who is miles away by vertical separation, but that uncer tainty certainly does not militate in favor of the kind of
that all these projections are underestimated. Certainly, as of some years ago it was not the many, but the few that
due to frugality imposed upon us through various armed
conflicts, crime in the streets and other small problems of 9
the United States, the Congress has been unable to furnish us with the back-ups. But 1 think they are essential. None theless, there is no way to count upon their always work
sometime within the next two hours, so that he can take some of the stacks that they've piled up waiting to get into his area?
ing. I doubt that many of those who fly professionally and
Education of the controller has got to include certainly a good, sound rounding-out in all the machinery upon
test; but, it says somewhere in the book that we can come
which he will rely. That is to say, the communications of the network; how it works and what he can do when it isn't working right. How to recognize the kind of defect that
hold the highest ratings would ever like to be put to the stomping down the ILS at 200 feet and a quarter mile on partial panel — just the turn-and-bank and magnetic com
pass, if everything else goes out. Well, this is something I
don't wont to find out, but it is in the book. By the same
theory, the Air Traffic Controller today, and even more so
in the future, must have that wide range of flexibility that will allow him to be abandoned by his computers and then
by his radar and still leave the airplanes in the sky with
ought to cause immediate switchover and howto recognize the kind you can live with until the maintenance man can be grabbed by the collar and set to work with his little screwdriver. The same goes with the radar. If he's to use computers, I think it mandatory that he understands what the computer is doing, because when the computer either
reasonable anticipation of landing on the rubber instead
malfunctions or refuses to function and he has to sub
of some other way. We've had some controllers recently
stitute himself for it, he must know what duties he is taking over. I can visualize without much difficulty a tremendous aid from computers and a great relief of the pressure for controllers. I think that this is the best hope that we will stretch their useful life. The absence of continuing pres
up in that — well, you can call it an area, I suppose — around New York. It may be the Golden Triangle in some
body's book; we call it "Nightmare Alley". But with six or seven planes on vectors — which is strictly controller's separation — without reference at that time to any nav-
sure, even though it may occasionally occur, will put him
aids, when the radar goes out, the best thing the con troller can do at that time is dive head-first through the
in the realm of the professional pilot who is given some
set and hope that he won't be alive afterwards. We have
the course of an ordinary "ffight. I think that computers are probably better than any
had a man that we have been trying to interview, because he lost his radar with nine people at vectors all within 500 feet of one another. I ask you to reflect to yourself — what
do you do at that point? Is it reasonable to suggest that
moments of relaxation between his moments of labor in
thing else, if there is fed to them the information which under the alpha-numeric system will appear on the scope,
aircraft, including its heading, speed and altitude and
namely: the identity and type, the altitude (which is the most critical thing today that the controller must rely upon his memory for — perhaps the greatest strain and the
type, to the point to where you con track it mentally and
greatest sweat). I say that because when two targets con
planted within the memory is the exact position of each maintain that separation in your mind's eye and then transmit it individually to each of the captains as you go
along until such time as the radar comes back in. We think not. Nonetheless, these failures must always occur. Is the instrument pilot proficient with the turn-and-bank
and the compass? Most of them who go up now and try to fly a little of it would find they are a bit rusty. Is the con troller proficient, with his heavy reliance on radar, in air
traffic procedures — the manual support of controllers, where voice reports are relied upon for position from the aircraft, rather than the target which can be seen by the controller?
We should screen out those who are unlikely to be able
verge on a scope the controller knows that separation has been lost laterally and longitudinally. If there is not ver
tical separation — there isn't any separation. And without separation, there is an unexpected descent to earth — not
in a way programmed by the aircraft manufacturer. He
now must remember those altitudes. If he misremembers —
whereas a pilot's error will usually cost us one airplane, a crew and a load of passengers — that controller's error
will cost us two. And he badly needs, and hopefully will get, just as soon as the government can loosen up with the money and then the production, the system of alphanumerics which will initially provide him with altitude information and subsequently with all the other goodies
to take the continuing pressure — and this is the greatest distinction, I think, between flying and working the radar scope or the control cab (there isn't much differ
that he would like to have.
ence in those jobs as far as pressure is concerned). When we level off and begin to cruise, in the absence of extra
ing from this condition which are not enjoyed by those whose sole contact with aviation is a microphone and a
ordinary circumstances, it's usually time to begin to think
radarscope. The advantages, which I envision are these (and we tested them out by putting some of the controllers
about the estimate of the destination, the weather that
is going to confront us there, the young lady we hope to fi n d a n d t h e m i x t u r e o f c o f f e e w e w a n t t o o r d e r f r o m t h e
galley — because it's not a strenuous occupation. But the business of control i s — hour by hour by hour by hour. And the worse the weather gets or the worse the intrusion of the unexpected into the system, like a mass of thunder storms wandering through the New York area — will he be able, will he be ready to handle that kind of system?
Can he create suddenly four new fixes — not marked by any navaid and without the hope for area navigational equipment, which will enable the pilot to see those fixes in the cockpit — and still handle all the airplanes he has then running in the stack; which he has promised the Cleve
land, Washington and Boston centers he's going to land 10
I think, and the controllers who fly agree, that control lers should be pilots.There are several advantages emanat
in the airplanes and letting them see what they are doing to us and what we are doing to them when we get changes of clearance with one engine and a field of 200 feet and a quarter mile): The controller who can fly and can under stand the flight deck knows what is going on, he knows what "reduce to 150 knots" means, or may mean, he knows what a 360 degree turn under certain conditions at
a panic rate, which he may be requesting, means or may mean, and, most important of all, he knows what confronts the pilot when on emergency occurs. Because between the pilot and the controller there is but one chance to get the airplane on the ground in most emergencies. The opportunity or time to reconsider does not ordinarily pre sent itself. In order to clear the proper air space, in order
to give the pilot as much air as he needs, to allow him to
pre-empt it, to get his crippled bird on the ground, the controller should then be able to envision, not only the
helpful to have something in the nature of a co-pilot, who might be a trainee, but who at least is available to take
red fire-light that just came on, but the position of the
over should the need arise. We occasionally have Air Traffic Controllers that get sick just like everybody else in
gyros, the air speed, the fuel load and all the other things that affect decisions made much too rapidly to be patient
the business and, sometimes, they get sick at the worst possible time, because the sickness ist not entirely unrelat
ly explained to the guy on the ground as justifying the need for some special treatment.
All these things would help, but of equal importance would be the ground school that accompanies any kind of flight training. Now, I don't say every controller should
have an ATR, although that would be helpful. But he should certainly understand all that a pilot understands
from a ground school point of view about aerial naviga
ed to the crisis which they hove encountered.
Now, how much training and how many years should be token? I think we can project that on a theoretical
basis, because somebody, I'm sure, con sit down and
create a reasonable syllabus which involves a phasing in of on-the-job training, just as we begin, in the military at least, our pilots with a belly-full of ground school and then finally let them sit in an airplane and more and more cor
tion as viewed from the cockpit — about the options that are open and the options that are not open, about the
relate the two until we're really learning to fly. On-the-job training is no substitute for theory and especially the
changes that are feasible and those that are not. I view flying airplanes these days, under the positive control system at least, as sort of a partnership operation.
theory that becomes more and more important as the sys
Without the skill and manipulation of the pilot, a clear
the classroom.
ance cannot be followed, and without the clearance, the
Where ore these controllers going to come from? Why would anybody wont this job? I think one of my friends who flies for TWA put it as succinctly as anyone ever has when he said one night to a harried controller who ob viously had frazzled hair on both sides of his head, "You know, I'd rather do my job for your pay than your job for my pay". Well, the disparity there is about 300% on the
pilot hasn't got anywhere to go, and I'm informed rather reliably that in an airplane you can't stop and think it
over. The best we con do is a holding pattern, and going into one of those unexpectedly is the some as changing course without either radar separation or notification to
any of the other parties concerned — such as other pilots changing another course and heading for the same point at the same time. The traffic controller, I think, must again borrow from the pilot the notion of continuing pro
ficiency. Now, this is not to soy there is not a system at the moment where proficiency is unnoticed, and hopefully, should it dissipate or disappear below a certain point, cause the controller to be removed. But, we ore suffering
from a serious problem of understoffing in most of the high-density facilities. Certainly the worst of these ore troubled now with the controllers working mandatory
over-time, and sometimes more than eight hours of the day and sometimes extremely long periods of time at the scope without relief. No psychologist has ever said that
this is feasible. We have been told that it is not thought wise for any pilot to fly more than 25 hours a week — at
least those who do so professionally. If that is so, it seems that the equally taxing job, if not in some instances more taxing job, of Air Traffic Control, by the boards or in the cab or even on ATP, should not run about 2V2 times
that. But that is the way that things are working now.
tem becomes more and more mechanized and complex.
That theory should be taught formally and completely in
ordinary pay scale. So why should anybody want to undertake this job — it offers very good advancement at the start and tends to level off.
The skill and ability — including that special quality, "resilience", which I don't think will ever become un
necessary to this profession — requires a special kind of
guy. I think that perhaps in the future, unless the univer sities undertake, as they do now in many flight courses, to provide specialized training under some government con
trol in on approved plant (because I don't ever expect the Air Traffic Control system to become competitive within
the industry; I think we're going to stay with the Federal governm.ent as a supervising agency for as long as we
have such a system), unless the universities do that, I envision a Federal academy something like the ones that we use in each of our military services — where people ore given training from the ground up and have some kind of commitment; where, at government expense, they are given a Bachelor's degree together with a highly speci
alized body of knowledge that they can use in carrying
Just OS we don't hove back-up systems, we don't have
out the duties for which they ore being trained. If it
back-up personnel. I've never seen a cockpit in an airliner yet that did not hove two people that could fly the air plane all by themselves and a third one that might be able to, if it ever came down to the nitty-gritty. But, some times we have controllers running two scopes because of double-ups and this is far from healthy. Indeed, I should think that because you can't just change controllers auto matically — one has to sit and get the picture (just as I can't slide into the left seat of the Lear Jet half-way through a descent and take over the controls without
appears that despite all our efforts to relieve the momentto-moment burdens and the mental stretching — which is really what it is — of the Air Traffic Controller, who now
knowing the fix toward which we are heading, the expect ed approach time, the procedure that we're going to use
and the approach plate that is germane to our final maneuvers before landing), one controller can't go run ning from the boards and have another sit in and get the
total picture. There is a rotation scheme, and in order to allow periods on and off duty I should think it would be
must maintain in his head so many different figures and
small, little memories that are constantly shifting as he
hands off targets and receives more — if we are unable to do that, it appears that youth is always going to be a requirement of the what is now called "Journeyman Con
troller" (a term which I might tell you they are trying to
shake because Journeyman smacks of a trade and they like to consider this, and properly so, a profession). But, if that is to be a condition that will exist ad infinitum, then
something has to be done to accommodate these people when they are no longer in a mental condition — and I mean a combined physical and mental condition, because mental stress evidences itself, as business executives know,
in many physical ways.The least pleasant of these is called
cardiac arrest, and bearing upward on the scale we get to the annoying little things like ulcers. But when they appear, there is a reason, especially when statistically they are out of proportion in the age group involved, and I don't think that simply stretching human being is any very satisfactory answer to the system. What are we go ing to do with them afterwards? The Air Traffic Controller who is in his 40's or 50's and either is no longer suited for
(if that be the case, then we may well be able to remedy
the situation) or no longer desires to, simply because he'd had enough of that business, ought to be put in some area where his special skills are of special value. I don't know of any present value for Air Traffic Controllers except working for somebody else in the business of Air Traffic Control and the number of openings in that phase of the industry is certainly limited, both as to the advancement i n t o e x e c u t i v e e c h e l o n s i n t h e FA A a n d t o t h o s e e x e c u t i v e
position in the airlines that maintain Air Traffic Control experts to advise them in their day-to-day recommenda tions and procedures, training and so forth.
So, these are some of the things I think we're confront ed with. I don't think the system can ever be any better than the controllers that are in it. Although the controllers,
in and of themselves, are never going to be able to push it up to the point where it needs to go. I've been, I think, startled to some degree and dismayed to some degree,
by the fact that we're running uphill and will be for some years. There is no way to get an academy going over night. There is no way to get a bunch of trained con trollers overnight, and indeed to get a man qualified, even
if he's pretty sharp, to handle peak hour traffic in the New York area is going to take several years — not several weeks.
So it seems to me that we ought to be planning ahead. I'd like to take these projections that have been made and regard them as conservative, and figure out how many
controllers we need today to properly staff the positions, including back-up slots, and then triple it just to be on the safe side.
I think there's been a tremendous amount of false
economy in the business of Air Traffic Control. When Con
gressmen began to circle the Deer Park Omni, which is a name that has come to be hated by many airline passen gers who knew where they were during their three hours orbiting on Black Friday over New York, the Congressmen
then again began to reconsider the problem. Either be cause they were sitting in the airplane or because the Captain was wise enough to invite all of his passengers to write a letter to their Congressman — indeed furnishing the name, address and the stationery during the hours of orbit. It may seem that a sense of false economy is what's trapped us after all. As I have indicated — all the press began to look for a "Black Hat". Whom are we going to put the blame on? And that certainly is the wrong ap proach. I've looked at all the hats available and sometimes
However, we have, in my judgment, the finest airplanes that our technology can provide. They are, in my judgment, very safe machines and I continually demonstrate my cred ence in that statement by staying aloft about 100 hours a month. As I said, we have bent over backwards in order
to make sure that when one thing goes out, something else comes into play. We've got three ways to lower the land ing gear, two for the flaps, a couple of inverters and emergency battery-powered gyros in case all that business
quits, and we have some pretty well-paid people flying airplanes. We certainly would do well to stop talking economy as the first line, but to talk safety and service as the first line in Air Traffic Control. Every time we are circling eighty 700 series Boeings over New York because the number of controllers, the amount of radar, and the
amount of concrete in the New Yorker area, is simply in adequate to handle them at the rate at which they appear
and ask to be let down, we are spending an awful lot more money than would have been spent if all these faci
lities were precisely doubled five years ago. If the present projections for increases in air traffic should be any where near accurate, and I have said I think they are con servative, because the last figures I have seen indicate that about 20% of living Americans have flown in air
planes — if this is so, I can tell those of you who are slight ly beyond it and reassure those of you who ore still in it,
that my generation is going to reverse that. By the time
I die I believe that 80% of the people will have flown.
And, since I'm not expected to live forever, that is a qua drupling of the present capacity. There is no other way to travel in the United States except by air — unless you have got a new car and you insist on driving it for 1,000 miles — because railroads are no longer even a piece of
the system and even if they were, business will not permit somebody to travel at 80 mph — they demand he move
at 500, and there is only one way to do that. This is the
time, in my judgment, to use a bold approach, instead of
a few-new-ways-to-get-along approach, so that we don't wind up in such bad trouble again. It is unfortunate that
the only remedy for which we can reach at the present time is restrictions. It may initially help the position of the air lines; it may fill some seats that have been running empty, but, when that buffer runs out, it's going to mean that people who want to fly, that the natural growth of aviation has been inhibited and that in order to cure the problem instead of going forward and opening up the skies and
making better use of each cubic inch of air space, we have gone backwards and imposed restrictions. Restric
tions will solve any problem, I suppose, but they fly in the face of progress.
So, I hope that this is a temporary thing. I hope that any measures that are adopted have a fixed time limit at
which they expire. I hope that, because of good foresight, the willingness to spend the dollar as it should be spent
when you re fooling with 8 million dollar airplanes and
the blame so we could all sort of "home in" on him and
120 lives in each one — the American public is going to have a system which is sufficiently progressive and which
let him have it. But I don't think anybody is entitled to the
has sufficient foreplanning to accommodate the amount
under them in an effort to see if somebody should be given
blame. Sure, the Congressional Record reflects that some years ago the Congress was told: "we need more of this
and more of that and more of that, and we didn't get it", but the Congress is told every year that they need more of everything and, from the articulation gone into, there was no reason for them to suspect that Air Traffic Control was far out ahead of the List.
2
of flying that it wants to do. After all, it was for that public that this system was built and I think that there is no way to justify it, if we say we can't keep up with the system.
If the effort is made and the proper education is given to the proper people, and those, gentlemen, ore the people that got the money! Thank you very much.
ATC Automation in the U.S.A. By Ferris J. Howland Acting Deputy Director, Air Traffic Service, Federal Aviation Administration, to the 1968 RTCA Annual Assembly
The recent publicity given air traffic delays at several major airports has accentuated many of the problem areas in the realm of flight, particularly those concerned with the control of air traffic. The air traffic control function of
FAA has suddenly become one of the major culprits in the minds of many for a situation which developed for be yond the vision of either government or industry fore casters. The fact that knowledgeable people were doing
the forecasting has no bearing on the matter since the problem will not be solved nor will it disappear by fixing the blame for "who shot John". It would be nice for us in
the FAA to "get off the hook" by saying we have the ans
wer to the delay problem — "automation of the ATC system". We all know automation, which has had a dramatic effect on our way of life and has had many exotic claims laid to it, is not the answer. It will change our way of life in the control of traffic but it will be only as good as we can make it as a tool for the controller and not
OS his replacement.
One of our biggest problems in providing automation in the air traffic system has been to determine just exactly
what functions of an air traffic control facility do we wont to automate. No matter to what use a computer is put today, the constantly changing air traffic picture at a given moment in a given area present difficulties that stymied development of automation in air traffic control for a long time. Intensive research efforts hove been ex
pended by FAA with input from highly competent indu strial brainpower to provide automation in the ATC system. Several well intended systems on which,may I add, a great
deal of money was spent, did not meet the needs. But
What, then, do we intend as the goal for ATC auto mation and where are we today in meeting that goal? Our program is based on the recommendations of a group of consultants appointed by President Kennedy in 1961. This group, called the Beacon Task Force, was com
missioned to study the air traffic control system, and to recommend what, if anything, should be done to improve it. Their recommendations were as follows:
1. The primary source of real time data should be the already existing network of primary radar, supplement ed by a cooperative air / ground air traffic control radar beacon system capable of providing discrete identity and altitude information in increments of 100 feet. In this regard, the task force strongly recommend ed that industry be encouraged to produce equipment within the price range of the small aircraft operator.
2. Give the air traffic controller the best possible display of the air situation for which he is responsible — best
possible in terms of ease of interpretation, clarity of presentation, etc. This display should include electroni cally written alphanumeric tags of the discrete identity and altitude of each aircraft with which he is concern
ed,and perhaps additional information where required, such OS ground speed as an aid to final approach spac ing in the terminal area.
3. To the maximum extent possible, minimize the work load involved in the non-decision making processes.
Such tasks as maintaining location and identity, initiat ing or accepting a handoff of control, and the enter ing, printing, and updating of flight plan information.
In our development work since 1961, we have followed
each failure taught us something.
the guidelines of the Beacon Task Force. We are now
One thing we learned was that not all the functions performed within on air traffic control facility need to be
will shift from development to implementation.
automated, nor is it desirable.
It is easy to overlook the fact that no matter what we do to help the controller — giving him black boxes and sophisticated displays — the end product of providing separation to two or more airplanes is his capability to make a decision. Poise, skill, and professionalism do not hove a price tog. There is no doubt in my mind that if automation of the air traffic control system ever reaches
the stage where all traffic is controlled by pushing a red or green button, it will have reached that stage because
of the poise, skill, and professionalism of our air traffic controller complement today. We must assure that research does not overlook the
fact that the controller is on effective 180-pound computer and has the advantage of often being produced at low cost by unskilled labor.
rapidly approaching the time when the program emphasis For several years, a semiautomated terminal system
has been in operation at the Atlanta, Georgia, Tower. This is a prototype system known as ARTS, for "automated radar terminal system". It is to be followed in the spring of 1969 by the commissioning of a similar installation now
in test and training status in the New York Common IFR Room at the Kennedy Airport.
Among the functions performed by these systems is the
alphanumeric tagging of aircraft with identity, ground speed, beacon code and assigned altitude. The actual
altitude and its changes can be also displayed in one hundred foot increments for aircraft equipped with beacon
transponders having Mode C altitude capability. Of equal importance is that the tag will track with the aircraft tar get. The system also has the capability of providing auto matic intra-facility handofFs between positions of opera tion.
13
We do not intend to stop the terminal automation pro gram with these two facilities. Based on laboratory studies and a successful field trial, we have developed a modular
automation system to provide capability to terminal ATC facilities in logical steps according to specific needs. Let's review the modular or building block concept. This concept is one under which we can tailor to a terminal's
Thus far I have spoken only of efforts toward auto mation of the terminal control functions of the air
traffic control system. Efforts on automating the e n route functions actually precede terminal efforts. Al though we have not yet commissioned an automated cen ter, the National Airspace System Stage A En Route Pro gram is in a stage of development which will provide
cision to implement the beacon tracking function at the
flight data processing in the Jacksonville Center by Calen dar Year 1969. The existing flight plan processing being performed in centers is a mixture of manual processing
busiest terminals. Technical specifications for the system and expansion steps were published in January of this
computer equipped.
specific need and which can be expanded as traffic in
creases. Work has continued in this program with a de
year. Proposals from industry have been received and are currently being evaluated.
The plan is to install the beacon tracking system, which
we have called ARTS III, at the major and medium activity terminals. As stated earlier, Atlanta and the Nev/ York Common IFR Room are already equipped with systems of the original field evaluation hardware. These systems are known as ARTS I. It is the agency's desire to eventually take advantage of radar beacon altitude data from equip ped aircraft at all of our radar facilities. There may be a question in your minds as to why we aimed our initial effort at the major and medium termi
nals. The answer is obvious. In 1967, over 70 percent of all instrument operations and 80 percent of passenger en-
planements occurred in the major and medium terminals.
Much of the foregoing concerns the ''where'', and "why
the where". Let me now point out the "what".
First, let us picture a typical radar display as seen by a controller at one of our busier terminals — Chicago
O'Hare. On the 60-mile radar display at O'Hare, there are approximately 300 radar targets during traffic peaks. This number is predicted to exceed over 600 by 1976. It is easy to visualize that with this number of targets, the con=
troller has difficulty in maintaining identity, altitude and speed information. What will the ARTS III beacon tracking system do for this display? It adds the following items which have proven very valuable aids to the controller in our Atlanta ex perience:
1. Alphanumerics on all beacon equipped aircraft. 2. Alphanumeric ground speed on all beacon equipped aircraft.
3. Altitude readout on Mode C transponder equipped air craft.
4. Display enhancement through use of the beacon track ing function and altitude filtering. 5. Additional items of information to assist the controller.
I believe we can all recognize these as improvements. Now, what makes it go? Simply stated, to our present radar (pnmary and secondary) we add an acquisition sub system which converts the secondary radar or beacon video into messages which can be fed into a digital data processor. The processor combines these data with other
data instructions obtained from its own stored program, from messages entered by the controller, and messages
from the center computer, and presents the results as alphanumeric data which it adds to the regular radar display currently used by the controller. The previous discussion is a simple explanation of how the system works for the initial implementation level. The next expansion would involve going to a full digital system in order to mosaic or combine several radars for display of significant data. 14
and semiautomatic processing in those facilities that are
Development of an en route computer system began in 1957. The early systems proved very valuable but as traffic
increased they reached saturation on busy days. Based on these experiences and the advances made in computer technology, it was decided to design a modular system that would fit the amount of traffic handled by each center and could be added to as needed.
The results of this plan will be a system that operates 24 hours a day and seven days a week with a "fail safe" capability to keep disruption of the ATC system to a bare minimum.
Our implementation plan for the en route centers is to
introduce automation in two major steps. In the first step, the computer, because of its early availability, will be used to process and distribute flight plan information, thus
relieving our controllers of an increasingly heavy clerical and bookkeeping workload. In the second step, the alpha numeric tags will be added to the controllers' displays.
Generally, the flight plan processing capability will pre
cede alphanumerics by one to two years at each center. In addition to providing an on-line network of com puters between facilities, these systems will overcome the following limitations in the existing system:
1. The slow and cumbersome manual processing and dis tribution of flight progress strips. 2. Capacity of the current computer and cardatype units which is frequently exceeded. 3. The error potential in human preparation and handling of flight progress data.
4. The excessive and time-consuming telephone coordina tion required for the manual exchange of flight plan information between adjacent control sectors and faci lities.
We anticipate that the introduction of the automated
capabilities of the NAS will contribute much to aviation by increasing the efficiency of the air traffic control service and by eliminating some of the delays in aircraft move ments which are encountered by communications and manual processing of data for the control of air traffic.
Automation in this system will process data in micro seconds and display it in a usable form to the controller in fractions of seconds.
Along with the display of Mode C altitude information,
the rapid and accurate processing of data providing the controller a real time display of conditions will permit him to devote more time to decision making and will assist in
relieving one of our biggest problem areas, frequency con gestion. The schedule for en route automation for all FAA
centers colls for completion by the end of 1973.
I have no wish to bore you with numbers, but a few simple statistics will help to illustrate the significance of the automation programs I have been talking about.
During Calendar Year 1967, the 27 air route traffic con trol centers operated by the FAA handled in excess of 16 V2 million IFR aircraft. Five of these centers utilized com
puters in the preparation of flight progress strips required for each aircraft, but a large percentage were prepared manually. Based on a reasonable assumption that a natio
nal average of five strips per aircraft were required, over 82 million actions were needed just on the basic need to
get information to the controller. These figures do not in clude the quantity of controller manual actions required to update the information on each strip, nor do they re
flect the number of communications contacts required to c o n t r o l t h e t r a f fi c .
If you think those figures are impressive, let's look to the future. In Fiscal Year 1974, less than five years hence,
the IFR aircraft operations handled by centers are fore
ing that the Nation's air fleet is growing at a rate of 13 new commercial jets every 10 days and 20 new private aircraft every day. It is easy to visualize that the sheer weight of manual
manipulations required to keep pace with these quantities of operations will swamp the controller with clerical and bookkeeping chores. It is, therefore, obvious that some of our air traffic service functions must be automated. This is
being accomplished. It will be evolutionary because there
are factors involved which must always be considered first order. One is safety which will not be compromised. The second is compatibility across the user spectrum, along with the capability of controller personnel and equipment to advance with user demands.
The ATC problems ore often common with engineering
cast to total 31.8 million; by Fiscal Year 1979, 44.9 million. In Calendar Year 1967, IFR operations at airports where
problems in that they consist of two parts: a) the job that has to be done; and b) the effects which do not interfere with the set purpose
agency control towers were operated totaled slightly over 11.6 million. Contrary to the centers' multiple sector needs for duplicated information, the foregoing figures can be
Economics is often a governing factor, nor can we over
but which must be token into consideration.
look other needs of the ATC system while concentrating
projected on a 1X1 basis rather than 1X5. Again looking to the future, in Fiscal Year 1974, ter
on automation. For instance, improved navigation and
minal IFR operations at FAA tower locations are forecast
traffic handling.
to be 27.8 million, and in Fiscal Year 1979, 41.7 million. As in the cose of the center statistics, these figures do not
reflect manual updating and communications requirements. Historically, forecasts in the aviation business hove been conservative; but at least the figures I have cited are relative and indicate a continued increasing operational growth. As a final statistic, you may be interested in learn
approach aids must be complemented by improvements in We would wager that given a volume of aircraft, to day's air traffic control system con swamp any airport in the country. It must be remembered that automation of the ATC system is not a total remedy for the delay and con gestion problem. This problem must be attacked from air port to airport and all those parts of the system that are in between.
ARTS In-Service Improvements By J. Milton Hatchell Automation Coordinator, Atlanta, U.S.A.
In the beginning R&D created ARTS, a creation which continues to impress me as much today as it did in the beginning. Functionally it is the best-planned new idea
that I have seen. Granted it is more sophisticated now
than when originally installed. However, none of its origi nal program has been removed, but merely improved and expanded.
ARTS was designed originally as a test unit to answer
the question, "will alphanumeric data and automatically reported altitudes help the terminal controller"? It was
intended to test this in Atlanta and then return the equip
ment to Atlantic City. The potential of this new concept was soon recognized, however, and it was decided to leave ARTS in Atlanta for further testing and improve ment.
Many problems came with this new electronic assistant. It had to be told everything by the controller, through the keyboard. It was supposed to keep its tag with the correct
aircraft target, but when another target crossed the path of the one it was tracking, it frequently became confused
15
and followed the wrong aircraft. Occasionally, its togs became overlapped each other and then neither would be
readable. Controllers also were faced with the problems
of getting used to the alphanumeric clutter, as well as a new type of display — the scan-converted RBDE-5. The automation coordinators, who are radar control
radar antenna. The tracks of the approach controllers are automatically terminated when the aircraft is on final approach and within four miles of the runway. The com
puter is programmed to automatically initiate a handoff from the feeder controller to the pattern controller when the aircraft enters a prescribed area for the landing run
lers trained to be programmers, are able to recognize and understand the controller's problem and also determine what must be done to correct any program difficulty. So far we have not been able to come up with all the ans wers, but are making progress. The alphanumeric data tag may be offset at any one of
way in use. The question was asked, "would ground speed help the controller?" and the answer was "yes". Ground speed is now computed from successive aircraft positions. It is
eight positions with respect to the target being tracked.
Keeping the tag associated with the proper target is still a major problem. To track a specific aircraft, the com puter needs to know whether it should search for a beacon code, or should track from the primary radar reports. Time does not permit the controller to enter this information during peak periods, so the tracking program has been
If the tags of two aircraft overlapped it was necessary for the controller to give the computer a new offset location for one of the tags. This required six manual keyboard
operations entering a two-digit track reference number, depressing a category button, a function button, entering
displayed automatically to assist the controller in setting up and maintaining optimum approach intervals.
a new single-digit offset location and then depressing the
given the capability to make this decision automatically.
entry button. This was one of the first things we simplified.
However, if an aircraft is squawking a non-discrete code, such as 0400, the computer must revert to the primary radar data, to track the target. This presents even more
An addition was made to the computer program to check each console (scope), in sequence, and every tag on each individual console, for an overlap condition. Now, when an overlap exists, the computer determines in which direc tion the tag may be relocated without an overlap, and
promptly resets it to this position.
Originally, each tag had to be referenced by its track
number and the controller was forced to type in this two-
digit number, preceding any communication with the com puter. The computer was given the additional capability
of finding this track number when the controller placed his "slew dot" on the tag that he intended to change. The slew dot is a visual electronic indication controlled by a track ball unit or "slewball" mounted in the console desk. With this device the controller can place the dot on a radar target and when he depresses the enter button he sends the computer both range and azimuth information.
Positioning the slew dot is a much easier method of de signating a target, than typing in the track number. In addition, the alphanumeric clutter can be reduced, by in hibiting the track number from the display. Each display has a store area and a hold area. These are tabular display areas where data tags are held in an
headaches, because tracking from primary radar data alone is very difficult as the tracker frequently switches identity to the wrong aircraft. We cannot get along with out radar tracking, at this stage, however, as a consider able percentage of our traffic is made up of single-engine aircraft and light twins which are not equipped with 4096code transponders. The tracking computer program was modified to ac
complish discrete tracking. This allows correlation with only that code which matches the assigned code of a parti cular tog. Even this tracking method relies on radar reports
as a backup, but if the matching code disappears for four successive antenna scans, the tag is removed from on active status on the scope and placed in the hold area. The computer continues to search for the matching beacon report, and when it is found the tag is replaced on the target and tracking is resumed. ARTS does its best job when all aircraft under control have 4096 identity code-transponders with automatic alti
inactive status. Our next innovation was to let the com
tude reporting; but until that day arrives, remember that many light aircraft are also flying in our airspace without this sophisticated equipment, and their safety is just as
puter move a tag having a discrete transponder code
important to us as the safety of anyone else.
assignment, from this store area onto the aircraft target squawking that code.This automatic tagging feature allows us to pre-record on magnetic tape the flight numbers and assigned beacon codes for all scheduled flights in and out of Atlanta. By another addition to the programming, the computer is able to read this tape and automatically store these data tags at the appropriate consoles. The arrival and departure flights are arranged by time.
Code assignments are made within each code group be
ginning with code 12 progressing in sequence to 77 and beginning the cycle again at 12. Arrival codes 0212 through 0277 and 0412 through 0477 are used. Codes 0201 through 0211 and 0401 through 0411 are left for random assign
ment by the arrival handoff controllers.The departure code groups 1000 and 2000 are handled in the same manner. During the period in which the automatic tagging fea ture was being developed, an automatic track termination
check was being added. The tracks of the terminal and departure controllers are automatically cancelled when the aircraft reaches a range of twenty-five miles from the 16
By modifying and adding to the computer program, we have been able to relieve the controller of about 60%
of the manipulation workload that was required initially;
64% of our scheduled airline flights now have the 4096code transponders.The alphanumeric data for these flights
require no controller action except issuing the proper code assignment to the pilot. The data is stored auto matically. When the computer receives the matching code it places the data tag on the target, and tracks it across the scope. If during this process it encounters an overlap condition it will relocate the tag; if it loses the matching
code it will remove the tag, and reposition it on the target when the matching code is found. Finally, when the flight reaches the prescribed point of termination, it will ter minate the tag.
ARTS is an intelligent little gentleman who has moved from kindergarten into his elementary education. He will continue on into his higher education phases but he will never graduate, because there will always be controllers teaching him new things and new techniques.
Area Navigation By Robert W. Martin Chief, ATC Operations and Procedures Division, Air Traffic Service, Federal Aviation Administration, to the 1968 RICA Anna! Assembly
Introduction
vectoring service increases, the number of aircraft a con
troller can safely handle decreases because of increased
Throughout the history of aviation, one basic problem has plagued planners and users of our national airspace. That problem is how to provide sufficient usable airspace to accommodate the ever-increasing user demands. The evolution of navigational aids dramatizes this quest for more and more usable airspace. Homing beacons gave way to low-frequency ranges because more accurate positioning allowed more aircraft to be safely separated. VHP omni-range (VOR) stations have replaced low-fre quency ranges and opened more airspace by providing more routes, reliability and accuracy. The addition of dis tance measuring equipment (DME) to the VHP system has
provided additional flexibility and position fixing accuracy. Despite the improvements represented by the present VHP airway system over the old low-frequency system, there ore still serious limitations which must be overcome
if we ore to meet the forecasted demand on the ATC sys tem. The main limitation is the fact that the present navi gational methods result in routes or airways which are
either directly toward or away from the station. This crea
workload per aircraft. More and more of the controllers'
time is consumed in navigational guidance; leaving less time for the vital function of separating aircraft.
Background on Area Navigation Several airborne systems have been developed which put area navigation capability and responsibility in the cockpit, where it rightly belongs. Among these are course line computer, pictorial displays, doppler radars and inertial platforms.
The mere fact that these systems can furnish naviga tional guidance from one geographical point to another does not ensure their operational suitability in the air traffic control system. Several other factors must be con sidered. First, system accuracy must be established. We must be assured that protection of the intended route of
tes a convergence or tunneling of air traffic and results in a severe limitation on the configuration and the number of routes available between two points.
flight of an aircraft does, in fact, protect the aircraft from
The same deficiency takes on even more importance when you consider that arrival and departure procedures are based, in large measure, on the same ground stations as our en route structure. This means the tunneling effect
compatible with other systems currently in use. At some future date, area navigation capability will probably domi nate; but in the interim, the air traffic control system must
is compounded by altitude changes for transitioning traf fic. That is, the constantly changing altitudes of arriving
other aircraft.
Next, area navigation systems must be procedurally
accommodate both area and conventional navigation sys
tems in the same airspace. Another consideration is cost to the user and to the
and departing aircraft make the controller's job more
Government. The user must be assured that his expendi
d i f fi c u l t t h a n i n t h e e n r o u t e e n v i r o n m e n t w h e r e a l t i t u d e
ture will buy him improved safety and service. The Federal
changes are less frequent. The next logical step towards providing more airspace and reducing traffic congestion is the development of a navigational capability that permits accurate route defini
Aviation Administration must be assured that the best
tion on an area basis without the constraints of site loca
tion or course alignment.This capability is commonly term ed "area navigation" which could be defned as naviga tion not confined to flying a radial or track toward or
away from the ground station providing the navigational
possible service and the greatest safety is provided at the least possible cost.
Another major consideration is compatibility with FAA
plans for the National Airspace System. Acceptance of navigation systems which cannot be accomodated in the planned automated environment would impose an im possible load on our traffic control facilities.
The azimuth and distance information generated by
guidance.
the present VOR-DME system when processed by an air
At present, the form of area navigation most common ly used is the application of air traffic control radar. This tool, in the hands of the controller, has opened up a great deal of airspace and provided great flexibility. However,
gation system. It has the advantage of being a system
this has been accomplished at a tremendous cost in terms of controller workload and equipment requirements.
borne computer con be used as the basis of an area navi
which is presently in place and can be used by aircraft
equipped with the present rho theta navigational equip ment as well as those equipped with area navigation capability.
A point of diminishing returns has been reached in the
With these factors in mind, we con develop concepts of
use of radar for area navigation. As the demand for radar
use, within the air traffic control system, that will enhance 17
the controller's ability to cope with the ever-increasing traffic volume through better use of the available airspace.
proach procedures will mean less low altitude flying time and a proportionate decrease in noise problems. Holding patterns, in our terminal areas, can be more
efficiently placed and more accurately flown. They too
Operational Concepts of Area Navigation We, in the Air Traffic Service, must emphasize that our
primary objective, in applying area navigation capabili ties, is not to free pilots from airway flying and permit them to fly randomly where and when they please. In any traffic situation where volume is a factor, regimentation is
necessary to provide separation by a ground-based sys tem. However, area navigation techniques hold promise
of improvement for both pilots and controllers in all phases of flight activity. To illustrate this, let's look at some of the possible applications.
The most immediate possibility is the establishment of
area navigation airways. These airways will probably be charted and flight checked in much the same manner as
our existing victor and jet routes. Parallel and one-way routes can be established to reduce the congestion on our
heavily traveled airways. En route traffic can be routed clear of congested terminal areas. Multiple parallel routes may be established between major terminals to permit
segregation by aircraft speed and/or arrival airport. Each
of these parallel routes could transition directly to the approach aids without converging at some primary navi
gation aid. Even in areas where congestion is not a pro
blem, routes can be established along the shortest and most convenient paths without regard for the constraints
of navigation aid location. Many of the present dog legs could be eliminated.
have been dependent, in the past, on NAVAID location and course alignment. V/ith area navigation they can be
aligned for expeditious transition to approach routes.
Thus far, we have talked only about predefined and
published applications for area navigation. Another very important facet of this system is its flexibility of choice in selection of routing. This is seen as a useful tool for the controllers. Let's look first at this ment to radar control. Under our course vectors are required for direction or in-trail aircraft, course
capability as a supple present system, if offseparation of opposite guidance must be pro
vided until the aircraft is back on his cleared route. With
area navigation, this same type situation could be greatly simplified by instructing the pilot to fly a parallel course five miles right or left. The controller simply monitors his radar display to ensure adherence to radar separation standards. All course guidance remains in the cockpit, re sulting in a reduction of both verbiage and chances of pilot disorientation.
More flexible routing capability will greatly reduce radar vectoring requirements for weather avoidance. To day, a radar controller frequently finds himself vectoring virtually all aircraft under his control due to severe wea
ther areas. With area navigation capability, a single clear ance to each aircraft could provide complete routing through the trouble area. The controller can now devote
less of his time to navigating and more to his primary duty of separating aircraft.
By the same token, site selection for initial placement or relocation of navigation aids can be based on acces
sibility, favorable terrain and least iaterference instead of the more limited objective of meeting one or more proce
Where we are Today Development and implementation of such a system is
dural requirements. Terminal area applications promise to be as beneficial as those for en route operations. Here too, the initial
not an easy task; nor should this system be construed to
effort will probably be to establish published and flight checked routes as opposed to random routes. Departure routes can be designed to proceed directly from the run way to the appropriate parallel airway without radar vec toring or passing over primary navigation aids. Parallel
Many problems remain to be solved. Several projects, in cooperation with private industry, are underway to find solutions to these problems and explore ways of develop
departure routes can be established to alleviate speed differential problems.
Arrival routes can be designed to transition traffic directly from en route airways to arrival routes without proceeding over on approach NAVAID or requiring radar vectors. Instrument approach procedures can be shortened,
because area navigation provides continuous position in formation to the pilot and does away with the need to fly over the station and solve time/distance problems. Instrument approach procedures con be established for
many air ports that do not hove approach NAVAlDs. This has not been possible in the post because these airports h o v e i n s u f fi c i e n t t r a f fi c t o w a r r a n t t i r e c o s t o f N AVA I D
installation and maintenance. Now, they can be served by area navigation approaches based on nearby NAVAlDs.
Of course, the minima for these approaches cannot be as low OS those based on precision aids, such as ILS, but they will be a significant improvement over the service avail able to these airports today.
By lifting the constraints of NAVAID location, better noise abatement procedures can be defined. Shorter ap
18
be a panacea of all the ills that plague the air traffic con trol system.
ing the full potential of the system. Currently in progress is an airline evaluation called the "Northeast Corridor Project". Airline pilots are employing
area navigation equipment and techniques on regularly scheduled flights. These flights are, of course, provided the safeguards of ATC radar monitoring as well as having conventional VOR/DME capabilities in the aircraft. The purpose of this evaluation is to examine the feasibility of using area navigation in an operational environment.
This project is limited to examination of only the en r o u t e e n v i r o n m e n t s i n c e t r a f fi c d e n s i t i e s i n o u r N o r t h
eastern terminals seldom permit the handling of special flights, that do not conform to general traffic flow. Even in the en route environment, heavy traffic often forces these evaluation flights to remain on conventional routes.
This is unfortunate, but it does serve to emphasize the importance of careful procedure development. We must develop not only full-scale area navigation procedures but we must also provide for the ever changing ratio of equip ped to nonequipped aircraft.
The "Northeast Corridor" project is providing valuable data to the airlines and equipment manufacturers, as well as the FAA. The airlines are able to develop pilot proce-
dures and techniques while seeing for themselves the ad
and will be predicated on area navigation as the primary
vantages to be realized from such a system.
system in use by the flying public. Twenty percent of the
The equipment manufacturers are provided the best
possible test-bed for their products. By seeing their equip ment used in an operational environment, they are better
simulated traffic will not be so equipped, however, to provide a look at the ATC system's ability to accommo date special cases.
able to anticipate what will be expected by the users. Several recommended equipment design changes have al ready been incorporated as a result of this project. Another airline evaluation is in progress using area
This simulation is expected to provide us with insight into future airport design considerations, NAVAID place ment, route alignment and desirable airborne equipment
navigation routes between Chicago and New York. It is proposed that eventually these routes be extended to the West Coast to be used by transcontinental flights. This would provide a good look at the system under a broad
Future study groups will have to consider many other questions, such as flight inspection requirements. Today, our flight inspections concentrate on published procedures which are based on specific radiols and courses of our
range of conditions.
NAVAIDs. Safe altitudes are based on course guidance
Another evaluation is underway by the Flight Stan dards Service of the FAA. Area navigation equipment has been installed in FAA aircraft to provide a test-bed that is not limited to scheduled times and routes. These flights
reliability and terrain clearance along these specific routes. Area navigation will use all of these courses and radials. We need to develop feasible methods of determining mini mum reception and terrain clearance altitudes for the
are designed to include a very broad range of operations. The objectives are to determine potential application,tech
velop the best methods of notifying the flying public of
nical standards, and system accuracy.
these minima.
The findings from all the evaluations will be the basis on which the FAA will develop separation standards, wea ther minimums, equipment standards, and operating proce
capabilities.
entire service volume of these facilities. Then we must de
Assuming for a moment, that the answers to all the technical questions can be found, we must also assure
dures for pilots and controllers.
ourselves that we are not proceeding in conflict with plans to which we ore already committed. National implemen
Where do we go from here
tation of the NAS Stage A computer system is already well underway. We must develop a means of accommodating area navigation flight plans in this automated environ ment. For example, route definition techniques must be
Introduction of area navigation into the air traffic con
trol system will, as you might except, have far reaching effects on future planning of airspace utilization. We need the answers to some very important ques
developed that permit the controller to communicate them
to the computer in a timely and accurate manner. Random routing can be expected to complicate this problem con siderably.
tions:
— Is this system good enough to commit our national planning in this direction?
Conclusion
industry?
blems, does promise to be a significant step toward better
— Is this system economically feasible for the aviation — Can we safely implement this system?
In attempting to answer these questions, we must look far into the future and attempt to anticipate every possible impact of this system.
One such look into the future is a simulation to be con ducted in the air traffic control laboratory of the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (NAFEC) in Atlan
Area navigation, though not the answer to all our pro service to the flying public. Only a few of the problems and plans have been men tioned to illustrate the work yet to be done. No matter
how desirable this system seems or the advantages it appears to offer, it cannot be implemented overnight. Through the continued cooperation of private industry
and the FAA, we will, in the not too distant future, have
tic City, New Jersey. This simulation is to be based on the
the answers to these questions and open the way to big
New York terminal area including the satellite airports
ger and better things in our vital aviation industry.
In the next Issue
Among the contributions to the next issue of THE CONTROLLER will be the following interesting articles: Air Traffic Control in the U.S.S.R,
Impressions from a study tour of Soviet ATC facilities; with many exclusive pictures. Automatic En-route ATC displays
An interesting proposal by a working controller for the improvement of present-day ATC displays.
Falconry in the Air Command of the Royal Navy The succesful battle of the U.K. RN Air Station Lossiemouth against the hazard of bird strikes.
Management Factors in ATCS Stress H o w h u m a n f a c t o r s a r e a f f e c t i n g t h e A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l S y s t e m . E d . 19
Collision Avoidance Systems By Frank C. White Manager-Communications and Data Processing, Air Transport Association of America, before the 1968 RICA Assembly
The two most frequently asked questions about air borne collision avoidance systems are:
1. Why do they need cooperative devices in other air craft?
2. Why must they be so complicated? The purpose of this paper is to answer these two ques tions and to give you a brief status report on the industry collision avoidance system development program.
all the targets and the pilot selects the avoiding maneu ver". No one has ever come close to proving that a PPI display in the cockpit will provide suitable information to permit it to provide the CAS function in a congested ter minal area. A traffic controller can use a PPI to prevent aircraft from colliding, but a pilot, with only his own aircraft under his control, would be wildly dodging around in the sky to avoid all the nearby targets which "looked" like threats on the airborne PPI, but were not threats at all.
PWI - CASy Functions performed The scheduled airlines have been working on airborne collision avoidance system development since 1955 and RTCA has been working on CAS since 1957 — more than a decade. An early step in this effort was the division of
the possible airborne equipment solutions into PWI (Pilot Warning Indicators) and CAS (Collision Avoidance Sys tem) categories.
The PWI is intended to alert the pilot to the presence of other aircraft within visual range and advise him of the direction to look. A PWI might even employ filtering and classification techniques to permit displaying only the most threatening intruders, but there is one important thing to remember: a PWI requires that the pilot look outside the aircraft, fnd the intruder, determine if it is a threat, and then select and make the appropriate avoiding maneuver. The CAS provides more functions than the PWI: it de
tects, sort, classifies and advises the pilot what avoiding maneuver to make. This last func tion is the real operational difference between a PWI and CAS: it is what permits the CAS to work in both IFR and VFR weather; while PWI is limited to VFR. Let me sum marize by saying that if you are ever in doubt as to whether "this" or "that" proposal for an airborne collision avoidance device is a PWI or a CAS, ask yourself this
question: "Will the device advise the pilot the correct avoiding maneuver to take and not require him to visually
May I urge anyone interested in building a PWI or a CAS to look carefully at the operational functions to be performed. Before you start "banging metal" or "solder ing" — ask yourself the questions — "What functions will the finished system perform?" and "Of what value are these functions?" For example, one agency has a "cute"
technique for detecting range rate with cooperative air borne systems — therefore, a PWI! Life isn't quite this simple. The ability to detect whether two aircraft are clos ing or opening — and the rate of such closure is real
interesting, but it is only a small part of a PWI's function.
The point is that the pilot must look around and find the intruding aircraft. The "rate" detector tells him to look,
perhaps more carefully — but tells him nothing about where to look. Tests of PWI devices that have been
conducted clearly show that a PWI, to be really effective, should advise a pilot where to look — both in relative
bearing and elevation. The "rate" information would help some in sorting out the uninteresting targets, but of it self, "rate" would be of somewhat limited value as the sole basis of a PWI.
Why must CAS be cooperative? The airborne collision avoidance system must be co operative because aircraft fly routinely with 500 ft. vertical separation (VFR) or with 1000 ft. vertical separation (IFR).
It is impossible (and will likely remain so for our lifetime), for any device that does not receive information on the
locate the aircraft in order to avoid it?" If the answer is
altitude of other potential threatening aircraft to be able
yes — it is a CAS. If the answer is n o — the proposal
to resolve whether or not such other aircraft constitute a
is a PWI.
Someone might want to haggle with you a bit if the airborne device proposed has a PPI display of all the air craft around your aircraft and he claims that his device is a "hybrid PWI-CAS". He might say, "My device displays 20
valid collision threat to the equipped aircraft and to do it in time to permit making an avoiding maneuver. This statement assumes we start with the idea that we
want to solve the problem — not just a "little piece" of the problem. If we could be concerned o n I y about aircraft
that ore closing slowly and could wait until this portion of the total family of threatening aircraft were nearby and then resolve the vertical separation problem, a self-suffi cient (non-cooperative, if you prefer a different definition)
CAS could be built. Unfortunately, God has not made up His world in this way and aircraft d o close rapidly, and even below 10,000 ft. (where the 250 knot speed rule applies) it appears that a self-sufficient CAS equipment will for some time remain 'Uust beyond reach''.
3. Frequency of Communications
If you had your "druthers", it would be advantageous for each aircraft to hove complete data from all other nearby aircraft every instant of time. This
is because at any instant of time, any aircraft may initiate a maneuver and thereby make previous data of very
limited value. From a practical standpoint, the CAS system designer usually is willing to accept about three seconds of delay as a maximum figure. This means that each air
craft CAS system will receive complete data from each other cooperating aircraft every three seconds.
Why must the cooperative CAS be so complicated?
4. Techniques available to exchange the Communications
The relative complexity of a cooperative CAS derives from the numbers of aircraft involved and the large volume of communications that must be exchanged among those aircraft involved in the collision avoidance process. Four factors influence this complexity: the number of air craft, the number of operations in a major terminal area, the frequency of communications and the techniques that
A CAS must exchange all the necessary communica tions among all aircraft that are close enough to constitute a threat. Typical data that is required includes range,
are available to exchange communications.
1. Number of Aircraft
We all know that it will take from 5 years to a decade
for any airborne device, including a CAS, to be installed in the majority of aircraft that fly in the skies. Airlines, certain military aircraft, certain general aviation aircraft,
and other specific ''high utility" aircraft could be equipped in as little as 2 years. Thus in seeking a suitable airborne CAS, we must plan in terms of the aircraft population
that is expected in the future. Currently there are some 2,200 airline aircraft, 100,000 general aviation aircraft and about 10,000 military aircraft. By the early 1970s the air
line fleet might increase to about 2,500 aircraft, but by
range rate, altitude, altitude rate and velocity vectors. The
following techniques ore possible candidates for provid ing these data.
a) Interrogator-Responder The most obvious communications technique for ex changing data among the aircraft is the interrogatorresponder technique, each aircraft interrogates and all
other aircraft respond. Let's look at some numbers. If 10
aircraft are involved, the number of replies is 90 (10 times 9). With 1,000 aircraft in a terminal area, the number of replies becomes 999,000 (1,000 times 999). Using the numbers just established dictates that each
three seconds from 5,000 to 8,000 aircraft must exchange all the necessary data. Using the lesser of these two figures, aircraft will need to receive nearly 25 million re plies every 3 seconds — utterly impossible using interrogator-responder technology.
that time general aviation is expected to have about
150,000 aircraft! If we had the responsibility to plan only for handling CAS communications among the few air car rier aircraft involved, the problem would be infinitely more simple than having to plan for handling potentially all aircraft. Since an acceptable CAS must be capable of handling a I I aircraft, it should be planned on the basis of a volume approaching 125,000 or more participating aircraft. The capability to handle a large volume of air
This is a technique invented by Dr. J. S. Morrell of Bendix Radio in the late fifties. It uses a one-way trans mission (which includes altitude data) made each 3 se conds. It measures the direct and ground reflected signal paths to obtain range. Although this technique will handle well over 2,000 aircraft, its principle shortcoming is that
craft must be a part of the design or all too soon the CAS system will become inadequate.
desired, the range and derive range rate data must be
b) One-Way Ground Bounce Ranging
the range data is reasonably "noisy". If range rate is smoothed over 15 to 20 seconds to obtain a reasonable
fit of the received data. The one-way ground bounce rang 2. Number of Operations In a Major Terminal Area
Currently the number of operations in peak hours at large terminal areas is a high as 150 air carrier and 2,000 general aviation operations. FAA data shows that by late seventies to early 80s, the numbers will be as large as 350 to 400 air carrier operations and 5,000 to 8,000 general aviation operations! The figures at nearly every terminal show that general aviation operations will be more than
an order of magnitude larger than air carrier operations. Thus, it is apparent that if we are to plan conservatively, we must think in terms of a CAS system capable of hand ling volumes in as large as 5,000 to 8,000 aircraft in a major terminal area.
ing technique fails by the criterion of exchanging all data every 3 seconds and thus, it is ruled out as having much useful application in terminal areas. For enroute flight operations (where maneuvering is much less frequent) it
would probably be adequate. c ) Ti m e - F r e q u e n c y Aircraft using this system carry an accurate time re ference derived from a highly stable oscillator. The time reference is used to control the periods (called "slots") within a fixed transmission cycle during which each air craft transmits complete collision avoidance signals. The transmission cycle used by the "industry" system is 3 21
seconds with each slot 1,500 microseconds in length. Each aircraft utilizes a slot and transmits at a precise time with
CAS probably not a Gertrude Stein*
in the slot. When a signal is radiated, all other aircraft "listen out". Thus, each aircraft can determine its distance from the transmitting aircraft by measuring the one-way
The time-frequency technology shows such great pro mise that it is very tempting to consider solving some other
propagation time of the signals. The rate of change of separation of aircraft can be determined by measuring the Doppler shift of the carrier frequency. To obtain the
conceived. In order not to endlessly delay obtaining the
necessary operating precision, all aircraft clocks in the
system are synchronized periodically. The 2,000 slots provided by the "industry" system will service more than 2,000 aircraft at one time since perma nent slot assignments are not made to aircraft, the some
slot can be used by any two aircraft that are separated by at least 2300 nautical miles. Slot use is a function of "listening" and "squatting". To accommodate small num bers of aircraft the "industry" system also has an asyn
chronous (a version of interrogator-transponder) mode of operation to give protection in isolated areas not covered by the time synchronization process.
expected problems at the time the CAS system is being CAS, we adopted the policy of designing a Gertrude Stein* CAS but at the same time made careful provision for system expansion to accommodate other functions in
cluding individual airframe identification. There is every indication that the same airborne system can, in time, also provide the ATC radar beacon and DME functions in the same airborne equipment — with but few additions.
The way is relatively clear for this to happen and is currently being studied by FAA and others. The military can have its "Integrated CNI" equipment, however, the "common system" could very well have its integrated "Data acquisition-distance measuring equipment-airframe
identification and CAS" — all in a single airborne equip ment. There is a prophecy for you.
Complication - for what Reason?
What will be the Cost of the Equipment? The time-frequency technology is more complicated than its predecessor techniques (interrogotor-responder and one-way ranging) by probably an order of magni tude. It is forced on us by planning for accommodating
Current Report on
the vast number of aircraft that we know must be accom
was generated by our industry effort after 6 months of
modated. The numbers (Item 1 and 2) clearly show that the largest segment of aircraft is contributed by general avi ation. But, is the CAS going to be so complicated (and thus
countless meetings attended by selected time-frequency
"Industry CAS-System Development Program" A technical description of a time-frequency CAS system technology and system specialists. Since that time the tech
This, of course, is a tough question to answer at this early dote in the development of time-frequency CAS tech
nical description has been further refined. Currently the seventh revision of the document describing the system (ATA Report ANTC No. 117) is available for the asking. Five manufacturers are now building airborne systems,
no log y.
using the technical description as their Bible. In June of
costly), that general aviation cannot afford to install it?
The "industry" CAS system has as a part of its design
what is known as a "limited equipment". It is "limited" in that it is not called on to propagate the master time; it uses master time and obtains all necessary data. Signi ficant complication was added to the complete (so-called air carrier) version of the CAS equipment to permit this "limited equipment" version to be provided at the lowest
possible cost to general aviation. The best dollar figures I can give you today is ably cost from $ 30,000 general aviation version fully in the S 8,000 till $
that the airline version will prob to $ 50,000 initially, whereas the will be below $ 10,000 — hope 10,000 price range initially.
Thinking back over the post ten years, I recall that the first ATC radar beacons cost S 7,500 (early 1960 dollars) and today a much more comprehensive beacon costs $ 1,000. This is more than a 7 fold cost reduction. The cost
reduction come about as the result of digital circuit tech nology improvement. The CAS, like the ATC radar beacon, is a system that is based on digital logic. Therefore, the opportunity is present for simplif cation and cost reduction
as solid state logic continues to improve. We have every right to expect the general aviation CAS to cost in the order of S 2,500 to $ 3,500 within 5 years.
next year, when they are to be ready for the industry flight testing program, we will find out if the technical descrip
tion adequately defined the system and whether the four
manufacturers' equipment will work cooperately in the flight test environment.
We have contracted v/ith Martin-Marietta (Baltimore,
Maryland) to manage our industry flight test program.
Currently, Martin-Marietta is building the data recording and data reduction system which will permit us to evaluate flight tests.
Currently four airlines are evaluating CAS display de vices using Link flight simulators. This is providing the CAS program information on pilot and airframe reaction time
in it is introducing a large cross section of airline pilots to the CAS system and the current version of display devices. By the fall of 1969 we expect to be able to advise you if the system we have designed on paper, and by then wil
have flight tested, is an acceptable candidate for common system application.
• Gertrude Stein's book "A Rose is a Rose is o Rose" for many years has provided the aviation industry a "jargon" way of describing a device or system that provides a single function, and only a single function.
Annual Conference 1970 — Montreat 22
Digital Communications By B. F. McLeod Director, Electronic Engineering, Pan American World Airways, Inc. to the 1968 RTCA Annual Assembly tvleeting
As predicted, the present air traffic control system and
channels. This was a monotonous and tiring routine func
terminal area facilities have reached the saturation point
tion ripe for automation. In the South Pacific PanAm introduced the Selcal sys
at many of our key cities. What can we expect in the years to come?
Today, in the U. S., the airline fleet is growing at about one new jet per day. In about a year the B747's will begin to join this fleet, then the air buses and next the SSI air planes with many new problems due to ever increasing airspeeds.
During recent years, as our air traffic system has been expanded to enlarge the regions of positive control, pro vide radar monitoring and vectoring, and accommodate the ever increasing volume of air operations, we have watched a tremendous build-up in air-ground voice com munications. The very nature of the system has been to demand additional voice communication at a rate greater
than the increase in air traffic flow. To accommodate our
current system, a great number of controllers are needed on the ground to talk to the many pilots in the sky. Is it wise to continue to expand indefinitely this overtaxed system? We think not, but what is the answer? First, run
way saturation must be avoided. Next, routine functions
must be automated to bring about more efficient use of runways, time, space, equipment, and manpower. One fundamental step in moving towards this objec
tive is to get the airplanes to talk directly with flow con trol computers on the ground.
tem which carried just one message from the ground to the pilot — "Please answer me". The system was simple, eco nomical, and provided great relief to the pilot. He could now hang his headset on a hook and let a small electronic
box provide the monitoring. This system was soon accept ed in the U.S. and later by ICAO. It can well be remem bered that it was looked upon as so elementary that its life would be extremely limited. To gain industry accept ance of it in 1951, we agreed to write it off in three years. Yet, 17 years later there is no modern replacement and it is currently being planned for SST's. There is the strongest hope, however, that today's efforts will produce a more comprehensive digital communications system well before the SST's are ready for operation. In 1959, a new thrust was made to develop on opera tional data link known as "AGACS" or automatic ground/ air/ground communications system. Regrettably, this sys
tem was not brought into being to aid air traffic control
and an airline study showed that it could not be econo mically justified for airline operational use alone. So, after 21 years, the question is, "Are we now able to justify on automated communications system?" We believe the ans wer is clearly yes! But why? First, unlike in earlier years, today's navigation sys
If automatic communications con help reduce present
tems, both long and short range, provide the cockpit with
problems, why aren't we using it now? Briefly glancing back, the Radio Technical Commission
continuous position information. Until recently, pilots only
determined on spot occasions, precisely where the air
for Aeronautics' Special Committee 31 recommended in 1947 a national air traffic control system employing VOR/
plane was. Also it has only been recently that sufficient
DME, secondary radar, airborne transponder, alpha-nume
gation computers attractive to U.S. airspace users. Second, it now appears that ATC requirements alone, or company operaMonal requirements alone, are great enough to justify automated communications on both long range and short range routes.
ric readout of aircraft position in ATC centers, and an
L-band air/ground data link on a private line which would automate routine air/ground ATC communications. Lack of full follow-through on the SC-31 plan resulted
in little progress being made on the L-band private line.
ground DME stations were available to make area navi
VHP frequencies. In parallel with this wholesale shift to
Third, the feasibility of long distance — up to 8,000 miles — VHP circuits using satellite relay has been de monstrated. These circuits provide the reliability and qua lity that is needed to support digital communications on
VHP, planning was developed in 1951 to include data link
long distance international routes.
However, during the postwar years there was a large shift of voice communications from the HP band to static-free
capability in new VHP voice sets. Again, lack of followthrough with complete system planning resulted in no pro gress with automated communications. In about the same time frame, PanAm began a deve
lopment to autom.ate a small, but very important function
of the over ocean HP communications system. Pilots flying
long distance routes were often required to continuously monitor for ten hours or longer, one or more noisy HP
And fourth, RTCA's committees, SC-100, SC-llQ and in, have provided the guidelines that have been needed to move forward with the planning of a universal digital communications system.
How do we best get going? PanAm has established a long range objective called a "Plight Information System".
In this planning, digital communications is a fundamental element of the total system.
23
The function of the Flight Information System will be to collect, analyze, transmit, store, receive, and present information required by: Air Traffic Control and Advisory Services, The Flight Crew, and Company Offices.
Let's briefly look at the component parts of the system, the benefits derived, and the relationship of each to digital communications.
First, the "AIDS" or maintenance portion of the system wiW serve a two-fold purpose: fault detection and analysis
of complex aircraft systems and performance analysis of the engines.
The prime objective of "AIDS" will be to detect trends, faults, and out of tolerance conditions to permit expediti ous correction action. Today, many airlines including PanAm, manually record data on engines and other sys tems for later trend analysis. A few airlines record this data automatically for later analysis on the ground. The disadvantages with each of these methods are: 1. the time lapse between recording and analysing the data, and
2. the task of centralized handling of the great volume of data produced by a large fleet of aircraft. To eliminate both of these disadvantages and to pro
vide only significant maintenance information to the crew and the ground, PanAm proposes to use on board processing. By measuring first order infor mation, rejecting redundant data, and analysing the re maining data for tolerance and short term trend, informa tion significant to the further operation of the aircraft can be provided in advance to the ground via digital com munications. A cockpit readout will provide the same in
formation to the crew. Our study indicates that such a system has a great potential for improving maintenance
feed the information directly to the Accounting Depart ment's computer.
A key function of the Flight Information System is to serve the Air Traffic Control and Advisory Services. The development of this feature will require close government/ industry coordination with the prime objective being to automate as many routine functions as possible. For long range over ocean operation we believe a
substantial reduction can be made in aircraft spacing, if by automatic means air derived position fixed of good accuracy are frequently reported back to a relatively simple ground flow control computer. As traffic volumes increase in the 1975-1985 period and there is a need for
closer spacing, further monitoring by satellite is expected to be an important addition. For U. S. domestic operation aircraft plan position in
formation may be ground derived and supplied to flow control computers, or could be air derived and supplied by the digital communications link. In 1957 it was planned that position information would be ground derived, how ever, we believe that this conclusion is open for review for certain classes of aircraft.
It is important that a clear readout, either on a cathode ray tube or on a printed sheet, be available to the pilot for receiving take-off and enroute instructions. Area navigation capability by the cockpit is urgently needed. It appears that this can best be provided by pic torial displays with preplanning making many paths avail able to and from runway approach gates. These various
paths, plus speed control, may be used for sequencing of aircraft and at the same time reduce the need for giving a large number of instructions to pilots. PanAm has made a start toward implementation of a Flight Information System by placing a limited Digicom system in operation on an experimental basis. In the in
terest of getting under way now, this test will only involve an air-to-ground capability for the first six to eight months.
efficiency, aircraft utilization, and reducing delays. A second part of the "Flight Information System" is
This test is being conducted between New York and the Caribbean using a B707 aircraft. Upon command from the
that which will provide information to the company ope rations department. To efficiently control a large fleet of
cockpit, messages containing aircraft identification, posi tion, and engine performance data are sent for reception by an FAA station at Avalon, N.J. and a PanAm station at JFK. Use of the Avalon station is being made available
aircraft, an airline must know their location and opera tional status. Combined with digital communications, on
board position determining equipment such as Doppler, Inertial, and VOR/DME can provide company dispatch offices with real-time flight following information. An operations recorder of the "endless loop" type is anti cipated, making available as desired operations informa tion for the past 24 hours or greater. This capability com
bined with on-board analysis will permit private review of pilot and autopilot inputs to the controls and aircraft ope ration. In the event of an emergency or abnormal aircraft
operation, vital parameters will be fed into the digital communications system for automatic transmission. Two other company departments to be served through the Flight Information System will be the Passenger Ser vice and Accounting organizations. Special passenger
through the excellent cooperation of the Research and Development Service of the FAA.
Pending the installation of Doppler navigation on this 707 airplane, position information will be set in manually.
Engine data is sensed by equipment built by General Electric and converted to a digital message. Data trans missions are fed through a Bendix Radio modulatordemodulator to a third VHP transceiver (Bendix RTA-42A)
on the aircraft. When the messages arrive at a ground station, they are routed by telephone line to a computer in the PanAm Building for processing and to the airline electronic switching system at Cedar Rapids for distribu tion by teletype to the proper addresses. A cathode ray
handling requirements generated in the main cabin by flight service attendants can be fed into the digital com munications system and automatically routed to the pro
tube readout is also available in the PanAm Building. The objective of this test program is to gather data which will help define the characteristics of digital com munications hardware and operational procedures, and
per ground recipient.
at the same time perform a useful service to daily opera
Today, the airline accounting department computes air craft and crew flight time from manual entries made by the crew on the aircraft at departure and arrival. The Flight Information System can automate this process and
tion.
24
The second phase of this program calls for five or more participating aircraft with two-way equipment being auto matically interrogated from the ground. For PanAm's
operation, it is desired that VHP satellite circuits be avail able, but if there is a delay then normal and extended range VHP facilities will be used. The next step will be full fleet implementation with
communications with an air-ground data link is needed".
priority being given to the B747 airplanes. Once again a beginning has been made. More than ever before, the industry has become acutely aware of the potentials of digital communications and the role it will play in tomorrow's environment.
willing to accept a leading role in developing this system,
A few months ago the PAA Associate Administrator for Development stated, "We can not tolerate the amount of air-ground voice communication that exists now — digital
dations and Standards by ICAO. The talents and skills of many are truly needed to bring a digital communications
The Air Transport Association Operations Committee has endorsed development of digital communications. Airinc is providing coordination for the U.S. airlines. We are
and look forward to working closely with all concerned to bring about a common digital communications system. Por
it to be a common international system — as it must — we foresee a need for considerable coordination through PAA, lATA, and finally the establishment of Recommen
to an operational status by 1971.
An Airport Surface Traffic Control System (STRACS) By Louis Achitoff Chief, Aviation Technical Services Division, The Port of New York Authority, t o t h e R a d i o Te c h n i c a l C o m m i s s i o n f o r A e r o n a u t i c s
1968 Annual Assembly
The System In approximately one month, a test installation will have been completed at Kennedy International Airport and evaluations begun to determine whether the presence of individual aircraft can accurately, consistently and re
liably be detected on an airport taxiway system by other than visual means.
This will complete Phase A of The Port of New York
The inability to store long-bodied aircraft between a runway and the adjacent taxiway, 400 feet away (center to center), simply means that if an aircraft exiting the run way cannot continue its motion because of the presence
of other aircraft on the adjacent taxiway, operations on the runway must cease until safe clearance is established. The total eeffct of the above two situations would be a
slowdown of airport traffic, the rectification of which dic tates an automatic ground control system which,
Authority Aviation Department's STRACS (Surface Traffic Control System) program which, if successful, should cul
1. ensures unobstructed taxiing tracks for priority aircraft; 2. removes the tower operator from the ground control
minate in aviation's first automatic ground control system,
loop to the greatest extent possible; 3. materially reduces communications workload; and
thereby making it possible to systematize aircraft move
ment from departure gate to arrival gate. The STRACS program is the direct outgrowth of the need to resolve problems created by the advent of longbodied aircraft (B-747) and the congestion resulting from the ever increasing runway movement rates. The need to accommodate "jumbo" aircraft at Kennedy has caused
4. provides superior taxiing guidance during Category II
the following progression:
fic control equipment as well as others with records of
1. construction of high fingers to permit second level air
craft loading and consequent obstructing of line of sight from control tower to portions of taxiway system;
2. increase in gate space per airplane; 3. increase in total apron area;
4. push-out of taxiways closer to runways; and 5. insufficient distance between runways and taxiways to store aircraft leaving runway.
w e a t h e r.
Having defind the problem, a broad statement of the desired objectives and preliminary characteristics of a STRACS was developed and used as a basis for a request for proposals from various manufacturers of surface traf achievement in traffic control system design.
In brief, the preliminary functional specification de
scribed a noncooperative system and called for: a) b) c) d) e)
Detection of aircraft. Identification. Guidance on the taxiways. Display in the tower. Fail safe alarm logic.
The erection of high apron fingers appropriate to B-747 aircraft results in the loss of direct line of sight as well as
f) Priority routings.
ASDE control of most of the inner taxiways at Kennedy.
h) Override capability to afford manual control.
g) Conflict protection.
25
A number of excellent, imaginative proposals for total system design v/ere received from companies with ex tensive experience in vehicular traffic control — primarily because of their familiarity with off-the-shelf detection hardware. It became apparent, after analysis and discus sion with the proponents, that ground traffic control sys tems can be developed to almost any degree of sophisti c a t i o n b y t h e u s e o f c o m p u t e r t e c h n o l o g y, p r o v i d e d reliable and consistent detection can be accomplished. Consequently, it was decided that the Port Authority would move ahead with STRACS according to the follow ing plan:
A) Detection Airborne Instruments Laboratory was retained as a
ing. What is important is the concept of building blocks so that subsystems may be added on.
FAA System Requirement The FAA, in a position paper prepared for presenta tion to the Fifth Air Navigation Conference (ICAO) con vened in Montreal, November 14, 1967, stated that "in
view of trends to increased traffic, larger more complex aerodromes, predicted all-weather operations, and design complexities of aircraft requiring highly efficient ground handling, it seems reasonable to pursue certain improve ments to the system". The improvements are embodied in a document en titled "U. S. Design for an All-Weather Aerodrome Surface Traffic System".
In addition, AIL was to render judgment on the state-of-
The system design is the direct outgrowth of a System Requirement established by the Associate Administrator of Plans on September 13, 1966 to develop an all-weather
the-art detection devices which have appeared in the lite
surface guidance and control subsystem. In the prescribing
rature from time to time.
Upon completion of the above paper evaluations, the
of this requirement, it was declared that: "The need is already urgent at high activity airports
most promising detection devices would be installed in an
and will become more critical with the gradual reduction
active taxiway at Kennedy and a full scale test would be
of approach minima down to complete all-weather opera tions. Development and installation should keep pace with the lowering of weather minima. Priority should be given to development of those components which can be select ed and implemented in the shortest possible time."
consultant to analyze and evaluate the detection systems incorporated in the proposals which had been submitted.
performed over a period of several months to determine the characteristics of the devices and their ability to re liably detect the types of aircraft currently operating at Kennedy. Extrapolation of the data to B-747 and Airbus
would, of course, depend upon its quality and accuracy as well as the theoretical considerations upon which the designs of the devices are predicated. Another possibility would be to obtain readings from a C5A taxiing operation if such could be arranged.
B) System Design
This phase is initiated with the preparation of a de tailed functional specification around the detection system determined in (A) to have met requirements.
It is intended that STRACS will permit the following operation to occur: Federal Flight 129, having been clear ed to land, the controller inserts a card into a computer which takes the destination terminal and predetermined taxi track and integrates it with the signal from a sensor as the airplane leaves the runway. The airplane follows visual stop or go, and directional signals along its taxi route which protects it from conflicting traffic at inter sections, until its arrival at the destination terminal apron.
The computer stores the tracks of all moving aircraft, de termines ground speed from sensor information, predicts and then prevents conflict with other arriving and depart ing aircraft.
The controller's display indicates occupancy or vacancy of any taxi segment and permits immediate computer in terrogation to identify an occupant.
C) System Construction
The preparation of the engineering specification, in stallation and system checkout completes the program. Within Phase C, it may be possible to activate subportions of the total system prior to 1971. These might include, for example, detection only, followed by verbal communica tion, or detection plus guidance without computer track 26
ICAO Action
The final report of the committee assigned the respon sibility for the Movement of Aircraft and Vehicles on the Ground, Agenda Item 2 of the Fifth Air Navigation Con ference, under the Chairmanship of the leader of the U. S. delegation, affirmed the need for an all-weather aero drome guidance and control subsystem. It went on to prescribe the following criteria which should be consider ed in the design of the subsystem:
A) The pilot must have: 1. steering and distance information in order to track along the runway, decelerate, and reach the turn-off point safely and efficiently; 2. visual information along the route to be followed;
3. position information along the route to be followed; 4. assurance of separation; and
5. adequate warning for changes of direction or the need for speed adjustment. B) The Controlling Authority must have:
1. information on the position and progress of each air craft at all times;
2. information on the position and progress of essential ground traffic at all times; 3. information on the presence of obstructions and tem porary hazards; and
4. information on the operational status of the system in u s e .
C) Ground Vehicles must be assured of: 1. adequate routing, navigation information and means
of collision avoidance to permit rapid access to any part of the aerodrome, and, also, if practicable and
economic, outside the perimeter. Crash location equip ment must also be considered; and 2. safe and positive routing as they fulfill their roles of attending to the essential needs of aircraft passengers, and airline and aerodrome personnel and services. The official recognition by both the FAA and ICAO of
the need to move ahead promptly with the design and implementation of a STRACS has lent impetus to the Port Authority program. It has also been instrumental in pro
moting an active exchange of information and, it is hoped, on increasing involvement of the FAA in the program since its success will depend upon its acceptance by FAA con troller personnel.
' C AT C A ' 6 9 ' T h e C a n a d i a n A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l A s s o c i a t i o n C o n v e n
tion "CATCA '69" will be held from 6th till 7th May, 1969.
The Hon. Paul T. Hellyer, Canadian Minister of Trans port, has consented to be guest speaker and Ted Bonner of the Decco Navigator Co. the Master of Ceremonies at the Conference Banquet on May 7th. F. Lee Bailey, prominent Boston lawyer, instrumental in the founding of the U. S. Professional Air Traffic Control lers Organization, will be guest speaker at the President's Luncheon on May 6th.
An excellent program of technical presentations will be featured on the following topics:
Sponsor Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd. To p i c Terminal Control in the Seventies
Sponsor Decca Navigator System Inc. To p i c The Atmospheric Environment in Relation to Aircraft Operations Sponsor The National Research Council of Canada
To p i c
To p i c
Landing Weather Minima Investigation
Radar Digital Processing and Display System
Sponsor
f o r A i r Tr a f fi c C o n t r o l
U.S.A.F. Flight Dynamics Laboratory
Sponsor
To p i c
Airborne Instrument Laboratories
The Concorde
To p i c Area Navigation
The British Aircraft Corporation
Sponsor
To p i c
Computing Devices of Canada To p i c
ATC Data Processing Philosophy
Sponsor
Canadian Air Traffic Control System, in the '70's Sponsor
The Department of Transport
1968 - an active Year for the Netherlands' Guild When the Netherland's Guild held her Annual Meet
ing in late October, 1968, Members and Officers could proudly look back to a successful year. Within a period of twelve months, the membership of the guild increased by more than 25%, from 80 to 118.
— Use of parallel runways (this subject is particularly topical with Schiphol now having 01/19 L and R); — Reduction of R/T load.
A presentation about the Eurocontrol Upper Area Con
Contacts with General Aviation have been fostered. The Guild oFFered her assistance to the Royal Nether
trol Centre at Maastricht/Beek (Southern Netherland) is planned for April. It will be given by a member of the
lands' Society of Aviation and the aeroclubs associated with this organization. This offer includes speaches and presentations by the Guild about air traffic control and general aviation to be given any time and any place in
produced by the Guild during 1968, proposals to Stand ing Committee I for streamlining the IFATCA Manual and a report about the current position of the air traffic con
the Netherlands. In this context, a very lively panel dis cussion was recently held with the Dutch Aeroclub.
Very fruitful contacts are also maintained with the
Dutch Air Line Pilots* Association. A series of working
sessions has been arranged, with particular emphasis on the following subjects: — Radar assistance in adverse weather conditions; — Automatic lock-on in the final approach phase;
Eurocontrol H. Q. at Brussels. Among the various papers
troller in the Netherlands deserve particular mention.
The Annual Meeting elected the following Board of O f fi c e r s : Th, M. van Gaalen President
F. M. J. Mente Secretary P.
Kolff
Treasurer
B . H . v a n O m m e n M e m b e r — I F AT C A a f f a i r s
A.
Vink
Member
—
Publicity 27
P a c i fi c SAR
Symposium By Tirey K. Vickers
Chief stimulus for the Symposium was the
impending introduction of the 747 aircraft (top), which is compared in this picture with the
present 707. Fully loaded, a 747 will be 2.5 times as likely to have a deranged possenger oboard; in a crash or ditching, it will have 2.5 times as many passengers to evacuate.
Three hundred and one registrants from eight countries
section will moke the DC-10 fuselage about 50% stronger
attended the Pacific Air Safety and Rescue Symposium in Son Francisco, October 29 — 31, 1968. The meeting was
than the DC-8, one of which recently survived a ditching in Son Francisco Bay with little structural damage.
sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Avi ation Administration. The main topic was ditching (landplane emergency water landings) with particular reference to Pacific search and rescue (SAR) operations. The program started with the audio-visual presentation
sent Research and Development program. One project involves the analysis of a vast amount of data on meteoro
"Mission Possible", which combined color slide/movie/ sound track/live medio to depict the roles of the U.S.
and life rafts. New designs for Coast Guard surface ves
Coast Guard and the FAA in SAR procedures. Put together by LCDR Lee Levy of the Coast Guard, Doug Hughes of the Coast Guard Reserve, and William O'Neill of the
Oakland ARTC Center, "Mission Possible" was easily the most spectacular and entertaining event of the 2V2 day symposium.
A panel session on post-ditching problems revealed that NASA may become port of the Pacific SAR network,
using their elaborate setup designed for recovering astro nauts at sea. One of the panel members, a Western Air Lines stewardess, brought up a number of pointed ques tions about the emergency evacuation of airline aircraft.
CDR Robert C. Powell described the Coast Guard's pre
logy and oceanography, to come up with better estimates of wind and current drift for various types of life boats sels and helicopters ore expected to increase range and performance for SAR operations. CDR Powell said that better search radars are needed, in order to detect non-
cooperative targets such as plastic or rubber life rafts. R. C. McGuire of FAA reported that Pacific airline traffic
is expected to increase to 91,000 operations per year, in 1972.
Subsequently the Symposium split into a number of
small groups or "workshops" which spent several hours discussing various facets of the SAR problem, and pre
paring recommendations for presentation on October 31. In the Air-Sea Coordination Workshop, it was stated
She would like better restraints for galley equipment,
that 90% of the SAR problem relates to communications
which tends to spill all over the cabin in a crash or ditch ing. She would recommend that able-bodied men, rather
difficulties; and one of the biggest coordination problems
than women, children, or elderly persons, always be seated next to the emergency exits. She would like to prohibit the under-seat stowage of passenger baggage, because of its potential interference with life preservers (also stowed under the seats) and because such baggage can clutter the
ships. At any given moment there are approximately 9,000
aisles after a crash.
In an interesting paper, "Hydrodynamics of Ditching", James F. Goodwin of McDonnell Douglas reviewed the airline ditching accidents of the post 15 years. There have been 18 since 1953; 8 of these were pre-meditated, while 10 happened suddenly — usually right off the airport. Be cause of the phenomenal reliability of jet engines, there
has never been a pre-meditated (d la 1947) type ditching
is the lack of communication between aircraft and surface surface vessels plowing accros the ocean of the world.
Most of them hove only one radio operator, who stands an 8-hour watch daily. Although the watch schedules ore
generally standardized in different parts of the world, ships of U.S. registry do not necessarily conform to the prevailing schedules. There is now on agency in New York City called
AMVERS (Automatic Merchant Vessel Reporting System) which, using a large computer, receives and stores sailing
plans of about three-fourths of the total number of mer chant vessels, and updates their positions periodically by
of 0 jet liner — but with more passengers carrying guns these days, nobody con guarantee it won't happen some
dead-reckoning and actual positian reports. When on emergency happens anywhere in the world, AMVERS con, within a few minutes, determine the names of the ships
day. The impending introduction of much larger aircraft
which are in the most likely position at that moment to
will increase the potential size of the rescue problem.
divert, and look for survivors. But getting in contact with
M r. G o o d w i n d e s c r i b e d f e a t u r e s w h i c h w i l l e n h a n c e
the ditchability of the new DC-10 airbus. Fuselage skin thickness has been increased, from .090" on the DC-8, to .125" on the DC-10. An extra floor in the lower baggage 28
such ships is still a problem because of the watch schedule problem. Most ships maintain a radio watch on either of the international distress frequencies of 500 or 2182 Khz.
Many of them hove an automatic alarm to alert the radio
operator if he is within earshot. As yet, however, there is nothing corresponding to SELCAL to alert a designated ship; so even in this supposedly enlightened age, the establishment of communication with a designated ship
On the last day of the Symposium, the various work shops made their reports to the assembly. Their recom m e n d a t i o n s i n c l u d e d t h e i t e m s l i s t e d b e l o w.
It was recommended that a SAR coordinating com
can still be a difficult problem. Even when the ship is con tacted, language barriers can form a further handicap to
mittee be established by the Department of Transporta tion, to supply a means of communicating SAR problems
voice communications.
and solutions to all concerned, and to evaluate all new
There is no incentive for ships to carry aircraft distress
SAR equipment. Such a committee had been suggested on
frequencies of 121.5 or 243 Mhz. Although a number of
two previous occasions but had never been set up. It was recommended that the committee include representatives
antennas for this band are not very efficient.
from Coast Guard, FAA, DOD, lATA, AOPA, and ALPA, with technical support furnished by the Society of Auto
aircraft carry the 2182 Khz distress frequency, aircraft
Another handicap to efficient search and rescue is poor navigation. If the pilot in difficulty does not know where he is, he can be very difficult to locate. Joe Farra-
rese of FAA Flight Standard reviewed the FAA's proposed requirement for crash locator beacons on civil aircraft. Fie pointed out that during the last 10 years, 31 aircraft, carry ing a total of 57 people, have presumably crashed within the boundaries of the U. S. but have never been found.
Several types of crash locator beacons were displayed at the Symposium. As the tail section of an aircraft is the last thing to crumple in a crash, it nearly always remains intact; for this reason, the little radio beacons are design ed for installation inside the vertical fin (see Fig. 1). Trig
gered off automatically by a crash, they can broadcast a sweeping-tone signal on 121.5 and 243 Mhz, for several days. On the afternoon of October 30, KLM presented on
interesting description of their new evacuation simulator for training cabin attendants in all types of emergency procedures. The simulator includes full-scale mock-ups of section of two types of KLM aircraft cabins including seats, doors, emergency exits, etc. It also includes facilities for filling the cabin with smoke, and uses an audio system to simulate the sound effects of a crash. Simultaneously, the
cabin can be suddenly dropped 15° on one side. Cocking the cabin on one side has the effect of reducing the aisle width, and increasing the difficulty of evacuating pas
sengers. The floor outside the trainer can be lowered 10 feet, to require the use of passenger chutes for evacuation. Instructors con watch cabin personnel in training, through
one-way mirrors, to determine how well they handle the various emergency procedures.
motive Engineers. Present survival equipment has many short-comings;
alerting, locating, evacuation, and ditching regulations and procedures need to be brought up-to-date. A surpris ing number of general aviation aircraft exported from the USA are ferried across the ocean to their destination. A major problem to the Coast Guard in the Pacific area is
general aviation aircraft getting into difficulties while con ducting oceanic flights without long-range communication equipment. A Coast Guard representative reported that almost every month some general aviation pilot enroute
from California to Hawaii gets lost and low on fuel. A number of colls for help on 121.5 Mhz hove been inter cepted and relayed by airline pilots, to alert SAR rescue facilities to locate the aircraft and guide it to a safe land ing, or a ditching alongside a surface ship. It was recom
mended that regulations be broadened to require a posi tive capability for long-range air/ground communications,
plus appropriate life support equipment, for any general
aviation aircraft embarking on long-range oceanic flights. The evacuation of jumbo jet aircraft is expected to be enhanced by the use of double-width doors, wide aisles, and large inflatable slides which can double as life rafts. The deployment of life rafts will be facilitated by storing them above each door, rather than elsewhere in the cabin. One workshop group recommended that life-raft survival kits be re-evaluated — there is more need for thermal
blankets than for life-raft canopies. Also there is less need for carrying long-term food rations, due to the shorter reaction time of rescue or re-supply aircraft. As a fully loaded 747 will be 2V2 times as likely as a fully loaded 707 aircraft to have a deranged passenger aboard, it was recommended that the FAA Office of Avi
ation Medicine prepare a training text for airline crews to deal with the handling of such persons.
\
A large number of surface ships are now equipped with the SAR 156.8 Mhz FM channel; it was recommended that this frequency be installed in SAR aircraft for better airsea coordination. It was also recommended that in the development of satellite communications, adequate con
sideration be given in providing channels for SAR com munications.
During the Symposium, three hundred people spent a
total of 6,000 man-hours reviewing SAR problems. Was all
this time and expense justified? The opening of the new
Pacific routes with jumbo jet aircraft will put a lot of people over deep water. Unpreparedness of the Coast
Guard or the FAA for a jumbo jet ditching in mid-Pacific
— if it ever happens — will be awfully hard to live down. If meetings of this type can set off action to eliminate some of the potential problems of such an event — remote
though it may be — then the Pacific Air Safety Search and Fig. 1 Installation details of Garrett SAR beacon and its twin antenm
Rescue Symposium served a useful purpose. 29
What's New in Montreal? A Selection of Recent ICAO Activities
I C A O C o u n c i l E l e c t e d O f fi c e r s The ICAO Council, governing body of the International Civil Aviation Organization, has elected its Vice-Presidents
and Committee Chairmen, following the 16th Assembly of
The Problem of the Sonic Boom Sonic boom has been specifically mentioned in the vari
ous ICAO studies which have been produced on the pro blems associated with the introduction of supersonic trans port aircraft (SST) into commercial service. For example,
ICAO held recently in Buenos Aires. The President of the 27-member Council, V/alter Binaghi, has announced the election of the following Council members:
— "A Preliminary Study of the Technical, Economic and
A. El Micheri (Tunisia), 1st Vice-President of the Coun cil; F. Novak (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic), 2nd VicePresident of the Council; Dr. E. Vdsquez-Rocha (Colombia), 3rd Vive-President of the Council; F. X. Ollassa (Congo Brazzaville), Chairman of the Air Transport Committee;
Social Consequences of the Introduction into Commercial Service of Supersonic Aircraft" and in Addendum No. 2 thereto. Furthermore, the Organization's more recent stu dies (Draft Doc 8366-AN/880, Draft Doc 8366-AN/883 and Draft Doc 8366-AN/883/2, all entitled "ICAO and the Tech
Reor-Admiral (Retired) J. M. Van Olm (Kingdom of the Netherlands), Chairman of the Committee on Joint Sup
port of Air Navigation Services; and N. Nakano (Japan), Chairman of the Finance Committee. Unlike others, the Legal Committee of ICAO is a per
manent one. It is open to membership by all Contracting States. The Committee elects its own Chairman for the duration of its session for which it convenes, generally,
once a year. ICAO has now 116 Member States.
Feasibility Study on System Planning for the Introduction of New Aircraft Types Based on a Resolution (A16-5) adopted at the Sixteen Session of the ICAO Assembly, the Secretary General has proposed to the Council a programme for a Feasibility
references to sonic boom are included in Doc 8087-C/925
nical Problems associated with Supersonic Transport Air craft"), each accords the subjects of sonic boom a sepa rate subchapter. The attention being given to this subject reflects the Assembly's identification of the problem through Resolution A14-7, as one likely to require com prehensive study by ICAO, and on which States should be kept informed.
The Technical Panel on Supersonic Transport Opera tions (the SST Panel) formed by the Air Navigation Com
mission in February 1968, in replacement of the SST Study Group, discussed sonic boom, at its First Meeting in JulyAugust 1968 and reported that "looked at from a purely technical and operational viewpoint, SSTs will operate most efficiently if there is no limit imposed on sonic
boom"; this statement was made in the light of agreement that policy decisions on sonic boom should be taken only
after consideration of data obtained from actual flight tests. However, the Panel's attention is limited, under its terms of reference, to consideration of operational and technical matters, whereas the problems associated with
Study on Systems Planning for the Introduction of New
sonic boom involve also the economic, legal, social, phy
Aircraft Types. The following principal steps in the study
sical, physiological and psychological fields.
The Sixteenth Session of the Assembly, acting on a pro
have been contemplated: 1. determination of what aircraft characteristics and other
factors are likelyto be significant in assessing the effect upon the infrastructure and the community of the intro duction of a new aircraft type; 2. exploration of the possibility of obtaining usable in
posal submitted jointly by Austria, Denmark, Federal Re public of Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland, ad opted Resolution A16-4.
formation on the above factors before the relevant
design features of a new aircraft are frozen and the production process commenced; 3. consideration of ways in which the above information,
to the extent that it appears obtainable, may best be presented to States to assist them in assessing the benefits and penalties associated with the new aircraft type;
4. evaluation of the workload that would fall upon States and the representative bodies and Secretariat of ICAO in making such assessments of future new aircraft types, and of any budgetary implications for ICAO; 5. evaluation of the practicability of the systems planning
approach, taking into account the benefits expected to come from it and the difficulties and cost of applying it. â?–
30
Resolution A16-4 (Commercial Introduction of Supersonic Aircraft): V/ h e r e a s in the period since the Fourteenth Session
of the Assembly which in Resolution A14-7 specially re quested that supersonic aircraft should be able to operate in commercial service without creating unacceptable situ ations for the public due to sonic boom, experience and research in respect of this phenomenon have suggested that suitable action will have to be taken to prevent the particular problems to which it might give rise, such as interference with sleep due to the sonic boom and injuri ous effects to persons and property on land and at sea caused by the magnification of the sonic boom.
Whereas the Council has set up a Panel to study
the technical problems associated with the commercial introduction of supersonic aircraft.
Stage 5. Recommendation of appropriate amend ment of the ICAO Annexes and associated documents, us
ing the limits set in Stage 3.
Whereas the States involved in the manufacture of
Stage 6. Convening of a world wide conference
such supersonic aircraft, as well as other States, are carry ing out intense research into the physical, physiological and sociological effects of sonic boom.
aimed at establishing ICAO agreements related to sonic boom, taking into account the recommendations develop ed during Stage 5 and the proposals made by States on
the subject of the fourth Resolving Clause of Resolution The Assembly:
1. Reaffirms the importance it attaches to ensuring that no unacceptable situation for the public is created by sonic boom when supersonic aircraft are introduced into commercial service.
A16-4.
At on appropriate Stage of the programme, the Coun cil should take the action necessary to encourage SST manufacturing States to furnish ICAO with their proposals on the subject of the fourth Resolving Clause of Resolution A16-4.
2. Invites the States concerned to furnish relevant in
formation concerning the operating characteristics of such aircraft, together with the results of their research into the effects of sonic boom, as soon as these are available.
3. Instructs the Council, in the light of information
already at hand and the information referred to in (2) above, and availing itself of the appropriate machi nery, to review the Annexes and other relevant docu ments, so OS to ensure that they take due account of
the problems which the operation of supersonic aircraft
may create for the public and, in particular, as regards
sonic boom to take action to achieve international agreement on measurement of the sonic boom, the
definition in quantitative or qualitative terms of the expression unacceptable situations for the public"
and the establishment of the corresponding limits.
4. Invites the States involved in the manufacture of supersonic aircraft to furnish ICAO in due course with
Regional Supplementary Procedures Rationalization of Document 7030
In April 1968 the Air Navigation Commission commenc
ed preliminary action on a number of issues related to the content and format of the Regional Supplementary Proce dures (SUPPS) in Doc. 7030.
Meanwhile the ICAO Secretariat has developed draft proposals to rationalize the presentation, format and con tent of the SUPPS, which include:
a) Alignment, in the interest of uniformity, of SUPPS which differ only slightly from each other or vary because of the different time-periods which hove elapsed since
proposals on the manner in which any specifications established by ICAO yould be met." In accordance with this Resolution, the ICAO Secretary General has presented a paper (C-WP/4902) on the Pro blems of Sonic Boom to the Sixty-Fifth Session of the Coun cil, which discusses the problem in general and presents a
they were introduced; b) transfer to the relevant Annexes or PANS of any exist
staged plan of action,directed towards resolving the many problems associated with sonic boom. The plan envisages the following stages:
non-application" (i.e. "differences") of the SUPPS; e) a presentation of the SUPPS in a more convenient form.
Stage 1 . Initiation of action directed to achieving international agreement on on acceptable and practical method of describing and measuring sonic boom in terms realistically representative of its degree of disturbance to
ing SUPPS which are, or might be, universally applied; c) a new method of indicating the area of applicability of the SUPPS;
d) discontinuance of the publication of the "degree of
The draft proposals have recently been presented to the ICAO Member States for comment, on the basis of which the Commission will continue its study on the ratio nalization oft he SUPPS and will propose definite action to the ICAO Council.
human beings. This stage to include the establishment of a unit of measurement of sonic boom, and the develop ment of definitions of the terminology to be used.
Stage 2. Definition in quantitative and qualitative terms, suitable for international application, of the ex pression "unacceptable situations for the public", using for this purpose the unit and means of measurement estab lished under Stage 1.
Stage 3. Recommendation, for international appli cation, of corresponding limits of acceptability, probably
over a representative range of environments such as den sely populated areas, sparsely populated areas, potential
avalanche areas, coastal water, etc. taking due account in
each case of the possible need to establish separate day time and night-time limits.
Stage 4. Consideration of the need to develop additional provisions for the prevention of adverse effects on livestock and property.
Growth in Civil Aviation 1968: Another Good Year in the Face of Difficult Circumstances
As far as can be judged from the statistics now avail able, the world's airlines will have broken all traffic re
cords in 1968 in spite of a combination of economic, social and political circumstances in many countries, parti cularly in Europe, which were hardly propositious for the development of international air travel.
According to estimates released in late December, 1968, by the International Civil Aviation Organization for its 116 Member States, by the end of the year the airlines 31
will have carried 261 million passengers for a total of 308,000 million passenger-kilometres (191,500 million pas senger-miles) on scheduled services, representing increases of 12% and 13% respectively over 1967. These growth rotes ore definitely lower that those recorded from 1966 to 1967 ( + 17% for passengers and +19% for possenger-kilometres/possenger-miles) which is attributed mainly to the events mentioned above. (It should also be borne in mind that the 1966 global statistics were considerably influenced
The ATA, a Corporation Member of IFATCA, is a ser vice organization representing virtually all of the schedul
ed certificated airlines of the United States. It was orga nized in 1936 to se.rve the public and the government on behalf of its member airlines in a wide range of activities from the improvement of safety to the planning for the air lines'
role
in
national
defense.
ATA
by the strike of airline personnel which paralysed opera tions of five major United States airlines during the summer of 1966, with the result that the traffic growth rotes record ed from 1 966 to 1967 were somewhat inflated.)
Freight and excess baggage will reach a total of 7,940 million tonne-kilometres (5,440 million ton-miles) i.e. 19% and 29% more than the preceding year. These increases of 1,240 million tonne-kilometres (850 million ton-miles) of
Digital Air Traffic Control Training Simulator for EUROCONTROL Institute
freight and excess baggage and 540 million tonne-kilo
of Air Navigation Services Luxembourg
metres (370 million ton-miles) of mail are the highest civil aviation has yet known. It should be remembered that for
In late January, 1969, EUROCONTROL awarded a con tract to Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd. worth 68 million Bel
several years the development of air mail has been clearly influenced by events in Viet Nam (gains of 21% from 1964 to 1965, 39% from 1965 to 1966, 24% from 1966 to 1967 and 29% from 1967 to 1968). In 1968, the global air traffic (passenger, freight, excess
gian Francs for the commissionning of an air traffic ser vices training simulator in the Eurocontrol Institute of Air Navigation Services currently under construction in Luxem bourg.
This complex computer-driven simulator will provide
baggage and mail) of all airlines of ICAO N^lember States rose to 37,450 million tonne-kilometres (25,650 million tonmiles), which is about 3.4 times greater than the 1959 traf fic figure, thus giving an average annual growth rate of
the new European Institute with a highly flexible and ver
close to 15% for the ten years 1959-1968. ICAO
ment and the computer prog.rammes have been so con
satile tool for the advanced, specialist training of air traf fic services personnel: controllers, programming staff and maintenance engineers and technicians. Both the equip ceived as to ensure not only that training needs of the moment can be met but also the demands for the highly specialized personnel, made necessary by the ever increas ing application of automated techniques in air traffic con trol.
Airlines launch ATC Study
Two Elliott 905 digital computers form the nucleus of the simulator as well as provide the means for an automat
The scheduled airlines of the United States have begun on intensive study to determine how today's air traffic control system should be remodeled to handle safely and efficiently the expected growth of aviation during the fore
ed documentation centre for matters of air navigation safety and related fields. The main computer will produce
seeable future.
Acting on a recommendation of the 1968 Airline Ope
rations Conference of the Air Transport Association (ATA), t h e A i r l i n e A i r T r a f fi c C o n t r o l C o m m i t t e e h a s e s t a b l i s h e d
an Air Traffic Control System Planning Group, under the chairmanship of Mr. E. V/. Pike, director of air traffic management for Mohawk Airlines. Other members of the working group include representatives of American, Eastern, Pan American, Trans World, United and North west Airlines.
The working group is currently seeking additional re
presentation from local service and helicopter airlines. At the same time, representatives of concerned government agencies are being invited to join the working group in an observer, or associate member, status.
Purpose of the ATC System Planning Group is to de termine what kind of air traffic control system will be
needed by 1975, and what steps have to be taken to get there. The group's terms of reference call for an ATC system that can handle the growth of aviation with safety and efficiency, a system which provides for changes, how ever radical, to be evolutionary, and caters to all users of the airspace.
32
the simulated flight trajectories of, simultaneously, up to 60 aircraft and their detection by two simulated primary and secondary radar stations. The second computer will drive the simulator's display system consisting of 22 elec
tronic displays showing the processed air traffic data in
dynamic or tabulated form. These viewing units will be
used as Controllers' and Pilots' positions, each equipped with modern designation devices such as touch wire sys tems, light pens and dynamic keyboards.
An advanced telecommunication system to be installed by International Airadio Ltd. will provide the means to simulate air/ground and ground/ground communications.
An important feature of the simulator's conception is that six simulation exercises can be run simultaneously, giving the necessary capacity for the diversity of training the Institute will have to provide.
The Institute will commence its theoretical training
courses in the Autumn of 1969 and the work of installing the simulator is being phased in to meet the programme of the progressive introduction of specialist training. The
system will be fully operational in early 1971 providing for the most advanced operational and technical training of
air traffic services personnel from the Eurocontrol Member
States and of those other States who may wish to avail themselves of the services of the Institute. EURO
Why Schiphol has the
"most expensive"
Multi-Channel Recorders
Certainly not for reasons of prestige! The specification
calied for 100% reliabiiity, a guarantee that ail terminal and en route air traffic controi messages wouid be taped. Oniy Phiiips Muiti-Channel Recorder gives it. its selective fault correction and aiarm system compieteiy eliminates
the possibiiity of missing anything. The main reason for choosing Phiiips Muiti-Channei Recorder is economy. Cost per channei is iowest of aii. This aiso hoids good for tape costs as Philips Muiti-Channei Recorders operate at a creep
speed, and tapes accommodate more tracks per width, in addition, tape and head wear are insignificant. Heads for exampie, are guaranteed for 20.000 working hours. Caiculate for yourseif what these factors can mean in terms of running costs, if you stiii need convincing, ask yourself why more than 150 major airports are equipped with Phiiips recorders. To i e a r n m o r e a b o u t o u r M u i t i - C h a n n e l C o m m u n i c a t i o n s Recorders, piease write to:
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M
11 :
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