IFATCA - The Controller - May 1974

D 21003 F

JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATI O N OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIAT I O N S

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In this Issue :

FRANKFURT AM MA I N

Stress in Air Traffic Control ATC Exhibition in the United States

MAY 19 74

VOLUM E 1 3

N0 . 2

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~

EL AL in Hebrew means to the skies The sky is not the limit of our service

IFATCA

JOURNAL

OF

AIR

TRAFFIC CONTROL

THE CONTROllER Frankfurt am Main, May 1974

Volume 13

No.2

Publisher: International Federation of Air Traffic Con· trollers' Associations, P. 0. B. 196, CH-1215 Geneva 15, Airport, Switzerland.

Officers of IFATCA: J-D. Monin, President, O. H. J6nsson, Vice-President (Technical), R. Meyer, Vice-President (Professional), H. Guddat, Vice-President (Administration), T. H. Harrison, Executive Secretary, J. Gubelmann, Treasurer.

Editor: G. J. de Boer, P. 0. B. 8071 Edleen, Kempton Park, Tvl., 1625 ~outh Africa Telephone: 975-3521 Contributing Editor: V. D. Hopkin (Human Factors)

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Publishing Company, Production, Subscription Service and Advertising Sales Office: Verlag W. Kramer & Co., 6 Frankfurt am Main 60, Bornheimer Landwehr 57a, Phone 43 43 25 and 49 21 69, Frankfurter Bank, No. 3-03333-9. Rate Card Nr. 4.

Printed by: W. Kramer & Co., 6 Frankfurt am Main 60, Bornheimer Landwehr 57a.

Subscription Rate: OM 6.- per annum for members of IFATCA OM 10.- per annum for non-members (Postage will be charged extra) Contributors are expressing their personal points of view and opinions, which must not necessarily coincide with those of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA).

IFATCA does not assume responsibility for statements made and opinions expressed, it does only accept re· uponsibility for publishing these contributions.

Contributions are welcome as are comments and criticism. No payment can be made for manuscripts submitted for publication in "The Controller". The Editor reserves the right to make any editorial changes In manuscripts, which he believes will improve the material without altering the intended meaning.

CONTENTS ......... .

3

A Medical Study on Controller-prone Diseases ............. .

6

"Spirit of St. Louis" greets ATC ........................... .

7

Computer Aid for Approach Sequencing ................... .

10

International Law ....................................... .

12

Clinical Problems and Stress in Air Traffic Control

Wake Turbulence Study ................................. .

14

The Uncrowded Sky ..................................... .

15

The International Air Carrier Association

................. .

17

The Changing Pattern of Stress ........................... .

19

Statistical Recording of Air Traffic

....................... .

22

Europe modernizes, computerizes to meet ATC Challenge ... .

25

............................... .

28

......................................... .

31

Automated Link for Air Traffic Control Centre ............... .

32 34

Fotos: AEG-TELEFUNKEN, Glen Gilbert Associates, IACA, IFATSEA, Philips Telecommunication Systems.

News from the Corporation Members ..................... .

Legal Developments in Aviation ........................... .

38

Cover: Horst Guddat

News from EUROCONTROL ............................. .

40

IFATSEA - A new International Organisation ............... .

41

News from the Federation

42

25th Anniversary of the Australian Association ............. .

44

News from Member Associations

46

Written permission by the Editor is necessary for re· printing any part of this Journal.

Advertisers In this Issue: EL AL, Israel Airlines (insde cover) AEG-TELEFUNKEN (page 21) control - revue trimestrielle d'APCA (page 48) Selenia Radar and Systems Division (back cover)

ATC and the 10-year Plan Fool me twice

IFATCA and the. Airlines We are nearing the date of our 13th Annual Conference, and usually, at this time, many members are busy writing reports, studying conference papers, and preparing themselves generally for the busy days ahead. The Annual Conference is the focal point of the Federation's activities, when many representatives of other Organisations drop in and join controllers as welcome guests of the Federation. We have a good long-standing relationship with Airline Organisations such as IATA and ATA (one of our Corporation Members), which we value, and we hope to cement these ties further in times to come.

However, all is not well in our relations with the Airline World, and here we mean that controllers, rightly or wrong, believe that the will to help and understand each other meaningfully comes mainly from one side, namely the controllers' side. The average controller leans over backwards, so to speak, trying to accomodate, to fit into complicated traffic patterns, to expedite and to safeguard airline and other traffic. And he asks, understandably: are the airlines ever doing anything for me? Do they understand what we are doing for them?

As far as IFATCA's experiences with individual airlines are concerned: we find them - in many instances - very helpful and eager to assist the Federation. This we sure appreciate. But when it comes to dealing with the airline world as it is organised nationally and internationally, for example within ATA and IATA, we come up against the proverbial brick wall. In recent issues of THE CONTROLLER we have reported on the latest approaches made by our U.S. Member Organisation to ATA, and on our own approach to IATA on the vexed questions of free or reduced airline travel for air traffic controllers, and their replies have been published (IATA's reply is reproduced in this issue). The replies were totally negative. From IATA's reply it is obvious to us that this Organisation does not fully understand the vital role which our Federation plays in the Airline Industry of to-day.

Some say that it is not the Airlines themselves but Governments who - in prescribing airline policies - stand in the way of a better deal for controllers in this matter.

As in the case of individual airlines, in our dealings as a Federation with Governments we receive much cooperation (this is illustrated by the fact that two of the present Board Members who live away from he main population centres where Member Association activity is concentrated, receive Government assistance enabling them to attend the meetings of he Board, a gesture which is greatly appreciated). On the other hand, Governments can be singularly helpful too, as events of recent date involving the Federation in various parts of Europe have demonstrated. It is difficult to pin down where overall responsibility for the stalemate rests, but that the airlines are powerless to put this thing right, just does not hold water with us.

And as long as a typist in an airline office receives preferential treatment over a controller who is selected by his Federation to attend an international safety meeting, which

quite often means that he cannot go because of the costs involved, while the typist will end up on that sunny beach as sure as night follows day, we find it most difficult to accept that the airline industry really understands the value of our input into the world of aviation in general and the airline world in particular.

Too Much Stress?

The widespread interest and concern about the problems of stress in air traffic control was demonstrated at recent conferences on the subject held at Manchester and at Munich, the latter including a symposium convened by SATCRA (the Stress in Air Traffic Control Research Association).

The two texts which follow are revisions of papers presented at the conference in Manchester on "Stress in Air Traffic control", which attracted a large audience and obtained wide coverage in the Press. Both the papers are controversial. If they prove to be sufficiently controversial to provoke a lively correspondence in the pages of THE CONTROLLER, so much the better.

There are two main points to which attention may be drawn. One is that "stress" is a complex notion, and to think of it as something to be reduced as much as possible may be to ignore some of its satisfying qualities. Work has satisfying qualities in its own right; stress may have too. The second point relates to Dr. Wagstaff's paper, particularly in conjunction with a brief report elsewhere in this issue of some research in the United States on illnesses prevalent among controllers. Apparently the incidence and prevalence of stress-related symptoms among controllers are by no means the same in all countries. Therefore at least part of the explanation for these symptoms may lie not so much in the job of air traffic control itself as in factors which vary more from one country to another, such as shins, conditions of employment, methods of recruitment and training, quality of management, professional status, pay etc.

Cost of Subscription and individual copies of "The Controller" The Executive Board has determined the cost of a year's subscription and single copies of "The Controller" as follows: Members: yearly subscription 6.- OM; single copy 2.- OM Non-Members: yearly subscription 10.- OM; single copy 3.- OM. Postage will be charged extra according to the tariff in use.

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Clinical Problems and Stress in Air Traffic Control*

by Dr. A. E. Wagstaff, Senior Medical Adviser to the National Air Traffic Services, United Kingdom

The topic of "Clinical Problems in Air Traffic Control Personnel", as a result of the various stress factors to which they are subjected, is a large one as it embraces many conditions met with in general and hospital practice. As far as we are aware, there are, to date, no diseases in the United Kingdom which can be labelled "controllers diseases" and we have seen no evidence that any particular clinical conditions are more prevalent in ATC personnel than in any other section of the community in this country.

It has been recognised for many years now that air traffic controllers, as well as their aircrew colleagues, are necessary and vital links in the movement of aircraft - necessary because aircraft and ATC systems cannot function effectively without them, and vital because man must be used when an unforeseen situation demands an on-the-spot decision. Flying and air traffic control are becoming more and more automated, but all indications are that man will not be designed out of the loop for a long time to come.

A glance at one or two features about the history of Air Traffic Control might be useful. The need for the ground control of civil aircraft grew out of military experience of the problem and the increasing number of aircraft used for civilian purposes.

Prior to the Second World War flying, as a means of getting from (a) to (b), was restricted to very few people. During the Second World War aircraft, as instruments of destruction and protection against it, became more and more important and, with organised destruction, came the need to organise the movement and guidance of air traffic.

After the War the use of aircraft for civil transport purposes really got under way. The civilian controller has come into his own, to an increasing extent, over the last 25 years or so. With knowledge of the jobs to be done in the operation of aircraft, the limitations that some people have in doing them and with some experience already of the problem, the International Civil Aviation Organization, set up for the purpose, recommended physical standards for aircrew and controllers, as well as standards for their training and licensir]Q to operate. The goals were efficiency and flight safety in aviation and, over the years, these standards have gone a long way to achieving their aims. However, human failure there has been time and time again, just as with equipment failure, and increasing attention is being given to this subject with a view to providing more adequate human link fail safe devices to match the fail safe mechanism being introduced more and more on the equipment side.

Technological progress over the years in aviation has been rapid and impressive. In the same period, there has been no development at all in the design and function characteristics of human beings.

How then have workers kept pace with the increasing variety and complexity of machines, computers and the like that they are expected to use? To answer this, I would make the point that human beings are very adaptable - and here • First presented at the Symposium on "Stress in Air Traffic Control", at Manchester University on 13th October 1973

is the trick! if the job is difficult or awkward or boring or tiring and so on - man (and women for that matter) has a way of coping with the difficulties of the job and making it work somehow!

But we haven't perhaps asked ourselves often enough at what price has the operator dealt with this or that difficulty, day in and day out over perhaps many years. When, from time to time, the human link in the system fails, we talk of human error incidents or accidents and, in retrospect and on investigation, we trace the failure back to a mistake or even a SP"i~s of mistakes for which there is usually an explanation. This may or may not be adequate in telling us how the incident or accident happened, but we do not so often find out why the mistakes were made in the first place.

Fortunately, incidents and accidents are relatively rare 1 occurrences. It more frequently happens, as i n other occupations, that following an increase in the amount or number of stress factors affecting a controller, either at work or domestically, or a combination of the two, he suffers a temporary failure to cope, and this manifests itself as clinical problem.

Failure to cope is not the prerogative of the mature controller - it may occur in the very early stages of his career, while he is still training.

Despite the selection process, some trainees realise after a while that they made the wrong decision In choosing air traffic control as a career and opt out. The decision to opt out will be made difficult if the individual concerned feels he is losing face. He may not even be able to admit to himself that he made the wrong decision. On the other hand, he or she may desperately want to become a controller and be extremely highly motivated, only to realise that he cannot manage the stresses of the job. We have had cadets with recurring headaches or vague stomach upsets which have been traced to incompatibility with the work. We had a case with an apparently insignificant history of asthma several years prior to selection which blew up into an acute asthmatic condition ("Status Asthmaticus") within weeks of commencing training. As a further example, a very promising cadet with a severe leg disability but tremendous enthusiasm and motivation just could not handle the physical demands required of him in the variety of tasks to which he was allocated. Needless to say, these tasks are not onerous where no disability exists.

In fully fledged controllers clinical patterns of illness and disease follow those seen in the population at large, although we believe there are lower incidences in controllers, for two reasons: Firstly, because of the selected nature of controllers as a group, thus reducing the real and potential incidences of disease and, secondly, because of the requirement for controllers to undergo a routine medical examination every twelve months throughout their careers, so enabling problems to be identified, discussed and action taken at an early stage.

A major proportion of air traffic controllers in the United Kingdom (approximately 1,700 in all) are State employees.

Several implications follow from this, not the least of which

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is that they are looked at from the point of view of their medical fitness in the long term, throughout a full career to age 60, as well as the short term requirement of medical fitness to hold a licence for the next twelve months.

The role of the Medical Advisers to the National Air Traffic Services in this context is to interpret the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization in respect of controllers and having decided the licensing status of the individual, to advise Management as to the jobs which h~¡or she could or could not be expected to do.

Tracing the careers of ATCO's a little further; being members of a nationwide service, most controllers in the U. K. can expect several postings during their career. As cadets in training which, ab initio lasts for three years, they spend short periods at many places. The work is new, varying in nature and challenging. Motivation is high, ability is usually more than adequate and responsibility, both on the job and domestically, is of a low order. I've already mentioned some of their difficulties earlier in speaking of wastage in training, and other conditions at this stage such as infectious diseases and traumatic injury are mainly of nuisance value, disrupting training schedules and requiring a lot of administrative juggling about to make up for lost time.

Once qualified as a controller, the years of settling into the job and setting up home and family appear remarkably free of any manifestations of inability to manage the stresses, both at work and at home. Exceptions there are and will be, as in many walks of life, but supportive therapeutic needs at work, in the main, are routine and unremarkable.

It is as controllers get on in their thirties, and responsibilities increase, that some difficulties arise and, as I see it, are possibly related to a change in life style. Participation in organised sport ceases, the house and car become more comfortably appointed, the wife becomes more ambitious with her cuisine and delectable portions on the dining-room table alternate with a "get away from the sink" evening out at the local Steak House! The challenge of establishing oneself is replaced by the challenge of keeping up with the Jone's and, when a feeling of a need for exercise comes over one, a rest on the bed appears the best antidote until it passes off!

What we are describing here is of course a pattern of behaviour common to a significant proportion of successful young people making headway in their chosen career and reaping the fruits of their endeavours I In many other occupations, tendencies towards over-indulgence go uncriticised and there is often no challenge to achieve and maintain a reasonable standard of fitness. This is not the case among controllers. As mentioned before, they are examined each year by doctors selected for their interest and experience in aviation. Tendencies to drift away from a satisfactory state of physical and mental well-being are pointed out and discussed with a view to correction.

As in many occupations, some tasks that ATCO's perform are more stressful than others and some ATC units are under more pressure for more of the time than others. Many of the stress or conflict factors which the controller may take to work with him are long term in nature, e. g. financial worries, family problems and so on. At his place of wor~ other longer term factors may be troubling him, for example, shift duties, frustration with ~anagement, equipment difficulties.

Short term stresses are mostly to be found where the controller comes into contact with his equipment, be it radio telephones, the radar tube, closed circuit television or "switchery" of all kinds as examples, and in the tasks he has to do. In this last connection, the problems of presentation,

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interpretation and work load are complicated as th~re are so many variables and the man machine complex in use must inevitably be a compromise of some kind. Not the least of the variables is the operating level and ability of the controller himself. Whatever his standard, some stress is necessary to encourage and enhance his performance, whereas too much may cause deterioration. Boredom may result in lack of vigilance and over arousal can be the cause of mistakes. The whole operation requires to be a balance of factors, so that decision making can be facilitated, with safe, orderly and expeditious flow of traffic the end product.

I should like to address my remaining remarks to the clinical problems of ageing controllers.

Let us look at this time related pattern of changes in the structure and function of human beings, starting as it does around fifteen years of age and proceeding gradually and at different rates.

The muscles, bones and joints of the body provide the "servo output phase" for the human operator. Muscle performance starts so deteriorate gradually after the age of about 30, which is when most of us reach the peak of our physical prowess. It is of course possible to maintain muscle performance by means of exercise. From about the age of 50 however, the amount of active muscle tissue decreases and muscular power suffers as a result.

Bones and joints are in full bloom in ones twenties, the bones remaining more or less the same till old age, but the joints become less and less flexible and mobile as a result of disuse and atrophy and the associated decline in muscle efficiency already mentioned.

The degenerative processes described do give rise to clinical problems in older controllers, particularly those with predisposing weaknesses. Neck (cervical) and back (lumbar) disc lesions in varying degrees of severity are not uncommon and these handicaps do tax a controller's ability to work his equipment in the seatet and standing positions. There have been cases where the individual has had to be taken off the particular type of work altogether.

With the decline in the efficiency of the musculo skeletal system comes a slowing of reaction time and deterioration in co-ordination. Experience counters the decline in skill to a large extent and performance is not usually impaired. There is however, a definite impairment in the ability to learn new skills and we have already met difficulties which some older controllers have in converting to more sophisticated area control work when they have been removed from the stresses of this sort of task for several years. There have been cases of anxiety and depression, prolonged periods of sick absence with debility, malaise and other ill-defined diagnoses and an association in many cases with lack of success in training or retraining for more sophisticated tasks.

The special senses, the eyes, the ears and the proprioceptive system, or system which orientates you in your surroundings, are affected by age. As controllers know so well, their eyes and ears are given particular attention, both as part of their selection and regularly thereafter.

The vision and colour vision standards, as recommended

by ICAO, do help to ensure that, allowing for physiological deterioration with age, the licence holder and, for many organisations, the employee, will be able to continue to manage all the operational tasks which may be required of him throughout his career.

In the U. K. correction of vision with lenses is allowed.

Spectacles, worn ordinarily far short or long sight, astigmatism, presbyopia, or a combination of these, are not always suitable for ATC tasks. Particular difficulties are en-

DEAD System Frankfurt, Controller working Position

countered at so me work places where controllers, sitting at consoles, are required to view displays and operate switches at many different distances. The older controller, with a stiffening eye lens and diminshing power of accommodation, finds he cannot alter focus quickly enough, the distances required in area work for example being an ything from 30 inches to 6 feet and the size of the letteri ng or numbers as small as 2-4 millimeters in height. Under these co nditi on s the hypermetrope or long-sighted perso n is th e first to appeal for help, finding th at he cannot focus easily at 30 in ches on the radar tube , or flight progress strips and, some time later. on chang ing focus from 30 inches to further away.

As headsets have to be worn over th e spectacles we have found that metal frames of the Algh a Sports type with plastic lenses are the lightest, least obtrusive and most comfortable and help in reduc ing th e strain imposed by this particular difficu lty. 'Half eyes' or bifocal lenses a re usually presc ribed, although we do have one o r two controllers wearing trifocal lenses.

In all pratica l cases controllers requiring occupational spectac les, as we cal l them, are refe rred to an opth almologist fami liar with the wo rkin g envi ronment, who can discuss operating d istances wi th th e contro ll er and ensure a presc ription with the best ra ng e of foc us for that partic ular person's needs. Age related vision defects do not, in our experi ence, cause any particular problems in j ob placement, and withdrawa l of licence privileges, in th ese cases, is most rare.

Presbyacusis o r loss of hearing with age , does not present quite the same cl inical problem as v ision, for three reasons: Firstly, on se lection of yo ung recruits cases with bad clini cal histories are e liminated and only th ose app licants whose baseline audiogram meets the laid down ICAO reco mmended standard are accepted. Second ly, hearing is examined at yea rl y intervals throughout a co ntro ller's career, ore more often if co ns idered necessary and audiograms are inc luded as part of the screeni n g process. Specia li st help is sough t in problem cases and appropriate action taken early.

Thi rdly, alt hough a co ntroller may suffe r a deterioration of hearing with age, he invariably has a volume control at his working position, which he can adju st to his req uirements.

Again, in our experience, age related hearing defects do not prese nt difficulties i n job placement. with one or two exceptt rollers. although agai n there are exceptions.

As a result of changes in proprioception w ith age, such as loss of vibrat ion sense, deterioration of t he vestibular mechanism of the ear, together with a declin e in co-ordinat ion ab ility mentioned earlier, older persons tend to be less well oriented than younger ones. As the combination of these effec ts is most often seen in very advanced years, sig nificant changes are not normally seen in practising controllers, although again there are exceptions.

There are two important clinical problem areas which are predominant in lead in g to restrictions or loss of licence privileges in AT COs, in common w ith their aircrew co lleagues, and these are cardiovascular and psych iatric conditions.

Evidence to date inclines us to the view that these condi tions are less prevalent in con trollers than in the population at large in the United Kingdom. Statistical information is as yet too spa rse to be of any p ractical help in confir ming this point of view. However, what really matters is that these conditions have particu lar relevance to controller tasks and licenci ng stand ards and stress is known to play a part in the manifestation of many of these cond itions.

This in itse lf is suffic ient justificatio n for the increasing attention being given to this overall problem.

In summary, stress factors are present in air traffic control, as many other occupations, an d they are identifiable under well recognised general headings. There is no evidence so far to suggest that stresses affecting controllers in the long term produce undue deterioration in health or illnesses of a specific nature related to the job. However, thi!"; does not mean that evidence will not be forthcom ing and it is essen tial. therefore, that all concerned work together to establish the content and extent of the difficu lties affectin g cont rol lers so t hat step s can be taken to counter any adverse trends in health which may develop. In this connection, the Civil Aviation Authority in the United Kingdom have initiated their own survey of human factors in the operation of Ai r T raffic Control and the follow-up to the report on this su rvey is awaited with interest.

Research into human factors in Air Traffic Control in th e

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United Kingdom overall, and in which the subject of stress is important, is being co-ordinated by one of my colleagues, and we are optimistic of action and results.

'The Stress in Air Traffic Control Research Association', recently established, now provides an international forum for discussion and advances in this subject.

Additionally, in the international field, the large and influential Aerospace Medical Association of the United States and the International Congress of Aviation and Space Medicine, sponsored by the International Academy of the same name, are devoting an increasing interest to such problems.

A Medical Study on Controller-prone Diseases In the Spring of 1971, the Office of Aviation Medicine of the FAA contacted the Division of Neuropsychiatry of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research about the possibility of developing a protocol to study the potential effects of stress on the physical and psychological health of Air Traffic Controllers. Interest in the potential detrimental effects of stress in this group grew out of numerous reports, both anecdotal and scientific, which strongly suggested that men in air traffic control work were at increased risk to develop psychological and physical problems. These observations were reviewed and summarized by Dr. A. D. Catterson, a member of the Air Traffic Controller Career Committee (Corson's report, DOT, January, 1970).

Despite the evidence suggesting an increased health risk, there is a relative paucity of information identifying what are the crucial factors that contribute to this increased risk. Different issues have been suggested; such as, the prolonged attention required on the job, anticipation of failure ("burn-out"), shift work, possible underlying personality variables, difficulty in supervisory-journeyman ATC relations, etc.

From over a decade of stress research at Walter Reed, it has become apparent that not all men are stressed by the same thing, be it combat, anticipation of attack, prolonged uncertainty, or, reasoning by analogy, Air Traffic Controller work.

Dr. Sidney Cobb of the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, undertook an analysis of the twelve 2400 ft. reels of tape provided by the Medical Statistical Section at Oklahoma City. These tapes contained over 880,000 medical records. Inclusion in this study rested on the following criteria:

(1) Record of medical examination in 1969-1970.

(2) Record of a previous examination within the preceding two years.

(3) For Air Traffic Controllers, individuals currently working in control towers or air traffic control canters.

4,325 male journeymen Air Traffic Controllers were included in the study, and compared to 8,435 other Second Class Airmen, on whom comparable medical records were available.

Throughout the comparison, attempts were made to control for licensing bias, that is, to assess the frequency of denial of license for a particular disease entity for Air Traffic Controllers vs. other Second Class Airmen. Five disease groups, previously identified as stress related, were extracted from the records.

For two diseases, hypertension and peptic ulcer, there were sufficient numbers of individuals with these problems to permit adequate statistical comparisons.

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For hypertension, 5.6 times as many new cases were observed in the year among Air Traffic Controllers, compared to that observed for the group of other Second Class Airmen. In addition, it also appears that the average age at onset of hypertension is earlier.

For peptic ulcer, there was a significantly greater frequency of men with the disease who worked at high stress centers, as opposed to those at low stress canters. This difference appeared to be greatest for those under 35.

Quotes

by Air Traffic Control Spokesmen across the World Thomas J. Boyce, Jr., ATCS New York Center, Chairman of PATCO's Occupational Safety and Health Committee: "Health hazards are some of the most serious problems that we will have to deal with. We have noise problems that affect our hearing. We are exposed to artificial light more than three hours a day affecting our eyes. Staring at radar displayed for long period affects our vision also. There is a danger from overexposure to microwaves and radiation exposure from the radar. We are subjected to both VHF and UHF noise and many sounds that might be going through our ears we do not hear because the range might be above or below our hearing threshold, but these sounds could affect us physically or physiologically.

Poor lighting is another problem, as are periods of high stress followed by periods of boredom. Constant shift changing in too short a period of time affects us. Eating habits should be regular, but impossible with our type of work. Being on a position for too long a period caused by lack of personnel. All of these things and many more have put a strain upon all of us.

The Corson Committee verified some of these inadequacies, and led to a shorter retirement for controllers due to the efforts of PATCO. At present a medical study of controllers is under way, conducted by Dr. Rose of Boston, to obtain more facts. Recently, I contacted a group in California and hope to get another study under way very shortly there. Complete inspections and studies can also be accomplished by the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, which is a government agency that sets standards for private industry. These studies can be made only if the Agency permits them to be made, which might be a problem."

,,Spirit of St. Louis" Greets ATC

by Glen A. Gilbert*)

Overview photo locates principal elements comprising the Smithsonian 's ATC Exhibit.and shows ar ea covered in th is "walk-through tour" article.

" The m ission of the Air Traffic Control System {ATC) is to provide safe, orderly and expeditious flow of air traffic.

In the orderly, safe and speedy movement of aircraft from place to place, many ground based people are involved.

Their functions are not well known to the public, but they are critically Important to flight. This exhibit presents their history and explains their functions."

These wo rds, o n a large panel unde r th e captio n A IR TRAFF IC CO NTRO L, introduce the visito r to the AT C Exhibit wh ich recently was c reated by the Smith sonian Institutio n, Washin gton's p restigious and world famous museum. Temporar ily housed in one of the Inst itution's o ld bu ildings, it w ill later on be expanded somewhat and become a permanent fixture in the new National A ir and Space Museum opening in Washington o n J uly 4. 1976.

As one app roaches the ent rance to the exhibit area, "flying" overhead is Charles Lind bergh 's "Spirit of St Lo uis".

ATC was yet to be even thoug ht of when that plane made its historic flight! But, just two yea rs later - in 1929 - a young

") Edi tor 's No te: Mr. Gilbert was a principal founder and the first head of the U . S. Air Tr affic Control organization when it got underway in the mid-1930's. With broad international background , he is a valued corporate member of IFATCA as well as a member o f PATCO and ATCA (USA) and CATCA (Canada). As Presi dent o f Gl en A . Gilb ert & Assoc iates, Aviation Consultants, he continues to b e inter ested in a broad spectrum of activities rela ting to i mproving air safe ty and supporting the global progress o f air transportation .

A rmy Aviatior, Lt. James Doolittle, demonstrated that instrument o r " b lind " flying had by then beco me possible. This event, not realized at t he ti me, forecast the coming need to d evelop an organized system for the control and separation of airc raft to avoid collisions w hen the pilots were flying on inst ruments and could n't "see and be seen". A model of the p lane used by Doo little in this significant demonstration fli ght greets the visitor as he enters the ATC exh ibit area.

T o v isualize w hat this exhibit looks like, let's take a walk-aro und to ur, criss-crossing from left to right, back and forth w hile we traverse the length of the exhibit layout to the finale, t he "Flight Theater" , at the far end.

In the center of the entrance is a working , rotating airways beacon light, one of th!! last to be decommissioned in the United States. (In 1946, 2,112 of these beacons delineated the U. S. Airways System). T o the right of the beacon is a panel showing early methods of vis ual signaling to control airport traffic using flags, panels and light guns. An adjo ining display contains early navigation maps and pilots' ground speed/ wind computers (circa 1934).

Moving ahead we see a full scale repli ca of the first IFR ATC Center at Newark, New Jersey, as it looked in 1936, fo llowing transfer to the U. S. Government from the earlier airline developed fac ilities. Life-size mannequins are at work cha lking up aicraft progress reports on a blackboard and pos it io ning "shrimp boats" - representing airc raft positions - on a map tab le . A typical scenario is overhead involving interphone conversat ions between the controllers, the New7

Scale mockup of original IFR ATC Center at Newark as of 1936.

ark Tower and airline dispatchers, as well as off-the-record conversatio n s between the controllers themselves. Let's listen in for a minute : " AMERICAN DISPATCHER (via interphone): American's flight 4 over Martin's Creek at 7000 feet at 6: 42. Estimate New Brunswick at 7 : 12.

JOHNNY (Controller): OK, American.

JOHNNY : (aside to another controller): Isn't Eastern 12 due over Brunswick about that time?

HOMER (Controller): Yeah, but 4 was three minutes later than his estimate at Martin's Creek. I figure from his ground speed that he won't be in before 7: 17.

MAC (Controller): Yeah, those pilots are always moving up their estimates. They all want to be number one to land.

JOHNNY: At least so far no one has given us an estimate that's earlier than his take-off time.

UN ITED DISPATCHER (via interphone) : Airways, this is United. Our fli ght 6 left Cleveland at 6 : 55 and estimates Camden at 8 : 50.

JOHNNY: OK, Charlie. What will his altitude be?

UN ITED DISPATCHER : 7000 feet ; 5000 over Allentown .

JOHNNY : OK, Charlie, thanks.

MAC (to Johnny an d Homer) : You know, it'd sure help if we could talk to the pilots directly."

Adjacent to the mockup is a large scale photo of the early pioneers of the Newark Center days, and the same individuals - w ith some missing - as they looked twenty-five years later.

A panel to the left of the Newark mockup displays the author's book "Air Traffic Control : The Uncrowded Sky", published by the Smithsonian Institution Press. (Three dimens ional enlarged, li ghted transparencies of the various multico lor illustrations from this book are displayed at appropriate spots throughout the exhibit.) Coupled with the display of the book is a quotation from a November 22. 1935, memoran dum

8

written by the author (then a dispatcher) to the Flight Superintendent of American Airlines in Chicago which says: "In connection with the system of traffic contro l now in operation in this office, circumstances have developed . .. ... Similar circumstances will undoubtedly arise in the future. In my opinion compl ete success will not be obtained until a definite authority covering all traffic control has been established, manned by adequately trained personnel."

Directly across from the Newark ATC Center mockup is an actual DC-3 cockpit with typical instrumentation of the mid-1930's. Pilot and copilot mannequi n s are "flying" the aircraft in a simulated ATC enviro nm ~nt of the day, giving the air side perspective of the Center scenario. Typical commun ications are overhead between the airlin e ground dispatcher and pilots. with cockpit chatter between pilot and copilot: "AMERICAN DISPATCHER : Newark to Flight 4, Ai rways Traffic Control clears you to 3,000 feet. Eas tern 12 estimated over New Brunswick at 7: 12 at 4,000 feet.

ERNIE (Co-pilot): Okay Newark, descending to 3,000 feet.

WALT (Pilot) to Ernie : It sure takes a long time to get an answer. We could cut down the delay if we could tal k directly to ATC. ERNIE: That wou ld be a lot better."

(The scenario goes on through a typical land ing sequence.)

In front of the walkup platform for viewing the DC-3 cockpit is a depiction of the growth of the U . S. dom estic airways system in progressive stages of development (1929 , 1936, 1953, 1965 and present) . Says its caption : "Today, more than 2200 navigation aids and 25.000 air traffic controllers make up our Federal Airways System. which handles an average of 58,000 flight operations daily."

Multi -col or. 3-0 illustration from author's b ook shows a typical stacking and approach sequence in the days of the range approach.

Adjacent to this d isplay is an original ea rly mod el of the four-co urse aural radio range tran smitters wh ich were used from the ea rly 1930's into the 1960's to guide pilots along th e Airways system . The unit shown is the fi rst to be installed in th e western region of th e United States (1 936).

To illu strate the use of th e four c ourse radio range, a horizo ntal enc losed map with an animated m odel DC-3 airplane makes an approach to a landing at Baltimore Airport.

Individual earph ones are available for the observer to listen in o n what th e pilot wo uld hear as the fligh t progresses.

Narrated by Ernest K Gann (pi loVautho r), let's tune in tor part of the sto ry: " The pilot navigated by means of audible rad io signals.

There were essentially five audible signals used on a range. There was the clea r N rep resented by a dash and a dot, th e c lea r A represen ted by a dot and a dash. the bi-signal N and the bi-signal A and the on-co urse. The pilot heard a clear A o r N w hen he was far from any of the fou r cou rses or range " legs " . He heard a b i-sign al A or N when c lose to the range legs, and an on -co urse steady to ne when actually on one of the legs."

(Note: The appropri ate signals a re received by th e listener as the narration takes place. )

Crossing back to the right is a panel i llustrating the developm ent of air traffic control co mmunicat ions from 1936 to the early 1950's up to the time wh en the controllers in the centers bega n to have direct communication s with the pilots.

A complementary panel d isplays the different kinds of airport traffic control towers that have been developed in the U nited States over a period of years starting w ith North Pl atte , Nebraska. in 1926; Buffalo . New York in 1937 ; and through the years to the most modern tower structures such as those at Du lles (Washington) , Chicago and Dallas/ Ft. Worth. Also depicted in another near by display are the activities of Fligh t Service Stations, which provide weather b riefing and flight planning services for general aviation pilots.

A series of la rge scale plates next shows the development of the instrument landing system (ILS) , from its late 1930's characteristics on to present day techniques, together with exp lanation of pilot usage. Other panels portray developments in aircraft and navigation fac ilities going back into the 1920's and on through the 1960's.

Moving down the line we encounter a real co llector's item: the original airport surveillance radar conso le, ASR Serial N o. 1. Developed from early Army Air Corps GCA

9

equipment, it had a range of about 30 miles. It was the first type of radar introduced into the U. S. ATC System (1948), and this particular unit was finally decommissioned at Charleston, West Virginia, in 1972. Nearby is a rotating modern ASR antenna.

Not to. be forgotten are the people who maintain the facilities used in the ATC System. "The Maintenance Man" features a life-sized "talking head" of a mannequin seated at a breakfast table. A film of actor Cliff Robertson brings the face of the mannequin to life while he talks to his wife of his life as an airways technician, beginning as a young man in the 1920's, and ages before your eyes over a 50 year span.

Here is his closing conversation: "Good mornin', dear. You know, when I retired five years ago, I thought the Federal Aviation Administration'd never bother my sleep again. But that visit yesterday to the new Air Traffic Control Center really blew my mind, as the kids ·say. All that new stuff - computer processed radar h·uge airplane handling capacity - so much new equipment - whole shelf of new manuals and procedures all kinds of special tools and instruments - bunch of smart kids to do the maintenance...

Would you believe last night I dreamed about it. I dreamed I was maintaining all the new computerized equipment by myself; woke up in a cold sweat and didn't get back to sleep for half an hour .•. Y'know, Helen, in forty-five years I've lost a lot of sleep helping the Air Traffic Control System develop. Man may have landed on the Moon, byt y'know somethin', he's flying around the Earth pretty good now, too! ... Think I'll go back to bed for awhile."

We are now about ready to enter the Flight Theater, which will bring us to the end of our tour. But first, let us look at two displays of today's modern ATC automation equipment which are associated with the theater. On one side is an ARTS Ill console as used in terminal control (TRACON) facilities, and on the other a NAS-A console as used in the enroute control center (AFU"CC) facilities. Both have life sized mannequins in an operational posture; simulated

alphanumerics are shown on the displays and individual listening devices are available to hear typical sequences.

From the front, the theater looks like the nose of an oversized jet. lnsedi, 24 airline type (first class) seats are pr~­ vided in a "wide bodied" cabin. Forward, we see the cockpit of a DC-8 (an actual simulator) and the backs of the Captain and First Officer. Above the cockpit are multi-screen pan~ls which depict aircraft actions, and side panels which depict controller actions. For example, as communications .are carried out during the flight (fast time), the cockpit will hght up when the crew is talking and a side panel will light up to show the appropriate controller interface. Loud speakers give the exact conversations during the flight, conveying in a realistic manner the various pilot/controller interactions which occur during a typical IFR flight. A panel directly above the cockpit has a moving red dot which simulates a radar scope display of the progress of the aircraft during the flig~t.

The scenario was written by author Bob Serling and !s narrated by his brother, TV personality Rod Serling. Here s how it starts: "Ladies and gentleman, you are about to take an airplane trip - but one unlike any you have ever experienced. You will be sitting behind the flight deck of a modern jetliner on a flight from Pittsburg to Washington, but instead of the normal view, you will look behind the scenes at today's air traffic control system. You will see and hear many of the people who advise, instruct, and assist t~e flight crew in all phases of the trip; the people who, 1 ~ one way or another, watch over every flight and guide it from airport to airport.

Your flight today actually began an hour before you boarded, when the Captain prepared and filed a flight plan. He requested and received from A TC a reserved chunk of airspace. This protective box of airspace will be ours for the flight; it will move with our plane and no other plane will be allowed to occupy it."

Eight minutes later we have safely landed and thus ends our journey through the land of AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL. Hope you enjoyed the trip!

Computer Aid for Approach Sequencing David Woolley is the Editor of AIRPORTS lntematlonal, the of· ficial Journal of the International Civil Airports Association. It Is Mr. Woolley's declared aim to keep abreast with developments in the changing world of Air Traffic Control, and we would like to recom· mend his excellent publication to members of IFATCA. In this article, Mr. Woolley reports on new equipment designed to help the Approach Controller to space his traffic accurately. The result could be better runway utilisation at peak times.

With the increasing difficulty in many countries of finding sites for new airports, the capacity of existing ones assumes added significance. Although the advent of wide-body aircraft is already doing much to slow up the growth of traffic, it is clear that airports in a number of areas could become desperately short of capacity in the 1980s.

New York and London are two such areas which spring to mind, one without any prospect of establishing a site for a new airport, and the other with plans for a new airport which may yet, for political or other reasons, be put back.

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by David Woolley

There are of course two separate factors involved in airport capacity. One is the capacity of the passenger terminals and facilities; the other is the capacity of the runway system (including the surrounding airspace) in terms of the number of aircraft movements which it can handle in a given period. Even airports which are perfectly capable of handling the traffic presenting itself in a given year may, because of peaking problems, find themselves in a congested co~­ dition at certain hours of the day, with delays building up m consequence.

What can be done to raise the capacity of a given runway? From the air traffic control point of view, the m~st critical aspect of the matter is the sequencing of landing traffic by approach control - the process of ensuring, with the use of radar, that aircraft arrive on to final approach spaced at the minimum distance which will allow ~ach to land and clear the runway safely without obstructing the succeeding aircraft.

Approach sequencing is one of the controller's greatest skills. To pick airc raft flying on different headings and at d ifferent hei ghts from a number of a dj ace nt stacks, and to sort th em neatly into o rder for landing without wasting p rec iou s time, r equi res a good deal of ex pe rience a nd ve ry ni ce judgeme nt.

Wo r ki ng only fro m visual assessment o f t raffic on the plan positio n indi cator of his radar, however, even the best co ntro lle r cannot provide separation s w ith absolute pre cision and runway c apacity therefore can never reach its theoretical optimum. For this reason control authorities in both the USA and Britai n have ex amined the possibilities of presenting compute r-derived information to the controller which will ::issist him in making quicker and better d ecisio ns, and thus enable him to ma rshal his traffic more accurately.

In its current programme of computer-assisted approach sequencing (CAAS), Britain's C ivil Aviation Authority has produced a system which it will evaluate at Heathro w Airport during 1974, a nd wh ich in operational fo rm could then be used fo r a trial pe riod subsequently.

In approaching the subj ect th e CAA has ke pt in m ind wh at it rec ognises as the innate conservatism of the controll er. Ex p e rie nce has shown that controllers tend to be highly s usp icious of new gadg ets, and even to revert at t imes of stress - when they might ex pect to d erive maximum benefit from th e new aid s - to the older manu al methods.

Th e use of th e wo rds "computer-assisted " is cl early intenti onal ; in designing the new system the c o mpute r has been used to present th e controller with possible solution s wh ich he can accept or re ject - and not to take the control function o ut of his h and s a ltogether.

Ea rli er w ork by th e Federal Aviation Admin istration in the USA w as studied at th e outset. Trial s at Kenn edy Inte rnational in 1967 d emonstrated th at in c reases in l anding rates of around 10 percent could be a ntic ipated from the use of some fo rm o f CAAS. Equally there had been mu ch o pposition from the Kenn edy c ontroll ers to the equipme nt used , partly on g rounds t hat it involved addition al w o rkload .

The Roya l Radar Esta b lis hment in Britain took on the task of develop ing a system which th ey consi de red w o uld be m o re ac ceptabl e to c ontro llers. In p re lim inary work, two simu lation studi es w e re conducted at the Air Traffi c Co ntro l Evaluation Unit (ATCEU) to test the ma n-mach ine interface.

Th e system that has evolve d uses the Fe rranti Argus 500 compute r. Th e end produc t for th e controlle r co nsists in essenc e of a radar dis play, on which th e ta rg ets of aircraft b eing sequ enced a re accompanied by a predi c tion line - a " ghos t " track produ ced by the c ompute r to show th e directi o n and speed w h ich its calculatio ns s uggest sho uld be f lown fo r th e next 90 seconds. Speed is in dicated by the length o f the line; th us, fo r a n a ircraft fl yi ng at 240 k no ts th e le ngth o f th e line wou ld correspond to 6 n. mil es.

Th e con trol le r can then e ither d irect the aircraft alon g the suggeste d track - or he can i f he so desires select some o ther track. If he chooses th e latte r, he can feed his decisio n back to the c om puter, wh ich the n reco mputes the traffi c situat ion auto mat ica lly. His d i rec tions are passed to th e pilot orally , as befo re , and the refore no spec ial airborne equipment is needed .

M inimum separatio n between a irc raft o n f ina l ap proach at Heat hrow is three n. mil es, wi th t he ex ceptio n th at a irc raft fo llow ing w idebody j ets m ust be sepa rated f rom th e latter by five n. miles. The Heathrow traffi c , a lt hou gh all subject to instrume nt flight rules, still has a po rpo rti on of slower a irc raft. There ca n b e a 50- knot di fference b etween ap proach speeds, a nd it is in reconc iling t he varying speeds t hat th e

expertise of the manual controll e rs is most in deman"1.

Present peak landing rates at Heathrow often reach 37 o r 38 an hou r, and on o ccasio n 40.

Approach control at Heathrow includes th ree radar controllers. Two - the No 1 directors - handle respectively traffic arriving from the north and the south (the re are four stacks) . Before the approach " gate " t hese controllers hand their traffic to th e th ird man, the No 2 director, for finals.

In a study of landing intervals at the airport conducted by the Directorate of Operationa l Research , it was found that. in attempting to maintain a standard three-mile spacing, there was a standard deviation of 0.56 n . miles. This was under test conditions, however; it is anticipated that use of CAAS will g ive an equal or better performance under normal conditions over longer periods.

El ectronic Fli ght Strip s

Th e system is c om p rised of fo u r ma in s ub-systems. T he f irst is th e radar automatic t rack ing system, designed to inform the computer of th e positions of the a irc raft, on c e they have been identified. Associated with auto-t racking is a track-re pair faci lity, wh ich perm its the track to be " repaired " or re-identified in the event of target loss in areas of fading.

Secondly, there is an el ectroni c data d isplay syste m ( EDDS), in wh ich data relating to airc raft being sequen ced is d is played on a cathode- ray tube. This unit inc orporates to uchwires in p lace of an input keyboard - t h in copper st rips on the su rface of the display tube which a re o perated by the electro static cha rg e prese nt wh en the c ontro ller to uches t he m. Each t ouch-w ire is related to a particu lar message w hich is t ransmitted wh e n the w ire is tou ched. The syste m, developed by t he Royal Rad ar Esta blis hment in Brit ain , is still a subject of contro versy. The protago nists of t o uch w ires c laim th at th ey ena ble mo re rapid tra nsmi ss ion than a keyboard , on whi ch th e m essag e has to be typed cha racter by characte r.

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During the trials of CAAS, controllers will maintain the familiar flight-progress strips; it is envisaged that these will eventually disappear in the automation process and be replaced by electronic displays, but officials admit that this is still a long way off. Information on the EDDS can be transmitted by the controller from one display to another, for example when handing an aircraft over to another controller.

Thirdly a metering system allocates expected approach times {EATs) to holding aircraft. The EAT is the time at which it is expected that the aircraft will be cleared to leave the holding stack, and is computed after assessment of the "slots" which will be available on final approach.

"Controllers do this job fantastically well at present," an official told me, "but computers may very well help to do it a bit better."

The fourth component of CAAS is the sequencing system.

The estimate of an arriving aircraft reaches approach control from the terminal area controller, and is entered by keyboard on to the computer. The information comes up automatically on the appropriate controller's EDD at the relevant time.

When the target of the aircraft has been identified by the controller he uses a rolling ball control to place an "O" strobe over it, followed by a touchwire sequence to "acquire" it. It is then on the computer. The computer selects a track for the aircraft and allocates an alpha character to it, which appears simultaneously beside the blip and on the EDD. The prediction line showing the intended track appears on the radar display, with the intended heading in degrees shown numerically on the EDD.

International Law This is the second of a series .of articles on International Law as it affects the Air Traffic Controller. The first article was published in our February 1974 issue, and the next instalment will follow in the August edition. The author is a Eurocontrol specialist and works at the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre at Bretigny, France. As one of IFATCA's most enthusiastic workers, Mr. McCluskey is Chairman of the United Kingdom Sub-Committee of IFATCA's Standing Committee VII (Legal Matters).

International Personality It is proposed in this chapter to look at the question of International Personality under the headings of sovereignty, recognition and responsibility. Of the three, sovereignty is the most important since for us as controllers it is important where State jurisdiction ends especially in cases of accident enquiries. Courts usually tend to apply the Law applicable where an accident happens and this was underlined several years ago when an Air India flight at the time of transfer of control between Italy and Switzerland actually crashed in France. Before we become complacent by thinking that national boundaries are fixed without going into the complicated boundary disputes in uninhabited areas of Asia, Africa and America let us look at Europa since 1815.

Of the States which existed at that time, and have existed uninterrupted since, only three, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal, have not changed their national boundaries and Portugal has a boundary dispute with Spain and Spain with the 12

If the computer suggests a change of track, the appropriate symbol on the radar display flashes to attract the controller's attention; he can either press the "agree" touchwire or feed in his own preferred heading. In the latter case the computer recalculates the tracks of all aircraft involved.

The sub-routine - the scanning and recalculation of all the tracks - is run through every four seconds.

Answers to a number of problems which would normally be calculated or estimated mentally by the controller are provided by the computer. A change of runway {e. g. from 28L to 28R), adjustment of separation on finals, an alteration to the landing order - these can all be entered on the computer which then adjusts headings as necessary. ¡ When the CAAS equipment is installed at Heathrow it will initially be connected to the radar simulator installed there recently for training. Controllers will have the chance to familiarise themselves with the new system and ask for minor alterations which they may feel are needed. Evaluation and in-service trials will follow next year, but officials believe it could still be three or four years before a fully operational systems comes into use. Much depends on the controllers' reactions.

By that time the Maplin timetable will be clearer, and although the object of CAAS is to attack the problem of the hourly J'eak rather than the annual flow, politics being what they are, the CAA might find itself having to squeeze the last drop of capacity from Heathrow's concrete. In that event every second will count, and if CAAS can raise the hourly runway landing rate it will have proved itself worthwhile.

by E. McCluskey B. A., D. P. A., A. F. R. AE. S.

United Kingdom. Of the others, Belgium achieved her definitive frontiers in 1839; Russia ceded part of Bessarabia in 1856; France acquired Savoy and Nice in 1860, ceded Alsace in 1871 to regain it again in 1918, and acquired Briga-Tenda in 1945; Denmark ceded Schleswig-Holstein in 1864; Piedmont-Sardinia (Italy) annexed Venetia in 1866; Turkey lost territory to Serbia and Montenegro in 1873, losing Cypris to the United Kingdom in the same year; Greece acquired Thessaly in 1880; Bulgaria changed her frontiers in 1885, 1912 and 1913; United Kingdom ceded Heligoland in 1890.

As if that were not sufficient change in national boundaries, in the same period the following States died: MassaCarrara, Cracow, Lucca, Parma, Tuscany, Naples-Sicily, Vatican, North German Confederation, Montenegro, Ukraine, Fiume, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Poland, Danzig, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Croatia, Slovakia, Trieste and Saar. The following were born or reborn: Serbia, Greece (1822), Belgium (1830), Rumania, North German Confederation, Luxembourg (1867), Bulgaria, Montenegro, Norway (1905), Albania, Finland (1917), Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Ireland (1921 ), Fiume, Vatican, Slovakia, Croatia, Iceland (1944), Austria (1955), Saar, Cypris (1959), Malta (1961). It is a formidable list which does not include at all the numerous German states prior to the unification of Germany.

Apart from the United Nations Organisation which is endowed under its Charter with a certain degree of International Personality, International Persons are normally States which

must have three qualities: - people, territory and a sovereign government although this quality is sometimes relaxed. Dependent states may have International Personality as for example the pre-war Indian and Malay States whose heads of State were treated as monarchs of fully independent States; the Austro-German Customs Union where the World Court decided in 1931 that both Austria and Germany remained independent States despite their Treaty; or Morocco which despite the French protectorate and French control of foreign policy was considered by the World Court to have International Personality at least vis a vis France.

The question of sovereign government is important when we are defining States. There are many different types of States. The simplest form is of course the independent State which may be a monarchy like Belgium or a republic like Austria. Complications arise when we consider the cases of such States as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which is a Union of two kingdoms with a part of a third but in which neither England (with Wales) nor Scotland nor Northern Ireland has International Personality.

Until 1905 we had the example of real union where the Union of Sweden and Norway conducted foreign affairs for both parts of the union. If we consider the Confederation of German States before Bismarck we discover that the Confederation had no International Personality, each State retaining its own and yet the Swiss Confederation has International Personality and the cantons have none.

Much closer links than the Confederation exist in the Federation so we have fifty states in the United States of America but only one State, the USA, with International Personality. The same is true of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics although the United Nations Organisation, for its own purposes gives, some international recognition to Ukraine and Byelo-Russia.

A Commonwealth, such as the British Commonwealth, consists of independent States and has no International Personality whatsoever. The member, however, do not treat agreements between themselves as registrable international treaties, this being a throw back to the days of the British Empire when the British Parliament considered itself sovereign even in the independent States of the Empire. This sovereignty was finally challenged when the Irish Free State and the Union of South Africa (both now outside the Commonwealth) accepted the abdication of Edward VII I twenty four hours before the rest of the Empire thus having two king-emperors in the Empire at one time.

There are also dependent States. Colonies have no International Personality but few now exist outside the Portuguese Community.

Colonial Protectorates are considered the same as colonies, whereas an International Protectorate leaves the protected territory with International Personality. Mandated territories were areas detached from German and Turkish control in 1919 and were placed under the protection of other powers to be led to independance. The UNO took over remaining mandates under the title of trust territories. The remaining ones are South West Africa supervised by South Africa and some islands in the Pacific supervised by Australia, France, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States.

Another group which although independent, is the neutralised States which have special ties by treaty with the Great Powers. Switzerland was neutralised in 1648 and in 1815. Austria was neutralised in 1955. Luxembourg was forbidden in 1914 to keep a standing army. Finland also comes under this category.

Having seen the different types of States, we strati leave people and territory until the next and future articles and turn our attention to sovereign government which involves consideration of recognition and responsibility.

To have International Personality there must be a sovereign government in a State. In the Palmas Case in 1928 this was defined by the World Court: "sovereignty in the relations between States signifis independence. Independence in regard to a portion of the globe is the right to exercise therein, to the exclusion of any other State, the functions of a State" but international responsibility requires: "Territorial sovereignty, involves the exclusive right to display the activities of a State. The right has as corollary a duty; the obligation to protect within the territory the rights of other States, in particular their right to integrity and inviolability peace and in war, together with the rights which each State may claim for its nationals in foreign territority."

A State has no personality until it is recognised but its personality is limited to States which have recognised it.

Thus for most States of the world, until very recently, China was the government in Taiwan. Rhodesia hardly exists at all as an independent State. By recognition the other States decide that the newly recognised State fulfils all the qualities required to be a State.

The non-recognition of the Peking government was a function of Western policy in the Far East. The non-recognition of Rhodesia is a function of the fear of an unfriendly act against the parent State, the United Kingdom, and a function of co-ordinated policy among other African States. Premature recognition by a State was upheld as an unfriendly act when the USA intervened in Panama against Colombia in 1903. It is normally considered that, if the parent State recognises the new State, independence is achieved. By recognising the rights of another State, a State may make a transaction opposable to itself. States cannot challenge in future what they have already recognised. So it was in the Eastern Greenland Case in 1933 where "Norway reaffirmed that she recognised the whole of Greenland as Danish: and thereby she has debarred herself from contesting Danish sovereignty over the whole of Greenland". Governments come and go, some legally others illegally. Only when there is doubt do other States go through the formalities of recognition or non-recognition again. Questions arose on the status of South West Africa in the International Status of South West Africa Case in 1950. The World Court construed the status of this territory by considering that South Africa had given recognition to "the continuance of its obligations" to the non-existent League of Nations and to "the competence of the General Assembly (UNO) in the matter. That a government need not conform to the previous constitution, was a decision taken in the Tinoco Concessions Case in 1923 when the new government of Costa Rica invalidated all the acts and contracts of Tinoco's government but this cannot apply to foreigners as was decided in the French Claims against Peru in 1921.

Whatever the position of a government, its obligations are the same whether it has de facto or de jure recognition.

If another State has refused recognition it may later change this decision. Non-recognition usually means that the government has not achieved the degree of control or stability in its territory for de facto recognition. To refuse to recognise a government because its laws or political system differ from those of the recognising State has proved an enormous drawback even to large powers, such as the USA, which for many years refused to recognise governments set up by force in Central America or for that matter the Soviet and Chinese 13

governments. In most cases de facto recognition differs little from de jure recognition except in the property rights of the government. In 1939, in Haile Selassie v Cable and Wireless Ltd., the United Kingdom had recognised Italy as the de facto government of Abyssinia but Italy was not entitled to assets belonging to Abyssinia.

Recognition may also be given to belligerents in civil war and to refugee armies but this is mainly to protect nationals in areas controlled by belligerents or to ensure the application of the Geneva Convention to prisoners of war.

This type of recognition was given recently to Biafra.

Once the government is recognised, the State becomes an International Person and becomes responsible under International Law for the Act of its head of State, its ministers and its agents. Going back to the Eastern Greenland Case, the Norwegian Foreign Minister had made a statement, which he had no authority to make, but because he made it, apparently competent to do so, the Norwegian government was bound by it. International agreements still apply on any change of territory. In 1816 Switzerland and Sardinia created free zones in Upper Savoy and Gex. Sardinia gave this territory to France and France decided to end the free zones under the Treaty of Versailles but, as Switzerland had not signed the Treaty of Versailles, France had to recognise the agreement between Sardinia and Switzerland. Similarly in the Island of Palmas Case Spain ceded the island, which she

had discovered, to the USA despite the fact that Holland had displayed sovereignty over it, uncontested for two hundred years. It was held that the cession was illegal.

It will be noticed that nowhere does the above set of rules differ according to the size of a State. All States are equal under International Law and their sovereignty can only legally be limited by treaty or by custom. A State may sign all its rights away but when treaties are interpreted the path must be chosen which involves the least loss of sovereignty.

Having touched on the principles of sovereignty and recognition the way is now open to examine how territorial limits are defined, taken together with the question of the High Seas which are affected by territorial limits. In this next article it will be endeavoured to show some of the problems which automatically touch on aviation. What problems can arise when salients exist as in Cleveland or Scottish FIRs and what is the position in an FIR when the territorial sea changes underneath? Little by little we shall see just how important for controllers is the whole gambit of International Law. For further study: International Law Nicholas Chambers Chap. 2 Sweet & Maxwell; Law of Nations J. L. Brierly Chap 4. Oxford University Press; International Law Vol. 1. Chap. 6.

Schwarzenberger Stevens: European Community No. 3 1973" Are national frontiers natural frontiers?" Louis C. D. Joos.

Wake Turbulence Study Nearing Completion Reduced Separations May Result The United States Federal Aviation Administration's ambitious program with as its long-term goal to reduce landing separations to as little as one and one-half miles, based on improved plane tracking as a means of increasing airport capacity, is passing a crucial milestone as initial data collection tests are being completed at Kennedy International and Denver airports. The efforts are to measure, define, and perhaps produce a three-dimensional mathematical model of the strong wake turbulence that trails behind larger jets.

FAA, it will be remembered, had originally hoped to reduce separation but instead, it was forced to extend separations to five miles based on an unexpected factor of wake turbulence which has caused accidents and deaths. Dave Israel, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for Engineering and Development at FAA, on being asked what the chances were of obtaining two-mile or less separations, had this to say: "Our wake turbulence tests are not all completed yet, but honestly, we would be happy to get back to the three-mile separation. We have greatly advanced our knowledge of wake turbulence in our current studies, and have developed several types of sensors to measure it. To further reduce separations may be possible in the future, but might also be quite expensive. For a two-mile standard, we might need a number of costly technical advances in other areas, including still further improved surveillance by ASRs." Experiments have been made by NASA for FAA to find ways to stop planes from generating wake turbulence. "This appears a dead end so far. Turbulence is generated by the

14

creation of lift. It is very hard, if not impossible, to find a way to stop wake turbulence without affecting lift, as you can imagine."

Accordingly, FAA has been planning and developing sensor systems that would allow new airplane separation criteria to be based on the actual patterns of wake turbulence generated by larger planes. In essence, it hopes to return to reduced separations where the sensors indicate that high wake turbulence dangers are not present. If the complexity of the wake turbulence "model" was very high, then eventually the information might be fed into a computer which would then mathematically calculate the needed separation and give this information either to the pilot, the controller, or both.

With respect to controller acceptance, Israel questioned whether automation in general would produce as much increased system capacity as some have thought. "We can reduce controller workload in one area", he said, "and hope he may be able to do more in another. But there is no exact ratio involved. Here is what I mean. Say you find that a controller spends 50 percent of his time on the radio. You devise a way in which he spends no time on the radio. Does that mean he then can handle twice the capacity of planes? Of course not. There are many other factors to be considered.

Responsibility, for example, is a significant part of his workload.

"Future systems capabilities will also depend largely on how the controller ,buys' it", Israel added. "He must be assured that it is failsafe and that he can place his complete confidence in it. That means, on the one hand, that he must get used to it, and be properly trained and educated as to its

value. It also means that the equipment must not fai l, mu st never cause him to suddenly handle aircraft manually."

on. Th e beam bounces back when it encounters wake turbulence. It is like a radar."

Israel explained that present wake turbulence testing was concentrated at Kennedy and Denver. " We picked the latter because of the unusual win d shear conditions. We have observed so me 20,000 separate wake turbulences now, based on some 15,000 approaches. We are now going to test wake turbulence at Heathrow Airport in England. There has been much uneasiness about wake turbulence the re. Th e British have a s pecial system for getting pilot wake turbulence observations, and have received many reports on it, but s uch reports are highly subjective, of course. We'll see what the

One way the system might be used is to have t he ex istence of wake turb ulence reg istered back to the controller. " If a plane is coming in and wake turbulence has not dissipated, then a go-around can be initiated. "

sensors indicate."

A number of types of sensors have been developed, each effective but with different capabil iti es and costs. "We are trying to use the most appropriate techniqu es to meet the wake turbulence problem. One senso r uses a laser beam actually aimed across and above the runway at certain locat ions, such as the inte rmediate point, inner marker, and so

FAA tests have revealed some unusual traits of wake turbulence already. " For example, it does not gradually fade away. Wake turbulen ce either stays or moves out and collapses sudden ly. Nor does it always fall behind and below th e plane. It can r ise about it. " The most serious condition for wake turbu lence is a q uartering tail wind, Israel sai d. " It can hold the turbulence togeth er and keep it strong." The most advantageous situation to disperse wake turbulence is a w ind of 15 knots or mo re.

Results of tests will be written up in a program report very shortly, Israe l in dicated . The find ings undoubtedly w ill have a serious effect on ATC ope rations and on how every cont ro ller in the U nited States does his job. ( PATCO Newsletter, January, 1974)

The U ncrowded Sky*

by Glen A. Gilbert

To talk about " the un crowded sky" before a g ro up of experienced Air Traffi c Controllers may seem ironic. And before on e of you starts screaming at me, I w a nt to emphasize th at it is the system that is c rowded. not the sky.

I know that you all have experienced th e need to restrict the number of a ircraft which can be handled safely. I k now that you all have experienced stress and strain in performing your duties during " high density " traffic condit ions. I k now that "airport satu ration " and " crowded a irspace" are terms frequently used in quantifying today's Air Traffic Control System capacity.

Th e fact is that the ai rspace as a trans portation medium is not c rowded. It has infinite capacity if we know how to use it effectively. Our other two transportation med ia - the su rface and th e subsu rface - do have limited capac ity. Our su rface tran sportation is c rowd ed , and our subsurface capabi lity is effect ive o nly in highly localized si tuat ions. But the potenti al productivi ty of the airspace as a transportation med ium has hardly bee n scratched.

It is interesting to note that the airspace was first used as a transportation medium nearly 200 years ago, w hen two Frechm en fl ew 25 minutes in a balloon over Paris. In the ensuing years the use of the ai r as a transpo rtation medium moved fo rward imperceptibly until the mid 1930s. when instrum ent flying was introduced. Coi ncidentally with that sign ifi cant ste p fo rward , an "ai r traffic cont rol " system was • Avia tion consultant and author G len A. Gilbert spoke at a Noon Luncheon held as part of the Air Traffic Control Association 's 18th Annual Meeting a t M iami Beach in October 1973, and said "the airspace as a transportation m edi um is not crowded. It h as infini te cap ac ity i f we know how to use it ... This reversal of the popular theme about th e " crowded s k ies" is a l so the subject of a book by Mr. Gilbert, " Air Traff ic Control. The Un c rowd ed Sky", published recently by the Smithsonian Insti tution Pr ess. Following is a condensation of his re marks to approxima tely 120 membe rs and guests.

Glen A. Gilbert

introduced in th is co untry. Today, we can fly into the four corners of the world in just a few hours. A space station ci rcles the earth. And we are poised on the threshold of manned fligh t to the planets and the stars. But the sky is not crowded .

Many of you will remember that when ATC was inaugurated we were using the four cou rse radio range for en route navigation and as a landing aid. How many control lers today know that a radio range instrument approach required 12 to 15 minutes to execu te? Each aircraft was sequentially stepped down with this interval of separation . As a consequence, 15

when we had four or five planes coming into an airport within an hour's time, we thought we really had a "crowded sky" and a "saturated airport".

During the 1940s and 50s the VOA, DME, VORTAC, and ILS facilities improved navigation accuracy, radio surveillance was introduced, and we could land aircraft during instrument conditions every couple of minutes. However, if a controller had 6 aircraft under active control at any given moment, he felt that he had a "crowded sky", what with the bookkeeping and communications workload rapidly becoming unmanageable. Along came automation in the 1960s to help reduce the controller's workload and increase his productivity. Today we are looking at 12 aircraft under active IFR control at a given moment by a controller before he cries "crowded sky", and 30 to 45 landings/takeoffs per runway per hour before we call it "airport saturation". Yet the sky is not crowded. It is the air traffic control system that is crowded.

CtmTrollers and pilots form the team that makes the system work. But their performance is directly affected by other elements comprising the system. The most significant element affecting the productivity of the controller-pilot team is aircraft. The aircraft in turn impact the second most significant element affecting system capacity - airports. Aircraft and airports form the basis on which our entire ATC system is founded, affecting all the other system elements, such as ground and airborne equipment requirements, communications and weather services, separation procedures, airspace structuring, and so on.

Today some 60 airports serve about 800/o of the scheduled air carrier passengers in this country. Ten of these sixty airports are-the backbone of our airline service. Yet we have at least 4000 airports that are physically capable of supporting some sort of scheduled service. After the new Kansas City and Dallas/Ft.Worth airports, are we going to see many new major jetports in the future? The answer is "not likely", due to scarcity of real estate, cost of land and construction, and environmental impact. To take advantage of the virtually unlimited capacity of the uncrowded sky, we need to see how and what we can do to increase the capacity of our existing airports. This means that the needs of all of the airspace users need to be taken into consideration. Specific actions include providing separate runways for non high-performance aircraft, more closely spaced parallel runways, reliever airports for general aviation, raising an airport's IFR capacity to more closely approach its VFR capacity. We need to implement ways and means to increase runway acceptance rates and airport productivity in general.

I would like to talk briefly about general aviation, its role in the total air transportation picture, and broad interface aspects in the ATC System. Since its inception, the ATC System has been designed and geared to meet the requirements of the scheduled airlines.

The force of having to have scheduled, reliable airlines service has caused significant improvements in air traffic control technology. Without the airline push and drive, we wouldn't be where we are today. In fact, it was through the initiative of the airlines in the mid 1930s that this country's ATC System came into being. On the other hand is the tendency to forcefeed general aviation more and more into compliance with airline standards. This may not be unreasonable with that segment of aircraft engaged predominantly for business purposes. As of December 31, 1972, there were 37,950 aircraft in this category. However, there are 100,000 aircraft engaged in personal, pleasure flying, owners 16

of which may not need to use the formal ATC services. Over 700,000 pilots are included in this general aviation category.

We have been talking only about CTOL aircraft. We introduce new dimensions and parameters once we begin moving into the STOL and VTOL or "V/STOL" era. STOL strips and VTOL pads on an existing conventional airport can greatly increase its productivity. The smaller landing areas required by STOLs, and particularly VTOLs, will open the door to greatly increasing the use of the airspace as a transportation medium. Some STOLs are now IFR operational, such as the DHC-6. An advanced military medium capacity STOL (AMST) is well underway with civil application. Helicopters such as the B-212, S-57T, and S-61 are IFR operational. As the great aviation pioneer and my good friend, Grover Loaning, has said, "We landed on the moon because we had devised a means to land and rise without any forward velocity. Let's do the same with planes in a traffic pattern".

We have the capability to see that A TC System capacity meets or exceeds air transportation demand. With proper planning and action programs, in which the controllers must play an essential part, I am sure that we will be able to learn how to use most effectively our "uncrowded sky".

Book review JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL,

by Richard Bach The MacMiiian Company, New York, 1970, 94 pp., Illustrated, 4.95.

s

A stirring allegory of flight, which those who have had an opportunity to read this book describe as quite an experience, and they go on to say that everybody should devote themselves for at least one reading.

This text represents the epitome of the training concept, embodying all of the altruism of the dedicated instructor, whatever his field. Its lessons are applicable throughout life, in all phases of human endeavor. Yet this is not a book of morals, nor does it preach directly to anyone. It is the finest embodiment of the words of the 17th Century English poet, William Wordsworth, which should be enscribed in all institutions of learning: "A man's aim should far exceed his grasp Else what's a Heaven for?"

Please note that this review has avoided deliberately describing the text material of the book in specific terms.

Hopefully, we would rather whet your curiosity sufficiently, without prejudging for you the content of this masterpiece.

(Journal of ATC)

The Ladies ••• ... bless 'em. One, the other day, was relieved for a tea break by a male colleague just after she had set two aircraft on radar headings. The takeover R/T then followed thus: Midland 062 - confirm you are established on a radar heading? Er ... affirmative ... on the one you gave me just before yer voice broke .. .

The International Air Carrier Association: Our New Corporation Member To all IFATCA Members On behalf of the fifteen independent charter carriers that comprise the membership of the International Air Carrier Association, I would like to express how much we value the opportunity of becoming a Corporate Member of IFATCA. As air carriers, IACA's members are vitally conscious of the need for safety in the air. Our jet fleets are all maintained to the scrupulously high standards demanded by all governmental and aviation bodies and the IACA logo to be found on the side of our aircraft is a guarantee of the top quality and reliability of service the travelling public can expect from all our members.

However, all this would be to no avail were it not for the dedicated service provided by the air traffic controllers of the world. We recognise the increasing difficulties of their task -as air traffic continues to grow and we look forward to working more closely with IFACA members in the future so that through mutual co-operation and understanding we can all help to keep safety in the sky a reality.

Mr. Anders Helgstrand. President. IACA (President, Sterling Airways, Denmark)

History and Back-ground of the Association The International Air Carrier Association (IACA), was founded in Strasbourg, France on 11 June 1971. Its formation was essential to fill a void which existed with in the air transport and tourism industries. Previously no single voice or body stood to rep resent the views of charter co mpanies and the public, and since many restrictive polic ies of governments on charters were soley to protect the interests of the scheduled airlines, th e need arose for an organisation through which the views of the charter companies and th e consumers could be united in furthe ring the development of low-cost charter air transport th roughout the world .

IACA is now headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and comprises of fifteen independent charter airlines from eight different countries, all of whom specialise in charter operations and have brought air travel to within the reach of the consumer all over the world . It represents a notable share of world air traffic, carrying 56.20/o of all charter carriers' traffic, 34.70/o of all ca rriers' non-scheduled traffic and 12.60/o of all air traffi c.

Th e full membership of IACA is as follows: Aeropa SpA, Italy; Air Spain, Spain, Capitol International Airways, USA;

Conair, Denmark; Euralair, France ; lnex Adria Airways, Yugos lavia; Overseas National Airways, USA; SATA, Switzerland; Saturn Airw~ys, USA ; Spantax, Spain; Sterling Airways, Denmark ; Transavia Holland, Netherlands ; Trans International Airlines, USA; Wa rdair, Canada and World Airways, USA.

The Aims and Activities of IACA IACA's primary aim is to broaden the base of air travel through the encouragement of cha'.rter services. In its continuous co ntact with the governing bodies of air transport and tourism, IACA strives to create an awareness of the benefits of low-cost charter travel to international tourism, and seeks to ease restrictions which hamper its free-flow.

The resolution establishing IACA adopted the following guidelines : to develop an economically sound and balanced international air transport system that best serves the needs of the travelling public ; to promote increased understanding and recognition of the benefits of international charter operations and by so doing broaden the base of air travel ; to improve the quality of international air charter, services ; 17

to foster a co-operative spirit among international charter airl ines in order to provide a forum for an exchange of views ; to forge new links between such airlines and the international aviation community ; to contribute substantially to air safety in all its forms ; to work towards the establisment of standardised and liberalised charter fl ight rules ; to ensure that the charter airlines' voice is heard at international conferences and that world organisations are fully aware of their aims and objectives.

- Supported efforts of US charter airl ines to gain legislative approval of inclusive tour charter rules similar to those which have proved so successful in Europe.

- Participated in the formation of the North Atlantic Charter Fare Conference held in Brighton, England, in July 1973.

This was the first meeting of schedules and charter airlines to find a solution to the problem of uneconomic rates.

Encouraged the adoption of the Advance Booking Charter concept, as developed by Europe and Canada, in those countries (including the United States) which have not yet done so.

Worked to ensure that until the more marketable ABC system is adopted, the affinity group rules be retained for North Atlantic charter operations.

Established compliance and enforcement machinery to ensure that charter traffic, especially affinity traffic, adheres to the rules and regulation s of the country in which it originated. The machinery is based upon a s elf-enforcement agreement executed by all members of IACA and which has been approved by regulatory agencies in countries where such is required.

In addition the following activities are now underway to strengthen and improve international charter servi ces : the development of relat ionship with consumer organisations in order to monitor the respo nse by IACA airlines to consumer needs ; the inauguration of technical and commercial assistance programmes among airlines; the undertaking of feasibility studies on common ticketing, aircraft and equipment pooling, aircraft specification standardisation, substitute services and co-operation with airport handling.

IACA looks ahead

Hold ing the IACA l ogo, wh ich appears on the side of all member carr iers¡ aircraft. is (fro m I to r) Mr. Gustav Fux, Co-Ch airm an European C o mmittee an d M ember Executive Committee (lnex Adr ia A irways).

Mr. F. Anthon y Pfiffner , Secr etary General. IACA. Mr. Anders Helgstran d , Pr esident , IACA (Sterling Airways) and Col. Gonzal o Hevia, Co-Chai rm an European Committee (Spantax) . The l ogo is a guarantee to the travell ing p ublic of reliab ility, quality and safety o f service.

In view of the need for uni form ru les and regulations t hat promote internatio nal charter t ravel, and consistent with IACA's o perating guide lines, the following actions have been ta ken si nce th e formation of the Association : Served as te chnical adviser to the First Wo rld Cong ress on Air Trans po rtat ion and To urism in Madrid, Spai n in April 1972. Sponsored by the Spanish Govern ment, this internat iona l conference brought into foc us the interre lat ionship of air t ransport and to urism.

H as been invited to advise the Philippin e Government on stu d ies of charte r tourism potential in th e Phi lippines, and has been req uested to assist in the form ati on of ch arte r a ir lines in Latin Ame rica.

Estab lished a special European Committee to foc us on problems pecu liar to European charter airlines.

18

Ded icated to protecting the right of safe and effi c ient low-cost world-wide travel, IACA's ope rating po licies and programmes reflect the v iews o f charter airlines and their passengers. They are designed to promote the air transpo rt and tourism industries, both of which have grown and prospered because of increased charter travel throughout the world.

As in the past, IACA will continue to initiate steps which will minimise restrictions limiting the movement of people across or within national boundaries. By introducing more and more people to air travel through low-cost charter flights, the base of air transport will be steadily broadened, thus leading to a balanced system that recognises and caters to both group and individual passeng ers.

Such an air transport system of scheduled and charter services will benefit all countries which seek to realise th eir full tourism potential.

Address of the Association International Air Carrier Association PO Box 105 1215 Geneva 15 Airport Switzerland Telephone : Geneva 98111 9 Telex: 27721 iaca eh

Secretariat Mr. F. A. Pfiffner Sec retary General

The Changing Pattern of Stress

by V. D. Hopkin, R. A. F. Institute of Aviation Medicine, Farnborough, Hants., England

can be reduced depends on the quality of the navigational data, where quality includes accuracy, reliability and freAlthough most people know approximately what is meant quency of up-dating. This is acknowledged by the provision by "stress", it is a confusing concept and difficult to define. of improved navigational aids. Whether such improved inforThis is partly because the same word is commonly used to mation will be correctly used depends on the controller refer to both the cause and the effect - external stresses knowing its quality - how accurate it is, how reliable, how lead to stress in the controller. Usually what is meant is clear frequently up-dated. If there is no indication of its quality he from the context, but it is necessary to be aware of this poscannot know how far he should trust the aid. Yet there is no sible confusion when talking about stress. point in providing an aid unless he can trust it. It only needs The pattern of stress on the air traffic controller is changone instance of a facility such as computer assisted approach ing for two main reasons. Firstly, ever-increasing traffic desequencing failing to give a prediction or giving a wrong premands imply that future systems must be able to handle more ¡ diction for trust in its efficiency to be lost and probably never traffic than current ones can. Secondly, in response to these ¡ fully regained. The more automated aids are introduced the demands for greater system capacity, air traffic control sysmore the controller is stressed by the need to rely on them, tems are becoming more automated. by the need to trust them, and by lack of clear guidance on their quality. Stress occurs when the balance of tasks is upset by an increase in routine tasks and a reduction in Increased System Capacity decision making tasks, and when the pursuit of quantitative Any innovation of techniques, facilities or procedures m data becomes so singleminded that the need to indicate its air traffic control is judged by its success or failure in inquality is forgotten. creasing system capacity. Proposed system changes are Automated aids are not always introduced because the evaluated in terms of system capacity measures, particularly system demands them. The timing of their introduction usualin terms of the safe, orderly and expeditious flow of traffic. ly relates more to technical feasibility. There is a tendency to It is still rare for measures to be taken of the effects of such wish to introduce innovations as soon as they are technically changes on the controller's stress and workload. Therefore feasible and do not cost too much. The current preoccupachanges in stress may occur which have newer been pretion with colour on air traffic control displays is an example dicted because the necessary data have never been of this. It is not suggested that the use of colour is stressful gathered. but ill-considered and precipitate use of colour could well be.

As traffic increases, the amount of information relevant to Increases in air traffic are assumed to lead to increases the controller exceeds what can be permanently displayed in controller workload unless some compensating factors or manually entered and updated. Automation becomes can be introduced. While there is certainly a connection benecessary to store, compile and present data, and to enable tween the number of aircraft and workload, to assume that the controller to continue to do his job. The man-machine it is a very close connection can be misleading, since the interface is designed to assist the quick, reliable, error-free controller's work may be determined more by what the airand effort-free transmission of information from the man to craft are doing (climbing, descending, crossing, etc.) or by the machine and from the machine to the man. For routine the variety of aircraft types, than by the number of aircraft. tasks, it is sensible to seek to minimise the time and effort But even granting that increases in system capacity tend to which the controller has to expend on them. increase the controller's workload some of the underlying Eventually automation spreads to the decision making assumptions appear to be misleading. and problem solving functions involving the exercise of the skills and responsibilities which the controller has been careMisleading Assumptions fully selected and trained to possess. The controller may be asked to monitor automated solution to problems or to One assumption is that on balance automation does not choose from a few given alternatives. These trends are allead to extra tasks. Yet many automated aids are at their ready appearing in air traffic control systems and examples least efficient when traffic is dense and when they are needare conflict detection and resolution, computer assisted ed most. In future when handling dense traffic the controller approach sequencing and flow control. These automated may have to enter a great deal of data via a keyboard or touch aids maintain the controller's responsibility for his task but display; he may need to use the same device to call down restrict his freedom in carrying out that responsibility, and information frequently as a memory aid or to reassure himself often reduce the options available to him. Greater traffic about information which is not permanently displayed; he demands tend to increase routine keying tasks on the one may have to search among tabulated data and collate data hand and reduce devision making tasks on the other. from different displays; he may have to contend with label overlap and take some action to read the labels. These are all extra tasks which add to his workload and can increase Aspects of Automation stress. The denser the traffic, the more onerous, difficult It is difficult to give the controller qualitative as distinct and timeconsuming these extra tasks become. Obviously from quantitative information in automated systems but this these aids produce benefits as well but the point is they are must be done. Airspace is finite and in future systems aircraft not all gain and for some aids on balance there may somewill be closer together. How far separations between aircraft times be no gain at all in terms of workload.

Introduction

19

A second assumption is that if workload of one kind is reduced corresponding gains in other kinds of workload must accrue. Future automated aids may be expected to reduce the need for R/T communications by relying on transponded data. It does not follow that the time thus saved may be devoted to improving decision making or problem-solving.

There may be no measurable effects on the quality of the control. Two reason can be advanced. Firstly, for an experienced controller a quick decision may be as efficient as a slower one. Secondly, any time t)ained may be spent on additional tasks such as calling dv'llll11 information no longer on permanent display. A reduction of workload of a particular kind therefore may not reduce the controller's stress.

A third assumption is that automation can replace the corresponding manual function in its entirety. For routine tasks this is often correct, but for some tasks, particularly those involving the human voice, it is clearly wrong. A pilot requiring an emergency landing gains much information from the calmness, confidence and professional competence transmitted by the controller's tone and manner of speaking as distinct from what he actually says. Another example concerns the controller's feeling that sometimes a pilot who has acknowledged and even repeated a message has not in fact fully understood it. He therefore persists and repeats the message until he is satisfied that there is no misunderstanding or safety hazard. A further example is that the controller varies the pace and content of what he says in relation to the perceived needs of his listener, so that he may speak to a foreign pilot unfamiliar with his airfield or sector or terminal area much more slowly and repetitively and in more standard terms than he would speak to a local pilot known to be familiar with it. Distinctions of this kind, which are safety factors, will tend to disappear with the introduction of aids such as data-link, and their disappearance may well be a source of stress.

A fourth assumption is that high workload is undesirable.

This assumption may be wrong and is at best an oversimplification. Prolonged excessive workload is undesirable but it should be remembered that boredom as well as stress is a problem in air traffic control and that aids which uniformly reduce the level of work may make it easier to handle peak traffic at the cost of aggravating the problem of boredom when traffic is light. A solution is to smooth the workload by reducing its peaks and even by increasing it when there is little to do. Having stated the problem and a solution in these terms it is not easy to formulate desirable practical steps to be taken, but one possible approach is to restore to the controller greater freedom to adjust his own workload by providing aids which are optional and which are most efficient and should be most used when traffic is heavy. The value of many aids, particularly of those which depend on a search task, diminishes with increasing aircraft numbers.

A fifth assumption, perhaps the most fundamental one, is that stress itself must be reduced. Efforts to reduce stress could lead ultimately to problems of a different kind. There is ample evidence that controllers, in common with many other professional people, obtain their main job satisfaction from challenge and effort and from the opportunity to exercise their skills. When a controller is very busy, measures of his workload may suggest that it is excessive. If physiological measures are taken these may indicate that he is having to make a considerable effort to perform his tasks. If he is asked whether he is tired by this work he probably reports that he is. But, given the chance, he will add that he likes to be busy and obtains great satisfaction from succesfully resolving a difficult air traffic control situation which makes

20

him work very hard, uses his skills to the full, and certainly stresses him. When his tasks are examined it is often found that some of his work may not be strictly necessary for safety or for efficient control but reflects rather his conscientiousness and his high professional standards. He strives for extra margins of safety. If stress is reduced too much, with it may go the effort and the challenge and the satisfaction of the job, and also perhaps professional pride.

Professional Standards and Conditions One of the main sources of stress in current air traffic control systems are the high professional norms which controllers set themselves and expect their professional colleagues to follow. A controller may work very hard to achieve the level of performance expected of him and to demonstrate his competence in handling difficult traffic configurations.

Sometimes even if his colleagues are all satisfied he is not and will add another source of stress by pondering in retrospect whether a particular traffic situation could not have been handled better. It is a short step from this attitude to worrying about the job outside duty hours and at home and to having difficulty in sleeping.

One factor which would be expected to make the controller's job much more stressful is the shift system worked.

The detailed lengths and distribution of shifts vary from one country another but usually they rotate through a period of 4 or 5 days which includes one night on watch. Theoretically this kind of shift pattern is one of the worst when judged in terms of its expected effects on the diurnal bodily rhythms, and it must therefore lead to some physiological stress. But again there are potential benefits, and the introduction of any less disruptive pattern of shifts would probably be accompanied by fewer whole days off work and would for that reason be resented by many controllers. Therefore although shift work is an important factor related to stress, the evidence for its effects is not as clear-cut as it is often supposed to be. A change of shift-pattern may not necessarily lead to a reduction of stress, and could increase it if it caused resentment.

Final Remarks Since the general tone of this paper is contentious, certain points should be made clear. The fact that I am a Founder Member of the Stress in Air Traffic Control Research Association indicates that there is a problem of stress in air traffic control, but the whole topic is easily oversimplified and viewed out of proportion, and a job with no stress could be worse than a job with too much.

This paper is not a criticism of those concerned with the management of current air traffic control systems or with the planning of future systems, many of whom are aware of the problems of stress in air traffic control and give thema sympathetic hearing. Nor is the paper an attack on automation. There is no fundamental incompatibility between the introduction of automation and the stressfulness of the controller's job. Automation applied with a knowledge of the controller's needs can probably will reduce stress. No-one wishes controllers to be overstressed, because an overstressed controller can lead to a vulnerable air traffic control system. But stress has potential advantages as well as disadvantages, and it would be illadvised to concentrate exclusively on reducing stress, only to produce even more difficult problems of boredom and job dissatisfaction.

441.015

International Air Traffic :

-SAFETY FIRST Our contribution: ATC radar systems AEG-TELEFUNKEN Fachbereich Hochfrequenztechnik 79 Ulm · PB 830 Federal Republic of Germany

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The Statistical Recording of Air Traffic* Introduction The Civil Aviation Division of the Ministry of Transport has the task of administering the civil aviation policies of the government with the responsibility for the economic and technical regulation of the civil aviation industry, the establishment, maintenance and operation of the airways and airport system, advising the Minister on certain matters which the government-owned airlines - Air New Zealand and National Airways Corporation - are required by Statute or direction to submit to the Minister for approval, assisting the Royal New Zealand Air Force as required by the government an¡athe investigation of aircraft incidents and accidents.

The Minister in charge of the Statistics Department has commented that, "while figures lie, liars can figure", and conversely it can be said "to a statistician that which is not recorded does not exist". In the everchanging world of today statistics have become indispensable requirement in economic management and business planning necessitating comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date information be available to the government for the continued planning of the country's aviation interests. The need for thoroughly reliable details of the aviation industry in New Zealand is never more needed than now to enable the Minister of Transport and his advisers to plan the present and future requirements of general and military aviation within the framework of the Ministry of Transport Act, 1968.

The present method of recording details of the air movement of all aircraft in New Zealand is on from MOT 1536 Air Movement Record and Analysis - which records air movements as the number of take-offs and landings an aircraft may make at an airfield. In modern aviation this type of information is of limited value for planning general and military aviation requirements and it is considered that there is a definite requirement for statistical information of "air traffic" to eventually supercede the present information of air movements.

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Capital Investment From 1957 to 1967 there was a five-fold increase in the capacity of the world's airlines on scheduled services alone, representing an average growth of 170/o per year, while forecasts of future air traffic indicate a four-fold growth rate for 1968 to 1980 at 11 O/o per year. This buoyancy helps to explain the intense interest shown by manufacturers throughout the world in the production of new transport aircraft with the consequent pressures on the airlines to embark on new equipment programmes. Ever since the end of World War II and especially with the introduction of jet transports, the airline industry has combatted, with a certain degree of success, with the upward spiral of costs by taking advantage of the improvements in aircraft productivity and efficiency. This • Adapted from a presentation by Squadron Leader B. L. Watkin R. A. F., Ret'd., which was produced as a "membership" paper for the Chartered Institute of Transport, New Zealand Division, March 1973.

The paper was entitled "Air Traffic in Air Traffic Control in New Zealand". Mr. Watkin is an Air Traffic Control Officer at Auckland International Airport.

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by B. L. Watkin

has made it possible for the life-blood of the airlines, the fares paid, to be reduced in many cases to half of the figures of fifteen years ago. Fares have thus played a major role in the development of air traffic.

The New Zealand government has an increasing requirement for major capital outlay for bigger, faster and more improved aircraft o meet the ever increasing numbers of people and freight requiring air transportation by the purchase of Boeing 737 aircraft for National Airways Corporation and Douglas DCB and DC10 aircraft for Air New Zealand as we move into the "jumbo-jet" stage, while the Royal New Zealand Air Force have received Skyhawk and Strikemaster highspeed jet aircraft. The cost of these aircraft with the necessary simulators and spares are a major expenditure in the country's national budget. The installation, maintenance and operation of the ground facility system consisting of licensed aerodromes, navigation aids of many types, Air Traffic Control and flight service units, medium range and precision approach type radar installations and a communication network throughout New Zealand is another additional cost to the tax-payer. The need to constantly calibrate and check all technical equipment to enable all aircraft to proceed safely in and around the country and in the Pacific area has meant the purchase of faster, longer range and more sophisticated aircraft for the Ministry's Calibration Flight.

All the evidence now suggests that rising costs are outstripping revenue growth. Airlines are having to contend with growing wage rates and salaries, high costs of goods and services and greatly increased capital investment carrying comparatively high rates of interest. An increasing expense the increase of air traffic has caused is congestion in the skies above causing increasing flight times at an alarming rate; an estimate of delays at John F. Kennedy Airport (USA) in 1968 was in the region of S 2 million per month. The capital investment within and associated with the aviation industry has reached astronomical proportions with air transportation providing a major means of converting communities and cultures and being a key to economic growth. The significance of air traffic has been growing throughout the comparative short history of aviation with its ultimate magnitude yet to be recognised and its potential still to be fully realised. The benefits of civil aviation - often indirect and difficult to measure in full - include the development of trade and commerce., with the tourist industry receiving more and more attention, of providing in particular, in the higher level of national income and in the many advantages of more rapid communication, both within New Zealand and overseas, for health, pleasure and social welfare. Therefore it is of major importance that there Is an accurate method of assessing the ,air traffic' In Air Traffic Control.

Planning It is well known that good planning is essential for efficient business management; it is accepted that in aviation the increase in air traffic must be continually linked with improvement in Air Traffic Control; consequently the planning for future air transportation must include Air Traffic

Control, based on the analysis of an accurate air traffic work toad, a fact which is accepted both overseas and in New Zealand by the aviation authorities: a} Overseas From 1955 the growth in air transportation has been so tremendous that the civil aviation planners have been forced to continually revise their estimates. The consequential delay to Air Traffic Control in supply of equipment and improvement to systems has had a snow-balling effect causing increasing delays to aircraft. Overseas planning experts are concerned about the existing problem of the growing rate of aviation absorbing anything short of the extraordinary expansion of Air Traffic Control, inadequate Air Traffic Control facilities, overburdened Air Traffic Control Officers trying to shoulder heavier air traffic toads and safety requirements enforcing even greater delays. The present Air Traffic Control system even with computerisation assistance, needs re-assessment in spite of technological advances in navigational aids, communications, meteorological and control data in order to improve safety and to relieve the nerve wracking problems facing the overburdened Air Traffic Control Officers.

The technical "Boffins" recognise the need for the development of a new Air Traffic Control system to augment and perhaps eventually replace radar, which will be inadequate for anticipated air traffic. However, this development will need considerable study on method of financing, which to use, how and when to install and phase into the present system and the problem of new work and pay standards for the Air Traffic Control Officers and how to recruit suitable individuals for this difficult and exacting profession. b) New Zealand New Zealand is in the doubtful fortunate position in that population and aviation growth is still within comparatively reasonable limits. Howevere, the need for planning is still a continuing necessity and although many airports and facilities have been improved to meet the present rapid inevitable growth of passenger and freight traffic, the difficulty of forecasting any changes in aviation in order to plan a basic layout of facilities without inhibiting further growth indicates the need for accurate statistical information of air traffic.

To ensure that Air Traffic Control in New Zealand does not reach the present almost chaotic situation overseas, the Ministry planning staff must base their forecasts on existing conditions, consequently all facilities must be kept at one hundred percent operating efficiency. The complete loss of communications and facilities, the constant failure of navigational aids and the weekly loss of radar during day-light hours for maintenance needs improvement and re-assessment to ensure that improvements in the Air Traffic Control system are based on sound premises obtained from standardised and accurately kept records showing the air traffic and the associated work load handled by the operational Air Traffic Control Officers.

Aviation Statistics The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) supplies a variety of statistical information on aviation for the use of ICAO contracting States and New Zealand, as a Contracting States and New Zealand, as a Contracting State, can order this information for local study. Every year since 1960

a "Digest of Statistics on Airport Traffic" has been published; it contains monthly and annual statistics on aircraft movements, totals of passengers embarking and disembarking, freight, and mail loaded and intended for major international airports, including a breakdown of data between domestic and international traffic. A useful reference document is the ICAO Annual Report of Civil Aviation, this being a review of each previous year and covers air transport traffic, financial results, fares and rates, inter-airline cooperation, general aviation, and trends in technology and safety and in addition, long term (30 years statistical tabulations and graphs on all facets of the industry.

The ICAO monthly magazine (ICAO Bulletin), which provides a concise account of the activities of ICAO, featuring additional information of interest to Contracting States and the international aeronautical world, freely authorises the reproduction in whole or in part of all magazine materials.

As a result leading aeronautical publications throughout the world utilize the information in various ways, the most common being to "rank" various airports, airlines, States and areas in passengers, freight, revenue. on-time etc. and air movements. The comprehensive nature of these statistics are of important value for all planning of aviation requirements.

To further assist the Contracting States ICAO makes resolutions stating its position on international matters. The international conference of the problem of the human environment held in Stockholm in June, 1972, was discussed in the 18th Session of the ICAO Assembly in Vienna where Resolutions were made and adopted, while in 1973 ICAO invited the Member States to assemble for a major conference to receive the economic results of providing en route and airport air navigation facilities and services for international civil aviation throughout the world. Individual States hold various aviation symposiums inviting other Member States to contribute, such as the American Federal Aviation Administration, the U. S. Government Civil Aviation Department, which held a Random Navigation Symposium in which it stated that the U.S.A. in spite of its size, has almost run out of airspace with more than 134,000 aircraft and 720,000 licenced pilots alone. This means that Air Traffic Control is stretched to and beyond the limits of Air Traffic Control Officers and as stated by the F.A.A. Administrator: " ... in 1970, U. S. scheduled airlines carried approximately 170 million passengers, and general aviation segments carried nearly 50 million on inter-city flights, while by 1981 a conservative estimate is that some 2,000 to 3,000 million passengers will be carried annually. But we cannot get much more out of our existing technology and if we further divide airspace to provide fewer cubic miles per Air Traffic Control Officer, we will reach the point of diminishing returns in terms of added co-ordination workload, in fact we are already saturated in some sectors ... " At a Navigation Symposium held in Europe in 1972 a Eurocontrol observer in conclusion to a paper "Potential for Area Navigation in Europe" stated that in Europe ... " the result of such great improvement in technical aids if succesful would be to define, in adequate detail, an aim for the application of area navigation in Europe. The aim must be specific enough to convince ATC authorities and operators to plan for orderly evolutionary progress towards a Random Navigation based system, building upon any modest beginnings that may be found possible now and accepting the difficulties that will be unavoidable in making the full transition.

Can we afford to wait before making the effort? What else have we in mind that promises to alleviate present problems?

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If radio navigation really holds promise, and if we wait too long before analysing its application in depth, we surely risk the Air Traffic Services system, already hardly up to its job, becoming very unsatisfactory in perhaps just a few years' time. Then it could be more difficult to see the way to put it right. Every year we lose now could means more than a year of expensive trouble later. I do not think Europe will convince itself about navigation by just watching what the FAA is doing on the American continent. The cases are very different, and when the European aviation interests see the FAA and the American operators with all their experience, taking radio navigation so seriously, one can hope the moral will be drawn. Perhaps, following this symposium, we will find support building up for concentrated action in Europe ... "

Statistics for Civil Aviation in New Zealand To assist the Statistics Department in the analysis of the aviation industry, records are received from the civil aviation corporations, civil aviation firms, topdressing firms, the numerous Aero Clubs, e. o. No knowledge is available of the type of information provided by the Royal New Zealand Air Force except that provided by the Ministry Air Traffic Control Officers who provide a variety of Air Traffic Services to the RNZAF. The statistics obtained include aerial work operations, air transport operations (charter, local flying, etc.), training, return of airways and airport dues, etc.

There is a requirement for operational Air Traffic Control personnel to supply records for the analysis of air traffic to enable the Minister and his advisers to plan the future requirements of civil and military aviation. This was confirmed by the Statistics Department, when investigations were carried out on the use of information contained in the form compiled by Air Traffic Control personnel, whereby it was established that the Statistics Department agreed that the content and analysis, both night and day, were required for research purposes. This form is he Air Movement Record and Analysis Form, Form MOT 1536.

Form MOT 1536 -Air Movement Record and Analysis From the almost overwhelming mass of statistical information available from within New Zealand and overseas it would appear that the advisers to the Minister of Transport, the Senior Air Traffic Control Officers employed at Head Office, Civil Aviation Division, would have more than sufficient data available to correctly forecast future developments in general aviation and be able to plan to a finite detail the operational requirements in the Air Traffic Control system, personnel and technical equipment. A study of the forms completed by the civil aviation industry indicates that these returns are concerned mainly with costing and type of operations with hours flown, number of pilots and aircraft involved with passengers and freight carried and training completed and finally, the relative unimportance of the numbers of air movements at an airfield as indicated by the fact that these air movement figures are relegated in the Index to the Civil Aviation Statistics booklet ot "Miscellaneous Details" in the latter pages of the 1971 seventy-six page booklet. Previous to 1970 the statistics were "ranked" in the booklet according to the total number of air movements, this "ranking" of airports is still followed overseas, and military air movements were included, however, the 1970 and 1971 booklets show

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unit's air movements in geographical order where Ministry staff are employed but none from military airfields.

The Air Movement Record and Analysis Form, referred to in the Manual of Air Traffic Control as CA 1536, is issued by the Ministry to all Air Traffic Service stations in New Zealand and is completed daily in accordance with the instructions in the Manual of Air Traffic Control. It is an important document to the operational Air Traffic Control Officer as it is the only record completed by the Air Traffic Services personnel at each stations daily recording air movements of aircraft.

This document shows what is titled, namely including a record and analysis of movements of scheduled and nonscheduled, internal and overseas aircraft, taking-off and landing from an airfield, based on one movement for each take-off of each aircraft and one movement for each landing of each aircraft at each station as seen by the duty Air Traffic Service Officer from the Control Tower.

The form was designed for New Zealand conditions approximately twenty-odd year ago when the numbers of take-offs and landings from a particular airfield possibly had some significance in the records of the then unsophisticated aircraft which flew in uncrowded skies mainly with visual reference to the ground.

A study of the figures produced from the forms provided combined with the numbers and grading of Air Traffic Control Officers employed will show that the number of air movements has no relation to the numbers of operational Air Traffic Control Officers employed at each unit. In the modern concept of Air Traffic Control the numbers of landings and take-offs will give no Indication as to the amount of air traffic handled by Air Traffic Control. This important fact becomes more obvious when it is realised that no provision is made on Form MOT 1536 whereby air traffic can be recorded in such a manner to analyse the work load of the Air Traffic Control Officer due to the fact that there is no accurate record of a number of most important factors which no longer can be ignored.

It is a significant fact that the committee-of-inquiry set up by the New Zealand Government to investigate the salaries and conditions of work of Air Traffic Control Officers, now known as the Watt Report, stated in the categorisation of Air Traffic Control units that the units be divided into three categories to differentiate between the volume of traffic (i. e. air traffic) and the general weight of responsibility at the various units. It must be assumed that the "volume of traffic" and the "general weight of responsibility" would be assessed mainly from Form MOT 1536 as this was, and still is, the only official record of air movements whereby these problems could have been resolved.

In our August issue, Mr. Watkin's thesis will be continued and concluded, and it will be shown that there is an answer to the problem of analysis of air traffic.

On nigth-shift, I sometimes tried derisive verse, usually something that contrasted the hard lot of the field shift workers with the demons of Head Office, a contrast which always seemed worst on doggos: "It's oh-three hundred local, The temp's at forty-eight, My eyes have gone befocal, And my heart is full of hate."

(CAOOAA Newsletter)

Europe Modernises, Computerises to Meet ATC Challenge

by Herbert J. co1eman

A computerised and automated air traffic control system for Western and Central Europe, based largely on a U. S. supplied International Business Machines 9020D computer, is taking shape to meet target dates starting in 1975 in England.

British air traffic control is already interfaced with Eurocontrol and its main centers at Maastricht, Holland (operational) and Karlsruhe, Germany (under construction), in control of middle air space, leaving upper air space control to an integrated military-civil command. Future control practices are being shaped in studies being conducted by Eurocontrol and its member countries, including Great Britain's Civil Aviation Authority, on smoothing the interface with NADGE, the NATO Air Defense Gronud Environment System that stretches from Scandinavia to Turkey.

This is a long term project. The current system involving control at high altitude - essentially a pass-on to other centers and an anticollision control for military aircraft - is being handled at the British Authority's West Drayton air traffic control complex near London's Heathrow Airport.

G. A. Terrington, Civil Aviation Authority Director of Telecommunications, said that the drive toward automation involves considerable expenditure in the IBM 9020D software programme first developed by the U. S. Federal Aviation Administration and later purchased by Britain in order to meet traffic forecasts for 1975.

To automate the British sector, with a close interface with Europe, planners are tending to more use the controller Touchwire system. In this, instantaneous information is provided at the touch of a controller's finger on an illuminated display. Touchwire basically was developed for the British CAA by its Air Traffic Control Evaluation Center at Hurn, England, working at various times with the Eurocontrol Research Center at Bretigny, France, on applications involving the upper air space.

Automation work also is cantering on the British Oceanic Control Center where a system design team is studying replacement of the present Ferranti Apollo computer in favour of a fully automated system for installation in 1978 and becoming operational in 1980. This survey is looking at the use of electronic data processing for the planning function, Terrington added, in particular on the function of en-route updating of flight plans on visual display units (VDU). Until 1980, flight plan strips will continue to be used, but eventual replacement by visual means is considered vital.

Terrington said that the Oceanic Control Center will, by 1982, be handling 47 aircraft per hour westbound. Gander is responsible for eastbound traffic. The Shannon communications center will be a link unit then, as it is now. Unknown at this point is what manner of voice communications will be standardised by 1982, but satellites are under intense investigation. Terrington said automation also will include an online data link between Oceanic Control at Prestwick and Gander. This is in the works, and the payoff is expected in planned flight clearances.

West Drayton, working with Eurocontrol, is also preparing for the role of the supersonic transport in future flight planning and route allocation, according to Terrington. The study is hampered by lack of knowledge as to what the total super-

sonic transport fleet crossing the North Atlantic will be by 1978-1980. Uncertainty over this element has forced planners to delay decisions on equipment, although Terrington said improvements now under way at West Drayton and on the Continent should be able to cope with any flight planning requirements.

The study is mainly aimed at the transonic acceleration and deceleration phase, when it becomes difficult to divert or hold a supersonic transport as it merges into the subsonic traffic environment. Also necessary from the system is very fast response to requests for supersonic transport clearances, considering the vital importance of temperatures on fuel loads and reserves.

Planning now is to establish a supersonic transport control unit around its own small computer at West Drayton, to become operational in 1975 when British Airways and Air France are scheduled to begin service from London and Paris to New York. Size and type of computer are not yet determined. Flight profiles, concentrating on control in the transonic phase, are being worked out at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, for use as inputs to the supersonic transport control study.

The IBM 9020D, which will be used to control supersonic transport traffic in the airspace above 45,000 ft., will be installed at West Drayton starting in 1974 and will be aimed at translating British national air traffic control functions into European operations. Additionally, inclusion is planned of ability to maintain on-line communications - as against printed instructions - with European canters.

For safety purposes, the system will be triply redundant, although a simplex system will be provided as a development tool for a few years. Basically, the 9020D system will provide: a) Sector updating facility, extensively using the Touchwire system. b) Evaluation of data to be stored, now the basis of studies

by Marconi, as related to the interface of Touchwire to the 9020D. Covered in the study are controller workload, essential data storage and cost effectiveness. Initial conclusion are that the Touchwire system can be taught to a controller in a rnatter of hours, rather than days or weeks, on existing data processing and storage systems. c) Fully processed radar display units to replace the present television type display tubes, with linkage to wide-band radar sites. Newly established Burrington radar link from Wales to West Drayton is a step towards this methodology. Problem area is that the system will provide minimal data when the 90200 computer is out of service for scheduled maintenance. Two fully processed radar display units will be built for evaluation in 1975-1976, taking inputs from three radars, including the new Burrington site.

This will lead to installation of a vertical display unit in the early 1980s. All West Drayton and Eurocontrol displays visually cover the horizontal environment at present. d) Intensive work on development of electronic data displays to replace the flight plan strip by 1980, utilizing some sort of dynarnic display that will help largely to offload controller work to a planning controller.

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DEAD System Frankfurt

e) Secure system that will be capable of automatic handoff from one control sector, such as Britain, to another, such as a Eurocontrol center.

The 9020D, a twin to the o ne being installed at Maastricht, will be on line at West Drayton in May or June of 1974. Controller training will start then. Considerable help is being given by the U . S. Federal Aviation Administratio n during the intiial stages of ha rdware and software installation and in training .

Another facet of automation gaining in Europe is computer controlled landing approach sequencing. Spearhead for the system is London's Heathrow Airport, where the main advantage will be in improving limited runway capacity. An evaluation package is being put together as a development too l for installation at Heathrow. Major problem will be the interface between air traffic control and tower ope rators in the handover at a beacon reporting point prior to the landing approach . Best methods of providing pilots with proper headings and speeds from the computer will be determined to get maximum runway usage under constant and safe conditions.

There is o ne area of concern in computer-controlled approaches: Relation of man and machine. Loss of operato r job satisfaction is possible if the machine is doing all the controlling.

Again , the evaluation phase wil l include a Touchwire display for instant data to the contro ller. A Ferranti A rgus could possibly be the evaluation computer, although Elliot Auto-

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mation probably will be involved i n the project, along with the Royal Radar Establ ishment at Malvern, the CAA research laboratory at Hurn, and the National Air Traffic Control System for implementation.

Adoption of such a system, at least in England, largely will be determined by new airport developments, such as the Maplin project in the English Channel. Maplin would take a majority of British long haul traffic, reduc ing t he load on Heathrow. This will have some effect on the mephasis being placed on computer-controlled approaches. Besides gaining maximum utilisation of runways, the system is a valuable adjunct to airline flight operations plann ing i n that it could conceivably save time - and fuel - by more efficient handling in the crucial final approach.

The new Burring ton radar is the main step toward automation now being used in England. For the first time, primary and secondary radar information is being transmitted from the radar site to the control center by telephone land Ji nes. which are duplicated in case of break-down of one. Resultant radar picture is processed and displayed with a ircraft identity, height and a map of the ai rways. The system is based on twin Plessey AR-5 primary radars, with Cossor 700 secondary radars engineered so that a combination of primary and secondary antennas may be used one with the ot her.

Data from primary returns and secondary responses are fed into an on-site Plessey plot ext ractor and transmitted to the London ai r traffic control center on high-grade phone circuits. At London's West D rayton complex, the received

data is reconstituted in a display processor based on a Computer Technology Ltd. computer that forms radar symbols for the controller. Main advantage is that the system eliminates noise background common to earlier displays and can be worked in a bright, rather than semi-dark, environment.

Further automation is provided by eliminating the common radar trail seen on displays as the aircraft moves along the airways. Through the plot extractor, the new display substitutes this sometimes misleading trail with a series of five dots. These provide evidence of previous track without the subsequent clutter on the screen.

Main features of the Plessey displays are: a) Refresh rate on the order of 20 cps., giving flicker-free presentation of data. b) Selectable mode/code readout and selectable height readout. c) Position symbol for aircraft specially selected by mode/ code. d) Different position symbol to denote track history. e) Selectable format by which the code and height labels can be written in one of four positions relative to the position symbol. f) Selectable label size and brightness. g) Four selectable categories of back-ground map information.

Another automated linkage between display and radar now under evaluation in Europe is the use of colour images, taking inputs from aircraft recognition systems and heightfinding radars, as an identification and locating tool. In England, the Civil Aviation Authority has purchased a Marconi S-3016 colour display that provides information in various classifications in contrasting colours. Distinction can be made between inbound and outbound traffic, and, in the military mode, between friendly and hostile aircraft. Full colour maps of airways and procedural charts can be super-imposed on the radar screen.

Use of colour in planned position indicators is also being phased into service in Holland, where the Philips Telecommunications Systems Signaal Automatic Radar Processing (SARP) system Is being put into operation in two phases at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. First phase will use the SARP-1 system to operate in conjunction with existing computerised air traffic control systems for approach control only. SARP-1 uses dignitised primary and secondary radar from a terminal approach radar, inputting to the two-colour scope manned by the controller. SARP-1 system will be in full use by the end of 1974. SARP-2, intended for both approach and area control, will be delivered early in 1976. Main objectives in achieving both phases are: a) Automatic radar display processing for identification and flight level/altitude information that continually traces aircraft positions. b) Automatic transfer, processing and updating of flight plan information, with display of aircraft movements and flight data on digital bright displays the allows controllers to work under daylight conditions. c) Capability for a conflict search of overflying traffic in the terminal area and of all categories of flight over the Flight Information Region boundaries with adjacent canters. d) Approach sequencing facility to determine the estimated times aircraft can leave the three Schiphol holding stacks. e) Traffic flow control to determine departure times for aircraft leaving Schiphol.

Holland, along with other countries, is working on establishing the Touchwire system as a basic controller tool.

France's air navigation service will soon install Touchwire in its three control canters at Paris, Bordeaux and Aix-en-Provence for control of all overflying civil traffic.

Main task will be in transferring an aircraft from one control sector to another using a system that will allow the controller to hand over the aircraft and its flight plan to the control display in the next sector merely by touching the display.

If the existing flight plan is not acceptable to the next controller, he can, by Touchwire, alert a computer to the unacceptable parameters and thus immediately gain alternatives for selection and infusion into the control system, again

by Touchwire.

Each control center is being equipped with duplicated Compagnie lnternationale pour !'Information computers, which are based on a Xerox Data Systems license and fitted with a core storage of 68,000 words of 32 bits each. Civil system is based on Thomson-CSF primary and secondary radars, Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken displays and Siemens printers.

As a further move towards automation, the French government has approved research into flight plan filtering that will concentrate the controller's attention only on problem areas.

Flight plans compatible with the system will be filtered out.

Spanish air traffic control authorities are revamping the national system to meet demands imposed by marked increases in charter and scheduled flights, particularly in the peak tourist season. Traffic in Spain grew at an unprecedented rate of 190/o over the past two years, and reaction has been to introduce a Burroughs radar display system at the Madrid air traffic control center at Paracuellos. Burroughs used ITT and Marconi as subcontractors. Madrid's center is now fed from two Bendix surveillance radars, one located 250 miles to the north and the other 60 miles to the south.

More radars are being considered by the Spanish government, particularly in view of the lack of coverage of Northwest Spain. Authorities are studying capability for automatic printing of flight progress strips and for prediction of traffic conflicts.

European tourist traffic is a primary concern to Eurocontrol, which recently completed a study showing serious crossing and converging problems. Vital points shown in the computer study center at Rambouillet in France, where nine routes meet; Amboise, France, where five routes meet; Olno in Belgium, five routes meeting; Frankfurt, Germany, where nine routes meet; Tango, Germany, where eight routes meet, and Brooklands Park in England, where six routes meet.

Crossing points have peaked at 300 aircraft per day and are expected to increase to 400 per day before long. Growth at this rate portends a major workload on controllers, when crossing points in the upper airspace can be expected to reach 20 aircraft per hour during peak periods.

Much more could be said about the way in which Europe computerises in order to meet the ATC challenge of the 1970s and 1980s. Germany's AEG-Telefunken, for example, plays a leading role in equipping various Eurocontrol and German ATC units. Their equipment ranges from surveillance radars for enroute control to airport surveillance radars, precision approach radars, automatic ATC data processing systems, the associated display consoles for approach, runway and taxiway lighting and the exchange of flight plan data between air traffic control centers and ADP systems for the training of controllers and the testing of new ATC system. Let is suffice to say that in the rapidly changing ATC environment of today, Europe plays an important and progressive part. (reprinted from Aviation Week & Space Technology)

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ATC and the 10-Year Plan

The Writer presents a View of what is in Store for Pilots and Controllers in the United States if FAA's National Aviation Systems Plan is carried out.

Airline pilots, or for that matter, all pilots who intend to use the airspace of the United States, should be particularly interested in the 10-year National Aviation Systems Plan (NASP) for 1973-1982. This continuing plan, which is revised on an annual basis, is designed to provide the scheduling program needed to meet the realistic requirements of aviation during the coming decade. If one can master this government report's bureaucratese, with its propensity for redundancy, he may acquire an insight into what can be expected in the way of enroute and terminal controls and services.

The report noted that in seven short years (1969) the demand for ATC service would treble, and treble again by 1985. In light of these facts the committee saw three critical problems: (1) Shortage of terminal capacity, (2) the means of assuring separation of aircraft and (3) the limited capacity and increasing costs of air traffic control. Our concern here shall be with the latter two elements.

Since the 1969 report serves as a policy basis for the 10-year plan it is interesting to see how far it has moved toward intermittent positive control (IPC) as a proposed solution. IPC sounds fine if it will work. Whether it will ever be an ultimate solution is a highly debatable point.

Since enactment of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 there have been several attempts, some abortive, some more or less productive, to establish a policy for the development of a system compatible with the then-existing system that would allow for orderly growth to meet the needs of the 1980s and beyond. The Air Traffic Control Advisory Committee Report in 1969, known as the Alexander Committee Report, represents the most significant planning prior to the 10-year plan.

According to FAA, the Alexander Committee Report served to shape the 10-year plan. To understand the plan's significance it is necessary to evaluate the advisory committee report ~nd its influence on future planning and ATC services.

In the 1969 Report, the Alexander Committee suggested an upgrading of the third generation ATC system proposed

by Project Beacon in 1961. This system depended upon the Air Traffic Control Radar Beacon System (ATCRBS). From this evolved the foremost ATC surveillance system now in use. The system presents limited data to the controller in a semi-automated fashion. It is, as the writer can attest, a considerable improvement over the procedures prior to 1960, but scarcely adequate for the projected traffic of the 'BOs. The 1969 planners were aware of the problem of increasing congestion and they suggested a process called intermittent positive control. Positive control has long been a sore point with a large segment of aviation, particularly general aviation, which envisioned itself being driven from the sky by rigid professional requirements for its pilots and the high cost of the necessary hardware to meet the requirements of positive control.

The report indicates that the committee chose to ignore this factor, especially when considering high-density hubs around the nation. The report states: "We are in an Air Traffic Crisis. The crisis is now manifest at a few high-density hubs and is the direct result of failure of airports and air traffic control capacity to keep up with the growth of the aviation industry ... Unless strong measure are taken, forces presently in motion will blight the growth of American aviation." • James E. Satterfield is a former airline pilot, a lawyer, and the owner and operator of his own business. He is a writer on transportation subjects for several national magazines. He has also been a Senior Air Traffic Controller for FAA at several facilities in the United States.

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by James Edward Satterfield

IPC's essential characteristics are that it involves upgrading of the present third generation system with a data acquisition system that would reliably and accurately provide ATC personnel with identity, position and altitude information on all aircraft within a designated airspace. Further, an ATC computer, through data link, would automatically advise aircraft of threats due to other aircraft, weather, airspace boundaries and surface obstacles. In addition to advising of threats the computer would generate commands for appropriate evasive manoeuvres.

In essence, what the 1969 report proposed was a completely automated system controlled by a ground computer designed to relieve the controller and the pilot of a major share of their workload. Unfortunately IPC has a number of flaws, some technological and others that will occur if we consider (and we must) political pragmatism as having a bearing on the ability of FAA to perform Its task.

IPC represents an ideal concept. The planners in the 19~9 report admitted that the proposed system, dependent targe Y on automation not then within the capability of the art. would require considerable research and evaluation over a 1engthY period of time. If the whole concept seems like a bit of Flash Gordon, it is, since the committee did not know if higher levels of automation were feasible, notwithstanding the vagaries of politics and high costs. It noted that should higher levels of automation prove feasible, it would be possible t~ handle air traffic in the '90s with fewer controllers. A fair assumption, carefully hedged, as is the tendency in government reports, would be that If IPC proved feasible then fewer controllers would be required.

Since the basis of IPC is a ground-based computer, let us consider what may occur. If you have experienced a mix-up in your monthly bills due to the idiosyncracies of a computer, you can imagine the results of a computer foul-up involving hundreds of lives. Whether airline pilots would be willing to trust their lives and the lives of their passengers to a black box on the ground is a debatable point. One can imagine the problems of a public relations man explaining to grieving survivors that the demise of their loved ones was due to an irrational computer and not the fault of the airline. In any event, the 1969 report serves as a basis of the 10-year plan.

Let us briefly examine what has happened and what we may expect in the future. We will look first at enroute control.

Present plans call for an extension of the enroute VORTAC system with terminal VORs to be installed at more air-

ports. New solid-state equipment will gradually replace older models and upgrading to achieve new capabilities will have a priority. Conversion of a number of VORs to Doppler (DVOR) or precision (PVOR) configurations. with the continued inclusion of TACAN into the VORTAC system may be expected during the next decade.

The 1973 radar network covers 600/o of today's IFR airspace. Planned expansion will permit surveillance of 90% of the space forecast IFR traffic will operate in. There will be a gradual replacement of outmoded surveillance radar during the 10-year period. No major efforts will be made to retrofit systems now in operation. The present longrange radar network of 91 search radars colocated with radar beacons will be increased to 113 in the contiguous states with others in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. It is contended that since 1962 the state of the art has so advanced that replacement of the obsolete radar equipment is preferable so as to include data handling capabilities and compatibility with the governmentowned radar microwave links (RMLs). The latter may include satellite relayed data that would prove particularly useful in overseas flights.

The critical problem in enroute traffic control is determining the three-dimensional position (latitude, longitude and altitude) of controlled aircraft. We know, in the early days the ATC controller obtained his information from the pilot by radio. As IFR activity increased, the use of voice position reporting was gradually replaced by radar surveillance. During the '60s the radar beacon system (ATCRBS, secondary surveillance radar) was implemented to facilitate identifying targets and increase the surveillance coverage of a given antenna site. ATCRBS has evolved as the main ATC surveillance system and is supplying the data that is necessary for the first phase of the 10-year program (NAS Stage A and ARTS Ill). It is expected that during the period a discrete address beacon system (DABS) will eventually replace ATCRBS. It is hoped that DABS will eliminate the ATCRBS deficiencies that cannot be designed out, such as signal structure, target capacity, resolution, ranging accuracy and fixed scan rate. Primary radar will continue to provide both weather and back-up capability, and will continue to be an essential part of the system in the foreseeable future.

FAA indicates that DABS may be thought of as similar to ATCRBS, since there will be ground interrogators and airborne transponders. DABS will theoretically provide garblefree replies, superior-quality data and a means of implementing a digital data link so vital to the ultimate total automation hoped for in the 1969 plan. The main difference will be that DABS interrogations will be addressed to specific aircraft (hence the name "discrete"), which, in turn, will reply only after it has recognised its own address, rather than replying to all interrogators within line of sight. FAA contends such a system will offer complete domestic coverage, a point that may be open to question, in the hoped-for move toward intermittent positive control.

DABS will be introduced at a few high-density terminals and enroute areas for testing and evaluation. It is reasonable to assume that we will not see DABS fully implemented for a decade, if not longer, since it is a development program in its early stages. Quantities and costs are not firm, but rather estimates for planning purposes. The ultimate system, if it can be called that, of the '90s and beyond appears to rest on the success of DABS and its data link capabilities that could lead to the ultimate automation envisioned by the Air Traffic Control Advisory Committee in 1969.

Another aspect of en-route control that deserves attention is the continuing process of automating the house-keep-

ing duties of the controller. Flight data processing capability by computer will eliminate delays caused by manual handling and theoretically increase the accuracy of flight-plan distribution and updating as the flight moves along.

Radar data processing has become operational during 1973. Hardware is in place and the function provides automatic tracking and computer generated alphanumerics (AIN) displays using digitised radar data. The A/N display on the controller's scope will provide him with aircraft identification and altitude information for all aircraft with appropriate transponders. This will relieve frequency congestion and decrease both the workload of the pilot and the controller. The system also includes a weather subsystem display that will provide the controller with the location of severe weather areas.

How soon will this phase be operational? Not for some time if we read the report correctly. It says: "The improvements envisioned during Phase II, which includes the DABS system, are contingent upon the realisation of major new subsystems and other long-lead developments . . . Because of the central roles DABS will piay in the upgrading process its operational development can be considered as the demarcation beteween Phase I and Phase 11."

How close is enroute control to the IPC envisioned by the 1969 planners? Considering the quotation in the previous paragraph, the totally automated system does not seem within the realm of possibility for many years. If all the technological bugs are ironed out there will still be the vagaries of politics, which will have something to say about cost and whether or not positive control can be effected. Politicos are particularly sensitive about pressure from constituents who have an interest in general aviation. In many instances they are against any concept of positive control or limiting the airspace, even in high-density hubs, to those groups, particularly airlines, that can afford the sophisticated equipment and training required.

Of particular interest to all pilots are the collision avoidance systems under study. FAA is evaluating several techniques but has stated the primary method of aircraft separation will continue to be ground-based ATC. Airborne collision avoidance system are being developed by the private sector and no facilities and equipment funds will be committed

by FAA until an optimum techniques has been selected.

From this we may determine that the pilot will continue to depend on the ground controller as he has in the past and the prospect of a computerised command to avoid a hazard may not appear for several years. (IFATCA Editor's note: Groundbased collision avoidance system are also under study, and one such system was described in the November 1973 issue of THE CONTROLLER.) Terminal area control. which is forecast to increase threefold during the plan period, is due for considerable upgrading. Most high-density terminals now have what is known as the ARTS Ill system (automated radar terminal system). The installation of 61 ARTS Ill systems is virtually complete. The ARTS II will remain dependent largely on ATCRBAS and will be upgraded to prevent obsolescence.

ARTS Ill, however, is able to assimilate the DABS system when it becomes available.

One new piece of terminal hardware is a new generation solid-state, van-mounted airport surveillance radar that FAA claims will have a distinct advantage of (1) improved radar detectability, (2) superior moving target indicator capacity, (3) reduction of ground clutter and (4) increased reliability due to solid-state circuitry. Present plans call for installation of these newest generation ASRs at high-density locations.

Because ASR-3 radar in the system are technologically out29

dated and in need of costly improvements if they are to meet coming automation requirements, it is planned to systematically replace all of them on a continuing basis. As with ARTS Ill equipment. DABs ist expected to fit into the system and provide data-link capabilities.

that the report's proposals were based on ideal concepts, the technology for which the committee admitted was not available at that time. It is debatable, too, whether the total automation anticipated in that report will ever replace manual control.

Too many variables exist as any pilot can attest who has Of particular interest in terminal control is the program of flown ~hat last half mile and 200 feet. It would appear that metering-spacing by computer. On-June 30, 1970, a development contract was awarded to Computer System Engineering ¡for.many years the controller will continue to bear the burden of controlling traffic and such automated systems as are Inc. to provide a set of system design function specifications developed will be adjuncts to his primary function. and programs that will define specific logic, procedures and techniques for providing computer-aided metering and spacFAA says: "The essential elements of the system design ing of inbound and outbound aircraft. The development is have been s ettled for the next decade. It is now possible to being tested at NAFEC and the initial field demonstrations specify hardware and software development, selection, prowere held last autumn at Stapleton Airport in Denver. It is curement and installation of equipment. The focus for the hoped that the test will be completed sometime in 1974. Later next few years will point to a ,groundbased' operation conphases of development are dependent upon the outcome of taining ,massive automation', and the expanded use of transthe Denver trials. ponders." The configuraton of the enroute system can be At secondary facilities a system of somewhat lesser capaclearly foreseen. Data link with ground-based computers usbilities (ARTS II) is envisioned. ARTS II is designed around ing the DABS system, supported by search radar feeding a low-cost minicomputer and will have the capability of being digital displays that provide altitude and weather information upgraded to become a part of the fully automated system of to the controller are the key. Hardware is designed with the the future. Until ARTS II is implemented, a nonprogramable provision of adding more functions as they are developed system called TPX-42 will be used. This system provides a during the 10-year period. numeric beacon code and altitude information on the conTherefore, pilots, get your DABS oiled up and prepare for troller display. As of December 1972, FAA had ordered 39 the coming age of automation. One word of caution. If it sets to include modification kits for application to existing should come to pass that you are communicating with a airport surveillance radar. black box on the ground and permitting yourself to become it How does FAA feel about its new program? Here is what slave, consider that it may not be long until you are replaced it says in the June 1973 issue of FAA Aviation News: "On by a similar black box in the cockpit. Then you may join us July 2. 1975, a new era in air traffic control will begin ... ex-pilots who nervously occupy the tourist section and wonOn that date over 100 terminals and 20 FAA enroute air trafder: "What is going on up there?" Such an event will not fic control canters will be equipped to automatically interl~ly occur for either the pilot or the controller for some rogate transponders with altitude reporting capability ... And time, but the writing is on the wall. Consider a technology all aircraft, with few exceptions, using high-density terminals that can spot land a vehicle on the moon and ask yourself if or controlled airspace above 12,500 feet, will have the new it is not possible. improved transponders equipped not only to identify the air(reprinted from AIRLINE PILOT) craft at each sweep of the radar antenna, but also to report altitude in 100-foot increments ... The effect of this new equipment is expected to be nearly as dramatic as the inception of radar itself over 30 years ago." A bit dramatic? Perhaps, in view of the 1969 goal of IPC. A new regulation, effective July 20, 1973, will progressively require the use of transponders (DABS or upgraded ATCRBS) in certain designated airspace. Only aircraft equipped with operable beacon radar transponders having a Mode 3/A 4096 code capability for transmitting pressure altitude information will be permitted as follows: (1) After July 1, 1974, Group I Terminals: (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, San Francisco, New York).

(2) After Jan. 1, 1975, Group II Terminals: (Cleveland, Denver. Detroit, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, St. Louis).

(3) After Jan. 1, 1975, Group Ill Terminals (42 locations).

(4) After July 1, 1975, in all controlled airspace of the 48 adjacent states and the District of Columbia above 12,500 feet MSL, excluding the airspace at and below 2,500 feet AGL.

In summation of the 10-year program as it relates to air traffic control, it is apparent that it falls short of the proposals of the Air Traffic Control Advisory Committee report of 1969. In all fairness to FAA, however, it must be considered 30

Quotes

by Air Traffic Control Spokesmen across the World Jack E. Reed, FAA Port Columbus Tower. who retired from the ATCA Board of Directors in October 1973:

"We may have lost sight of the fact that a controller lives in two worlds, with a split responsibility to his home and to his work. Sometimes neither his home environment nor his work environment is known to the other. We have missed the boat at times by not bringing the personal life and the work life into a closer relationship. May be one of the greatest things we could accomplish would be to tell a wife or family why the controller is what he is. I have often heard controllers say, ,My wife has no idea what we do out here'. Since ATCA was founded in 1956, it has done much to tell the real story of air traffic to the public, but there is a long way to go to bring it right down home. Let's set that as a goal for the future."

Fool Me Twice

by Capt. Raymond C. Gerber

Would pilots rather hold or vector?

Trace the author's "routine" to JFK as he slogs along in a 747 at low altitude using up priceless fuel while ATC vectors him approximately 85 miles The circumstances are routine. Each succeeding event is innocent in itself. But suddenly the situation is serious. Perhaps not dangerous but damned uncomfortable. And almost entirely avoidable - at least in retrospect. If you haven't been conf rented with it, odds are you soon will be. Especially if you fly into JFK. The worst part is, you may be completely aware of what's going on and perhaps have been trapped before and still they may get you again. "Stupid", you may say, recalling the old adage, "Fool me once, it's your fault; fool me twice, it's mine". But this is a little different. Follow along and see what you would have done.

Mid-January on a nonstop B-747 flight, Frankfurt to New York, the flight plan is 7 hours 40 minutes. The scheduled arrival time is 4:30 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. Dulles is the alternate with about 30 minutes extra fuel at departure and the forecast is CAVOK for the whole East Coast. Quite a happy prospect. All goes well except we never can get clearance at our optimum altitudes and end up at 4,000 feet below best altitude, for about half the flight. Not an unusual occurrence on the North Atlantic any time of year. We also bust our flight plan by 20 minutes, so as we approach Nantucket we have eaten up our 30 minutes fuel cushion, plus. Also, in the last three or four hours, the weather at JFK, has gradually deteriorated from high overcast to rain and strong northeast winds. (We usually get better "Met" information by consulting the copilot's daily horoscope, than we do from the forecasts.)

Dulles weather is OK and Boston is usable, so we have two alternates - if they hold. As soon as we begin working with New York Center, we inquire about approach delays and are advised there are none. The ATIS information is: "ILS to 4R with JFK weather 500 ~ vercast, 1 mile in rain and fog, wind 060°, 18 knots, gusts to 30. barometer rapidly falling." Not good, not bad.

We pass Hampton VOR level at 17,000 feet. We have figured at arrival over Deer Park, the normal holding fix 23 miles northeast of JFK, we will have about 15 minutes holding fuel before we get to our minimum diversion fuel Dulles. We are now cleared to 10,000 feet, to depart Deer Park orf the 221° radial, and maintain 250 knots. There is no holding, so we plan our descent to cross Deer Park, as we reach 10,000 feet to conserve as much fuel as possible.

Just before Deer Park, we are cleared to 6,000 feet and to maintain 210 knots. Good, we can just hold 210 without putting flaps down. We level at 6,000 feet as we settle down on the 221° radial. We observe from the INS that we have a 270° wind at 90 knots. Progress is slow. We are well past JFK when the vector finally comes. It is to a heading of 210'', with a speed of 180 knots. We will have to put flaps down to hold this speed and the vector is the wrong way.

We have, of course, heard several aircraft ahead and behind us, and know we are "in trail" in the usual "daisy chain".

But, how long is it?

We are now over 20 miles past JFK and still flying away from it. We try to get some information, but the frequency is jammed. We have been monitoring the weather and it has deteriorated to 300 feet; other conditions the same. We have now burned up all our "holding fuel" and we are working into our "diversion fuel", only we aren't diverting. We are "slogging along" at 6,000 feet, and now they want us to put flaps down and increase consumption.

Finally, we get a word in, and advice ATC we cannot reduce to 180. No answer. We are still heading 210° and are now 25 miles past JFK when they advise "Heading 250°, descend to 3,000 feet and reduce to 180 knots".

This is at least some small progress in the right direction. so we reluctantly put down the required flap, turn and begin descent. At 27.5 nautical miles from JFK, we are finally given a heading of 310°. Could this be the base leg? We are now at 3,000 feet and it is rough, rough, rough. We have gone through a wind shear on descent and now have 360°/60 knots.

Next heading of 360° takes us on a nice ILS intercept (at only 18 miles out). But we're not home yet. We go completely through the ILS, and can't even get a word in to inquire if it is deliberate, or if they have lost or forgotten us. Finally, we get through and we get a heading of 70°, descend to 1,500 feet and intercept the ILS. That's better. The adrenalin subsides to a torrent, as we are finally back in reasonable control of the situation. The auto pilot makes a fine intercept, we are locked on the localizer 7 miles from touchdown, the weather is 500 feet again, with the same rain, fog and gusty wind, but no problem. We have burned well into our diversion fuel, as it is almost 30 minutes since we left Deer Park, flying at low altitude, in turbulence, with flaps down half the time. None of which is conductive to fuel economy.

Suddenly, the controller is calling, with a slightly desperate undercurrent in his voice, giving us a vector to a 70° heading. We can't believe it, and are about to protest. Instantaneous reaction is all there is time for. You either comply or you don't. He must have a serious situation, or he would not be doing this so close in. If we don't comply and have to "go around", we will be in a serious situation. We comply, hoping it is the lesser of the two evils, but if we get very far off the ILS, we won't make it back.

Fortunately, in about 30 seconds. he gives us a heading of 360° to reintercept. We take it off the auto pilot, as it can obviously not cope with this close-in manoeuvering, and we are now also above glideslope intercept. We get it all tied down by the outer marker and the rest is routine. No delays, they said. But we were over 30 minutes from Deer Park to landing, and were vectored approximately 85 miles at low altitude.

Maybe you would have done it differently. I was doubly aware, because six months earlier, in similar circumstances I was vectored from South Gate to the 4R ILS JFK and at one point was 40 nautical miles from JFK, although South Gate is only 29 miles out to begin with. Fortunately, I was coming from San Juan and had plenty of extra fuel, so was not concerned personally, only with the obviously poor procedure.

At that time I wrote a letter, and we discussed it in the ALPA ATC Committee. We raised the question at meetings with the controllers in New York and their bosses at FAA 31

headquarters in Washington. We received identical answers.

They believe that pilots prefer to obsorb approach delays in vectors rather than in holding patterns. They claim pilots have complained for years about holding-pattern delays.

Therefore, they must prefer vectors. This logic we dispute vigorously. At least I do. Certainly we have complained about holding-pattern delays. (We complain about all delays.) This does not mean we prefer vectoring. If I have my "druthers", 1 will take the turns in the holding pattern, rather than the type of experience detailed above.

My reasoning is that the holding pattern is the preferable place if delay is necessary, because: 1. The pilot has an assigned altitude. He can accurately calculate his fuel consumption and probably save fuel as this altitude is usually higher than the altitudes he gets on vectors after leaving the holding fix. (Even as he is laddered down the stack, this holds true).

2. The pilot knows where he is. If a diversion is necessary, he has a known starting point and a known distance to travel. Once a vectoring procedure starts, no one (not even the controller) knows exactly how long it will take or where it will go. Only where it starts and where it will eventually end.

3. The pilot is given an expected approach time upon entering the holding. He now knows if and when a diversion will be necessary. If the approach time is changed, he either leaves earlier or makes another turn or two, but he instantly knows how much the change is. When on vectors, he is at the complete mercy of unknown circumstances, reflected only in changes in heading or airspeed, given by the controller, and almost never explained.

4. The pilot knows he should get short vectors after leaving the holding fix for approach. If holding patterns are used

to absorb the delays, there should be no excuse for long in-trail processions. A minimum distance flight track can be maintained to the approach gate, with an optimum number of aircraft in the pattern. Instead of extending the pattern to increase spacing, it is much easier to delay the next departure from the holding point and keep the pattern at minimum size.

From a pilot viewpoint, the logic seems overwhelmingly in favour of absorbing necessary approach delays in a holding pattern. Why then are the controllers so reluctant to start the patterns, and so determined to keep the vectors going as long as possible (and far too long in most cases)? Maybe it's the challenge. How many airplanes, in how long a parade, over how great a distance? JFK must be the champ. Besides the challenge, perhaps it's the record. Delays are only counted when they are in a holding pattern. These great long vectors at slow speed and low altitude, consuming enormous quantities of fuel and ending - even the controllers don't know when - officially are not delays at all. The record is clean and beautiful. The pilots have ulcers.

The ALPA ATC Committee is working on this. So far with minimal success. Maybe FAA is right and pilots do prefer to absorb their delays in vectors. We believe otherwise. In the current vernacular, are we "Right On" or "Way Out"? Or, someplace in between?

This is your problem. It is an insidious one because your defenses against it now are almost nil. Until a better solution is provided, I know what I am going to do the next time I have limited holding capability and they advertise "no delays". My healthy skepticism will dictate the inquiry: "But what number am I in the chain gang and how long is the¡chain?"

(Reprinted from Airline Pilot Magazine)

Automated Link for Air Traffic Control Center Emerges After Long Development Effort

by Phillip J. Klass

Automation of the Federal Aviation Administration's 20 en-route air traffic control canters in the continental U. S. has started to come on-line, but it could be several years before there is a significant beneficial effect from the 8 600million investment.

That was to be expected. The very earliest experiments at Atlanta in the early 1960s with automated radar terminal system (ARTS) equipment showed that it takes time for controllers to adapt to, and benefit from, automation. FAA's automation program, intended to ease the need to add more and more controllers and divide airspace into more and more sectors, now appears to be over the serious hardware and software problems that plagued it several years ago.

In June 1973, two en-route centers at Los Angeles and Kansas City reached an initial operating capability (IOC) phase and the centers at New York, Washington and Oakland are following. Kansas City could become the first enroute center to achieve a fully operational status in 1974, with 32

Los Angeles following shortly afterwards, according to Spencer Hunn, Director of the FAA's systems research and development service.

By early 1975, all 20 of the en-route centers in the continental U.S. will have achieved initial operating capability status. Most of them are expected to have become fully operational by that date.

The¡ National Airspace System (NAS) Stage A capability provides radar air traffic controllers with modern 22-inch large-screen displays in which each aircraft carries an alphanumeric tag that gives its identity and barometric altitude as well as ground speed. This information tag is provided both for aircraft equipped with a radar transponder and for unequipped aircraft that are operating under traffic control, whereas the ARTS-2 and ARTS-3 terminal area systems now can display such information only for transponder equipped aircraft. Capability of displaying tags for both transponderequipped and unequipped aircraft requires that National Air-

space System computers be able to perform automatic tracking of both secondary and primary radar signals. The latter is especially a challenging task.

Beyond providing en-route air traffic controllers with highquality displays and aircraft tags, which eliminate the need for plastic markers - called shrimp boats - and the attendant risk of mistaken identity of raw radar targets, Stage A provides an automation link that interconnects with 62 ARTS-3 systems now installed. This will prove a great boon both for en-route and terminal-area controllers because information on an aircraft, its identity and transponder code, once entered into the system at the point of departure, will automatically be transferred from ARTS-3 computer to National Airspace System en-route computer, to adjacent enroute computers and finally to the destination ARTS-3 computer. All of this is without controller intervention, except to assign a new transponder code.

One of the biggest initial obstacles to controller acceptance of automation will be greatly reduced - the need to enter data into the system by means of a small keyboard.

With experience, controllers acquire the ability to manipulate the keyboard handily, but initially it always poses an obstacle.

Most significant aspect of the nation-wide NAS-ARTS network is that it provides the automation backbone for adding, on an evolutionary basis, a number of even more features that can significantly reduce controller workload. These are referred to as the National Airspace System enhancement program. Typical improvements currently under study or planned: a) Local flow control. This would involve the use of an enroute computer to devise and recommend alternative flight plan routing during heavy traffic periods to avoid traffic bunching and delays. b) Conflict detection and resolution. The National Airspace System computer already is used to search for possible conflicts between a proposed flight plan and those already approved as part of its flight plan processing function, which was the first function to be introduced under Stage A. The next phase would be to maintain continuous surveillance of possible future conflicts, based on actual aircraft position. Initially, such projected conflicts would be displayed to the controller to enable him to intervene and devise the resolution of the conflict. Eventually, the FAA believes this should be done automatically by the computer, at least for many situations, with the required evasive manoeuvres being transmitted to the aircraft involved by discrete-address beacon system (DABS) datalink.

Still another enhancement program feature would be the automatic delivery of flight plan routing clearance to the cockpit without controller intervention. Once the computer has checked a newly proposed flight plan and found no conflicts, or has proposed an alternative, clearance could automatically be transmitted and displayed in the cockpit via the DABS or other data link. Initially, the clearance could be checked by the controller before being transmitted, but transmission by data link could greatly relieve controller work load and minimise the possibility of human error.

FAA launched the present National Airspace System automation program a decade ago, after cancelling its first effort started several years earlier. International Business Machines Corp. was selected to supply the computers, an adaption of the IBM 360 commercial computer family, and Raytheon was selected to supply the plan-view displays (PVDs) and the associated computer display channel (CDC)

- essentially a hard-wired computer used to generate and refresh the console displays.

During the mid and late-1960s, when the FAA would report its latest schedule for system readiness in congressional testimony, the operational date usually had slipped more than 12 months from the date given the previous year.

Mid-stream in the program, Raytheon found it necessary to initiate a whole new display design to meet the FAA's rigorous standards. IBM found itself overcommitted in developing software for its commercial 360 computer line and for the Apollo program and its air traffic control software program fell behind schedule.

By 1970, with National Airspace System automation consuming the bulk of the FAA's available procurement funds, and continued slippage of the operational timetable, there were pressures from some congressional sources to cancel the program and start again. The Agency hung on, if only because it could ill afford to scrap a second automation program. Today, these gross problems have abated. FAA's Hunn says that "every one who has looked at the Raytheon display agrees it is the best they have ever seen." The company, which once was running almost two years late in its delivery, is now ahead of schedule, according to Hunn.

There are some problems associated with the high temperatures generated inside the plan view display consoles that have caused component failures. Meantime-betweenfailure has improved and is now in the several-thousand-hour range, according to Hunn. Raytheon is seeking ways to alleviate the high temperature problem, possibly through the use of motor-driven fans.

Two different models of IBM computers are installed for en-route traffic control processing and radar tracking. The 9020A machine is used at 11 of the lower traffic density centers and the larger-capacity 9020D is installed at the remaining 9 centers. The latter are Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Ft. Worth, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York and Washington.

Initial requirements established for the Raytheon computer display channel (CDC) was that it be able to drive up to 60 individual plan view displays at a single center. Later, as air traffic mushroomed during the 1960s, the FAA decided that as many as 120 plan view displays might be needed eventually at the largest centers. This was beyond the design capacity of the Raytheon display channel, so the decision was made to buy IBM 9020E computers to perform this function of driving the Raytheon displays. For this reason, five centers now have a 9020D and 9020E working in combination with the 9020E being used soley to drive the displays. These canters are Chicago, Cleveland, Ft. Worth, New York and Washington. More recently, Raytheon has devised a method which enables its computer display channel to also drive up to 120 displays.

The Los Angeles and Kansas City centers, selected as the first to be implemented with the new system, are both medium-density centers. Although the software had been checked out at the FAA's National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (NAFEC) in Atlantic City, N. J .. on a system installed there, the initial tests at Los Angeles prompted controller suggestions for some changes. Controllers through years of using raw radar had learned how to track an aircraft blip through precipitation. With the new system, no raw precipitation echoes are synthetic symbology, generated by the computer display channel. Regions of precipitation show as a cross-hatched area, and an airplane that is not outfitted with a transponder shows as a single illuminated point, or dot. When the dot moved into a cross-hatched precipitation 33

area, the con trolle rs complained they had difficulty following it. One of the software changes bei ng made will enhance the visibility of th e non-transp onder eq ui pped ai rcraft.

In the older displays, a transponde r equipped aircraft showed up as a very inten sely illuminated target on th e display because of the high level of its transponder reply. In the new displays, the symbols that indicate the position of aircraft a re the same intensity, regard less of whether the airplane is equipped with a tran sponder o r not.

Th e real problem , Hunn said, is that initially controllers lack confi dence in co mputer p rocessed displays.

The problem has been aggravated in the Los Angeles area becau se of the mountainous terrai n and shortcomin gs in both the primary and secondary (beacon) radars installed in that reg ion . Th e FAA is currently developing improved antennas which are expected to ease th is problem. Because of the flatter topography of the midwest, the Kansas City has not encou ntered these problem s, acco rding to Hunn.

Experience at Los Angeles demon strated that it is difficult to generalise the desi re of air traffic co ntrollers. When the software program was being developed at the Atlantic

City facility, it originally had prov1s1ons for si lent hand-off.

That is, when one controller is handing off an ai rpl ane to the adjacent sector contro ll er, the receivi ng controller could acknowledge he was taking over simply by pushing a button.

Controllers at the experi mental center, according to Hunn, decided this si lent hand-off provision was not needed and that the hand-off could be accomplished as easi ly via interphone. Los Angeles controllers insisted on having si lent hand-off, so that provision is now being introduced into the modified software.

FAA is maintaining tight control on software uniformity to assure that a basic program developed for one center is com patibl e with all other centers.

FAA's Atlantic City experimental ce nter Is responsible for maintaining National Airspace System programs, and for testing and approving any significant changes. An individual center is allowed to make a temporary local patch to cure an immediate problem, according to Hunn, but thi s has to be repo rted to Atlantic City. If the fix is for a problem likely to be encountered at all centers, a new taped program inco rporating the change is sent out to all centers . (reprinted from Aviation W eek and Space T echnology)

News from Corporation Members New Automatic Radar Data Processing System Brings ATC One Step Nearer To Full Automation Followin g a joint study by the Netherlands Aviation Authorities and Hol landse Signaalapparaten B. V. (a subsidiary of N . V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken). approval has been given to install an advanced digital radar data processing system at Schiphol Airport , Amsterdam . T he programme involves two installation phases for this SARP system (Signaa l Automatic Radar Processing) . Phase 1 wil l u se the SARP I syste m to operate in conjunction with computerised air traffic con trol system (SATCO) and is destined for approach co ntrol on ly. Therefore, SARP I uses digitised primary a nd secondary radar data from a terminal approach radar. The system is capable of displaying raw primary and secondary radar video information on plan position indicators as well as digitised v ideo to which data from flight plans (derived from the existing SATCO system) is added.

In ord er to e nhance th e contrast of d isplayed data use is made of a 2-colour plan position indicator (see Fig. 1). The controll ers have the possibility to select raw video pictures from th ree other interco nnec ted radars. Flight plan data is shown on electronic data displays in additio n to the condensed information s hown on the 2-co lo ur display. The SARP I syste m is. after extensive testing and shadow-operation. planned to be put into full practical use by the end of 1974.

The SARP II system (phase 2) is intended for both tower/ approach co nt rol and area contro l and is planned for delivery in ea rly 1976. This imp lies that the existing SATCO system wil l th en be removed from service and the SARP I system is fully integrated in SARP II. The SARP II system w ill then perform radar data and flight plan p rocessing.

34

Fig. 1: Console of SARP I with two-colour d isplay and tightpen

Display of aircraft and additional data in printed form and/or electronic data displays.

Computer processing capability for: a) stored flight plans/flight plans from the AFTN-network re co rding . b) conflict search of overflight traffic in the TMA. c) conflict search for all categories of flights over the FIR boundaries with the adjacent centres. d) flow contro l meas ures resulting in, among other things , determination of departure times for aircraft leavi ng Schiphol. e) approach seq uencing measures resulting in determination of estimated times the aircraft may leave the three holding stacks (plus additional fac ilities).

The hardware of SARP II can be divided into a number of sub-systems (see Fig. 3): The main computer group which forms the heart of the overall system. This consists of two main computers which operate in parallel and are largely responsible for flight plan processing and general system administration.

Fig. 2: 23"' digital bright display

In SARP II primary and secondary radar data from the terminal approach radar of SARP I and a long-range radar will be processed. This means that raw radar video presentation for the benefit of the controllers will no longer be required and the ATC organisation at Schiphol will operate with digital radar information only. The present ATC working methods and procedures will therefore be greatly simplified.

The main objectives of the SARP system concepts are to obtain the following function : Automatic radar data processing giving: a) Aids for establishing and maintaining radar identification of aircraft in the system. b) Automatic display of aircraft identification and FL/ altitude information that co ntinually trace the aircrafts' positions.

Automatic transfer, proc essi ng and updating of flight plan information.

Display of aircraft moveme nts and flight data on digital bright displays allowing the co ntroll ers to work under daylight conditions (see Fig . 2).

Minicomputers which are linked to the main computers.

These are used for process i ng incomin g digital radar data from tw o video extractors and to control sixteen bright di spl ays, one minicomputer serves two bright displays and handles display processing and refresh f unctions.

A data exchange with elect ronic data d isplays and printers.

Throughout the design of the system hardware maximum attention has been paid to high reliability and to the highest possible standard of availability. Almost all hardware is on-line duplicated for reasons of redundancy.

In the software design , full advantage has been taken of the fle xibility of stored programme computers to enable the system to co ntinue operation in a variety of configurations.

Even in the event of multiple failures occurring simultaneously, care has been taken to maintain a 'fail soft' capability .

This capab ility exploits the remaining serviceable system hardwa re after individual unit failures.

Tog ether with the o rder fo r t he system a 'Programming and Test System¡ was required . It is intended for general programming activities, hardware testing , programme debugging , preparation of stored flightplans and is completely independent of the operational SARP system.

l

Time of the day clock

l

MAIN COMPUTER SUBSYSTEM

IRADAR COMPUTER! IMAIN COMPUTER!

loRUM / MAG. TAPEsl

1

I

~ PRINTER SUBSYSTEM

)

EDD SUBSYSTEM

OF

_f

IRADAR COMPUTER

I

jMAIN COMPUTER

I

]

~ (

V IDEO EXTRACTOR ] TMA/LONGE RANGE

1

r COMPUTER DISPLAY]

8 PLAN VIEW DI SPLAY

5UBS Y ST EM

Fig. 3: Computer subsystem of SARP II

35

The amount of air traffic in the Netherlands is increasing tremendously (as in other countries) and it is planned that SARP will cope with the predicted growth of aviation traffic through 1980 and beyond, maintaining safety and an acceptable workload for air traffic controllers at all times.

AEG-TELEFUNKEN's L-Band Medium-Range Radar SRE-LL Increasing air traffic density and higher travelling speeds were the factors which determined the development of the SRE-LL 1 radar system, resulting in increased coverage of altitude, easier location of the positions of targets having small echoing-area cross-sections and of targets near the radar horizon, and a fast data rate and efficient moving target indication. The design concept was determined by the requirements of continous operation and a minimum of maintenance effort. The system is capable of furnishing information to equipments which supply a synthetic presentation of the air situation by means of digital extraction or radar target data.

The requirements and deliberations as mentioned led to the SRE-LL 1 design the dual antenna of which is its most outstanding feature. The antenna assembly is a " back-toback " arrangement of two identical reflectors, each 14.5 meters wid e and 9 meters high. The reflectors are offset by 180 degrees relative to their main directions of radiation and form a so ca lled " JANUS" antenna. The continously variable rotation rate ranges from 2 to 7.5 rpm 's, ensuring that the two opposing req uirements of a fast rate of updating information and of a high target resolution are met with equal efficiency.

By this " JANUS" ar ra ngement, the info rmation updating rate was increased to twice the value of conventional systems, thereby attain ing co ntinous information about objects flying at high speeds. At the highest rotation rate, the position updating rate is fou r seconds; in th is respect, the system meets ICAO requirements as specified for ASR systems. The tilt angle of the two reflectors can be changed independently of each other by remote ly controlled tilt systems, the lower diagram tilting its main direction of radiation by 2 degrees, relative to horizontal.

Because of the requirement to cover air traffic at high altitude levels. the coverage diagrams were so developed as

to provide a considerable extension of the elevation coverage, which also ensures that targets close to the radar horizon can still be detected due to the very s harp bottom characteristics of the vertical diagram. To attain this objective, the illuminated space was divided into a cosecantsquareo diagram at high level and a lobe diagram below it.

To illuminate the four radiation pate rns, the prototype system has been fitted with four and the line-manufactured version with three transmitters.

The illustrated radar coverage (propagation in free space) of one of the two antenna reflectors extends over

JANUS Antenna

36

Control and Monitoring Desk

range of horizon distances up to 120 NM, in creases to 150 NM at 25.000 ft up to 60.000 ft. Within th e close-in range, the radar cove rage is limited by the backwa rd sloping edge of the diagram. Th e diagram width in azi muth is 1.1 degrees Âą 0.1 degree. Th e radi ators provided for generating the four diagrams are capable of em itting energy of both vertical and ci rc ular polarisation. There is a ci rcular polariser available for each antenna diagram.

Polarisation is pre-programmed by keys for th e vertical and horizontal mo des and is adjustable at will from elliptical to c irc ular by a manually co ntrolled servo drive. This adjustment can be made separately for the upper and lower antenna diagrams and permits an optimum suppression of rain c lutter. Co mpared with conventional system s, th e JANU S antenna runs at a relatively low rotation speed and thereby promotes the effi ciency of moving target in dication which is further supported by double cancellatio n in the MTI ch an nel (double-cance llation MTI with feedback). Blind s peeds resu ltin g from MTI operation are el iminated by !ripple stagge ring of th e pulse repetitio n frequency at the ratio of 9 : 10 : 11 .

As the mechanica l pa rt of the system is subject to especially critical operational condi tions, the principle of duplication was also extended to the mechanical components of the antenna. The anten na is rotating o n a duplicated rolle rbearing with a life expectancy of about 200,000 operational hours (over 20 years). Upon failure of the operating bea ring, the second-plane bearing takes over its function automatica lly. Two moto r drive assemblies of two m otors each, with gears offset by 90 degrees form each othe r and each assembly opposed at 180 dewees, ensure that rotation is kept within the specified limits also when high wind velocities are encountered. Up to mod erate wind velocities, one such drive as-

sembly is operat ing and the other one switched to standby so that the latter can take over upon failure of the operating assembly. When the w ind is exceeded a specific limit of velocity (about 60 kilometers per hour), the standby drive assembly, controll ed by anemometers, will switch on in ad d itio n either automat ically or manually. Wind fins between the reflectors serve to red uce the driving power. Operation is maintained with a wind velocity of up to 120 km/ hr. Idling in wind , the antenna withstands wind velocities of up to 180 km/ hr without being damaged.

There are 4 transmitters, one of which is the standby transmitte r. Whenever required , this transm itter can replace each on e of th e three operationa l trans mitters. Frequency selection is by automatic tunin g device within range from 1250 to 1350 MHz, continuously variable. Pulse Peak Power: (MW) = 5; Range of Power Regu lation: approx. 750/o to 1000/o of max imum peak power; Pu lse Duration : (.us) = 4.5 Âą 150/o; Pul se Repetition Frequency: {Hz) = approx. 400, 9 : 10 : 11 staggering.

The receiver i nput cabinets are connected by waveguide to the receiving part of the c irculator. To each receiver. a receiver input is allocated which performs the following main fun ctions: 1. Low-noise s ignal amplification in a parametric amplifier; 2. Generation of the crystal-stabilised system operating frequ ency from 1250 to 1350 MHz at 1-MHz steps, adj ustable at a stable local osc illator (STALO) ; 3. Block ing of the receiving path for arriving transmitter pulses by receiver protector tu be equipped with quickreplacement faci lity and power supply; 4. Measurement and monitoring of the noise figure , of the trans mitter power, and of the reflected powe r, by the 37

radar monitor in conjunction with the directional coupler and the noise generator.

5. Measurement of RF power of the transmitter connected to the dummy load by means of power meter (only in receiver input EE 3) which is normally the standby transmitter;¡ 6. Generation of the IF frequency of 30 MHz (mixer and IF preamplifier) and stabilisation of the transmitter frequency by automatic frequency control (AFC).

The receiver input cabinets are fitted with standby units such as the STALO. the AFC unit. the parametric amplifier, which may be switched on upon possible failures. This arrangement offers ease-of-maintance and permits omitting a fifth receiver input cabinet plus complex waveguide run.

The receivers receive their input signals from the mixers and pre-amplifiers in the receiver input cabinets, through coaxial cables. The signals are fed from the IF pre-amplifiers in the receiver input via coax switch panels and through high-Q low-loss coax cables to the receiver where they .are connected into the IF amplifier circuitry. The receiver equipment group consists of five cabinets (E 1 thru E 5); a difference is made betwen master equipments (Receiver E 2 and Standby Receiver 1) and slave equipments (Receivers E 3 to E 5). The standby receiver has been featured as a master receiver and can be conected into the system by the aforementioned coax switch panel upon failure of an operational receiver.

Control and Monitoring Desk The control and monitoring desk (STOP) is the central point from where all system functions are controlled and monitored by appropriate setting and switching operations.

For checking the system parameters, use is made of metering instruments, optical indications, and acoustic warning signals.

The main switch panel is fitted with all elements required to control the signal flow. Allocation of the transmitters to the various antenna diagrams, the operational state of the individual waveguide sections, and the receiver's OPERATE/ STANDBY status are marked by visual indication. Another switch panel is provided for the remote control of the receivers, permitting the following operational modes to be set: staggering; single MTI; double MTI; adjustable feedback; integration; logarithmic video gain; manual or external control of the MTl-normal video gating.

The important operational data such as frequency deviation, noise figure, transmitter power, and reflected power which are indicated at the receiver input cabinets are also monitored by metering instruments on the control and monitoring desk. At the recooling monitor panel, the state of the transmitter and circular heat exchange cycling may be checked.

A transmitter failure and interference indication system supplies information on the state of the protective and monitoring loops with which each of the transmitters is fitted.

Legal Developments in Aviation of Interest to the Air Traffic Controller A Study by Standing Committee VII of IFATCA (United Kingdom and Cyprus)

Introduction It is understood that unlawful interference with civil aircraft is not the concern of one state or region only but of the entire world. Many lives as a result have been lost and others have been endangered. Air Traffic Control Services are among the numerous other services which are directly involved as a result of such interferences. It is therefore natural that any study on the Legal Developments of Aviation will be largely occupied with measures taken or suggested for the suppression of such criminal acts.

The present paper can be no exception to this general rule. This study has two main divisions, namely the International field and the National one. Other material of interest to the controller is also included.

Unternational The following is a summary report on the status of the main International Conventions concluded under the auspices of ICAO:

38

The Tokyo Convention, 1963 (came in force on December 4, 1969 after its 12th ratification) This is the most important Convention on the question of hijacking and covers "acts, which, whether or not they are offences, may or do jeopardize the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property therein, or which jeopardize good order and discipline on board". It covers such broad aspects of jurisdiction, powers of aircraft commanders, unlawful seizure of aircraft, powers and duties of states and various other provisions. The Convention lays down the uniform rule that the state of nationality of the aircraft is competent to exercise jurisdiction over offences and acts committed on board. This rule is specially important in international aviation, as aircraft often fly above the high seas or other areas outside national territories; even when flying over national territories offences may be committed over or near national frontiers and the speed and height of modern aircraft can make it impossible to determine exactly in which national territory the offence occurred.

One particular Article which speaks of hijacking provides that if a person on board, unlawfully and by force or threat of force seizes the aircraft or wrongfully interferes with the control of it in flight, all parties to the Convention shall have an obligation to take all appropriate measures to restore

control of the aircraft to its lawful commander or to preserve his control of it. It also provides for the State in which the seized aircraft lands to permit the passengers and crew to continue their journey as soon as practicable.

The Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civn Aviation This Convention provides in its first article that: "any person commits an offence if he unlawfully and intentionally: a) performs an act of violence against a person on board an aircraft in flight if that act is likely to endanger the safety of that aircraft; or b) destroys an aircraft in service or causes damage to such an aircraft which renders it incapable of flight or which is likely to endanger the safety of that aircraft in flight; or c) places or causes to be placed on an aircraft in service, by any means whatsoever, a device or substance which is likely to destroy that aircraft, or to cause damage to it which renders it incapable of flight, or to cause damage to it which is likely to endanger its safety in flight; or d) destroys or damages air navigation facilities or interferes with their operation, if any such act is likely to endanger the safety of aircraft in flight; or e) communicates information which he knows to be false, thereby endangering the safety of an aircraft in flight.

The 1970 Hague Convention for the Suppression of the Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft in Flight Though this Convention does not define what an unlawful seizure of aircraft is, it specifies what acts constitute the offence. This Convention has received more international support, but unfortunately States that are more involved in hijackings have not participated and States which impose more severe punishments have shown indifference.

1970 Hague Convention - further from what is being referred to in para 2.1.3. ante - it provides that the State where the alleged hijacker is present shall submit the case to its prosecuting authorities if he has not been extradited. The State of landing must facilitate the continuation of the journey of the passengers, crew and aircraft.

Failure of a Member State of ICAO to ratify the proposed amendment to the Chicago Convention after it enters into force would result in its expulsion from the Organization.

2. The Second proposal presented by Switzerland and the United Kingdom is to amend the Chicago Convention so that a State in whose Territory an alleged offender is present would be obliged to take measures relating to his detention and either prosecution or extradition. If in a case, the Council decided that the State concerned has not complied with those provisions, the penalty would be that the other Contracting States would not allow the operation of an airline of that State through their territories.

The second recommendation of the Legal Committee is for the Council of ICAO to convene a diplomatic conference.

Two proposals were to be submitted to it (This was held in Rome in August-September, 73 but without any definite conclusion): a) The first from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden is a proposal for a new convention which would provide in a case of hijacking or unlawful interference for an enquiry into the facts by the ICAO Council or a Ccmmission of Experts appointed by it. b) Another proposal submitted by the Soviet Union, is for Protocols to the Hague and Montreal Conventions which would oblige the States Parties to those Conventions to extradite an alleged offender to the State of Registry of the aircraft upon receipt of a request from the latter, except where the offender is a national of the State receiving the request.

The Legal Committee of ICAO Objectives and functions This Committee is a permanent organ of ICAO constituted by the Assembly at its First Session in 1947. The main duties and functions of the Committee are "to advise the Council on matters relating to interpretations and amendments of the Convention on International Civil Aviation referred to it by the Council; to study and make recommendations on such other matters relating to public international air law as may be referred to it by the Council or the Assembly to study problems relating to private air law affecting international civil aviation, to prepare drafts of international air law conventions and to submit reports and recommendations thereon".

The Committee meeting in special session in Montreal adopted on 27 January, 1973 a resolution recommending the Council of ICAO to convene an extraordinary session of the Assembly and a diplomatic conference with the objective of adoption of multilateral agreements regarding the suppression of acts of hijacking and other unlawful acts directed against the civil aviation.

Based on a proposal made by the Austrian Delegation and seconded by the Delegation of the Federal Republic of Germany, the committee recommended the submission to the extraordinary session of the Assembly of two proposals: 1. The first, submitted by the French Delegation, to incorporate in the Chicago Convention the provisions of the

Various Resolutions of the ICAO Council ICAO Council's Resolution on Unlawful Interference, 1969 The Council of ICAO gravely concerned of acts which unlawfully interfere with Civil Aviation which jeopardize the safety thereof and considering the threat declares af follows:

1. that acts of unlawful interference with international civil aviation are not to be tolerated; 2. urges all Contracting States to take appropriate measures to prevent them ... ; 3. invites all States concerned to furnish the Council with reports on all non-political aspects of cases and to develop means to prevent such acts and adopt procedures to safeguard civil aviation; 4. establishes an eleven-member committee in accordance with article 52 of the Convention to implement clause 3 above; 5. decides that the committee shall deal only with the aeronautical aspects of cases of unlawful interference ... ; 6. . .. "unlawful interference means {i) unlawful seizure of aircraft and (ii) sabotage or armed attack directed against aircraft.

Resolution adopted on air transport security, 1972 The ICAO Council emphasised its concern for the safety and security of international air transport by adopting a new 39

strong resolution against acts of unlawful interference. Thi~ resolution is complementary to previous ones by the Council and states briefly as follows: a) Calls upon States to implement to the fullest extent p~s­ sible the security measures contained in Resolut1~n A17-10 amplified in the ICAO security manual and notify the Cou~cil on measures taken. Such measures will be treated as strictly confidential: b) directs the Legal Committee to convene a Special subcommittee to work on the preparation of an international convention to establish appropriate multilateral procedures when there is a need for joint action; . c) urges States to co-operate in the development of practical and effective security provisions which may form the basis for the adoption of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices at the earliest possible date.

Germany Germany implemented the 1970 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft defining air piracy in section 316c of her Criminal Code. The flight is extended in German Law to include boarding and disembarking of passengers and crew and the loading and unloading of cargo. The normal punishment is five years imprisonment but in less serious instances the minimum can be one year. Life imprisonment may be imposed for serious cases or where death occurs because of the offence. Accessories may receive punishments of from six months to five years. Section 4 of the German Criminal Code permits German Courts to have jurisdiction over foreigners abroad for certain offences regardless of the law outside Germany and this section now includes air piracy. German citizens are answerable under section 3 of the Code in any case.

Resolution adopted on Libyan civil aircraft case: 1973 The Council recalling that the United Nations .secu~i~ Council condemned Israel for its action against Beirut Civil Airport in 1969 and having considered the Assembly's Resolution condemning Israel on the Libyan aircraft case urg~s this country after the Council condemned it to ~omply with the aims and objectives of the Chicago Convention.

National Canada The Canadian Legislature passed the Crimi~~! Law Amendment Act, 1972 as regards jurisdiction over htJack~rs.

The Act provides that an act committed on Board a Cana~1an Registered aircraft shall be deemed to have been comm~tted in Canada. Any person found in Canada who has comm1tte~ an act outside Canada which would have been an offe_nce if committed in Canada or in a Canadian registered aircraft shall be deemed to have committed the offence in Canada.

Liability is life imprisonment for causing any _pers~n o~ board an aircraft to be confined or imprisoned against his will.

France (1) France, one of the strongest supporters of the three-mile limit, recently extended the limits of the territorial waters to twelve miles.

France (2) The following case may be parallelled with Air Traffic Control Authorities of one may think of similar circumstances: Following the accident in the railway tunnel of Vierzy six officials of S.N.C.F. (French Railways) face charges. The Railways Authority accepted full responsibility for the accident and will not contest their liability towards the victims and their families. However, as a result of the preliminary investigations charges were made against the director of the route network for France and his two immediate predecessors in the post along with the head of services for the tracks in the Northern Region, the Head of th~ division of the landscape services of France and his predecessor. French railways maintain that the accident was the result of a combination of causes which the present available knowledge could not forecast. Although precedent in French Law is less important than English Law this case poses the question in the case of any future accident, aviation included. Will responsibility fall at a higher level than that of the employee actually repsonsible for doing a particular job? So far there is no sign of any action being taken against the inspectors of the tunnel, nor those involve with track maintenance. This case should be watched carefully since it could mean that personnel involved with planning ATC Procedures or even the head of an operational centre no longer in the post might be called upon to face legal proceedings.

News from Eurocontrol Eurocontrol Agency Orders Data Processing System for Irish Airspace The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation "EUROCONTROL", based in Brussels, has awarded an important contract for its plan for the automation of the air traffic control centre it is installing at Shannon, Ireland.

The contract, worth over 8 million French Francs without taxes, was given to the Compagnie lnternationale pour l'lnformatique (C. I. I.). This company in cooperation with Siemens/Ireland will be responsible for the supply of equipments and basic programmes for the automatic treatment and display of data relating to the aircraft flight plans. This

40

new system will be linked to the automatic radar data processor already installed at Shannon so that the controller will have a fully automated system for the presentation of all information he requires for assuring the safe and orderly flow of traffic.

Mr. Rene BULIN, Director General of EUROCONTROL, who signed the contract with Mr. Pierre GUICHET, Assistant Director General of the C. I. I., said that when the EUROCONTROL plans for the Shannon Upper Area Control Centre were completed in 1977, the Irish upper airspace would be served from a centre comparable in the sophistication of techniques employed with any modern centre being planned in Europe.

Technical details The flight plan processing system, FOPS (SHANDAP II) comprises 2 chains each including an IRIS 45-256 KO computer. Each chain has its own peripheral equipments: 1 control unit with 2 disc units MD 50 100 M. 0 1 control unit with 2 magnetic tape units 1 high s peed printer 1 card reader/ punch.

For operational requ irements, the flight plan processing system includes visual displays with their associated key boards (produced by TVT), for exchanging information between the Controller and th e computer complex, and flight progress printers (produced by SODERN).

The system has the following essential functions: Treatment and manag ement of flight plan information for the Irish airspace.

Printing of flight progress strips for the Shannon and Dublin ce ntres and display of selected flight plan information to the Planning Controller in the Upper Area Control Centre Shannon.

Exchange of information with the radar data processing equipment to permit : the association of flight plan and radar data for identification pu rposes, updating of the fiight plan from t he rada r position, the display of information to the executive controllers.

Linking with neighbouring centres for the automatic exchange of flight plan information.

A New International Organisation: The International Federation of Air Traffic Safety Electronics Associations It gives me great pleasure to be invited on behalf of the International Federation of Air Traff ic Safety Electronics Associations to address our colleagues in the International Fede ration of Air Traffic Controllers ' Associations. The bond between our organisations is inevitable and, I trust, indissoluble. It is based on common service and common interests.

Our common service is dedicated to air safety in w hich our roles are complimentary. Ou r common interest is in the attainment of fair and reasonable recognition of the skills which w e employ in the maintenance of maximum safety conditions.

Aviation in a ll its aspects is a dynamic indu stry with a unique potent ial for growth and change. We who serve the industry in its most vital aspect, namely the safety of man and machine, are conditioned to an acceleration in pressures and a progression in skills unknown to workers outside the industry. The rate of change and growth calls for exceptional adaptabil ity from the staff and frequent and sensitive reapprai sal from management.

The standards of the industry are international and it was inevitable that the liason between staffs should also be international. Air Traffic Controllers were alert to this need and th ei r international federation, IFATCA, has provided an inva lu able serv ice for a number of years. IFATSEA is a very young sister o rganisation and I am greatly honoured to be its first president. It is my hope that it will se rve its members as effectively as IFATCA has done. Mo re than that, it is my hope and belief that due co-operation between both our organisat ions will considerably enhance our mutu al interests and will a lso enhan.ce the safety and orderly flow of air traffic and the economic growth of the air carrier industry.

William Grant. Pre cident I FATSEA

41

The Story of IFATSEA As a result of a meeting of Electronics Technical Staffs in Brussels in October 1971, agreement in principle was reached to set up a Federation covering the interests of the staff concerned, with the object of filling the gap which exists in the International Civil Aviation field which up to that time did not cater for staff primarily involved in the design, installation, modification and maintenance of Radar and Telecommunications equipment used in the International Civil Aviation sector.

The delegates at Brussels decided to meet at Frankfurt in October 1972, with the object of setting up a Federation.

At the end of a 3 days' conference, attended by representatives of the majority of Professional and Technical Associations involved in this sector of activities, it was decided to set up the International Federation of Air Traffic Safety Electronics Associations and a Constitution and By-laws were adopted.

The Organisation was set up to promote safety efficiency and regularity in International Air Navigation; to assist and advise in the development of Electronics systems and to uphold a high standard of knowledge of Professional efficiency among Air Traffic Safety Electronics personnel.

The Conference elected Mr. William Grant of the Irish Aviation Technical Officers' Association as its first President and Mr. P. Leonard Avery of the Association of Government

Su~ervisors and Radio Officers as Secretary. The Head Office of the Federation is 90 Borough High Street, London, S. E.1.

One of its objectives is to persuade ICAO to adopt a universally rec~gryis~p Ge~if~~at~ of Efficiency which all Electronics ~raQ}n~ers路 s"fto~ld'::oQ.tain and representations have been made路on路the subject. 路 The founder member. countries of IFATSEA are: Austria Belgium France Germany Greece Ireland Israel Switzerland United Kingdom but since inauguration, decisions to join have been taken by Organisations in the U.S.A. and Ghana, whilst New Zealand and Denmark are actively considering affiliation.

The governing bodies of IFATCA and IFALPA have agreed to recognise IFATSEA and members are asked to bring the attention of the formation of IFATSEA to their Technical colleagues with a view to interesting them in this venture. Enquiries addressed to the Secretary would be welcomed by him.

News from the Federation Meeting of the Executive Board in Frankfurt, 6-8March1974.

The meeting of the Executive Board was devoted partly to a through examination of all the arrangements in hand for the Federation's Annual Conference in May; an equally thorough look at the difficulties experienced by some Member Associations (especially the German Association), and the rest of the time was taken up by various other matters such as contacts with other international Organisations, the work of the Officers, Regional Councillors and Standing Committees, the public relations aspect, etc. The meeting, which was attended by all the Board Members and the Editor, broke fresh ground when part of one afternoon was set aside for a comprehensive discussion of the German ATC Dispute with the President and Executive of the German Association.

The German Board was unhappy about some aspects of the Federation's involvement in the Dispute, in particular where they touched on circumstances connected with President Monin's visit to the German Ministry of Transport in Bonn late last year, and the German Executives, led by President Kassebohm, gave the IFATCA Officers a thorough briefing on everything that has happened since the Dispute was called. Reservations were also expressed about some of the Federation's sentiments expressed in print following the ending of the go-slow action.

42

From the side of the IFATCA Board it was pointed out that the machinery set up to improve communications between Member Associations and the Board when the former became involved in a Dispute, was obviously not functioning well in this instance, as the Federation had not been in possession of the relevant factors of the German viewpoint before this meeting, which had given rise to mutual misunderstanding. However, this was not an isolated occurrence as in other recent Disputes the same had happened.

With 5 controllers suspended and a further 100 drawn into disciplinary action, and with court actions pending while there is no apparent sign that the National Authority is prepared to honour its undertakings to the full, at least not at the time of writing, the outlook in Germany remains grim.

The Federation cannot but emphasize once again that this Dispute should be settled speedily, conclusively and satisfactorily, as every day it drags on the detrimental effect on safety and efficiency continues.

Visit to Publishing House With the exception of President J.-0. Mon in, who left early to represent the Federation at the official opening of the new Paris (Charles de Gaulle) Airport, and Treasurer J. Gubelmann, all other members of the Executive Board visited the Publishing House after the end of the Board's meeting on Friday Bth March 1974. Dr. Waldemar Kramer and his Techni-

cal Director, Mr. Kroner, showed the party round the establishment. The February edition of THE CONTROLLER was just rolling off the printing press, unavoidably delayed due to staff sickness and other personnel problems experienced by the firm.

The Officers were impressed by the cleanliness of the premises, not normally associated with the printing world, and the quiet efficiency which was in evidence. The party also shook hands with Miss Nagengast, who is responsible for much administrative work in connection with our journal.

Visit to AEG-TELEFUNKEN, Konstanz, Germany At the invitation of our Corporation Member, AEG-TELEFUNKEN, Konstanz, Germany, IFATCA's Editor, Mr. G. J. de Boer, paid a one-day visit to the factory as a guest of the company. The visit, which took place on the Sth March 1974, the day before the start of the Board Meeting in Frankfurt, was organised by Mr. Werner Hildebrandt of the Division Data Processing Medium Sized-Computers Sales Department.

Mr. Donald S. Grimm, the Company's Consultant for Air Traffic Control Advanced Systems and Management Concepts Planning, accompanied Mr. de Boer on a tour of the factory.

Writing Award The Executive Board has decided to accept the principle of instituting a yearly Writing Award to the controller whose article for the Federation's Journal is judged to be the best contribution submitted for publication. The competition will run between Annual Conferences, and it is intended to present the Award at the Conference.

The recommendation will be made by Standing Committee II, but the final decision will rest with the Executive Board, also whether the Award is justifiable or not in regards to the quality of the articles submitted during the year.

IATA Resolution 200 Members will have read in the Circular that the New Zealand Association, on the occasion of Sir Geoffrey N. Roberts (who is a New Zealander) having become President of IATA, has re-opened the question of rebated travel for controllers whose presence is needed at IFATCA meetings and at international aviation gatherings. Details of the correspondence which passed between Sir Roberts and the N. Z. Association were given at the time.

As a consequence, IFATCA has now written to IATA's Director-General, Mr. K. Hammarskjold, to request - once more - an alteration of Resolution 200 in favour of controllers who are members of the Federation, and who are called upon to attend pertinent aviation meetings or conferences and who are prevented to do so due to the costs involved.

How greatly this hampers the professional aims of the Federation was illustrated again last year when IFATCA could not be represented at IFALPA's Annual Conference in Tokyo.

Associations concerned in the solution of technical, scientific and professional problems are prevented from providing their collective experience and expertise by their inability to attend the Committees working on the problems.

The federation provides normally three representatives, English, French and German, to the ICAO Informal Flow

Control Meetings which take place periodically in Paris. In the past two years we have made two significant inputs to the ICAO Technical Committees; one is the Primary Radar Procedures (incorporated into Doc. 4444) and the other the Monitoring of Reduced Horizontal Separation Standards by Radar now accepted as a Background Information Document. Our involvement in further ICAO Meetings is expected to escalate rapidly as we have now applied for official recognition to attend all appropriate future Meetings.

What we need is an IATA authority to approach airlines for rebated fares to attend Conferences and Meetings for professional purposes which benefit the Aviation Industry in the long and short term.

Mr. Hammarskjold's Reply In his reply of 1st February, 1974, IATA's Director-General informed the Federation that he wished to emphasize the fact that IATA and its Member airlines were keenly aware of the contributions to air transport made by our Federation and by air traffic controllers the world over.

Mr. Hammarskjold concluded: "However, you will no doubt recognise that there are many organisations with whom we have contacts who have equally valid claims to the granting of rebated travel. This is a question for the IATA Traffic Conferences, composed exclusively of airline represenentatives, and I am bound to say that the Conferences have consistly, over the years, rejected requests of this nature. Indeed, I should point out that our members require IATA secretariat to pay the full fare when travelling on the Association's business."

(Editor's note: in the editorial in this issue, IFATCA's official feeling is expressed in this matter.)

Coordination with IFALPA At the IFALPA RAC/COM Study Group Meeting in London last December, official IFATCA viewpoints regarding some of the subjects discussed were expressend as follows: Systems for Collision Avoidance: The situation in the United States in favour of the speedy introduction of airborne CAS appears to have slowed down and become somewhat lost in the energy crisis. The FAA has proposed the use of ground based computers linked with DABS as an alternative to ACAS. This is not considered by U.S. ALPA or IFALPA to be an acceptable alternative. (DABS = Discrete Adressing Beacon System). The IFATCA view was expressed that there were many problems of implementation with ACAS systems and that whilst legislation may be possible in the U. S. for the complete introduction of such a system, the situation in other parts of the world, particularly in Europe, might be very different. To be a success this system needed to be fitted to all aircraft including General Aviation and Military. Whilst IFATCA was certainly not opposed to improve safety it was in some ways pleased to see the slowing down of what it considered a headlong rush in the U. S. Improved air traffic control, controlled airspace and ground computer technology might save the operator a lot of expense on additional equipment and might be as effective.

Navigation and Separation (RGCS Panel): As a result of the Rome RAC/COM Study Group Meeting in September 1973, draft IFALPA policy has now been prepared on: a) The use of DME for ATS purposes; b) The use of DME in association with ILS; c) The mandatory carriage of DME. 43

There is little in the present or proposed policy of IFALPA that IFATCA would disagree with. The use of DME for ATS purposes is an obvious asset to both pilot navigation and to the facilitation of ATS clearances, SIDs and STARs. IFALPA hopes that DME may also reduce radar vectoring if it is able to improve navigation. The use of DME in association with ILS is also one with which IFATCA would agree, the benefits to the pilot are significant, giving easily useable data for distance to the ILS reference point and a cross check against glide path height. It is necessary that any DME used in association with ILS is able to give a zero reading at the ILS reference point.

Report of the ICAO (RGCS) Panle: This report summarised the progress of the working groups and determined further studies towards its overall task. It is important that as IFATCA is not represented on the RGCS Panel that it attempt to keep up to date with the progress made by these working groups. Many of the subjects covered and some of the conclusions arising from RGCS affect the very basis of our work in ATC and are in some ways at variance with our existing policy.

R/T Communications: The need was once more stressed for the use of English as the primary language and also for standard phraseology. IFATCA was asked for its cooperation and assistance in this matter. Among the deficiencies noted was the poor standard of English in one of the Mediterranean countries, and the growing use by clever controllers of multilingual conversations, this was not considered to be good practice. On the other hand, improvements had been noticed in France particularly the Paris area in the standard of English spoken, while Germany was also noted for its uniformity in the use of English. IFATCA agreed to assist in any way possible and to keep its Member Associations advised of the need for standard phraseology and English language communications at all times.

Turbulent Wake: IFATCA stated that it would be quite happy to accept increased separations in order to improve s~fety and minimise the effects of turbulence based upon different categories of aircraft, provided that in order to make life easier for the controller the number of different categories of aircraft, provided that in order to make life easier for the controller the number of different categories/separations used were kept to a minimum. It might well be considered necessary by IFATCAISCI to re-open the subject of Wake Turbulence. Much more information and data is now available to suggest that increased separations are necessary. The responsibilities of controllers with respect to applying such separations and warning aircraft of the expected incidence of wake turbulence should also be considered.

Reduction of R/T Load: The study of a reduction of R/T communications on the London-Rome route had recently been concluded and the results were awaited. The trial on the Frankfurt-Lisbon route had been postponed. IFATCA believed however that the Eurocontrol trials served very tittle purpose. IFATCA also believed that it was perfectly possible to reduce R/T communications by better Pilot/Controller discipline and improved phraseology. The problem also had to be kept simple and could not be succesfully concluded on a national basis. It was essential that the pilot and controller were not faced with differing or complicated rules to omit reports in every State throughout the world.

ATC System Design: IFATCA said that it in no way took any offence at difficulties or deficiencies in the ATS system reported by pilots. IFATCA was available at all times to discuss problems with a view to proposing a solution and to improving the system. There was always more than one side to every problem and on many occasions the controller was the middle man squeezed between govenments, defence requirements and the operators.

25th Anniversary of the Australian Association 1973 marked the 25th Anniversary of the Civil Air Operations Officers' Association of Australia. Registration of the Association occurred on 24th August, 1948. The first Secretary of the Association was the Superintendent of ATC, Mr. D. G. Anderson (now Sir Donald Anderson, CBE, ex-DirectorGeneral of Civil Aviation). To mark this occasion, Sir Donald Anderson agreed to contribute the following article to the October 1973 issue of the CAOOAA Newsletter, and which we reprint in this issue of THE CONTROLLER for members of the Federation, not only as an item of interest on what goes on "down under" but also because we want to put the spotlight on the Australian scene to an increasing extent as our 14th Annual Conference will be held in Melbourne in April, 1975.

"White I am both pleased and proud that you have asked me to contribute the leading article to the 25th Anniversary edition of your Newsletter, I can assure you it is a pride tinged with sadness. I say sadness because the 25th Anniversary of the Association brings home to me just what a deeply personal wrench it is to leave DCA. I was the foundation Secretary of CAOOAA for a little more than 12 months in 1948 and I had the privilege of watching it develop over those years in parallel with our efficient 44

airways system. Those 25 years seem to have rushed by. t suppose this is largely because we have been part of such a vibrant progressive and technologically advanced industry.

Indeed, some of my colleagues have accused me of having a bias towards air traffic control. Undoubtedly this is because I was so closely associated with ATC in my early years with the Department, but I can assure you there is another, more significant, reason. Good air traffic control is the basis of any safe and efficient airways sy~tem and that has always been our primary aim.

On occasions such as this you cannot help but contrast the facilities of the forties and fifties with those of today.

Rudimentary though ATC may have been in those days, 1 think it can be fairly said that the standards that were hammered out then have stood the test of time. They formed a solid and succesful base for the development which was to come in the 1950's and I am confident they have pointed us in the right direction for the future.

Because air traffic control is such a critical part of the aviation industry it must be able to match aviation's rapidly changing and constantly increasing demands. Air traffic control has never experienced the luxury of being able to tag behind. Our Australian system today, not only in the ATC

sense, but in air safety, flying operations and airport management, has come a long way in that quarter century.

In late 1972 we introduced limited SSR at Sydney and this will be followed by similar installations at Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra. Towards the end of this decade we will beg in to reap th e major benefits of SSR when aircraft identification, flight level and groundspeed w ill be continuously displayed in A rea Approach Control Centres. SSR w ill eliminate the need for a large amount of co-ordination between ATC and aircrew and reduce the level of information which requires manual recording, thus ensuring that air traffic control workload does not become a limiting factor on traffic handling rates in the 19BO's.

Future years will see the installation of computer assistance initially in the more routine functions of flight plan preparation, storag e and processing, and the presentation of th is and progress information in printed form to controllers.

Late r ATC systems development will probably involve computer assistance in c lose spacing of arriving aircraft to make the best use of runways and in conflict detection both en route and in terminal areas.

IFATCA' 75 MELBOURNE

Traffi c increases wi ll make it essential that we reduce voice co mmunications between controllers and aircraft in the 19BO's. Automatic data signalling systems presenting visual cockpit d isplays o r routing, weather information and control instructions will be needed. Which brings me to satellite communication. It is generally accepted that the prese nt HF communication system, although capable of further development, will soon prove inadequate for aviation needs.

Aviation authorities in Europe and the United States, supported by such countries as Japan, Canada and Australia, are now working towards the introduction of the first international aeronautical satellite system in the early 19BO's. The first impact of satellite relay pro bably will be fel t o n international services where it will be appli ed , at least initially, to communications and traffic control rather than navigation. The improvements sate llites will offer in capacity, reliability and qua lity over the present HF system wi ll help us to meet the increased de mand s which future high speed ai rcraft and heavier traffic w ill place upon our airways systems.

They will assist us also in overcoming th e HF problems of propagation, electrical interference and channel limitations which reduce the efficiency of our air traffic con trol system.

Such developments, along w ith automatic message switching like that already installed at Sydney, aircraft area navigation systems permitting more efficient use of ai rspace, collis io n avoidan ce syste ms, and landing aids like the MLS which can provide more flexibility in final approach path design, w ill be part of the air traffic control scene in the future.

They, too, will help us to meet the challenges presented by a ircraft like the SST which, because of its greater speed. will require more rapid message transmission and new techniques in flow co-o rdin ation. STOL aircraft, using a va riety of c urved and steeper slope approaches, will furth er co mplicate ATC traffi c patte rns.

Desp ite all these sophisticated systems ATC must never overlook the human factor.

By th is I do not mean merely the provision of a functional, comfortab le and aesthetically pleasing work environment, althoug h we must continue to play considerable attention to this aspect. I goes much further than that. The human operative must always be the primary factor in providing a safe a nd effi cient control system.

In the more distant future the tota l traffic workload will be such that it may be d ifficult to keep that load within the

Civil Air Operations Officers' Association of Australia P. 0. Box 789F, MELBOURNE, 3001 PHONE : 675661

45

bounds of a human-operated control system. The current trend is to think of automating the decision functions of ATC with the human controller acting as a monitor - something like the role of the pilot in an automatic ILS approach. In this type of system we must preserve the ability for the human to take over if he detects a fault in the system. As with the pilot and the automatic ILS approach, the final alternative will always be the human being and a future system, no matter how automated, would need the facility to allow the controller/monitor to step in at a high level of activity and'implement a range of decisions for which the computer may not have been programmed.

This is crystal ball gazing and I would not like to linger here because, if I have learned anything in my years in aviation, it is that aviation developments often make the bestintentioned visionary look a fool. But I am certain of one thing. The role of the human being will not diminish even in a much more automated ATC system.

That specific skill for which air traffic controllers are chosen - the ability under tension to make the right decision

based on an accurate assessment of a whole group of relevant factors - will still be essential if the ATC systems of the future are to match aviation's technological advances.

The role will have changed perhaps from direct controller/ pilot relationship to more of a system manager but his ability to make the rapid and right decision will still be an essential prerequisite of air traffic control.

Increased traffic and additional facilities will also place heavy demand on those of you in flying operations - both inside and in the field - air safety and airport management.

I leave DCA with every confidence that this Department is more than ready for these challenges of the immediate and distant future. Our planning is well based and the calibre of our personnel unquestioned.

May I congratulate your Association on attaining its 25 years and express my thanks to many of you personally and to you all as an organisation for your help, co-operation and invaluable support.

It has been these qualities that have made the last 25 years a rewarding experience for me."

News from Member Associations Norway

situation clearly underscores how important the existence of this organization is to protect the rights of its members.

Filming of "RANSOM"

"Delta's action is also wrong because the probable causes of the accident have not yet been determined by the National Transportation Safety Board. PATCO, as a participant in the investigation of the accident, is bound by honour not to reveal preliminary findings now. We can say, however, that all our evidence clearly vindicates controllers of any blame whatsoever for the tragic incident."

The Norwegian Association has protested to their National Authority about the proposed filming of a hi-jacking attempt upon an aircraft. The hi-jacking scene, apparently, forms part of the film "Ransom", being filmed on Norwegian territory.

The President and Executive Board of IFATCA have also sent a letter to the Norwegian Minister of Transport, expressing their unhappiness about the proposed filming of the hi-jacking sequence, and have informed the Minister that both NATCA and IFATCA would be pleased if the Norwegian Authority who gave the permission to make the film could make sure that the film does not contain any scene that might stimulate the excitable abnormal person to emulate the action of their celluloid heroes.

United States PATCO News Release: Controllers Blameless in Delta Crash Washington D. C. (January 16, 1974). The recent reported Delta Airlines charge that air traffic controllers were responsible for the crash of one of its planes at Logan Airport was dismissed as 'irresponsible and totally contrary to the facts' by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization.

"Delta's lawsuit against the government alleging controller involvement is a regrettable tactic by its management to 'hang' the controller in order to stave off an expensive lawsuit against it by the estate of one of the passengers who died in the accident," PATCO President John Leyden said.

"Such tactics are condemned by PATCO. In fact, the whole

46

(Note: Delta has not sent PATCO a copy of its lawsuit; PATCO was responding to quotes from it printed in national newspapers.)

Interview with FAA Administrator A. Butterfield In an interview published in a recent PATCO Newsletter, FAA Administrator A. Butterfield answered a number of questions put to him, some of which, together with Mr. Butterfield's answers follow below: PATCO: One of the early moves of your administration was to have the remaining controllers, dismissed for alleged sick-out activities, rehired by the Agency. You also said that you were going to initiate many changes to enhance labor management relations and to insure that "labor unions have a legitimate role in the development of personnel policies and practices." What is being done and planned in this area?

BUTTERFIELD: I would say that the advancement of labor relations now depends on the labor contract. The 1973 agreement brought a number of new benefits for controllers and I anticipate a review of the contract something like every year. I also believe that communications between Management and PATCO officials has stepped up, and that much is to be gained from frequent contacts. I have had several meetings with John Leyden, PATCO President, some official and some of them not official, and we do discuss controller concerns.

PATCO: PATCO had initiated Congressional hearings on the freeze against controller hiring last year February, you remember. As a consequence, the Agency promised to open up the pipeline. How many controllers are being hired, and how many do you expect by 1980?

BUTTERFIELD: All such figures now must classified as "pre-energycrisis" statistics. I can't say precisely what effects the reductions of fuel and flight will have on FAA operations. We are working day and night preparing contingency plans for this crisis. But as of the moment, hiring plans have not changed. We hired 1,000 controllers last year, and another 1,000 by the end of fiscal 1974 (June 30). By 1980, we will have hired 7,000 controllers, for a total of 31,000 employees in FAA, including of course those people at flight service stations and here in the headquarters. I would say that today we have roughly 10,000 controllers at terminals, and 10,000 at ARTCCs. Under normal circumstances we'd be boosting the total in each kind of facility to 12,500 by 1980. Then by that year there would be 5,200 flight service station specialists and around 1,000 in headquarters. That should give you roughly the 31,000 total.

PATCO: PATCO is supporting several pieces of legislation before Congress, foremost of which is an amendment adding vesting to the Second Career/Early Retirement Bill. What is your stand?

BUTTERFIELD: I would have to take a stand against vesting, as I understand the term. The original retirement bill was excellent in that it encouraged controllers to retire early. The vesting clause could backfire. It would serve to encourage controllers to continue in the profession, even when they should leave, in the hope of getting a higher pension. I don't want that. My aim - and I speak for all of FAA when I say this - is a young, eager, hungry, highly-motivated and skillful controller force.

PATCO: As Head of FAA, what will you do to expand benefits for controllers and to enhance labor management relations. From our view, it is PATCO alone which proposes the benefits. Therefore, whatever benefits are achieved are not by the good will or initiation of FAA. BUTTERFIELD: That's an interesting view. FAA is interested in providing the best possible working conditions for all FAA employees.

However, the FAA's primary mission is the safe, expeditious and orderly flow of air traffic. There are always things that all of us want but can't get because we are part of a larger transportation system that serves the whole country and money is not unlimited. We are attempting to use the funds made available to us to obtain the best possible equipment and the number of people we believe we need to do the job the public demands and is entitled to expect. Frankly, I think our controller work force and other members of the FAA team are the best I've seen in the public service.

PATCO: Despite good relations with FAA on several levels, PATCO has also faced tremendous resistance in implementation of certain provisions of the contract. Do you anticipate continuation of this friction?

BUTTERFIELD: Frankly, I feel that some friction is likely as both sides learn the give-and-take relationship. And despite PATCO's interests, it must be accepted that management has to maintain at least some leverage. I think this boils down to being a matter of more communications and more time. I sure as hell hope there will be a diminishing of that friction, a diminishment growing out of mutual understanding. We must bear in mind that the first PATCO agreement was a major step forward. Considering the scope of the agreement and the thousands of employees and supervisors involved, the number of grievances should not be surprising. I am confident that as both field managers and field PATCO representatives gain experience in working under a major labor agreement, the number of grievances will level off and then decline. Realistically, there will also be some differences in interpretation and that is why the agreement provides for arbitration.

PATCO: The increase of developmentals adds to the problem of proper training. PATCO also felt that FAA wheedled out of a commitment in the last contract to provide adequate training for instructors.

Instead, it made every controller theoretically an expert instructor by devoting one day - eight hours - to training him and giving him a terribly simplified instructor book.

BUTTERFIELD: I assume you are referring to the training program we developed for OJT instructors. We designed that program to be as easily understood as possible, but the final test will be how well its principles can be put to use by employees who are asked to conduct OJT. We will look at the effectiveness of our effort, after it has had some more time to sink in. I feel strongly that we should continue to upgrade training in conjunction with the installation of radar simulators and other modern training techniques.

PATCO: PATCO believes the simulators are not needed. Controllers and instructors have devised ways in which ARTS radar can be used to generate false targets and actually work as a simulator. Simulated training can begin at once and there is no need to spend FAA funds for specialized new equipment. We have written about this at length to AT Ray Belanger.

BUTTERFIELD: I am aware of the simulation capabilities of both the 9020 and the ARTS Ill systems. In pursuing our objective of removing controller training from the live traffic environment, to the maximum extent possible, we are looking at the capabilities of dedicated simulators - such as those planned for the Academy - as well es operational equipment. We are currently negotiating with industry for the development of eight dual sector simulation systems to provide en route radar qualification training at the Academy. The proposed contract will carry with it options to place these simulators in the canters also, but the Air Traffic Service is just going to make a thorough study

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Corporation Members of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations AEG-Telefunken, Ulm/Donau, Germany Air Vision Industries, Inc., Montreal, Canada The Air Transport Association, Washington D. C., U.S.A. Wolfgang Assmann GmbH., Bad Homburg v. d. H., Germany Cossor Radar and Electronics Limited, Harlow, England Dansk lmpulsfysik A. S., Holte, Denmark The Decca Navigator Company Limited, London, England Ferranti Limited, Bracknell, Berks., England Glen A. Gilbert & Associates, Washington D. C., U.S.A. ¡ International Air Carrier Association Geneva, Switzerland International Aeradio Limited, Southall, Middlesex, England Jeppesen & Co. GmbH., Frankfurt, Germany The Marconi Radar Systems Limited, Chelmsford, Essex, England N. V. Hollandse Signaalapparaten, Hengelo, Netherlands The Plessey Company Limited, Weybridge, Surrey, England Racal-Thermionic Limited, Southampton, England Selenia - lndustrie Elettroniche Associate S. p. A. Rome, Italy , Software Sciences Ltd., Farnborough, Hampshire, England The Solartron Electronic Group Limited, Farnborough, Hants., England Stansaab Elektronik AB, Jarfalla, Sweden Thomson - CSF, Paris, France The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations would like to invite all corporations, organizations, and institutions interested in and concerned with the maintenance and promotion 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 Controller" is offered as a platform for the discussion of technical and procedural developments in the field of air traffic control.

selenia air traffic control systems Selenia offers very ad~ance~ e~uipment for Air Traffic Control, including.

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ATC RADARS BROAD BAND AND NARROW BAND LINKS DIGITAL DISPLA y SUBSYSTEMS COMPUTERS PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RADAR EXTRACTORS SIMULATORS AND DIGITAL INTERFACE EQUIPMENT

together with wide experience in:

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SYSTEM DESIGN SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION LOGISTIC SUPPORT.