JOURNAL OFAIRTRAFFIC CONTROL
JOURNAL OFAIRTRAFFIC CONTROL
Volume 33 N° I
United Kingdom , March 1994 PUBLISHER
IF ATCA, International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations. See bottom of page 3 for contact address. EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA
Charles Stuart President and Chief Executive Officer Neil Vidler Deputy President Abou El Seoud El Karimy Executive Vice-President Africa/Middle East Samuel Lampkin Executive Vice-President Americas David Moores Executive Vice-President Asia/Pacific Preben Falkman-Lauridsen Executive Vice-President Europe Sture Ericsson Executive Vice-President Finance Bert Ruitenberg Executive Vice-President Professional Chris Stock Executive Vice-President Technical Edge Green Executive Secretary Terry Crowhurst Editor EDITOR
Terry Crowhurst 29 Heritage Lawn. Langshott, Horley, Surrey. RH6 9XH. United Kingdom. Tel. +44 (0) 293 784040 - Fax +44 (0) 293 771944 COPY TYPING
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Patrick Schelling Ch. Sur le Moulin. 126 1 Le Yaud. Switzerland. Tel +4 1 (0) 22366 2684 Fax +4 1 (0) 22366 4305 P RINTING
Mercury Press Unit 8. Astra Business Centre. Bonehurst Road. Salfords. Surrey. RH I STL. United Kinf!dom. Tel +44 Wt29.1 774549
THE CONTROLLER / MARCH 1994
IN THIS ISSUE ASIA PACIFIC - REGIO NAL MEETI N G Charles Stuart reports
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AFRICA/MIDDLE E AST - REGIO NAL MEETING Neil Vidler reports
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EUROPEAN REGION AL MEETI NG Mike Wildin report s
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TCAS Report
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- U.S. UPD ATE from ARINC , Florida
MEETING THE CHALL ENGES OF CH ANGE David Moores addresses ATCA
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T ANZAN IAN AGM
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EAT CHIP PROJECT BOARD Update from Preben Falkman
- Lauridsen
I NSURANCE FOR CO NTROLLERS Detail s of Omnilife Insurance Plan
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CNS/ ATM GLOBAL PLAN Philippe Domagala take s a flight
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IFATCA 94 Latest Conference ATC94 Patrick
in the future
26 Update
28 Schelling
report s from
Maastricht
Advertisers in this issue Air Can ada , AIT. Alenia, CAE . Canadia n Airlin es lnt .. CR!. Denr o. Dorni er. Frequentis, Norco ntro l. Thom son-CSF . Wesson . Photos T. Crowh urst, Thomson-CSF. Charles Stuart. T ATCA. Mike W ildin . Euroco ntrol. Cover Ottawa Airport, Gateway to IFATCA 94 Conference . Photograph by Timothy J. McCarthy. Manager Graphics & Photo Reproduction. Market ing. Transport Canada. Charli e Cartoon Ken Tu lly Add ition al Cartoons by Yanan-De l are rep roduc ed. wit h the kind permi ss ion of the publi shers. from the book Say When. Deta ils and copies of the book may be obtained from the publishers at the follow ing addr ess : Mart in Leeuwis , P.O. Box 580 , 3740 AN BAARN, Holl and , ISSUES A PPEAR E ND OF M ARCH, J UNE, S EPTEMBER, D ECEMBER. CONTRIBUTORS AR E E XPRESSING TH EIR PERSONAL P OINTS OF VI EW AND O PINIONS, WH ICH M AY N or NECESSARILY CO INCIDE WI TH TH OSE OF THE INTERNATIONAL F EDERATION OF AIR TR AFFIC CONTROLLERS ' A SSOCIATIONS , IFATCA . IFATCA D OES N or A SSUME RE SPONSIBILITY FOR ST ATEMENTS M ADE AND OPI NIONS E XPRESSED, IT AC CEPTS R ESPONSIBILITY FOR P UBLISHING THE SE C ONTRIBUTIONS. CONTR IBUTIONS A RE WELCOME AS ARE C OMMENTS AND CR ITICISM. N o PAYMENT CAN BE M ADE F OR M ANUSCRIPTS SUBMITIED F OR PUBLICATION IN THE C ONTROLLER. THE E DITOR RESERVES T HE R IGHT TO M AKE A NY EDITORIAL CH ANGES IN M ANUSCRIPTS, W HICH HE B ELIEVES WI LL IMPROVE T HE M ATERIAL WITHOUT ALTERING T HE INTENDED M EANING. WR ITI EN PERMISSION BY T HE E DITOR IS N ECESSARY FOR REPRINTING A NY P ART OF T HIS J OURNAL.
CORPORATE MEMBERS OF
IFATCA
ADACELPTY LTD. Canberra,Australia
JEPPESEN& CO. GmbH Frankfurtam Main, Germany
AIRWAYSCONSULTINGSERVICES Wellington,New Zealand
JERRYTHOMPSON& ASSOCIATESInc. Kensington,MD, USA
ALENIA Rome, Italy
MARCONIRADARSYSTEMSLtd. Chelmsford,UK
ATS AEROSPACE St. Bruno, Canada
NETWORKSYSTEMSGmbH Frankfurtam Main, Germany
BURANNC Rome, Italy
NORCONTROLSURVEILLANCESYSTEMA.S. ChippingSodbury,UK
CAE ELECTRONICSLtd. Saint-Laurant,Canada
OMNILIFEOVERSEASINSURANCECO. LTD. London,UK
CESELSA Madrid, Spain
RAYTHEONCANADALtd. Waterloo,Canada
CELSIUSTECHSYSTEMS Jarfiilla,Sweden
REFLECTONE Farnborough,UK
COMPUTERCOMMUNICATIONSSOFfW ARE GmbH Rodedermark-Waldacker,Germany
SCHMIDTELECOMMUNICATION Ziirich,Switzerland
COMPUTERRESOURCESINTERNATIONALA/S Birkerod, Denmark
SEL-STANDARDELECTRIK Stuttgart,Germany
COSSORELECTRONICSLtd. Harlow, UK CRIMP A/S Allero, Denmark
SHL SYSTEMHOUSE Ottawa,Canada SIEMENSPLESSEYSYSTEMS Chessington,UK
DENRO Gaitheraburg,MD, USA
SOCIETED'ETUDESET D'ENTREPRISESELECTRIQUES Malakoff,France
DEUTSCHEAEROSPACEAG (DASA) Ulm/Donau,Germany
SOFREAVIA Paris, France
DICTAPHONECORPORATION Stratford,CT, USA
SONY CORPORATION Tokyo, Japan
DIVERSIFIEDINT'L SCIENCESCORP. Lanham, MD, USA
SWEDAVIAAB Norrkopping,Sweden
DORNIER,CommunicationSystems Konstanz,Germany
TELUB AB Solna, Sweden
ELECTRONICSPACE SYSTEMSCORP. Concorde,MA, USA
THOMSON-CSF,DivisionSDC Meudon-La-Foret,France
GAREXAS Oslo, Norway
UNISYSDEUTSCHLANDGmbH Sulzbach,Germany
HUGHESAIRCRAFTCOMPANY Los Angeles, CA, USA
VITROCISETS.p.A. Rome, Italy WALTONRADARSYSTEMSLTD Fleet, UK
HUGHES ATC SIMULATIONTRAINING Crawley, UK IBM (UK) Feltham, UK
The InternationalFederation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associationswould like to invite all corporations,organisations, and institutionsinterested in and concerned with the maintenanceand promotionof safety in air traffic to join their organisationas Corporate Members. Corporate Members support the aims of the Federationby supplyingthe Federationwith technicalinformationand by means of an annual subscription.The Federations' internationaljournal The Controlleris offered as a platform for the discussionof technical and procedural developmentsin the field of air traffic control. For further infortationconcerning Corporate Membership,or general IFATCAmatters, please contact the IFATCA Executive Secretary: E.G.H. Green O.B.E., Kimbers Edge, Kimbers Lane, Braywick, Maidenhead, SL6 2QP, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0) 628 23 699 Fax: +44 (0) 628 781 941
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FOREWORD __
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0 CharlesStuart - Presidentand Chief ExecutiveOfficer his is my last Foreword to The Controller magazine as President of IFATCA. As such it is only natural that I reflect a little on what has happenedover the past four years. Firstly, I believe it is appropriateto comment on the magazine itself. Since its inception successive Executive Boards and Editors have striven to produce a publicationwhich reflected the professionalimage of the organisation. With many years of productionand change behind us we now have one of the best, if not the best, aviation professional journal available. It is one of which we can be proud, which projects the IFATCA image to the world. In the past four years IFATCA has grown from 66 Member Associationsto 83. There are a further 11 expected applicants, which if accepted at Conference in Ottawa will increase the numbers to 94. IFATCA has not chased membership for the sake of having the numbers. Indeed, there have been occasions when we have actually discouraged membership where we have felt that the applicant Associationwas not yet ready to fulfil the obligationsof membership. IFATCA is a "lean, mean machine". We operate on a "shoe string" budget without what could really be called a full time Secretariat. As such we are the envy of many other organisationswho are amazed at the quantity and quality of input that IFATCA, through its dedicated, part time representatives, provides at the numerous fora which it attends. The past four years has seen a significant increase in IFATCA involvement with !CAO. This involvement has been earned thanks to a few dedicated individuals whose expertise and professional approach has impressed !CAO and the full members of various panels and working groups to the extent that IFATCA is now expected to participate. Similarly, our involvement in the various European Communityaviation projects and panels is expected. ...,....,.pa ge 32
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Fw·ewe /1 to the President Cha rles S t11ar1 '·011his bike '· and o_f/10 pastur es nni----------
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0 Terry Crowhurst- Editor y the time of this year's IFATCA Annual Conferenc e it is expected that ICAO will have published the eleventh volume in a series of Human Factor Digests. This particular Digest is called "Human Factor s in CNS/ ATM- sys tem s" an d addr esses "The developmentof a human centred automationand advanced technology in future aviation systems". The Digest is intended to provide the civil aviation authorities with tools for establishing the requirements for the new Communication, Navigation , Surveillanc e/ Air Traffic Management (CNS/ ATM) systems and for reviewing proposals from manufacturers. from the perspective of Human Factors. It will also be useful for the ICAO panels and study groups working on the CNS/ATM concept to ensure that Human Factors principles are adequately considered during the development of automation and advanced technology in futur e systems. The main themes of the Digest are the principles of human centred automation, as developed by Dr. Charles E. Billings (Ames Research Centre. California). The application of these principles, in the aviation environment, is based on the premise: the human (pilot, controller. etc.) bears the ultimate responsibility for the safety of flight operation. It is important to note that these principles are in line with IFATCA·s Policy on Automation. Like all previous volumes, this eleventh Digest was produced in close consultation with the !CAO Flight Safety and Human Factors Study Group, of which IFATCA is a member. But what distinguishes No. 11 from the other ten is that it will contain an Appendix with ··a user organisation's perspective", and that this Appendix is written by IFATCA! lFATCA was invited to do so after having submitted ··regular" comment to the first draft of the Digest. Within an !CAO imposed deadline of less than four weeks, a joint effort by people representing various disciplines from within IFATCA. produced the text for the Appendix. The task was coordinated by EVP Professio nal. Bert Ruitenberg. After this Digest. ICAO intends to produce four more volumes on Human Factors in CNS/ATM-systems that will deal with: Flight deck/ATS integration: Human performance in future ATS: Training. selection and licensing of controllers: and Safety monitoring of ATS activities. IFATCA expects to be involved here as well! 11 · everything works out as planned.copies of Digest No. 11 will he available at the 1994 Annual Conference in Ottawa. This milestone reflects the increasing importance that IFATCA is assuming in the aviation fraternity. Those involved in the preparation of this document are to be congratulated for their effort s and their signifi can t contributionto this importantsubject. +
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ASIA PACIFIC
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0 Report by Charles Stuart - IFATCA President and CEO
he I0th Annual Asia/Pacific Regional Mee ting of th e Int ern ational Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Associations was he ld in Na di , Fiji , November 23-26. at the Mocambo Hotel - the same venue as for the first joint Asia/Pacific conference in November 1984. The conference was opened at a cockta il party hosted by the Fiji CAA. by the Prime Min ister of Fij i, Major Gen eral Sitiveni Rabuka. The Prime Minister had taken the evening off from hectic budget sess ion s where he was under a threat of a "motion of no confidence", to drive from Suva for the opening of the conference. This was a single honour for IFATCA as the Prime Minister rarely attends such functions. It is also the first time than an IFATCA confere nce has been opened by a e lected hea d of Government. It was also very imp ortant for the Fiji ATCA as they ha ve been hav ing a lon g running battle with the Fiji Public Service Assocation. FATCOA had broken away from the FPSA and registered as a separate union in 1988. After a number of appeals against this registration the FPSA were successful, in August this year. in having FATCOA deregistered on a technicalit y. FATCOA was successfully re-registered on November 11. After open ing the co nference the Prime Minister mingled freely with the delegate s before having a lengthy discussion with the President, Charles Stuart and David Moores the IFATCA Asia/Pac ific Exec uti ve Vice President. The Prime Minister then took the opportunity to visit the Nadi ATC centre and see the Ge neric Aircraf t Display Syste m (ADACEL) and Dynamic Oceanic Tracking System (TAMSCO). both of which are being tested by Fijian controller s. and to discuss with Jone Koroitamana. CEO of CAAF. the new airspace plan and GPS tria ls. CAAF were particularly pleased as they have been trying to get the PM to have a look at their system for over a year. At the close of the conference the President was honoured with the presentation of the ·'Tabua'· at a traditional Fijian ceremony. The "Tab ua ·· o r ·'W ha les Toot h'' is a high ly desirable object in Fijian society and is given as a toke n of appreciation. to demonstrate loyalty. goodwill and respect. The conference was very wel I organised
Left 10 Righi - Char les S1uar1- Presidenl and CEO IFATC A, Major General Si1ivena Rabuka - Prim e Mini s/er of Fiji, Jone Koroi/amana - ChiefExe culi ve Offi cer of CAA Fiji, Da vid Moor es - £VP As ia/Pacific
and went without a hitch, at least so far as the participants were concerned. FATCOA is to be congrat ul ated when we co nsider the turmoil they have been throu gh in recent months. Thanks to the untiring efforts and guidance of David Moores, attending his first regional meeting as Executive Vice President of the region, 27 working papers were presented, a record. Many were reports of vital meetings attended by IFATCA affecting controllers in Asia/ Pac ifi c such as the Informal South Pacific Air space Coordinating Group (ISPACG) , the Nort h Eas t Asia Tr affi c Management meeting (NEAT - an IFATCA initiative). the 6th Informal Bay of Bengal ATS Coordinating Group and the 3rd Asia/Pac ific Regional Air Nav iga tion Meeting. In addition to the normal business of the meeting, a paper was introduced by David Moores. which proposed a Regional form of recognition for outstanding service to aviation by a Memb er Assoc iation or indi vidu al, somew hat akin to the IFAT CA Scroll of Honour. This award was to be given only in exceptional circumstances and did not have to be g ive n eac h year . The propo sa l was accepted unanimously. Accordingly, it was then proposed that the first such recognition be given to the Malaysian ATCA for the outstanding efforts of the Malaysian air traffic ---
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controllers after the disas trou s fire which de str oye d the Kual a Lumpur ATCC on October 15th, I992. Within a matter of hours operation s had been resumed on a limit ed basis in makeshift surroundings. Malaysian controllers continue to operate in the most primiti ve of conditions whilst awaiting the rebuildin g of a new Tower and Centre . Currently operating up to 350 movements a day on a single runway, the Tower is the former wooden airport fire services tower (on the day of the fire the initial ATC service was provided from the cockpit of a DC9 parked near the end of the runway). The centre is no w housed on the seco nd floor of the wooden two storey administrative block. The radar displays are from the simulator and communication s are rudim e ntary in the extreme. For their continued operation in the most adverse of conditions and displaying the utmost professionalism, MATCA was unanimously granted the first Asia/ Pacific award in the form of a beautiful engraved wood and brass plaque. Fiji is the focus of many trials in the Pacific area so the choice of venue was particularly appropriate. RNAV trials. GPS trials, reduced separa tion (both latera l and longitudin al trials). flexible track trials to name just a few. Presentations were made by the FATCOA on llll-llllpage 32
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THE CONTROLLER / MARCH 1994
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IDDLEEAST REGIONALMEETING
0 Report by Neil Vidler-DeputyPresident.
The Fourth Africa-Middle East RegionalMeeting saw: A record,mmberof MAspresent:17MemberAssociations A recordnumberof 11011-MAs: 13 11011 MemberAssociations A recordnumberof participants:180delegatesand observers. Thesefigures indicate the biggest and possibly the best regional meeting yet held ill this region. Also present were observersfrom France, Italy, Malta, the !LO and ASECNA.
he meeting was officially opened by Mr. H. Chouk, the Executive Chief Officer of the Office des Ports Aeriens de Tunisie (OPAT), and it was obvious throughout the meeting that the Tunisian ATC Association enjoys full support from both OPAT and the Ministryof Transport.At the opening ceremonies, the Director-General of the Egyptian Civil AviationAuthority, Air Vice-Marshal Ali Ziko, was also present and spoke of the work of the local air traffic controllers and the good relations existing between controllers and their Authorities in Egypt and Tunis.
The Executi ve VicePresident Africa-Middle East, Mr. Abou el Seoud el Karimy, reported on his activities on behalf of the Left to right, Albert Taylor - Secrewry, Khaled Kooli - TATCA region' s controllers over President, Abou El Soud El Karimy - EVP Africa/Middle East, the past twelve months and Neil Vidler- lFATCA Deputy Presiden1 a report on the Executive Board's activities problem s are facing Africa 's cont roller s was delivered by the Deputy President. ranging from lack of communication s and There were very comprehensive reports navigation facilities to staff shortage. Some deliv ered by each Member Association MAs at least were able to report on prese nt and each of the non Member improvements, for example, the Tanzanian Associations attending were invited to report government is to provide an office for the on their activities and problems.Considerable llli-lllipage 8
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REGIONAL MEETING _ _ _____________
EUROPEAN REG ONAL
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EETING
0 Dublin 6th - 7th November, 1993.
The main report is by Mike Wildin Director International Affairs, UK GA TCO, with additional comments added by The IFATCA Executive Vice President Europe, Preben FalkmanLauridsen
he IFA TCA European Regional Meeting took place in Dublin Ireland over the weekend of 6th-7th November 1993. ApproximatelyI00 representativesof 24 European Memb er Associations ( MAs ) attended together with observers from ATCEUC , !PMS , Union Syndica l, Irish ATCU, Geneva Tower Association and the Iri sh Pilot 's Assoc iation. Captain Deni s Leonard , repre senting IFALPA , was also present at his last such event following his retirement from active flying. This ends about 40 years of his involvementwith ATC matters and many will be sorry not to have his input at similar future events. The main theme for the 1993 meeting was "Co mmercialisation of ATC in Europe", a subject which for many European controllers has now become a reality. Almost a third of the European States have commercialised/ corporatisedor privatised their ATC. However, most are still legally connected or controlled by their State authorities. After words of welcome from the President of the Irish ATC Association, Mr Maurice Egan, the meeting started on Saturdaymorning to tackle the 19 items of the agenda. First, EVP Europe informed the meeting of his visits, together with Mr Gunther Melchert Eastern Europe Coordinator.to Estonia and to the East European meeting and of their planned visit to Romania. He said that the economic situation of !CAO was poor and therefore ECAC and Eurocontrol were taking more of a role in European affairs. Because of this MAs should be more careful in sending questionnaires to EYP Europe because this was a real chance for them to get their voices heard' He made a call for more ATCOs to come forwardto help with the work of several influential bodies now at work - for example the ATC Tools Group only has one controll er on it; the remainin g members are engineers! There was a need to devote about 30 days a year for this committee. The CEO and Pres ident of IFA TC A. Charles Stuart. then explained the activities of the Exec uti ve Board (EB) since the Christchurch Conference. Up to the end of November. EB members have attended more
THE CONTROLLER / MARCH 1994
than 40 technical meetings throughout the wor ld . He highlighted that 47 memb er and nonmember associations were due to attend the next African Regional Meeting in Tunis. There was much discussion about the EATCHIP programme . It was stated that the work structur e within Eurocontrol changes Left to right - Maurice Egan - President IATCA, Preben Folkman to more of a Lauridsen - £VP Europe, Sture Ericsson - EVP Finance, Charles Stuart mana ger of the President and CEO IFATCA convincethe team that if a controller moves an programme. The Airspace Planning Team should have ATC procedures as part of their aircraft for whatever reason that aircraft may then cause a previously conflict free aircraft to agenda and there was discussion over the become a confl ict ! "Conflict free" will be apparent need to try to make the airspace simul ated at Bretigny on a fast running structur e "fit " user require ments . ARN implementation was mentioned particularly as prototype, on an unknown date. Needless to the first stage was due to commence on 11th say, this programme will be run by engineers' November 19931 Also, the Systems Integration Attempts were still being made to get a brief of Team had formed a sub-group called "ATC this exercise. The meeting then discussed the cycle of Tools Group" but there appeared to be very little operational input. EYP Europe stressed commercialisation of ATC that was occurring in Europe. Thi s discussion opened with a that it was a priority to find someone from description of the recent German experience IFATCA to attend this influential body. He together with the perceived stre ngths and also said that at the EATCHIP meeting due for weaknesses of the new system. There seemed mid-November IFATCA will show concern to be some outstanding problems to solve but over the lack of progress on human factors none of these were major ones. It was expected information. The EATCHIP task force looking that all ATC staff would have new contracts by at issues such as training and licensing will the end of this year. This was followed by a start early in 1994. It was stated that a cost very interest ing prese ntation by Mr Paul benefit analysis of EATCHIP will now be Sweene y. an Iri sh economist invol ved in made but the issue would be to identify the restructuring Aer Lingus. It was his conclusion correct starting position for that analysis. For that the drive to privatisation was stronger than example "What would constitute an upgrade any right-wing ideology and that financial for loca l needs or what would be part of imperat ives forced the State to demand EATCHJP?" Finally, EVP Europe said the improved efficiencies and a reduction in costs. curr ent ODID trial was still running in This item finished the work for Saturday. Bretigny and, as it would affect the way The meeting resumed witl1 a roundup of the controllers would work over the next decade, current state of those countries which had everyone should try to attend. (Editorial Note undergone some form of privatisation. Norway A report of the ODID trial can be read in the asked whether it was possible for fFATCA to 4/93 edition of The Controller). A progress report on EATMS was received devise an ··ideal'" contract for use by those and it was noted that much of the criticism by countries co nsidering privati sation . EYP Europe said that SC 4 and SC 7 were already the Net herlands and the UK had been working towards this but it would take time. removed. There was now a move towards He then posed the question --who would human-ce ntered automation i.e. leav ing regulate these private co mpani es·r·. The decisions with the pilot and/or the controller. fFALPA representative was then asked for a However. the concept of ·'conflict free traffic·· view on these ATC privatisations. He still remained and it see med diffi cult to 7
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responded by stating he believed it was the States responsibility for the provision of ATC services. Therefore, he understood the States were responsible for providing a safe service. IFALPA was concerned about the level and efficiency of the services provided and not the overall costs (except of course if a service was prohibitively expensive ) which was an airline problem. He believed that if money was the driver for the prov ision of serv ices then IFALPA would be concerned about the level of risk. The meeting agreed that a move away from a State co ntro lled sys tem to a more inde pendent arrangement may have demonstrated some significant improvements in some areas. However, at the same time, the meeting participants strongly emphasised the need for operational controllers to ensure that safety and service levels are maintained or increasedat all times. Extreme concern was voiced from the floor of the meeting over the situation developing in Switz erland over the use of I OOO fee t separation above FL290 for crossing traffic. It was reported that an AIC detailin g thi s procedure wou ld be pub lished in midNovember 1993 . This situation has arisen because of some ai rspace redes ign over Switzerland (i.e. the introduction of a single level sector) has lead to congestion which the reduced vertical separation is see king to address. !CAO do not suppo11 this action and nei ther do IFATCA and IFAL PA. Th e obje cti on comes about beca use with th e cont inuing use of aircraft with 1960 ' s and I 970's altimeters/fl ight syste ms and the possibility of mountain waves and standing waves there is a significa nt risk that the
acceptable target level of safety will not be met with the reduction. IFATCA will be sending a letter of concern to the Swiss authoriti es. !CAO will be conducting trials over the North Atlantic for the reduction of vertical separation above FL 290, after l 998, but there is no sugges ti on yet that thi s will ex tend to continental airspace. Further information was received that a simulation would take place in Bretigny reference this subject, starting May 1994, and that controllers from Shannon will take part. The information from this simulation will be made available in due course. Other matters discussed were as follows:a) There is a poss ibilit y that the whole of Estonian UAS might be delegated to Finland because of deficiencies in equipment. The revenue from en-route charges are the only resource by which the Estonian equipment can be upgraded therefore the loss of UAS would be problematic. b) Five Eastern European ATC associations will be applying for lFATCA membership in Ottawa. Four of the applicant associations attended the meeting as observers; namely, Czech Republic, Kazakstan, Slovakia and Ukraine. c) Doubts were expressed about the wisdom of allow ing delega tions of unkn own size attending regional meetings. In the age of high finan cial outl ay it was thought reasonable that an organising association should have an idea of the max imum number of delegates possibly attending. It was considered that a delegation numbering a maximum of four was realistic. There was also a call for a limit to be drawn on the number of observers. It was decided the EB
should draw up some guidance along these lines together with stipulating an acceptable maximum price for a room. d) EVP-Europe informed the meeting that he was standing down from his present position in order to stand for CEO and President on the retirement of Mr Charles Stuart from the post. He also stated that EYP-Fin ance would also be standin g down and so a replacement would be needed for him. e) The meeting cone! uded its session s by confirming Warsaw as the venue for the 1994 Europ ea n Reg ional Mee tin g and selecting Sloveni a as the host in 1995 . Austria made on offer to host the European Regional Meeting for 1996. Finally, arrangements had been made for some delegates to visit the ATC facilities at Dublin to view the Irish ATC system and particularl y the Thom son-CSF equipm ent recently installed. Thomson-CSF were also sponsors of the meeting and arranged for all delegates to visit Clontarf Castle for an Irish Cabaret night together with dinn er which followed a civic reception at Mansion House Dublin, hosted by the Deputy Lord Mayor. Our thanks go to the Irish ATC Association and their sponsors for arranging this Regional Meeting which allowed much IFATCA work to be done and for touching all of us with the depth and warmth of Irish hospitality. In particul ar, EVP Eu ro pe wished to record that it was a most informative meeting for all participants and gives his personal thanks to all who participated in the sessions and the orga nisers of both the work and social events. +
~ page HAFRICA MIDDLE EAST ATC Association, Kenya is receiving travel assista nce from Kenya Airways and Egypt made an open offer to prov ide trai ning (including English language). South Africa (attending the Regional Meeting for the first time) reported on the commercia lisation of ATC in their country and the new individual contracts they will sign as a result. Mr. Jean Kapaou. the representative from ASECNA (Age nce pour la Secur ite de la Nav igat io n Ae ri enne en Afriq ue at a Madagasc ar) . which pro vides air traffi c services for some 15 co untries in Afr ica . made a iengthy presentat ion (in French) in which he highlighted their commitment to training. They will take advantage of Egypt' s offer and intend to approach other countries for assistance and will seek airlines¡ help to facilitate travel to those other countries. A new sc al e of remuneration of ATC allowa nce~ is under review. Mr . Kapao u und ert ook to ex amin e thi s on return to
Senegal. He would like also to work with the area 's controllers to find solutions to their many prob lem s. This presen tat ion (with simultaneous English translation) evoked a lively discussion and many questions were forthcoming. As a re sult of the prese nt ati on and discussions, an unanimous resolution was passed: "The IFATCA approach ASECNA with a view to organising a symposium to all ow d irect d iscuss ions on the se rio us matters concerning the Associations working wit h ASECNA. Th ese matt ers inc lude tra inin g. salari es and allowa nce s and faci liti es." Mr. Kepao u (ASECNA ' s Perso nnel Director) was happy with thi s approac h and furth er volunt eered that in future more technically oriented people would attend !FATCA regional meetings. As a leadup to this symposium, the EYP AFM will issue a questionnaire to relevant Associations to gather information for the meeting which is hope to take place early in 1994.
Th e ILO repr esent ati ve prese nt , Mr . Anatole Malu, also deli vered a length y dissertation (simultaneously translated from French) in which his main theme was the importance of di alog ue . He detailed the history of the ILO and its imp ac t in the region. The meeting was formally closed by the Tuni sian Mini ster for Tran sport. furth er underscoring the very good relations between the ATCs and the Civil Aviation Authority and the high rega rd in which th e AT C Association is held. Throughout. the Tunisian ATC Association prov ided exce llent org ani sat ion and arrange ments ensuring a very smooth and succes sful mee tin g. No t onl y was th ere available the simuitaneous Engiish/F renc h tran slations for the guest speake rs but the entire meeting was video and audio taped and significant media coverage was organised and provided. +
8
TH E CON T RO LLER /MA RCH 1994
The Clobal Solution J
rlrf
-------------------SYSTEMS,
TCAS
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TRANSITION PROGRAM
After last years FAA International TCAS Conference, held in Washington D.C., I was particularly conscious of the many concerns and sometimes negative comments that bad been voiced in the controller fraternity about the use of TCAS. In an attempt to redress the balance, I invited ARINC to provide an article to The Controller, and inform us of the latest developments as perceived by them. Consequently, the following article has been prepared by Gary Gambarani and Dan Tillotson from ARINC Research Corporation, Maryland,USA. - Editor.
S
ince its first revenue flight on a USAir B-737 in June 1990,the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) has accumulated over 20 million hours of operationworldwideand has been the subject of countlessnewspaperand magazinearticles. It has also been under constant scrutiny from pilots,controllers,regulatoryagencies,and the airline industry with the aim of improving, refining, and perfecting the system so that it alerts only when there is a "real" threat of collisionand the advisoryprovidedallowsthe pilot to avoid that collision with so slight a change to the aircraft's existing flight profile the ground controller will be completely unawareof the entire manoeuvre.Ultimately, TCAS will know both own aircraft's and intruder's intended flight path and will have the capabilityto resolve conflicts in both the vertical and horizontal planes. However, industry is going to realise many operational benefits in the near term, in fact, upgraded TCAS software has been developed, tested, verified, certified, and is being installed to address many of the issues raised during the past three years. Furthermore, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has made a commitmentto the airline industryto continue to identify and resolve issues associatedwith the implementationand operationofTCAS.
overall situational awareness, especially in terminalarea airspace.Whilethere have been a fair number of ''TCASsaves" reportedvia pilot event questionnaires (approximately 6.4% of the questionnairesreceivedindicated TCAS improvedor preventeda dangerousor potentially dangerous situation) these event reports are subjective in nature and, for the most part, have not undergone extensive analysis.A number of events however,were subject to very close scrutinyby the United States TCAS TransitionProgram(TIP) and proved to be a testimony to the system's designand utility.This is not to say that pilots are totally satisfied with the current system, however. Pilots have provided comments callingfor improvementsto TCASin termsof reducing alert rates, eliminatingalerts issued at low altitude and during periods of high workload, and improving the system's knowledge about what own aircraft and the intruder aircraft intend to do so that "unnecessary" Resolution Advisories(RAs) can be eliminated. Overall, TCAS has been highly regarded by the pilot community, despite the operationalshortcomingsthathave been identifiedduringthe TTP. Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCS) however, have complained about TCAS operations because of its incompatibilities with existing Air Traffic Control (ATC) procedures.The commoncomplaintsvoiced by controllersare that TCAS issuesalerts for aircraftthat are legallyseparatedaccordingto current ATC standards and that aircraft are leaving assigned clearances without ATC authorisation and knowledge. These deviations are disruptive to a controllers' plans, increase workload, and are often the cause of a great deal of unnecessaryanxiety on the part of the ATCS involved. Finally, manycontrollersstill believethat even though TCASdirectsa pilot awayfromone perceived threat,it will cause a collisionby directingthe pilot to climb (or descend) into another aircraftaboveor belowthe initialintruder.
PROBLEMIDENTIFICATION AND RESOLUTION mFFERINGLEVELSOF ACCEPTANCE In August 1993, the FAA published the The level of acceptance of TCAS in the LessonsLearnedDuringthe TrafficAlert and operational environment has been clearly divided between pilots and controllers.From Collision Avoidance (TCAS) Transition the line pilot"s perspective.TCAS providesan Program which lists 16 issues identified "extra set of eyes in the cockpit'"and increases during the data collectionand analysis.The ----------------------~------
10
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report is based on nearly 15 million hours of TCAS operation and over I0,000 pilot and controllerquestionnairesfrom which several logic improvementswere developed. Using these data, FAA and industry decided on a "three-pronged"plan of attack to resolve the issuesand make TCAS more compatiblewith existingpilot and controller procedures.This plan consistsof logic changesto addresslogic and some operational issues, ATC and pilot procedurechangesor modificationsto address those operational issues which cannot be resolved through changes to the logic, and training program and training requirements changes to resolve pilot and ATCS training issues. While this article describes the US experience, it should be noted that other evaluationsof TCAS have identified similar issues during implementation and the improvements described herein have been analysed using ATC ground radar data collectedin variousEuropeanand PacificRim airspace. The FAA solutions therefore, will have universal applicability and will not addressonly the concernsraised in the US but those raised worldwide. Some of the issues and solutionsare summarisedbelow.
Changesto the TCASLogic Changesto the existingTCAS logic (Logic Version6.0) are being implementedto resolve inconsistenciesin the logic as well as address some of the more common operational incompatibilities. The new logic (Version 6.04A)will either eliminateor greatly reduce the number of advisories being issued for certain encounter geometries and in certain typesof airspace.The FAA has mandatedthat v6.04A software be installed in all TCAS-equipped aircraft by December 30, 1994. Some of the specific issues being addressedby v6.04Aare summarisedbelow. The concern most frequently voiced by pilotsduringthe TIP was about the numberof Traffic Advisories (TAs) and Resolution Advisories (RAs) being issued when own aircraft was less than 2,500 ft above ground level (AGL). Pilots felt that many of these alerts, especiallythe RAs, were unnecessary and the aural annunciations,in particular the "Traffic, Traffic" associated with a TA, interfered with communications and other cockpit duties during periods of high workload. With the introduction of v6.04A
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THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
------------------SYSTEMv-----------------software,low altitudealertswill be reducedas the RA inhibit altitude is being raised from 500 ft AGL to 1,000ft AGL. In addition,all TCAS aural annunciations will be inhibited below 1,000ft AGL whichwill preventTCAS aural annunciations from blocking ATC communicationsat these low altitudes. An unnecessary go-around or missed approach is an inconvenience for everyone involved, pilots, controllers,and passengers. Some TCAS induced go-arounds are the result of RAs issued for intruderaircraft that are on approach to a parallel or converging runwayor at airportswhereaircraftare on the ground with operatingtranspondersand local terrain defeats TCAS's on-the-ground logic. Reducing the number of unnecessary go-arounds caused by other aircraft on approach will be accomplished via logic changes that will increase the RA inhibit altitude (described above), reduce the RA fixed range thresholdto accommodateclosely spaced runway centrelines, and through increasedemphasison the use of the TA Only mode of operation.The TCASon-the-ground logic, a logic featurewhichallowsthe system to declare an intruder "on the ground" and thereby prevents a TA or RA from being issued, has been raised to accommodatelow terrain along the approachpath such as when the airportis situatedon the top of a bluff/hill. Many of today's aircraft incorporateflight managementand autopilotsystemsthat "fly" the aircraft using economically efficient profiles. These systems allow the aircraft to maintainhigh climb or descentrates until the last severalhundredfeet beforelevellingat the assigned altitude. Unfortunately,TCAS does not know the intent of either own or an intruder aircraft and uses projected position information to determine if an advisory is necessary. High vertical rate encounters (TCASaircraftis level and intruderaircraftis climbing or descendingwith vertical rates in excessof 2,000 feet per minute(fpm)to level I ,OOOft away) have caused unnecessary deviationsin all typesof airspace.Analysisof ATC ground radar and TCAS airborne recorderdata has shownthat the new software will greatlyreduce the numberof RAs issued for these encounter geometries but will continueto issue RAs shouldthe intruderfail to level-off. Another problem encounter geometry, similar to the high vertical rate geometry described above, occurs when two TCAS equipped aircraft, typically with opposite direction.high vertical rates, are heading for approximately the same geographic point. While the aircraft intend to level-off with THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
1,000 feet of vertical separation, TCAS determines that the greatest vertical miss distance can be achieved if both aircraft maintain the existing rates and it issues complimentaryRAs that direct the aircraftto cross througheach other's altitude.Whenboth pilots comply with their respective RA, the result is an "altitude swap" which achieves desired altitude separation but causes the ATCS significant concern. When one pilot follows the RA and the other elects to disregard the complimentaryRA, the result can be a vertical miss that is much less than that desired. Logic version 6.04A will eliminate these unnecessary crossing advisories and has been mandated for installationin all TCAS-equippedaircraftby December 1994. Until then, pilots are being asked to adjust the aircraft's vertical speed when they recognise a potential crossing encountergeometryis developingto preclude TCAS from issuing the crossing RA. ATC facilitiesare also being asked to examinetheir control and traffic management techniques and to implement modifications, wherever possible,that could help mitigatethese RAs.
in altitude and US procedures now require controllersto report the offending aircraft so that the operator can be notified of the problem and take the appropriate corrective action. Another operational issue that affects aircraftand ATC operationsis RAs issued for helicopters operating in close proximity to airport arrival and departure routes. Typical configurationsallow helicopters to cross the arrivalor departurecorridorswhile remaining below the normal traffic flow. Because own aircraft is descending towards these helicopters TCAS sees them as a threat and will issue advisories accordingly. Logic changes containedin v6.04A will reduce the frequency of these events by allowing the system to declare aircraft below 300 ft AGL as on-the-ground and therefore advisories will be inhibited. Pilots are also being encouragedto make better use of the use of the "TA Only" mode of operation when operatingin known close proximity to other aircraft.
TrainingIssues The TTP data has revealed some OperationalIssues deficiencies in pilot training and controller TCAS operation is based on the inputs it education about TCAS. Initial pilot training receivesfrom own aircraftsensors,an intruder programmes included a variety of training aircraft, or other 1030/1090MHz sources in methodsrangingfrom video tapes and books the airspace. If these inputs are corrupt or to simulator flights. Data has shown that inaccurate, TCAS may issue unnecessary additionalemphasisis needed in the areas of advisories. Both pilots and controllers have the use of the TCAS traffic display, reported events where TCAS issued an interpretingTCAS advisories,use of the ''TA advisoryfor no apparentreason,i.e., there was Only" mode. proper pilot responseto an RA, no aircraft in the vicinity that should have and the consequencesof manoeuvrescontrary causedthe alert. The most commoncausesfor to an RA. To address these issues, the FAA has these "phantom"alerts are describedbelow. revised the Advisory Circular (AC) on the If TCAS receives faulty altitude informationfrom own aircraftit may generate operationaluse of TCAS (ACI20-55A) and the minimum acceptable training device is a false advisory. Own aircraft altitude corruptionis most commonin, but not limited now an interactivecomputerbased instruction to, aircraft with analogue air data computer program.Manyairlinesare taking the training (ADC) systems. Improved ADC bench test requirements further by installing a TCAS procedures have reduced the occurrence of capabilityin theirflightsimulators. Initially, there was no requirement for these alerts. In addition, v6.04A adds a requirement for the logic to conduct a controllertraining since previous evaluations credibilitycheck on own aircraftaltitudeprior had shown TCAS to be "invisible" to ATC. to its use. This will help also reduce the However, once the aircraft equipage rate starting increasingit was apparent that ATC occurrenceof these alerts. training was needed. The first attempt at If TCAS receives faulty altitude information from an intruder aircraft it may trainingfor the ATCS was very similarto that also generatea false advisory.Intruderaircraft for pilots and consisted of a video tape and altitude corruption is most common when booklet. While this material did describe there is erroneous Mode C reporting by an TCAS operation. the video was cockpit intruder aircraft. This will continue to be a oriented and did not adequately address the problemsince TCAS has no way to determine issues most importantto the controller. As a if the Mode C report it receives is accurate. result. a new video has been produced that The logic will disregard sudden. large jumps 11
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IFATCA
ACTIVITIES, _______
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E CHALLENGES OF
EETING CHANGE
0 Text of the address given by the ExecutiveVice President Asia Pacific, David Moores, to the ATCA Inc. Annual Meeting held in Nashville. am delighted to be able to present this paper on Meeting the Challenges of Change from the Pacific Rim perspective. I am representingthe InternationalFederationof Air Traffic ControllersAssociationswhich has 85 national air traffic control associations affiliated.We have heard in this meetingabout the globalisation of ATC and it is therefore interesting to note that American controllers are not participating in IFATCA and the internationalforums we are involvedin. I would like to address an old message familiar to all controllers and repeated many times, it's about the experience in the workplace of operating in the here and now, where air traffic growth exceeds system capacity. For many countries it may well be a motif which stands in future. The subject is most appropriateand timely and I will be considering the issues from the air traffic controller's viewpoint. The Pacific region is being well served through the efforts of !CAO, FAA, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The story in Asia is another matter and I will be concentratingon the Asia region. ICA0 statisticsindicatethat over the last ten years air traffic growth in the Pacific Rim countries was the highest in the world. During the present recessionAsia has continuedto see sustained growth. Last year in China the passenger volume soared 34% to 53 million. When the airport building programme is completedin the year 2000, passengercapacity
will triple to 180millionpassengers. Currently 19% of world passenger traffic is carried in the Pacific Rim. By the year 2000 this is expectedto reach 30%. Asia Airlinesare expected to double their fleets by the year 2005. Tlu-eeout of five people on earth live in Asia. The numbers are daunting, and if the travel forecasts are correct, Asian carriers will experienceannual traffic growth of more than 8% for the rest of the decade and must add 1,300 aircraft to their fleets to cope with the demand for seats. This equates to some 12,000 additionalpilots. In the region more new airports are being planned or constructed than anywhere else in the world. New airports at Kanxai. Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Bangkok are envisaged as major Asian Gateways while the prosperity and growth in the Pearl River Delta has led to the construction of new airports at Shenzhen, Macau. Zuhai, Guangzhou and in my own city of Hong Kong, the replacementairp011at Chek Lap Kok is being built. Many areas of Asia are facing a crossroads situation where traffic demand is exceeding airspace capacity. The promises of FANS, the next revolution in ATC communication and management. are still just promises. There is an urgent need to make the most of existing and potential capacity, both in the air and on the ground, by using the best practices and technology available. However, for now,. Asian ATC has to manage with inadequate
equipment, airspace structures, operatin g procedures, communications and manpower. Although ATC equipment modernisation programmes are being implemented in many countries , they will not be operational for severalmore years. The most demoralisingaspect of the present scene is the absence of any real leadership which can bring all nations together to ensure future ATC developments meet operational needs. In the Asia Pacific Region ICA0 plays a vital role in working with Asian nations (with notable exceptions)but there are limitations in the initiativesand leadership which ICA0 can provide and in the present bleak economic conditionsthere are limited financial resources availableto ICA0. The followingpictures will help us focus on the issues. The first picture gives a broad perspective of the potential size of the problem and the population distribution dictate s where the major problems will develop. The dominant countries are obvious with Japan by far the greatest user of air transport in Asia Pacific. however, China will dominate the expansion of air services for the foreseeable future. Central Asia with a combined population of abo ut 150 million has hardl y begun the upward economic journey and just out of the picture to the west the presence of India. Pakistan and Bangladesh looms as a major
Picrure I - Areas o(high popu/{lfion.
Picrure 2 - Major trun k rou1es.
Pic1ure 3 - Radar cov erag e.
THE CONTROLLER/MARCH
1994
13
_______________ economicdevelopmentarea and will have to be factoredinto the biggerpicture. Picture 2 shows the major trunk routes whichlie in a southwestto northeastdirection across the South China Sea with the busiest route, betweenBangkok,Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. China's traffic routes to South Asia via the South China Sea flows north to south across Hong Kong's airspace, and is causing significant congestion and airspace complication. Traffic is building up from airports in China and all along the South Chinacoast. Picture3 showsthe radar serviceavailable. Air traffic currently operates between adjacent countries with a minimum 30nm lateralor 5 minutestime separation. Under existing separation standards with the technology available to ATC, the minimum separation is 10 minutes longitudinalwithoutradar and 5 minutes with radar. Increasing air traffic into the present systemwill have only one result....DELAYIf Asia is to move towards a global concept of ATC, there is a need for significant and perhaps unattainable changes in airspace management,sovereigntyissues and national cooperation. Airline demand for additional air services is pushingthe existing ATC system in some key areas to the limit. History and hindsight are the best educatorsbut we find it so hard to learn.Asia has to take an in depth look at the realityof the way in which regionalair traffic needs to develop if it is going to meet the challengescivil aviationis presenting. Limitations in airspace capacity in West Asia and China is restrictingthe growth of air traffic from east Asia to Europe. A major bottleneckexists in the Calcutta area where traffic merges from China, Singapore, Bangkokand Hong Kong. India will resolve their problem with the upgrading of radar services but it will only serve to pass the problem along rather like the game of "pass the parcel"to the next under-developedstate. To pass through the bottleneck aircraft are forced to hold and change levels. The unfortunate flights cleared to uneconomic levels and particularly if they are ultra-long haul, could end up diverting for fuel. It is a familiar problem of aircraft having to transitionfrom high to low capacity airspace whilein flight. If more levels were available the situation over Calcuttawouldbe much worse and there is no way of knowing before departure from say Hong Kong what will happen four hours later. It is a game of roulette as to which aircraftget throughwithoutchanginglevel. 14
IFATCAACTIVITIES ______________ The answer is not simply to increase airspacecapacity by creating new routes and reducing separation. While this will partly solve the problem, it could, dependingupon the capacity of terminal areas, create serious congestionif airportsdo not have the runway capacityto handlethe traffic. Without some kind of regulating system. airportscould find themselveschokedup with not enoughslots for departures.If you happen to be the airport playing "piggy in the middle" as in the case of Hong Kong, overflying traffic could block a substantial number of levels and effectivelyparalysethe airport.If measuresare taken to reservelevels and restrict traffic from the adjacentFIR this self-protective approach could set off a similar reaction from others. But if growth continuesuncheckedthere will not be enough airspacefor all. There is no Flow Management facility available to provide a centralisedflight level allocation system to regulate traffic on a regional basis and no prospectfor this in the short term. Although, Japan is building a Flow Management Centre at Fukuoka, the first in Asia It will be for Japan's airspace only and will be fully operationalin 1998. As quoted by G. K. Chesterton, "If you have ten men and only nine hats, the solution is not to cut off one head: it is. rather,to make anotherhat." It is time to put into place a RegionalATC Plan endorsedby all nations. What does history teach us? When a man puts a limit on what he will do, he puts a limit on what he can do. Similar conditions now exist in Asia whichEuropefaced two decades ago. New initiatives in the 80s led to the European ATC Harmonisation and Integration Programme (EATCHIP). Eurocontrol is finally getting on course to resolve the complex airspace problems in Europe. No such initiatives or political structure exists in Asia and a similar programme is unlikely to be implemented.I hope we do not have to wait two decades ! A recent editorial in a leading newspaper quoted an executiveof a major Asian airline as saying "The introductionof FANS is the single most urgent and important project requiring regional endorsement because it could dramaticallyimprove the efficient use of airspace in Asia Pacific". In the same editorial an IATA Executivesaid of the Asia Pacific region "It badly needs infrastructure planning for both airports and air lanes beyond nationalboundaries.A meetingof all transportministersfrom the regionis urgently required because only an international
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cooperativeeffort can avoid severe economic penalties, to airlines and to national economiescausedby congestion". To implement FANS in Asia, major upgrading and standardisation of ATC equipmentis required. This process is under way in many countriesbut I am not aware of any standardisationof Radar and Flight Data Processing Systems or automatic data exchange in Asia. We will see modernised ATC systems which will not be compatible with those in adjacent countries. We are heading towards a non-integrated ATC system which will transfer flights between countries by a manual paper and pen data handlingprocess. With the huge cost involved in the modernisation programmes underway in many nations. it seems very short-sightedto neglect the next step and ensure computers acrossnationalboundariesare compatibleand automatic data exchange can be achieved. HISTORY WILL REPEAT ITSELF IN ASIA. Initiativesare needed by Asian states to plug the gap and avoid a major deficiency in the regionalATC systemof the future.The technologyand know-howis availableas the technical exhibition here very convincingly demonstrates. I should like to turn to the human side of the business - the Air Traffic Controller. Whateverelse can be said, for certain,we are goingto have a humanbased ATC systemfor the foreseeable future. The controller's role may well change to that of an airspace managerin the new shape ATM,but he will essentially perform the same job as today. that is, to be responsiblefor flight safety. The controller's work has a direct and profoundimpact on the airline business with the bottomline being flight safety.This is the guidingfactor whichdictates how controllers performtheir job. In some countries in Asia, if flight safety is compromised,a controller could and has, lost his job and landed up in jail. In many countriesremunerationis at the level of clerical work and no allowance is given for the special nature of ATC work recognised to be one of the most stressful occupations. There are no limitations on workinghours and in some cases controllers work excessive hours, 60 hours per week is not unusual. Recruitment and retention of controllers in this environment with limited career prospects and where the established professionsare more highly valued is a major problem. With ATC becoming more complex and work related stress increasing. morale and motivation is a problem. In considering the THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
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challenges of change in ATC and with the wisdom of hindsight, employers need to pay attention to these issues. There needs to be a change in perspective about what ATC is and the essential role controllers play in the air transport system. Controllers are concerned about the operational consequences of developments and you cannot provide an international ATC service without cooperation across national boundaries. Last year, at the invitation of our Member Associations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan, IFATCA decided to act. The North East Asia Traffic Management (NEAT) meetings began in July 1992 to examine the congestion in the region. IF ATCA brought together represent atives from the main operational groups: airlines, pilots , aviation authorities, engineers and controllers. The results of these meetings are encouraging and areas for improvementin the existing system have been identified and recommendationsmade. It is possible to establish a parallel track on Airway A I between Hong Kong and Tokyo with full radar service and 20nm track separation. This will significantly improve traffic flow , increase capacity , reduce controller coordination, simplify the airspace
IFATCA ACTIVITIES _
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structure and generally enhance the ATC system in the region. All parties agree to the track which requires Government level action but ther e are obstacles holdin g up implementation; obtaining militar y agreement to release a small area of airspace required for the new track, the lack of standards to define a route using VOR offset and waypoint positions based on aircraft self-contained navigation systems which are required because of out-ofrange ground ba sed aids and political constraints. If our present state of progre ss in internation al cooperation has this kind of difficulty to introduce a change of this order, how can we expect to be able to implement major changes in Air Traffic Management across the region? International cooperation and goodwill exists among controllers and I am optimistic that at the working level we will continue to make the system work in the time honoured tradition which will include a healthy winge from time to time. But there is a price to be paid - DELAY. I have pointed to a number of issues where progress is needed but the most important step mu st come from Governments and without political initiatives to set the direction
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for the future shape of Asian ATC, we will be left with a patch work quilt system held together with thread. Let us hope, to quote an expert on these matters, (Bernard de Fontanelle) "The world knows well that whoever takes one step will take more: it is important, then, to take the first step well". May I leave you with a final word from yo ur friendl y controller who I call Mr. Anyman, Asia Pacific species 1993. +
TANZANIAN ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING O by Henry P Nkondoka ya - TA TCA Secret ary am pl eased to inform you th at the Tan za nia Air Traffic Co ntroll e r s ' Assocation held it's 14th Annua l Genera l Meeting in Zanzibar , at the invitation of the Zanzibar Government, on 19th and 20th October 1993. It was the first time in its history that TATCA has held an annu al meet ing in Zanzibar . The meeting was official opened by the President of Zanzibar who is also th e second Vice President of th e Unit ed Republic of Tan zania, Dr. Salmin Amour and was closed by the Zanzibar Minister for Comm unication and Transport , Hon. Rufeya Mbarouk. The highly successfu l meeting was well cove red by the loca l pre ss and amo ng othe r thin gs the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania promis ed to
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TH E CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
provid e an office for the Association. Th e Zanzibar President and his Mini ster for Co mmunic at ions a nd T ransport made personal f in anc ia l contributions to a T ATCA Developm ent Fund. The an nu al meet ing al so decided to react ivate it s ca mp aig n to lect ur e seco ndar y sc hoo l st udents on the A TC profe ssion so that their interest is aroused
from early years of seco ndary school. The paper on Applied Hum an Facto rs in Air Traffic Control (adapted from the paper by the Executive Vice Presid ent Profess ional, Bert Ruitenberg ) was one of the most interesting informativ e working papers at the meeting. U nfortun ately . none of the in vited fore ign MAs. non-MA s and lFATCA offic ials attended. The gro up photograph. taken after the opening ceremony. shows the President of Zanzibar. Dr. Sa lim Amour (ce ntre) flanked on his right by the Hon . Za nzibar Minister for Comm uni catio ns and Tra nsport. Mrs. Rufeya Mbaro uk and on his left by the TATC A Chairman . Mr. Wenceslaus Rwec hung ura. Also in the picture are ATCO de legate~ from all over Tanzania and other invited guests . +
15
See us at IFATCA '94
It's training, not simulation , that increa ses the productivity and proficiency of your a ir traffic controllers. While simulators are adequate for re viewing ATC rule s, it takes a sop hi sticated, site-proven training system to deve lop deci s ionmaking skills and c rea te prof ess iona ls ready to tackle the demanding world of a ir traffic control. You don't have to trave l far to see a Wes so n Int ernat ional ATC training sys te m in use . We've equipped more site s with stand -alone ATC training sys tem s than a ll othe r compa nies worldwide combined ! From virtu a lly eve ry major U.S. Air Force RAPCON arou nd the wo rld to the busie st FAA facilities in the United States - from uni versit ies doing ATC trainin o 0 to NASA and EuroCo ntrol - leaders in th e field of ATC sys te m s have chosen We sso n. TRACON/Pro. RAPCON/Pro, and ENROUTE /Pro - the most com plete, customizable ATC training sys tems available_ are ideal for train ing both no vice and expe rienced rad_~rcontro llers_.Graphical airspace ~esign tools let yo u duplicate your sectors quickly and ac_curately. w hil e a sce ~ano gene 1ato1 a~'.tomat1cally pro vides an unl11111t ed numb er of reali st ic fli g ht plan s . Cont inu o us vo ice reco g n1t1on comp 1ehe nd s ATC phi ases in conversational speec h w ith better th an percent 96 accuracy. Deve loped by AS!. a j o int ve ntur e of Wesson Internationa l a nd BAO. Ltd .. TOWER/Pro is a 3D , computer-based tower cab s imul ator u_sing multiple monito rs o r project io n screens to provide a swee pin g 360 " o ut-the-w ind ow v iew of the airport e n vi ronment. Whateve r yo ur ATC training e nvironm ent, yo ur student s ca n master ba s ic and advanced sk ill s in less time - wit h less super vis ion - at less cost.
nc. 500 S . Capital of Tex as Highway . Bldg. 5. Suite 200. Aust in. Texas
78746 ° (5 12)328- 0 I 00 ° FAX (5 12)328- 7838 ° 1-800 -634-9808
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IFATCA ACTIVITIES _________
E ATCHIP PROJECT
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0 by PrebenFalkman-Lauridsen,ExecutiveVice PresidentEurope
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The I0th European ATC Harmonizationand Integration Programme (EATCHIP) Project Board meeting was held in Brussels, 16-17 November 1993, and was attended by the IFATCAExecutiveVicePresidentEurope. Topics of interest included the President's Statementwhichinfonnedus thatPhase 2 is now officiallyconcludedand EATCHIPwill move into Phase 3, the design and implementation section. However, information from the EuropeanStates is still lackingand is causing delays.It is recognisedthat EATCHIPrequires major efforts be made by administrations,but everyoneshouldfulfiltheirrole! The ResolutionCommitteemay be activatedin the near futureto resolvespecificshortcomings or bilateraldifficulties, such as the Black Sea problem. Transport Ministers will meet again on 21st June 1994in Strasbourgwhere a pictureof the presentstatusof EATCHIPshouldbe stated. The role of EUROCONTROLhas, after many years of trying, reachedthe point where it was expectedto be wheninitiallyestablished. Mr Mack advised the meeting that two new posts had been establishedwithin the Agency: A Director-EATCHIP Development and a Director-EATCHIP Implementation.He further stated that the Eurocontrol Agency saw EATCHIP as a kind of watchdogover future EUROCONTROLstandards,and reassuredthe meetingthat EUROCONTROLwas constantly reviewingits workinggroupsto ensure that no duplicationoccurred.Finally,he informedthe meeting of the official opening of the Central Flow ManagementUnit (CFMU)in 1994 and an applicable status to be gained by I st December1997. A presentation of Work Programme/version 3 and the Convergence Implementation Plan (CIP)was then given. The Agencypresented a voluminousdocument consistingof 3 binders:The WP level I. WP level 2 and the ConvergenceImplementation Plan (CIP). The documents which will be continuously updated, will constitute the primary reference document for the forthcoming years and the CIP will show us how we are progressing in the individual States. What IFATCA will need to pay particular attention to is contained in the followingtopics: SO 03: Airspacemanagement and ATC procedures SO 04: ATM workingrules and operational requirements
THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
SO 05: Systems SO 06: HumanResources 4 keywords were attached to the work programme, namely: SAFETY, CAPACITY, EFFICIENCYAND COSTEFFECTIVENESS. Havingdiscussed EATCHIPwith others, I am of the opinion that IFATCA now should be activelyinvolvedin the followingteams: Air Space Management/ProceduresTeam (APT) ATC-ToolsGroupand its sub-groups HumanResourcesTeam (HRT) Recognisingthat we are presentlyinvolvedin the EATCHIP Project Board and EuropeanAir Traffic ManagementSystem (EATMS), a task force should probably be establishedwith the representatives in these teams/groups as the members. Action on this will be taken in the early periodof 1994. France, UK and Germany have aired some concern with reference to the CIP, as they already have extensive national plans. These plans would be hard to amalgamate into an EATCHIP/CIP standard. However, it was agreed that EUROCONTROLwould be given the informationcontainedin the plans and then try and rewritethis into a CIP-format. Other State s, particularl y Northern Scandinavia, asked the Project Board to reconsider the complexity, as they saw a possiblewaste of resources and money in their area. In other words,the level of service had to be cost-effective whilst still considering regularity. However, a problem arises on a national level, as it might be more financially right to aim for the same level within the same State (Spainis a good example). The two document s were subsequen tly endorsedas the basis on which to build for the future. The Airspace Planning Team (APT) gave the meeting an overview of its progress and in particular drew attention to the existing problem areas: the Black Sea and the Area Route Network(ARN)-concept.The Black Sea area problem is one of considerable politics. namely the alignment of FIR-borders. As a consequence of non-agreement. the area is more or less unusable by air traffic. Pressure will be put on rele vant Ministers and authorities to resolve the problem (Resolution Committee).The Area Route Networkconcept has been implemented. however only Phase I. The results after 5 years of intense work are very poor1 We can only hope that Phases2. 3.
4, 5 etc will evolvebeforetoo long. The President was concerned about the mandategiven to State representativesand the level of information both up and down. He urged everyoneto ensure that when attending meetings about EATCHIP that the people attendingwere in a position to take a standpoint and speak on behalf of the States concerned. NO MORE-NO LESS! The number of frequencie s in Europe is becoming more and more of a problem and States are urged to reconsider their needs. It is recommended that a body is established to overlook the distribution of frequencies and also to consider the splitting of 8.33 Khz. Datalink may ease the problem a litt le. however, the use is not consideredfor tactical control!1 The work of the newly established Human Resources Team (HRT) will begin in March 1994and will consider safety related working conditions, selection, training and licensing of controllers. IFATCA will participate in this work. On the subject of Human Resources Team (HRT)it is obvious that more States are still of the opinion that this item is not one to be harmonised, but that nationalsovereigntyvery much still exists. Others states believe that it is their own internal affair and do not require outsideinterference 1 It was confirmed that European Air Traffic Management System (EATMS) will be introducedslice by slice. W. Phillipp took up the concernthat only I0% of the EATMS team participants contributedto the meeting. On ATLAS.the EuropeanUnion study. it was notedthat the initialfindingfrom the feasibility study was that it might not work 1 The meeting was briefed on the European Coherent Approach to Research and Development in Air Traffic Management (ECARDA) and I congrat ulated the Commissionfor its initiative and in particular praised the chapteron the role of the Human. I was told later that the IFATCA paper on European Air Traffic Management System (EATMS)was used to a large extent! 11 ECARDAwill probably be a 50 million ECU project and it is expected that the money will be spent between 1995-1998. The Director General of EUROCONTROL. Mr. Mack.was scheduled to retire at the end of 1993 and his successor will be Mr. Yves Lambert of France. +
17
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other straightforwardloss of licencepolicies. consultantsin specialisedfields of knowledge However,this is becauseit featuresthe long- such as aviation medicine to keep abreast of term benefit of a guaranteed cash payment healthand regulatorydevelopments. when the policy matures, and is based on a Omnilife funds research into aviation level premium which does not increase with matters and sponsors a bi-monthly journal, age. Full details may be obtained from the 'Flight Path,' which concentrates on issues company and are variable according to relating to flight safety, human factors and aircrewhealth.This is widely distributedfree ir traffic controllersmay be interestedto individualcountries. "The Mercury Plan should be considered of charge within the aviation industry for learn that a comprehensive new on the basis of its long-termbenefits over a pilotsand air trafficcontrollers. insurance policy has been developed by Omnilife is authorised by the United Omnilife,an internationalleader in providing career time span," said John Cochrane. loss-of-licenceand life assurance to aviation "From this perspective,it works out cheaper KingdomDepartmentof Trade and Industry than alternativeloss of licencepoliciesif you (DTI) to conduct long-term business in the personnel. Omnilifehas launchedthe MercuryPlan to take the additionalbenefits into account. It's UK. Because Omnilife is a life assurance meet the specificinsuranceneeds of air traffic also important to stress that most loss of company,it is obligedto meet comprehensive controllers. The plan offers continuous loss licence policies offer their clients nothing requirements, unlike general insurance of licenceand life assurancewith a long-term back if they do not need to make a claim, companiesnormallyprovidingloss of licence savings plan. Unlike other loss of licence regardless of how much they have paid in products. Policyholders with Omnilife can schemes.the MercuryPlan guaranteesa lump premiumsover the years. When you take out therefore be satisfied that their investments are being securely administered by a life sum payment when the policy matures - a a Mercury Plan you receive a significant sum which may considerablyexceed the total financial return on your investment," he assurance company licensed and operating underUK regulations. added. amountpaid in premiums. Omnilife's Administrations Office . In addition to the standard Mercury Plan, "Essentially, the benefits of the Mercury located Omnilife has designed the Mercury Plan Plan are threefold," said Captain John . . in Nicosia,Cyprus.Clientcontactanids enqumes can also be directed to Omnilife's Extra. This policy is best suited to air traffic Cochrane,Omnilife's MarketingDirector. "It Head Office at LondonHeathrow. controllers who commence their insurance at gives air traffic controllers the valuable an earlier age to gain maximum loss of . For further informationcontactOmnilifeat protection they need should they lose their either of the following addresses: licence and life insurance cover increased licence. They also build up a fund for from that offered by the standard Mercury retirement with the knowledge that the OMNILIFEAdministrationOffice inclusive life cover will help provide family Plan by a factor of 1.5 times (150%)- with 23 Ay. Paraskevi good investment returns. support in the event of death. Additionally, Omnilife has significant experience in the P.O. Box 532 premiums are fixed throughout the policy's provision of loss of licence and life assurance Nicosia lifetime. and the insurance is continuous so Cyprus that. unlike other schemes. annual renewal is to aviation personnel. Its range of Saturn Tel +357 2 315762 unnecessary.even if the policyholderchanges Plans, specificallydesigned for the differing Fax +357 2 314286 employer or location within the profession," needs of professional pilots, have attracted clients in more than thirty countries. Telex 5662CY he said. Several features make Omnilife and its "The MercuryPlan can be taken out by air or trafficcontrollersas an individualstand-alone policies special in the world insurancemarket place. The company has demonstrated its policy. or as an addition to an existing OMNILIFEHead Office contract-providedloss of licence and pension commitment to maintainingclose links with JulliardHouse scheme",said John Cochrane. He added that. the aviation industry. Its managementteam LondonHeathrow ¡¡ the policy is most likely to interest ATC comprises experts from both the insurance 3 MondialWay employeeswho either have no loss of licence and aviation industries. Captain John Hurlington cover. or who feel their contract-provided Cochranewas for many years a test pilot with British Aerospace, leading a team of both MiddlesexUB3 SAR scheme does not give them enough pilots and air traffic controllersinvolvedwith UnitedKingdom protection." Omnilifedevelopedthe MercuryPlan after the development of the Concorde, while Tel +44 81 754 7444 careful consultation with the International Captain David Peters, Coordinator for Individual Business, was formerly a Chief Fax +44 81 754 7333 + Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Pilot for British Airways and Operations Associations ((FATCA ). who support the Directorfor Orion. need for an insurance plan that caters Also. Omnilife has a network of pilots as especiallyfor air trafficcontrollers. The annual premiumof the Mercury Plan company representativeswithin its Sales and may. at first sight. seem more expensivethan Marketing Division. and retains its Omnilife recently became Corporate Members of IFATCA. The company was invited to submit an article to give details about the specialist insurance they have availablefor controllers.
18
THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
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~ LETTERTO THEEDITOR I recently had the opportunityto read the 4th Quarter 1993issue of The Controllerand wish to let you knowthat I foundit most informative and enjoyable.Of particularinterestto me were your editorialon TCAS, and Bert Ruitenberg's treatiseon TCASand HumanFactorsTheory. I also had the good fortuneof attendingthe 2nd InternationalTCASConferencelast Fall, in Washington. However, I came away from that forumwith a somewhatdifferentsense than that of youreditorial. I hope I may be forgiven for wondering whetherI was readinga reviewof a new Lucas film, "The Returnof the Luddites". While I am no apologistfor TCAS, and there are certainly significant problems to be overcome, your report presents a rather negative picture. Clearly, the implementation ofTCAS was/isnot without deficiencies, and there has been a widespread lack of adequate communication and understanding of TCAS. Conferencessuch as the one described should go a long way towardimprovingthis situation. TCAS,not unlikemost other technologies , is evolvingand will continueto do so. While we shouldensurethat lessons learnedso far are not forgotten, is it necessarily reasonable that because TCAS was originally developed as a collision avoidance system, it must always remain so? While I accept Bert Ruitenberg's TCAS/automobileair-bag analogy, air-bagsare passive restraintdevicesthat can only react to a "stimulation", whereas TCAS is a proactive system. I would suggest that an equally valid analogy might be drawn with IRS or LORAN nav systems. I don' t know whether these systems were originallydesigned to replacethe navigator, but they certainly have! I wonder how many navigator s decried their introduction ? Yet we have seen that MNPS/RNPC has allowed a substantial reduction in Oceanic and associateddomestic separationstandards. Similarly, the evolutionof ILS/MLS has taken us from a precision approachfacilityto the present Cat III autoland capability. There are undoubtedly many more similarexamples withinand withoutaviation. Is it too technocratic to take the view that eventuallythe controller may not be the primary meansof collision avoidance?Then, ratherthan thinking of TCAS as a tool in the last line of defence, one might place it considerably further to the left in the model of accidentcausation. While I am neitheradvocating nor predicting the demiseof the controller, it is inevitablethat the future will bring continued technological advances. Consideringthat GNSS. TCAS and ADS are already here to some extent, it is quite probable that these and other . as yet undeveloped. systems will begin to interact in waysnot presentlyconceivable. Whilesomemaybe '"horrified" at the thought of this inexorable progression- in this case exemplified by TCAS separationtests over the -------------
ocean-others may well be horrified that aircraft are prevented from operating at optimum altitudes because controllersare still using paper strips and often unintelligible radios. Is it axiomaticthat only improvementsto this terrestrialsystem will allow improvements in the air? 1FATCAwould do well to considerwhether the present policy "that the primary means of collision avoidance in a controlled airspace environmentmust continueto be the air traffic control system ... " is in danger of being overtakenby events beyondour control.In my opinion, it is unrealistic, and undermining of IFATCA' s credibility, to maintain a policy which if not already outdated, will inevitably become so, and appears to seek to maintain a certain status quo while the world marches on. Instead, such a policy should recognise, and insist upon, a safe and orderly progressionof, and transitionto, an improvedair trafficsystem. Neil Martin ATCO
Toronto, Canada
Editors remarks - Thank you for your comments regarding the last edition of The Controller. I am sorry you interpreted my Editorialin a negative sense - it was not meant to be that way. More importantly, I was trying to make the point that efforts should be concentrated on ensuring the TCAS software logic is correct for its main purpose- collision avoidance. The software should be validated and verified before rushing TCAS into other uses, particularly those for which it was not designed. Every software version to date has had hidden bugs that have not been discovered untilthe versionwas placed in operational use' I invited the EYP Prof ess ional, Bert Ruitenberg, to respond to the other points in your letter. His remarks follow: Today 's Airborne Collision Avoidance Systems(ACAS), of whichTCAS is is the only current working example, are designed as emergency devices to perform when everything else has failed.Althoughfutureairbornedevices may have more advanced features, and may even be integrated with the ATC system , IFATCA maintains that the humanbeing must remain the key element of the ATC systemand must retain the overall contrail functionof the system. There is no doubt that automation (or technology in general) will play an important role in improvingthe air traffic system.But one shouldn't forget automatedsystems are there to help the controller and not the otherway round' In summaiy, it is my belief that the viewpoint of Mr Maitin is indeed too technocratic. In my opinion the relevant IFATCA policies are still valid, and my confidence in the mechanisms of the Federationis such that I think that. should there be a need to changeany policy. this will be done well in time to allow us to stay abreast with. and even aheadof. future developments. +
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VOICE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS,AUSTRIA, SPITTELBREITENGASSE34 , A - 1120 VIENNA, TEL: ..43/1/ 8 11 50-0, FAX ..4 3/1/ 811 509;
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How the new !CAO Communication,Navigation, Surveillance(CNS)/Air TrafficManagement (ATM) Global Plan (Ex-FANS)will affect the controller. 0 By Philippe Domagala, IFATCA Representativeon FANS
followed the instruction displayed on the n the last edition of THE CONTROLLER before and he could now read his planned departure time on the printer. Waiting on the screen: to "contact departure on 'voice' l 19.7 we saw that the ICAO FANS(II) table in front of him, besides the control stick, Mhz".By switching on the VHF to a voice Committee has ended its work and was the rest of the paperwork: maps, weather channel, a message was automatically sent via produced 2 documents ; "The ICAO forecasts and other relevant data. -"Well, only data link to the controller display, informing CNS/ATM Global Plan" and the "Coping him that our aircraft was tuned in and with Air Traffic Demand" brochure. Within 2 hour s delay plus 55 minutes expected listening.No need to call in. After a couple of 10 years, these documents will affect many taxiing time. It does not look too bad this minute s came the voice of the controller: controllers, one way or another, but it will not evening !" said Captain Dunn. First Officer "EUROPEAN 103 enter taxiway B. You are affect all of us equally. Depending in which Hover nodded. Yes 3 hours was not bad for a number 23 for runway 31 Left I" This was the Friday evening. Then the 280 passengers country you live (wealthy or not), type of boarded, and while the doors were closing, first R/T contact. In some less busy airports airspace you have to control (Oceanic or Captain Dunn pressed a button under his data even this instruction to enter the taxiway was Continental), what kind of traffic density link display to ask for his start-up clearance. also 'data-linked" and in fact the first voice (heavy or very low), your current system contact with ATC was often the take -off A few seconds later came the clearance , (procedural or radar), your facility (TWR, clearance. APP or ACC), then the effects After I hour and 30 will all be different. minutes of queuing, and still In order to illustrate all the numb er 6, Captain Dunn poss ibilities , the new ATC decided to amend his Flight technology combined with plan and reque st a new satellites, as described in the Frankfurt ATFM slot. He FANS books will (or might ) punched a few buttons of his affect you, I took an imaginary Flight Management System flight from New York to (FMS). and data-linked this Frankfurt in I O years from to the Ma in Ground ATC now, incorporating what has Comp uter. A few seconds been agreed within FANS, but late r came the answer: a also taking into account what I different Oceanic track, but a believe will be feasible within Frankfurt slot wit hin I 0 I O years. We are not in an minutes of planned arrival. ideal world, and one cannot Finally, the aircraft arrived at expect all the world 's the Runway threshold . and problem s to be so lved just with out req ues t came the becau se so me people have long awaited clearance in the decided so . Therefore , my loudspeaker: - ¡¡EUROPEAN story might not be as rosy as I03. clear to line up and take the one in the gloss y off. runway 3 1 Left. wind brochures. So. sit back and 300. 10 Knots". relax. and imagine yourself in Captain Dunn pushed the New York on the 15 of March throttles open and when the 2004. o n your way to the ADS Co111 ro/ ler Posi1ion. Thomson - CS F Swif1 Proj ect aircraft reac hed VI he airport (ex JFK, now called pressed a bu tton and the Hillary Clinton International). auto-pilot took over and rotated the aircraft directly printed on the screen. 4 more buttons Captain Dunn. of EUROPEANAirways (a safely into the night. Captain Dunn relaxed.. pushed and the 4 engines were running idle. new airline made of the remains of Lufthansa. if all went well he would not have to touch One more button pushed and the request to Air France. Alitalia and Iberia ) has ju st any flight contro ls until the aircraft was taxi was processed to the TWR. 40 seconds entered the cockpit of his Airbus A340. in decelerating on the ground at Frankfurt - 8 later. the clearance to taxi came on the data preparat ion for his flight to Frankfurt. He hours and 32 minutes later. (This is Airbu\ discovered the flight plan that had been filed link di spla y. toge ther wit h a map of the automation not FANS). for him weeks ago and stored in the Ground airfield and in bold lines. the taxi route to As soon as airbo rn e. th e Mode S follow. Captain Dunn taxied the aircraft along ATC main computer. His ATFM slot for transponder of the aircraft started 10 send its the airfi eld until the point inclicatecl. He Frankfurt was automatically requested the clay ----------------~
THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
21
________________ unique code to all ATC units. With Mode S there are over 16 Million code possibilities, and therefore every aircraft has its own code along with its registration,so there is no need to change SSRcodes anymore.Consequently, every flight is immediatelyidentified without pilot or controller intervention. Also, triggeredautomaticallyare all the "estimates" to the various ATC Centres en route. Via ground data links, the latest details of each flight are automaticallysent 10 to 15 minutes prior to entering any ATC sector, even taking into account the winds to calculate correct estimates. Hardly any more telephone exchanges between Centres are necessary. Furthermore, soon after take off, using the data link application of the Mode S transponder,some additional data ( e.g. fuel, passengers and cargo load, selected Mach number for the cruise, rate of climb set, level changes requested en route, etc.) are transmitted to the ATC Centres. Because of these features a more accurate Flight Plan was being used by ATC, and this proves to be an appreciable advantage for the airlines. As controllers are now aware of all the pilots requests, aircraft can be operated closer to the optimum flight path programmed as the most economic. The proliferation of these automatic data links makes on one hand life easier for pilots but on the other hand removes a big part of the enjoyable "Human contacts" that once made air traffic control a pleasant job. Also by taking away the "Good morning" of the initial calls, early identification of a new aircraft entering a (busy) sector is made much more difficult. One has to rely on an "all visual" information environment, without much "blank" thinking time (for example like the old "Good morning" gave to think and search.) This point is still a controversial issue in 2004. Our aircraft continues climb to its initial cruising altitude, delivered with the departure clearance and indicated to the pilots on the data link screen. The changes of frequencies are also made via data link, so there is no need to call anymore; just monitoring the sector frequency of the sector you are overflying, as indicated on the screen. On the sector itself, the aircraft which have selected the correct frequency are showing in a brighter colour on their screens. If one aircraft fails to show up, a quick URGENT data link call accompaniedwith an audio signal in the cockpit reminds the crew of the correct frequencythey were supposedto monitor. For vectoring, climbs and descents to resolve conflicts and all non-routine calls. the
22
FUTURE SYSTEMS _______________ VHF RfT voice is still used, as the data link communicationsare still too long (average20 seconds). Voice is also still used as back up in case of data link malfunction. Almost everybody can now be reached anywhere by VHF. Even in remote areas where VHF was previously not available, the communication satellites are now used as relay stations. Over the areas where HF was used this has proved to be a considerableimprovement. Finally our Flight 103 is instructed, via data link, to monitor the frequencyof the first Oceanic Sector. The controller in this sector is now able to monitor on a special screen the positions of all the aircraft under his jurisdiction and all the way across the Atlantic. The navigation of aircraft is now so accurate using a combined GPS/GLONASS (The US and Russian Navigation Satellite systems) receiver, and, using the INMARSAT Communications Satellites, these positions (at least the positions calculated by the aircraft FMS) are now transmitted automaticallyto the ground ATC computers. If the pilots do not make any errors and the satellites are all working properly, the position can be more accurate than with radar, and in fact separations between aircraft could have been reduced to the radar separation minima. But because of the error possibilities and also because of quality and manufacture of the various onboard equipment, much bigger separation minima are used. Over the Atlantic for instance, volumes of uncertainty, each different in size are required. Such volumes can be 10 miles in diameter or 60 miles, depending on the quality of the equipment carried or how far they are from the last verified position. Also, since 1998, Oceanic Controllersare allowed to use IOOO ft vertical separation above FL 290, which increasesthe capacity on one hand but, on the other, makes the workload more difficult when the aircraft are coming back to the Continent,where 2000 ft separationsare still used. To continue, our Flight 103 had just received its Oceanic Clearance via data link and. established on its final track, starts the long Atlantic crossing. Captain Dunn can now completely relax. He knows he is monitored by controllers, and does not have to monitor for himself those terrible HF frequencies, full of static. He does not have to worry about position reports either and as the automation on board the Airbus is so sophisticated, his main problem is not to fall asleep. When interviewed,the Oceanic Controllers praised the Automatic Dependent
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Surveillance (ADS) introduced by FANS. They were of course a bit sceptical at the beginning, because the old ICAO rules for procedural control still applied despite the new equipment. But, a few years ago, the rules had been revised and amended, the difficult issue of responsibilityand liability in case of system errors had been resolved, and in fact the positive control now being offered to aircraft crossing oceans made not only ATC above these areas safer, but also more interesting. Even in non-oceanic areas, like Siberia or the Amazon, ADS was being used to providepositivecontrol. A few hours later, our Flight 103, is now coming under the control of PRESTWICKin Scotland.It is being monitoredby a controller watching a screen similar to the one in the illustrationon page 21, and it is still relatively easy. But the controller on the next sector, the one providing the interface between Oceanic and Continental route network was sweating profusely. Because the European continent is still using 2000ft vertical separation above FL290 and because of the reduced longitudinal and. vertical separations used Ill¡ the North Atl~nt1c,a huge number of aircraft were conver~mg,a?d all had to be fed into a few ~ntry pomts,_with 2000 instead of !OOO ft vertical separatton. This is still one of the most difficu_It task controllershave to perform every mornmg. . In fact when over the dense European Airspace, almost all the new technologiesbrought by FANS not much has changed. Lots of voice R/T is still needed to separateaircraftfrom each other, and because of heavy radar vectoring, the satellite navigation possibilities are not often used. The result is ~f course that the beautifully calculated flight profiles now become shambolicbecauseof the unplannedclimbs or descents and vectoring required. Also the weather forecasts are not 100% accurate and this morningis no exception. The data link screen of our Flight I03 starts to display the latest information: Fog is establishingitself in Frankfurt and the RVR is down to 300 metres. Of course the A340 is CAT 111 B equipped but only one runway can be used at the same time for landing under these conditions. (The other parallel runway does not have enough lateral separation for independent runway operations). Despite I O years of political battle between the environmentalists and the Airport Authority.there is still no decision on building a new runway in Frankfurt. In 2004 the number of movementshas reached 1500 a day with only 3 usable runways.
THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
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Captain Dunn made a quick data link request to the Frankfurt Approach Information Computer and found out that holding was to be expected for more than I hour over Frankfurt. First Officer Hover started to punch in the MLS procedure for Runway 25R. MLS has finally replaced ILS despite the USA having unilaterally decided for Differential GPS. But as the noise abatement procedureshave not changed, the STARs and S!Ds are roughly the same with MLS than ILS. The only advantageis now for the controllerwho can instructa pilot to fly a curved radial inbound to the field and therefore reduce the radar vectoring. Further ATC automation allows him to rely in his Short Term Conflict Alert and his Runway Intrusion Monitor But contrary to what people believed one can not land more aircraftwith MLS than with ILS. On the previous sectors, the Centre controllers are now also relying heavily on their Short Term Conflict Alert systems. Despite 8 years of tests and development,the promisedmediumterm conflictdetectionand conflict resolution advisories systems ( both FANS items) have not been made reliable enough to be introduced operationally. Too many other factorsaffect the programme,and with 30 or more aircraft currently under the controlof a single controllerin a sector, more automation has proved to decrease capacity. A Human was definitivelymore flexiblethan a computer and could handle more traffic. The critical question of the 1990's, "to find the perfect man-machineinterface", has still not been answered, and scientists now advocate the use of a pen instead of a mouse to communicatewith computers. When interviewed, Centre and Approach Controllers all replied that, as a "Back-up system", the FANS technology was a good thing (An ADS display similarto the Oceanic one could be superimposed on their radar scopes in case of failures). Also they recognisedthat ModeS transpondersand data link is makingtheirjob easier, but the amount of traffic had risen to such levels that, even with those advantages, life was still very difficultas a controllerin 2004. By now our Flight 103 has finished holding and is attempting to make an Autoland on Runway 25 R. The fog is very dense but the Airbus auto pilot does a good job and our 2 pilots find themselvesstopped on the runway with not enough visibility to taxy safely to the terminal. A quick call on the tower frequency.and the TWR controller, using a display fed by the differential GPS positions of all aircraft and vehicles on the ------
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apron, accurately guides our aircraft via data link to its correct stand. After a ground taxi time of 35 minutes,our 2 pilots press the last buttons and the engines finally stop. They have been sitting in the aircraft for over 14 hours. In the 1990's under good conditions they could do it in 9 hours. But the traffic was far less dense than now. They both look at their data link screen to find out their next assignment: Tomorrow evening to Johannesburg.Only 18 hours rest! Competition is such nowadays that working conditions for pilots have decreased tremendously. Both pilots sigh! A difficult flight in perspective. Most African states, lacking financial and political means still have not implemented any of the FANS recommendations. In fact many Central African States are worse off in 2004 than in the 90's. Even the VORs and the NDBs have been withdrawnfrom service, because clever politicians had read the FANS book and saw the possibilityto withdrawground navigation beacons by asking aircraft overflying their airspace to use satellite navigationinstead. A much cheaper option for them, but who can blame those African politicians? When one has scare resources and millions of inhabitantsare still Jackingbasic medical care and educationfacilities, why spend money on expensive electronic equipment and staff for the use of a few foreign aircraftthat happen to overfly your airspace? When interviewed, most African controllers talked about the FANS programmeas a "dream they only heard of' ... ICAO has drawn up an international programmeto help those States lacking funds to equip, but the lack of traffic that is overflying these States has made such programmes uneconomicallyviable. Captain Dunn was pleased with the decision of their company to equip all its A340s with TCAS For the flight tomorrow it will be a good safety net. TCAS was still a controversial issue with only the USA still having made it mandatory, but there, like in Europe, the number of false alerts and interferences with ATC clearance had discreditedthe system to the point where most pilots, as with the ground Proximity Warnings calls, when under positive Radar Control, were questioning most Resolution Advisoriesbefore executingthem. Beforesigningoff the flight with the central airline computer and picking up their belongingsPilots Hover and Dunn had a final look at the A340 cockpit. and both regretted the good old days where flying was a glorious affair..... +
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To Advertise in
THE CONTROLLER
Contact: THE ADVERTISING MANAGER
Ron Mahendran See Page_1 For Sales Office Details
CORRECTION In the last edition of The Controller an unfortunate printing error occurred in the statement of IFA TCA Policy relating to ACAS. The error was on page 11 of the 4/93 edition of the magazine at the en.d of the article entitled TCAS and the Reason Model. To avoid any misunderstanding the correct IFATCA policy on airborne collision avoidance systems is reprinted below:
"IF A TCA recognises that the developmen,t of airborne coMision avoidance systems sbou.J.d be encouraged. However, it must be accepted that the primary means of collision avoidance within a controMed ai,rspace environmen,t must continue to be the air tFaffic control system which should be totaMy independent of airborne emergency devices such as ACAS. Autonomous airborne devices should not be a consideration in the provision of adequate ai,r traffic services."
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THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
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NEWS_________________
• AUSTRIA Austria's Civil Aviation Authority, The Bi.indesamt Fur Zivilluftfahrt, has placed a £3.2M contract with Siemens for the second phase of its system migration programme for the Vienna air traffic control system. This phase will cover changes to the system architecture and also provide for flight data function s at the many Austri an regional airports.The system migration programme is a planned conversion of the original systems architecture and technology to current open architecture and commercial of-the-shelf concepts, ensuring that the system will be completely within the European ATC Harmonisation and Implementation Programme (EATCHIP) recommendations by 1996. The first phase comprised changes to enable the phased system migration to be implemented without disturbance and risk to the operation of the ACC. It also included the provision of a radar databased short term conflict alert (STCA) function for both the en-route and terminal areas controlled by the Vienna ACC. CANADA Another major milestone in the $400 million overhaul of Canada' s air traffic control system has successfully been achieved by Hughes Aircraft of Canada Limited and its team of Canadian contractors. The deve lopment rev iew mil estone which is part of the Canadi an Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS) involved 60 Transport Canada personnel to attend the meetings in the Hughes facility in Richmond B.C.. The review brings closer the finalisation of the hardware and software requirements for the new air traffic control system, which after completion will have provided an upgrade of 7 enroute centres, 60 airport control towers and 3 test and support centres in Canada. Hughes have also announced that they have been awarded a $70 million contract to build a new military air traffic control system which is known as the Military Automated Air Traffic System (MAATS). MAATS will complete the provision of a totally integrated national air traffic control system for Canada. Two new Military Terminal Control Centres will be equipped with "CAATS common" equipm ent to provide flight data processing and display capability. The military centres will be collocated with the CAATS facilities in Edmonton and Montreal. Canadian Forces' towers will also be equipped with the same processing equipment and display equipments as the Transport Canada control towers. • CHILE Thomson-CSF has been awarded a turnkey contract by the Chilean Civil Aviation Authority to extend the country's air traffic control system. It is the first phase in a programme under which Chile's entire national airspace management system will be modernised. The project will involve fitting a TRAC 2000 solid-state radar and a RSM 970 MSSR at Santiago, as well as a Eurocat approach and en route control ce ntre with simul ator. Current equipm ent at Santi ago will be refurbished and installed at Puerto Monti with a new MSSR. The contract also includes an option for 4 additional radars and 3 Eurocat centres. Air traffic volume in Chile is currently expanding by some l So/rper year. • KAZAKHSTAN A $62.5 million order has been placed with Siemens (Germany) to build a nationwide air traffic management system. New centres wiII be installed at Almaty. Aktyubinsk and Akloma. 18 new secondary radars will he added and it is expected that by 1998 Kazakhstan will boast a complete en route and approach control system.
TH E CONTROLLER / MARCH 1994
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EUROCONTROL Mr Yves Lambert, former Director of Air Navigation, France, and Sec retary General of !C AO, is the new Dir ector General of Eurocontrol. He took over on I January 1994 from Mr Keith Mack. who retired in December 1993 at the conclusion of his 5 year term of office. On taking up his new post, Mr Lambert observed "Eurocontrol is on the verge of new technical breakthroughs, all of which are des pera te ly nee ded by the European aviation industry in the curr ent comm ercia l difficulties encountered by air tran sport world wide. These advances will be of substantial help in streamlining air traffic and should go a long way to ward s smoo thin g out the more press ing pro blems enco unt ered in air traffic management today: I intend to make eve ry effort to pursue their rapid development while Mr Yves Lambert ensuring that costs are firmly Director General EUROCONTROL contained." • SWITZERLAND The proposed controversial trial of reduced vertical separation within Swiss airspace has been postponed until further notice. The trial was scheduled to implement the use of Flight Levels 300 and 320 between defined points in the country: thus taking the base level of IOOOfoot separation from Flight Level 290 to Flight Level 330. The proposal meet with concern from many aviation related bodie s. includin g IFATCA. The main thrust of concerns was centred around the ability of TCAS to operate con-ectly with reduced separations at these heights and the effects of reduced separationsover mountainous te1nin. • USA An interesting altitude awareness programme instigated by US Air has lowered the airline's unintentional altitude deviations by about 75%. The plan was developed in cooperation with the Air Line Pilots Association and includes pilot education. specific altitude alert setting procedures together with other techniques. Correct radio phraseology and clearance callbacks have also been emphasised. The airline is to be commended in taking this initiative which could well be adopted by others. • GERMANY Germany has reported that delays caused by ATC were down by 15Ck at Ger man ai rport s in 1993. Frankfun· s Rhein-Main Airport demonstrated the best improvement with a reduction of 309'c.despite an increase in Summer air traffic. • JAPAN It has bee n reported that the new offsh ore airport of Kansai International will open for business on September 4 . .lapan·s Crown Prince and Princess are scheduled to attend the off icial opening ceremony on August 29. The airport is located on a 1.26) acre man made island in Osaka Bay. +
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IFATCA 94 CONFERENCEATEST :J by Paul E Ellis - Chainn an IFATCA 94 Organising Committee.
Plans are near completionfor the social funct ions at IFATCA 94. Thefollowing is a brief outline of the scheduled events as of this printing. Included are suggestions on the type of clothing that should be consideredprior to departing. Lunches are planned during 4 days of the conference, Monday through Thursday. SU'.'ITIA Y April 17, 1994 Prior to the official opening of the Conference , a gathering of the delegates in the Adams Room of the Chateau Laurier Hotel, will take place to permit individuals to mingle with other IFATCA colleagues. We hope this will give everyo ne the opportunit y to make new acquaintancesand renew friendships made at the fabulous Conference in Christchurch. Of course, on this night, dress is casual. refreshments will be served; however, no food will be provided. '.\1O1\l)AY April 18. 1994 Today's lunch, which follows the Opening Plenary, is sponsored by Thompso n-Hickling Aviation Inc. The lun ch will take place in Ottawa's main convention centre, The Ottawa Congress Centre. On this eveni ng, the Official Opening Reception will be held in the Government Conference Centre. This evening will be sponsored by Martin Marrietta of Canada. We anticipate that the mayor of Ottawa, Ms. Jackie Holzman , will be in attendance to welcome you to Canada's capital. Business dress Uacket and tie), is appropriate for this evening. Refreshments and finger foods will be served, but no meal is provided . This will be your opport uni ty to ex perience the fine restaurants of Ottawa, severa l of which are well within walki ng distance from the Conference hotels. Tl"ESDAY April 19. 1994 Tuesday marks the first day of a three day Accompanying Persons Programme (APP). While there is no social function planned for this evening, the activities for the APP kicks off with breakfa st at the Chatea u Laurier followed by a bus tour of Ottawa and a visit to Canada路s world famous Museum of Civilisation, which includes a 70 mm Dolby film "To the Limit" in the IMAX theatre. For those on the APP. the dress suggestion is casual, but smart. Remember the weather in Ottawa in April can range from cold, snowy, conditions to pleasant temperatures of I 5 degrees to 20 degrees Celsius. We suggest you bring appropriate clothing for any weather possibility. ~ ED'\iESD\) \pril 20. 1994 Lunch today will be sponsored by the Corporate Members. Today also marks the second day of the Accompanying Persons Programme. Participants will enjoy a walking tour of Canada's Parliament Hill and, following lunch at the National Arts Centre. a visit to the Canadian Aviation Museum. We suggest that you wear trousers and sturdy shoes for this day's activities and have a warm jacket. Tentatively planned for this evening is a Cabane a Sucre dinner. We know this will be an enjoyable evening as everyone experiences a taste of Canadian history and culture. Dress is very casLtal (jeans and casual skirts). A traditional Canadian Cabane a Sucre is a laid back. kick up your heels, night of fun and merriment. It should be a blast.
THLRSDA) \pril 21. 1994 Lunch toda y is sponsored by Raytheon Canada Ltd. There is no planned evening function as this is the final day of the Accompanying Persons Programme. For individuals participating in this programme. the dress i~ casual. similar to Wednesday This day"s highlights feature a trip to the fabulous city of Montreal in the province of Quebec. You
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can expect a full day's activities because of the two hour trip to Montreal and the same return time. It will be fun-filled as you experience the French culture of Quebec, tour the old part of Montreal and lunch on St. Helen's Island. Participants will especially enjoy this day and the trip will serve to cap a three-day Accompanying Persons Programme that you should rememberfor a long time. FRIDAY April 22, 1994 There is no lunch today. We hope you will take this opportunity to explore the numerous shopping boutiques in Ottawa and take in one of the main fine restaurants for lunch. The Conference winds down today and after completion of the Closing Plenary, there will be time for a brief rest period before the final closing banquet begins. The function is being sponsored by Hughes Aircraft Canada Ltd. and Associates. We encourage you to dress in semi-formal attire for this evening. This function is perhaps the best opportun ity for members of the UK GATCO to wear their dinner suits. Everyone will be wined and dined in traditional Canadian fashion as IFATCA 94 comes to an end and you bid farewell to friends until IFATCA95 in Israel. In keeping with the precedent established at IFATCA 93, there will be a Professional Panel organised by Bert Ruitenberg, EVP Profession 1 路 a. The Panel will take place on Friday _of the Conference, however at this printing, the exact time is not available. There will be a number of speakers to talk on various issues that affect air traffic controllers. W are sure that many of you will be interested in what they have to say. e On Wednesday Apnl 20, 1994, the Technical Panel will be held from I 0.30 to 12.30. There are a number of interes ting paper s to be presented. The location of the Technical Panel is not available at this time. So there you have it, IFATCA 94. These details, together with the Member Associations information which was mailed individually and the update in the December edition of The Controller, should provide you with enough information to finalise your travel plans. We look forward to the pleasure of your company and invite you to experience the rich beauty and culture of Canada at IFATCA 94. CONFERENCECARRIERS NOTE: The Air Canada Convention registration number will be '路CIC 38/8.. which is to be used for all IFATCA 94 bookings after March I. 1994. Their current reference nlllnber is "ORI 12619". Air Canada have notified us that due to reconfiguration of their computers, it will be necessary to make the change for IFATCA 94 bookings numbers. This will not affect any individual who booked prior to March I, 1994. Canadian Airlines International remains as 路'CV I6023". GROUNDTRANSPORATION As a courtesy to those arriving at Mirabel and Ottawa (MacDonaldCartier) airports between noon Saturday. April 16 to 9.00 pm Sunday, April 17, an lFATCA 94 booth will be in operation at these airports. We will be pleased to provide complimentary transportation to the hotel for persons who present themselves at the lFATCA 94 booth during these hours of operation. +
THE CONTROLLER /MAR CH 1994
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PROVISIONALSOCIALCALENDAR- IFATCA94 (NOTE- PLEASECHECKYOUR TIMETABLEFROM THE CONFERENCEREGISTRATIONFOR ANY AMENDMENTS) Sunday, April 17
1900- 2100
Meet and Greet Reception, Chateau Laurier
Monday, April 18
1000 - 1200 1200- 1330 1930-2130
OpeningPlenary of Conference Luncheon- OttawaCongress Centre OpeningReception- GovernmentConferenceCentre
Tuesday,April 19
Breakfast- Chateau Laurier * 0900 - 1000 Bus Tour of Ottawa * 1000- 1200 (No Lunch Provided) 1200- 1300 Visit to the Museumof Civilisation * 1300 - 1500 70mm Dolby Film "To The Limit" IMAX Theatre * 1500-1600 Free Evening
Wednesday,April 20
0900 - I 100 1200 - 1330 1400- 1600 1830- 1930 1930 - 0100
Thursday, April 21
0730 - 0930 Bus to Montreal * 0930 - 1130 Visit to Biod6me * 1130-1330 Lunch* Explore "Old Montreal" * 1330- 1600 1600- 1800 Bus to Ottawa * Free Evening
Friday, April 22
1500- 1600 1830- 1930 1930 - 0100
WalkingTour of ParliamentHill * Luncheonat National Arts Centre * Visit to The AviationMuseum* Cocktails Cabane a Sucre (Banquet)- Westin Hotel
Closing Plenary of Conference Cocktails Gala Farewell (Dinner and Dance) Ottawa Congress Theatre
Items marked with â&#x20AC;¢ are restricted to those people registered for the Accompanying Persons Programme. The other activities are for all other persons registered at Conference. including those registered for the Accompanying Persons Programme.
Flight years ahea Civij Aviation Aut horities ' approved hard w ar e and sof twar e m odules: Enh ance Safety, Impro ve Efficiency and Increase Cap acity. NOV A 9000 can be up graded and expa.11ded at an y fune to meet cha.11ging ne eds. Configurations available for: Tm-ver (Air Traffic Monitor) Approach and Terminal Area Radar Displa ys Norc ontrol's NOVA 9000 seliies mu lti-role ras ter-scan ATC
Surface Movement Gu idan ce and Control.
work station s and radar display s are tailored to m eet all the needs of indi'i1idual airport s a.i'ld civil aviation auth orities for the nineteen-nin eties and beyond.
NORCONTROL Systems n.s P .O. Box 1024 N-3 194 Horten , No rway Tcl.:473304143 6 . Fa .: 47 33 04 34 10
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AGENDA MARCH 28 - 31 21st Aviation Psychology Conferenc e, TrinityCollege, Dublin, Ireland. Contact - Pat Holahan. Phone +353 I 702 I091 Fax +353 I 6712006
APRIL 15, 16 & 23 Executive Board Meeting, Ottawa,Canada. Contact - Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone + 44 628 23 699 Fax + 44 628 781 941 18 - 22 IFATCA 33rd Annual Conference, Chateau Launer, Ottawa, Canada. Contact - Paul Ellis (ChairmanIFATCA94), 162Cleopatra Drive, Nepean, Ontario, CanadaK2G5X2. Phone + 1613225 3553 Fax + I 613 225 8448
29 - 3 MayIFALPA AnnualConference, Hong Kong. Contact - Executive Administrator Phone + 44 932 571711 Fax + 44 932 570920
MAY 17 - 19ICAOFlight Safety andHuman FactorsSeminar, AviodomeMuseum, SchipolAirport, Amsterdam. Contact - Captain Dan Maurino. Phone +l 514 286 6381 Fax +15142856759
JUNE 9 - 12 Executive BoardMeeting, Copenhagen. Contact - Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone + 44 628 23 699 Fax +446 28 781941 12 - 14 Air Traffic Control Association, lnc., Technical Conference/Exhibits, Hong Kong. Contact - Carol Newmaster. Phone + I 703 522 5717 Fax +I 703 527 5717 JULY 18 - 21 Global Navcom '94, Palexpo Exhibition Centre, Geneva, Switzerland. Contact - IATA. Phone + I 514 844 6311 Fax + I 5 I4 844 6727
SEPTEMB ER S - 11 Farnborough International. UK. Contact - SBACLtd. Phone +44 71 839 3231 Fax +44 71930 3577 18 - 22 Air Traffic Control Association 39th Annual Tnternational Technical Programand Exhibits, Arlington, Virginia, USA. Contact - Carol Newmaster Phone + I 703 522 5717 Fax + I 703 527 57 I7
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0 by Patrick Schelling, Contributin g Editor
he ATC' 94 Conference & Exhibition took place from the 23rd to the 24th of February, 1994. The event was staged for the fourth time at the Maastricht Exhibition & Conference Centre (MECC) in Holland. A slight increase in attendance, on both the conference and the exhibition, shows that this gathering has established itself as one of the major annual ATC events in Europe. The Exhibition was organised by MGB Exhibiti ons and the Conference by Jane' s Infonnation Group. At Maastricht, the industry met the users (air traffic controllers) and the providers (Civil Av iation Admini stra tions and ATS co mpanies) as well as int ern ati onal orga nisations representing either the user and/or the provider. The end-user, pilots, airline representatives. etc. were also present, to discuss the important issues which the aviation community will have to tackle in the near future. The title of the two day conference was Global Systems with most of the presentation an d discussions centr ed aro und Gl obal Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), their availability, integrity. precision and so on. This conference was held only a few days after the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) was declared operational for civil use. The FAA stated that the GPS satellit e constellation is now an integral part of the U.S. National Airspace System and on its way to become the sole source of navigation within U.S airspace. In an effort to reassure the international audience, Frank Colson of the Department of Defence (DoD) outlined the U.S. Policy on GPS. including the management and operation thereof. Indeed, on several occasions, the United States renewed the offer initially made, by former President Reagan on May 26, 1983. in the wake of the KAL 007 shoot down, to the international aviation community. On that elate. his Press Secretary announced: ¡'World opinion is united in its determination that this awful tragedy must not be repeated. As a contrib ution to this objective. the President has determined that the United States is prepared to make available to civilian aircraft the facilities of its Global Positioning System when it becomes available ... More than a decade later. the U.S. shows consistency when restating the offer to provide GPS free of any direct user charge and to
provide this service for the foreseeable future. The U.S. has also told the !CAO Assembly in 1992, " ... that there were no plans to cancel thi s service. If it should ever bec ome necessary to do so, subject to availability of fundin g, we will give the int ernati onal community a minimum of six years' advance notice before eliminating the service." GPS is now overseen by a joint DoD/DoT Executive Board. This board is designed to address and resolve overall GPS Policy and manage ment issues. To ensure equit able representation from both civil and military users, it will be co -chair ed by Ass istant Secretaries of Defence and Transportation. On financing the system, Frank Colson said that " ... since the basic system supports war fighting missions, and as such should continue to be funded by the DoD. Sim ilarly, any system augmentation specifically designed to support civil user requirements should be funded from civil budgets and trust funds." No mention was made of a (possible) financial contribution by the international community, however. This implies that the United States intends to keep its independence when running the sys te m due to Nationa l Sec urity implications surrounding GPS. " ... in that light", he went on saying, "the U.S will weigh National Security interests in all decisions concerning GPS." On precision, Colson confirmed that the U.S Government has reserved the right to degrade GPS accuracy beyond its established 100 metre limit as defined in the Federal Radio-Navigation Plan. However, such action would be undertaken only at the direction of the President after his careful evaluation of the impact on US civil users - including the tens of thousands of US citizens on airplanes and ships navigating with GPS. Norman Sola! of the FAA, speaking i11lieu of retirin g Joe Del Balza, co nfirmed the admini strat ion' s suppo rt of the FANS recommendations and said that the national system is designed " .. .along the lines the (FANS) Committee proposed." Detailing the FAA programme on satellite navigatio;. he pointed out that: CPS is 1w 11' al'ailable as a s11ppl e111 rntal aid .fiH 11011 -precisio11appm aches to 11 ec1rlr 2500 airports i 11 1he U11i1ed Slates. CPS-unique approa ch pro cedurl's are cur rer11lr bei11g deve/opedf iJrall U.S. airpnns. CPS, augmented br 01her narigariona/ aids. is currentlr hei11 g used as a s11 pple111e 11 /(//
THE CO NT RO LLER/ MARCH 1994
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EACHES C USING 111ea11s of navigationfor enrollle and oceanic .flights, and 1Vil/be used as a sole means when wide area augmentation networks will be made available. Special Category I precision approaches are now available through D-CPS at selected /ocatio11sin the U.S. and will be releasedfor public use once the wide area network is implemented. The time frame to fl y full Category I approachesshould be by 1997. By 1995, the FAA should have gathered enough data to know whether or not CPS can achieve CAT II and III precision approach capability. Mr. So/at concludes detailing the CPS programme by suggesting the use of this technology for i111proved ai,port and su,face 011itori11g as 1V e/l as ... "an input to TCAS 111
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integrity of the informationreceived. A co11trollershall not be held liable for incidents in which a loss of separation occurs due a to a resolution advisory issued by an automatedsystem. Charles Stuart continued , saying, " ... IFATCA believes that ADS is one of the most important developments from the CNS/ATM concept because it is truly global and will provide more effectiveATS in areas which are currentlypoorly served". Referringto the core area of Europe , where radar and communicationscoverage is widely available, he believed that some parts of the world could not afford the luxury of maintaining costly radar and ground-based navigationequipment. "To certain countries , GNSS is like a life belt," he added. IV". Jn short, the United States is showing the Speaking on human factors in ATC he world their commitmentto GPS and strongly recognisedthat the subject had been addressed believe that the future lies in the (nav) stars. in both FANS and ADSP (Automatic The air traffic controller's viewpoint on Dependent Surveillance Panel) but took the increased automation associated with GNSS opportunityto make a few general statements: and the effect it may have on future ATC Automation can be of great benefit if used operation, was given by IFATCA President, properly. It is important that its benefit s are Charles Stuart. realised by mmching automation with human In his paper, the president clarified the capabiliti es. Automation will be abl e to Federation's policy regardingautomation.The pr ovid e th e contr oll er with a wealth of relevantaspects of the policyare: information at his fin ger tips. Far more than Automation must improve and enhance the what is available at present, and p robably data exchange for controllers. Automat ed more than he needs. It is impor1ant that the systems must be fail safe and provide accurate controller does not suffer fr om information and incorruptible data. These svstems n1ustbe overload , tha1 the information is readily built with an integrity fa ctor to review and available through user-friendly access, and is invisible 11111il required. cross check the i11f ormatio11being received. Auto111a1ion must assist and supporl Automc11ionmay save some lime for tasks ATCO's in the execu1io11of 1heir duties, to but not in fa ct increase the lime available fo r improve pe1fon11an ce and reduce workload, to decisions. Fun ctions whi ch ha ve been remove non-esse ntial tasks, to incr ease automated may need human veri.f1Cati on or inte1pretation. e.ff'icie11cy. to enhan ce 1101only the job satisfaction of 1he con/roller , but also !he The controller must be able to understand and trust the automated svstem. Task-sharing safety element of the co11tr ollers task. Human Factors aspects of Automalion mus/ must be unambig uous. Automated systerns should not be developed be fullr considered when deve lopin g Automat ed .1·_,·s1e111s and should include !he for the sake of awomation and a way devised oller 10 use 1he111.It is more and ,nain1ena11ce o/ essemia/ 111a11ual skills and f or the co111r rnore i111p ortan1that the controller be involved controller awareness. The co111roll er must re111ai11 !he ker elemenl in the system development. The date for the next ATC Exhibition has of the A TC svs1em a11dmus/ re1ai11 1he overall already been set by the organisers. ATC95 control .fi111 ctio11o/ the s,·ste111.Sa/eguards will be held at the Maastricht Exhibiti on musr be es tabli shed to ensur e !hat the co111rol/er remains an acti ve. ra1her 1ha11 Centre from 2 1 to 23 February 1995. In the mean time, an Asia Pacific version of the pa.1si1•e. user o/ an Auto111 a1ed srs1e111. A co11troller shall 1101 be held liable f or Maastricht show is scheduled to take place in incidenls !hat 111 ar occur due to 1he use of Hong Kong from 9 to I I November I994. + inaccurate dma 1f he is unable to check the
THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1994
AGENDA 28 - 29 AsianAirTrafficControlSeminar,
KualaLumpur. Contact- Executive VicePresident Asia/Pacific,DavidMoores Phone + 8527715798 Fax + 8527715453
30 - October3 Executive BoardMeeting, KualaLumpur. Contact - Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone + 44 628 23 699 Fax + 44 628 781 941
OCTOBER 4 - 6 EuroConvex 94, Valkenbur ; ,J:.~ Netherland s. c:\ _1,..t. ContactEGATSJEtAd\liC~ l'i4 . Pho_ny~ ~~~ !li<'It;,.~i43 661541 Telex 56317
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14-16European RegionalMeeting, Warsaw, Poland. Contact- The Organising Corrurutt ee. Phone +4822 650 13 52 Fax +482246 41 75 18 - 21 AirForum'94, Palexpo, Geneva Airport. Contact- SwissairCentre. Phone +4122 788 27 88 Fax +41 22 788 27 26 25 - 27 Inter Airport'94, Atlanta, U.S.A. Contact - Julia Milne. Phone +44707275 641 Fax +44707 275 544
DATETOBEANNOUNCED Americas Regional Meeting, Cancun, Mexico. Contact - The Secretary, ACTAM. Phone +52 5 726 1668 Fax +52 5 785 6703
1995 FEBRUARY 15 - 19Japan International Aerospace Exhibition, NipponConvention Centre, Makuhaii Messe, Japan Contact - JA'95 International Division Phone +813 55430203 Fax +8135543 0213
MARCH 26 - 31 IFATCA34th Annual Conference, Jerusalem, Israel Contact - Chairman IFATCA95, Beny Freilich Phone +972 3 9712579 Fax +972 3 9710591
JUNE 11- 18 41st Paris Air Show Le Bourget. Paris
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SPECIALAUTOMAT ON AIRBUS In France,on October 1993,both engines of an A320 stoppedjust after take off from Paris. The aircraft glided down to about 1500 feet where, "by a miracle"accordingto the general Press, the engines were restarted and the aircraftreturnedback to Paris. The term "miracle" was quoted in many places because this flight was bringing pilgrims to Lourdes, a place widely knownfor its miracles.The first details revealed about this incidentindicate that the pilot wished to retract the landing gear, but an error occurredsomewhere, the speed became too high and in its attempt to "rectify" the situation, the computergave up and switched everything off, includinglights,instrumentsand engines ! BOEING The press is full of Airbus A320 incidentsbut the problems reportedare generallymore with computers than with the Airbus airframe.However, Boeing has also some interestingproblems. In Tahiti, in the Pacific, in September 1993, a brand new B747-400 veered 90 degrees off the runway while landing and ended up with its nose in the lagoon. The reasonsof the apparent non-deployment of one engine reverse thrust and the reported fact that the engine remained on full power while the 3 others were on reverse thrust are still not yet clear. But this particular engine could not be switched off after the crash despite efforts by the pilots.The enginecontinued to run for a reported 30 minutes! In June 1993,a B767-200while making an auto land in Frankfurt, had a slight problem.When the aircraft touched down, at about 130 knots and with its nose wheel still in the air, the rudder made an unexpectedand tincommandedmovement to the right of 17 degrees amplitude. This resulted in the aircraft, at full speed, veering off the runway and in the processmissedanotheraircraft on a paralleltaxi-wayby 90 metres! The
pilot couldonlyregain"normal" ruddercontrolafter he disconnectedthe computer. Wonderful automation ! I believe in both the Airbus and Boeing manuals where it says that the pilots shouldalwaysbe able to remain in control, and that the computers are onlythere to help. Well done !
FLYINGIN THE90's Everyday thereare new airlinesstarting up. Some, in order to stay ahead of the crowd, use very sophisticated names like Riga International Airlines Express (only one aircraft) or Air UkraineInternational (who insist that, on the RfT they be called with the full call sign on every transmission) But the 1993award for the best airline name of the year goes surely to the newly formedairlineof the city of Goa, in India, who name their carrier: GOA WAY. Imaginethe RfT transmissions;lf: "Go a way 121 and contactTWR 119.8" will only emphasisethe clearance other transmissions like "Go a way line up and hold" would certain!; call for replies like:" In whichorderplease?" Talking about funny call signs, I remember a few years ago, when the then new airlin~ AIR 2000 started operations,.for a few days they actuallyused their name as the Rff call sign. Tl11 s resulted in the Rff call for AMM4321to be spelt out on the frequencyby the mouthful"Air Two ThousandFour Three Two One ...' After a few days of confusion and funny remarksby all the ATC units aroundthey decidedto chanoe their Rff call sign to "JET SET". Whichin itself also made people smile _ if you knew how theirpassengers werecrammed, all 233 of them, into a B757. A new airlinein Pakistan, calledRajiairlines(nothing wrongthere ) had had its operating licence withdrawn, because the Pakistani Civil Aviation authorityfound out that the aircraft it operated (TU-154) no
Onsecondthought s, Y'70;Jtethat truck
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longerhad any oxygenleft in them, and that the airlinewas using a local Toyota trnck garage to maintainits aircrafttyres at a cost of $3.00 per tyre . That is what we call innovativemanagement.
RNAVROUTES As you ail surelyknowEuropehas decided,after years of discussionto implementa new set of RNAV routes crossing Europe, called Trunk Routes.These routes went into effect on 1 November 1993.Wow ! A big change then? Well in fact nobody seems to have noticed . Why? Becauseit is Europeand it is only 1994.By December1993,not all the European States had published their routes. Some had published the routes,but later withdrewthem, or did not make them available.Some other States only renamed existing routes with strange RNAV names and one State even publishedthe routes up to its own borders, where they stop in the middleof nowhere!Most pilots do not use the system anyway as either it is too complicated or because they are not even aware they exist. Controllersdo not clear aircraft along those routes eitherbecause: l ) nobodyasks for them, 2) they have no way of knowing which aircraft is equipped with RNAV capabilitiesand whichis not, and 3) nobody knows how to use the system beyond their own FIR anyway. If this is the first item of the muchpublicisedEATCHIPHarmonisation plan for Europe, I am waiting with trepidationto see what is coming next! ROUTECHARGES You all knowthat airlineshave to pay route chargesevery time they fly and make use of the ATCservice.EachStateindividuallydeterminesthe amountof moneyit charges for its services.Apparently, some States are now using the systemas a cash flow serviceand I have been told by a
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pilot friend of mine (yes I have still a few !) that there have been some incredible increases in these charges recently and that , on some occasions, the total costs of these chargesfor a single flight is more than twice the price of the fuel. Also there are some States who openly ask a "non objectionfee" to fly throughtheir airspace, in additionto the route charges.This "non objection" fee seems to be a kind of blackmail:"if you do not pay we will "object" and you will not get a clearanceto cross our airspace!" Yes, trus is our world, and it is 1994 !
TCAS A few weeks ago a lonely DCl0 flying all by itself at 31,000 feet suddenlyclimbed1200feet and called ATC: "Control ! We just missed an aircraft 100 feet below us. If we did not haveTCAS we wouldhave had a collision!" Dozen of pairs of controllers eyes looked all around the area of the aircraft: nothing at all. Not even primary returns, the nearest other aircraft was 30 miles away. The pilot was advised that there was absolutelyno other aircraftin his vicinity, let alone at the same altitude. When askedif he saw the traffiche replied: "Oh yes ! We saw it clearlyon our TCAS display !" "Yes, but did you see it visually?". "Well no", and after a few more RfT exchanges, everybody agreed it was a good case of the so called "Ghost/Phantomtarget", a well known problem with TCAS. Well, we had to do the now familiarpaperworkwith such incidents, one of which is to fill in a special "TCAS IncidentForm." The pilot was then asked a few questionsto fill the form . One of the questions is about the name of the manufacturer of the equipment, When asked about it the pilot replied: "Eeee..................Standby one...........................we're not quite sure." Then an anonymous, but definitively American, voice came on the frequency: "Must be a NINTENDO....."+
LETTERSTo THEEDITORARE ENCOURAGED AND APPRECIATED THE CONTROLLER , JO URNAL OF AIR TR A FFIC CONTROL, is published quarterly
by the InternationalFederationof Air Traffic Controllers' Associations(IFATCA). Issues appear end of March , June, September and December. Subscription rates are CHF 20 per annum (4 issues) plus post & packing. Postage Rates: Surface, Worldwide CHF 6.00 Europe (delivery within 14 day s) CHF 6.40 Airmail , Worldwide CHF 10.80 Cheques or money orders (not cash) in Swiss Francs should be made payable to
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....page 3 FOREWORD
....page 4 ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL MEETING
IFATCA relations with other international organisations is also at an all time high. IATA for example, with whom relations in the past has not always been that cordial, now invites IFATCA, as a matter to course, to express the controllers view, wher e such a vie w is appropriate. All this means that at last the controller' s voice is being heard. People actually want to hear our point of view. Th e numb er of requests of IFATCA to provide speakers now exceeds the abil ity and resource s of the organisation. Priorities have to be set and regretfully our voice is not always heard at fora that we would like to have attended. Where do we go in the future? All these involvements have come about by IFATCA earning the rig ht to be he ard. Unless we maintain the high standards we have set then we will lose that vo ice . Th ere is not an automat ic right to be heard. Hopefully , as IFATCA expan ds, so will the pool of dedicated and expert volunteers expand with it, and more and more administrations will assist with the time off necessary for such participation. To those administrations who already assist, I thank you. To those that are not yet so enlightened I urge you to think of the recognition that is given to your country by allowing member s of yo ur staff to represent lFATCA. There are still areas of the world where the controller voice is not heard, particularly in the less developed countrie s. IFATCA will have to strive to lift the veil of apath y or ignorance , so that the aviation world can benefit from the unheard expert voice. The past four years have been an experience I would not have missed. +
aircr aft display sys tems , GPS trial s and demon stration s, and COOAA gave an excellent paper on ADS and the problems facing us with ADS communication "contracts". Another milestone was the nominationof Sri Lanka as the West Asia coordinator to assist the Executive Vice President in his daunting task of running the region. The soci al side was excellent with all lunches and dinners sponsored. On the final night , a dinn er was held outdoors at the magnificent Sheraton Hotel, only metres from the beach. Th ose who staye d on the day after conference were afforded a cruise to an outlying island, or demonstration of "IFR" approaches using differential GPS on a CAA Fiji aircraft. That evening a traditional Fijian "cookout" of roast pig cooked in the ground and Kava was held at the airport club with the families of CAAF staff. A memorable and worthwhileconference. Post conference note : One week after the conference Prime Minister Rabuka prorogued Parliament and called for new elections to be held early in 1994. This decision was caused by the defeat of the budget after a number of dissident members of his own party crossed the floor of the house to vote against the budget. + ....page I I TCAS TRANSITION PROGRAM
discusses TCAS opera tion from the ATC perspective and includes an easy to understand desc ription of alert parameters, pil ot res pon sibiliti es, and the role and responsibilities of the controller durin g a TCAS event. The video also presents common
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encounter geo metries that are designed to generate discussion within a facility so that operational question s can be addressed and answered. In addition, the SSR Improvement s and Collision Avoidance Systems Panel (SICASP) Working Group 2 has developed TCAS training guidelines for pilots and controllers which the Int ernational Civil Aviation Organisation (!CAO) is expected to distribute to all States in the near future.
SUMMARY In summary, the TTP was established to identify and resolve integration and TCAS implementation issues. From that standpoint, the program has been a success. The initial operation of a large number of TCAS-equipped aircraft did identif y some operational issues and TCAS-ATC incompatibilitiesthat had not surfaced during earlier operational trials. Solutions to these issues have been developed, tested, certified, and are in the process of being implementedby aircraft operators worldwide. The operational evaluations in the US, Europe, and the Pacific Rim will continue to ensure these changes are effective and do not introduce any additional operational problems. The continued efforts of the FAA, States. !CAO, pilots , controllers , airlines, and TCAS manufacturers will also ensure that the final system is operationally acceptable for both pilot and controllers and provides an additional level of safety to an already safe environment. +
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