IFATCA The Controller - 4th quarter 1997

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JOURNAL OFAIRTRAFFIC CONTROL

Vo lume 36 N° 4

Unit ed Kingdom , December 1997 PUBLISHER IFAT CA , Inte rnati onal Federa tion of A ir Traffi c Co ntroll e rs' A ssoc iations . See bottom of pa ge 2 for co ntact addr ess . EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA

IN THIS ISSUE FOR EWORD

3

E XE C UTIVE VI CE PR ES ID ENT AMERICAS,

Preben Lauridsen Pres ide nt and C hie f Exec uti ve O ffice r

Paul Robinson

Samuel Lampkin

Deput y Pres ident

ATCA

Oliver Farirayi

Philippe Doma gala Reports from Washington DC

Exec uti ve Vi ce-Pr es ident A frica/ Mi ddle Eas t

CO NFERE NC E

4 5

Samuel Lampkin

SO UT H ATL AN TIC C ROSS ING

Exec uti ve Vi ce -Pr es ident A mericas

Lisbon to Rio De Jan eiro in a Single-engine Aeroplane B UILDI NG A S AF ET Y NET FOR CONT ROLLERS II Captain Sharon Jon es Reports on her Research A ME RICAS 15 Regional Meetin g Report

George Chao Pao Shu Exec utive Vi ce -P reside nt As ia/Pacifi c

Gunter Melchert Exec uti ve Vi ce -Pr es ident Euro pe

John Redmond Exec uti ve Vi ce -Pr es ident F inance

Sand y Oppenheim Exec uti ve Vice -Pr es ident Pro fess iona l

A SIA P AC IFIC

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Martin Cole

Regional Meeting Report IF A CTA 98 Inform ation About Toulou se

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S YMP O SIUM

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Exec uti ve V ice -Pr esident Tec hni ca l

Edge Green Exec uti ve Sec retar y

Terr y Crowhurst Edit or EDITOR

Terry Crow hur st 29 He rita!:!eLa wn. LanQshott. Ha rley. S~ rrey. RH 6 9X H , United Kingdom . Te l. +44 (0 ) 1293 784 040 Fax +4 4 (0 ) 1293 77 1944 Co mpu Se rve: terry _crow hur st@co mpuse rve.co m I nternet:Te rry.Crow hur st @srg .caa .co. uk

Report from the 4th IFACTA Symposium A ROUND TH E WORLD

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A Special Report From Patrick Schelling EU RO PE

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Regional Mee ting Report Adve rtisers in this issue

ADVERTISING AND SALES OFFICE Ro n Mah e nclran I 07 Dra ke Road. Rayne rs Lan e . Harrow. Mid dle sex . HA2 9 DZ . United Kin gdo m. Te l & Fax +44 (0) 181 868 7399 ~ ACCOUNTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS Tim Mac Kay "D un aclry'· . Min shull Lane. W ette nh a ll. Win sforcl. C hes hire . C W 7 4 DU. United Kingdo m. Te l +44 (0 ) 1270 528363 ~ ra x +44 (0) 1270 5284 78 C ONTRIBUTING EDITORS Patric k Sc he llin !:! C h. Sur le Mo ulin . 126 1 Le Vau d. Sw itze rla nd . Te l +4 1 (0) 223 66 2684 Fa x +4 1 (0 ) 22 366 43 05

Phili ppe Do maga la Mere lstraat 5. NL 6 176 EZ Spau bee k. T he Netherlands Te l +3 I (0)46 4433564 Fax +3 I (0)43 366 154 1 P RINTING Mercur y Press Unit I. Ba ird C lose . Craw ley. Wes t Sussex . RH 10 2SY. United Kingdo m . Te l +44 (0) 1293 5 23000 Fa x +44 (0) 1293 'i29000

THE CONTROLLER / DECEMBER 1997

C rimp , Lo c khee d M ,u-tin. M ill e r Fr ee man . Ra y th eo n . Sc hmi el T e lec o m . Wa v io n ix .

Photographs T. Crow hur st. P. Dom oga la . P. Sc he lling. A. Pe riei ra. C. St uart. S. Lam pk in.

Cover Th e Br e itli1rn Orbit e r o ve r th e S w iss m o u ntain s (Photo: Co urtesy C la ude G lu nt z . L 'I llust re)

Charlie Cartoon Ke n T u lly

Addit ional Ca rtoon T6 G ue rra

Copy Editors Lu cy Le ves on. H a rr y Co le ISSUES APP EAR E ND OF M ARCH, J UNE, SEPTEMBER, D ECEMBER. CONTRIBUTORS ARE E XPRESSING TH EIR P ERSONAL P OINTS OF VI EW AND OPI NIONS, W HICH M AY N OT NE CESSARILY COINCIDE WI TH TH OSE OF T HE INTERNATIONAL F EDERATION OF A IR TRAFFI C C ONTROLLERS' ASSO CIATION S. IFATCA. IFATCA D OES N OT A SSUME RE SPONSIBILITY F OR S TATEMENTS MADE AND OPIN IONS EXP RESSED, IT A CCEPTS RE SPONSIBILITY F OR P UBLISHING T HESE CONTR IBUTIONS. CONTR IBUTIONS A RE W ELCOME AS A RE COMMENTS AND CR ITICISM. N o P AYMENT CAN BE MAD E F OR M ANUSCRIPTS SU BMITTED F OR PU BLICATION IN T HE CO NTROLLER. THE EDITOR R ESERVES THE RI GHT TO M AKE A NY E DITORIAL CH ANGES IN MANUSCRIPTS. WHI CH HE BELIE VES WIL L IMPROVE TH E M ATER IAL WI THOUT A LTERING T HE INTENDED MEANING. WRITTE N P ERMISSION BY THE E DITOR IS N ECESSARY F OR R EPRINTING AN Y PART OF T HIS J OURNAL.

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CORPORATE ME MBERS OF

IFATCA

ADACEL PTY LTD. Canberra, Australia

HUGHESAIRCRAFTCOMPANY RichmondB.C., Canada

AlR TRAm C AND NAVIGATIONAL SERVICESCo. Ltd. Johannesburg, Republicof South Africa

HUGHESATC SIMULATIONTRAINING Burgess Hill, UK

AIRWAYS CONSULTING SERVICES Wellington, New Zealand

W - MLM DIVISION Beer Yaakov, Israel

ALCATEL AIR NAVIGATION SYSTEMS Stuttgart, Germany

JEPPESEN & Co. GmbH Frankfurtam Main, Germany

ALENIA Rome, Italy

KONGSBERGNORCONTROL SYSTEMS Horten, Norway

AON GROUP LTD London, UK

MILLERFREEMANEXHIBITIONS Sidcup, UK

AMBIDil GROUP PTY LTD Melbourne, Australia ARINC INCORPORATED Annapolis, MA, USA ATS AEROSPACE St. Bruno, Canada BREITLING SA Grenchen, Switzerland CESELSA Madrid, Spain CELSIUSTECH SYSTEMS Jiirfiilla, Sweden COMPUTER RESOURCES INTERNATIONAL A/S Birkerod, Denmark CRIMP A/S Allero, Denmark CORIS Le Plessis Robinson, France

NICE SYSTEMSLtd Tel Aviv, Israel NORTELDASA Friedrichshafen, Germany NORTHROPGRUMMAN Baltimore, MD, USA OMNILIFEOVERSEASINSURANCECo. Ltd. London, UK RAYTHEONCo. Marlborough, MA, USA SCHMIDTELECOMMUNICATION Zurich, Switzerland SERCO-IAL Bath, UK SIEMENS PLESSEYSYSTEMS Chessington, UK

DENRO Gaithersburg, MD, USA

SOCIETED'ETUDES ET D' ENTREPRISESELECTRIQUES Malakoff, France

DAIMLER - BENZ AEROSPACE AG Ulm/Donau, Germany

SONY COMPUTER Weybridge, UK

DICTAPHONECORPORATION Stratford, CT, USA

SWEDAVIAAB Norrkoping, Sweden

DIVERSIFIEDINT'L SCIENCES CORP. Lanham, MD, USA

TELUB AB Solna, Sweden

EL AR ELECTRONICSLtd Or Yehuda, Israel

THOMSON-CSF, Division SDC Meudon-La-Foret, France

FLIGHT REFUELLINGLtd Wimbome, UK

VITROCISETS.p.A. Rome, Italy

GAREXAS Oslo, Norway

WAVIONIX SOFTWARELTD Geneva, Switzerland

The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations would Like to invite all corporations, organisations, and institutions interested in and concerned with the maintenance and promotion of safety in air traffic to j oin their organisation as Corporate Members. Corporate Members support the aims of the Federation by supplying the Federation with technical information and by means of an annual subscription. The Federations' international journal The Controller is offered as a platform for the discussion of technical and procedural developments in the field of air traffic control. For further information concerning Corporate Membership, or general IFATCA matters, please contact the: IF ATCA Office Man ager : 1255 University Street, Suite 408, Montreal, Quebec H3B 3B6 CANADA


___________________

FOREWORD___________________

THE HUMAN ELEMENT -

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SAFETY-RELATED F ACTOR

0 Samuel Lampkin , E xecutive Vice President Americas New s Relea se, issu ed on conclusion of busines s at the Eighth Meeting of the Americas Region of the International Feder a tion of Air Traffic Controllers ' Associations (lFATCA), 14th October 1997 at Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago , reaffirmed previou s calls made upon aviation authorities in the Reg ion to show greater concern over the deteriorating safety standard s and to devote immediate and maximum resources to wa rd s rectifying the situation . The action was taken following similar concerns over safety aspects expressed at this and recent events of the Federation in South and Central America, the Caribbean and Africa. ALPA , the North American Airline Pilot Association , within the America s in particular , as well as IFALPA , th e Int e rnational Federation of Airline Pilots' Association , on a world wide basis, have in recent times, continuously expressed their concern over safety in the skies of the aforementioned regions. The International Civil Aviation Organi sation (!CAO) through its NACC (North America, Central America and Caribbean) Office in a communique last March , also drew the attention of Contracting States with in the Reg ion to the incr ease d occurrence of ATS (Air Traffi c Servic es) Incident s, notin g that: re gar dl ess of the technological so phi st ication of ATS Units, incid e nt s may occur and th at th e difference amongst other things is in the leve l of professionalism, care in the operation , training , working environm ent and social satisfaction of the personnel. States were , at that time, called upon to institute tools to eliminate or reduce the failures or deficiencies of their A TS Systems which directl y affect the safety of civi l aviation. It is, ther efo re. of the utmo st importan ce that civil aviation authorit ies develop and implement definite and effective measures. so that all incid ents are inve stiga ted , ca use s analysed and corrective action taken for their elimination , either throu gh increased super vision, trainin g or unit reo rga ni sa tion , in c lu s iv e of improv ed working conditions and social satisfaction of the personnel.

Through the act ivities of the variou s PIRGs , (Regional Plannin g and Impl ementation Groups ) Contracting States are in vo l ved with the introduction of ICAO 's future CNS / A TM (Communications. Navigat ion , Sur veilla nce /Air Traffic Management) Concept. While the future is important and States should devote attention to new co nce pts and developm e nt s, it is becoming incr eas in g ly ev id e nt that in many de veloping countries , State auth or iti es responsible for ci v il aviation are not pay ing suffi cie nt attention to the inherent shortcoming s in the present and existing A TC (Air Tr affi c Control) Systems. It appears that for man y States. replacement of the current CNS Sys tem( s) with ne w tec hnol og ies w ill bring about a reso lution of the many probl ems bein g expe rienced, thereby fostering the greater flexibility in preferred routin gs and altitude requ es ted by the users. Ho weve r, while implem ent ation of th e ne w CNS / A T M System will bring about benefits, for IFATCA ther e remain s a seriou s concern in that man y State s have consistentl y neglect ed to reco g ni se that the Human Element w ithin the ATC Sy s tem is a s e qu a ll y important as the other facets of that Sy stem and therefore, are faili ng to provide the required training , certification , documenta t ion. procedure s, qu ality ass urance, commen surate working en v ironmen t and social sat isfaction for their per sonnel. As safety is primarily wha t ATC is about , it is imperati ve that co ndition s neces sary for ensuring adequatel y qu a lified , co mp e te nt a nd satisfied personnel are provid ed in all ATS Sys te ms . Th ese aspect s are all safety related as a tired/fati gued. unqu alified or d iss at isfied ai r traff ic co ntroll er is no le ss a safet y ri s k than an y o f t h e ot h er internationally recogni sed factor s that affect safe AT C operat io ns . As IFATCA participat es at the variou s ICAO Regi onal and oth er aviat io n related fora , we ought to ensure that the part icipati on not o nly he lps in shap ing the ATC sys tem s of the futur e to m ee t th e need s of a ll users,but also to ensure that the Human (the A ir Tra ffic Co ntro ller s ¡ fun ctio n) in other word s, the ATC Profe ss ion rec e ives the g lob a l recogni tion which it rightly dese rves . +

THE CONTROLLER - REGIONAL SUB-EDITORS AFRICA MIDDLE EAST Mr Albert Aidoo Taylor P.O. Box 9 181 Kotake International Airpor t Accra GHANA

Telephone: +233 2 1 773283 Fax : +233 2 1 773293

and Mr Khaled Kooli Aeropo rt lnt. de Tuni s-Carthage CNA-2035 TUNIS IA

Telephone: +216 1755000 Fax: +2 16 l 782 106

ASIA PACIFIC Telephone: +852 25510081 Mr John Wagstaff Fax: +852 2362810 1 ATMD,CAD Hong Kong Internatio nal Airport Kowloon Hong Kong -------------------

THE CONTROLLER / DECEMBER 1997

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AMERICAS Rosanna Baru (ATCAU) P.O. Box 6554 Montevideo URUGUAY Neil Martin 67 Castle Rock Drive R ichmond Hill , Ontario CANADA , L4C 5W3 EUROPE Mr Philippe Domogala Merelstraat 5 NL - 6176 EZ Spaubee k THE NETHERLANDS

Telep hone: +59 8 2770299 Fax: +598 2770299

+ l 905 508 4 771 (H) + l 905 676 5228 (W) Fax: + l 905 676 3121 (W)

Te lephone:

Telep hone: + 3 l 46 4433564 Fax: +31 43 3661541

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42 ATCA CONFERENCE WASHINGTON 97 0 by Philipp e Dom oga la

Fr ench op era ca ll ed " L ' Arl es ie nn e" w h e re eve ry b o d y o n stage talks about one perso n th at neve r shows up . A lm os t eve ry stand had a p ro du ct labe ll ed " In s u p p o rt o f Fr ee Fli ght" . Wh at was int eres tin g ( a nd eve n a mu sin g) was to as k one of the peo ple mannin g th e stand s th e qu es ti o n , " In what way ?" Th e ge nera l answe rs we nt fr o m : " S o rr y th e perso n in charge o f "F ree F lig ht " ju st lef t", " M ay we take yo ur card and we ' ll writ e to yo u" to th at wo nd e rf ul re m a rk: "We ll, in the futur e it 's all go ing to be "F ree Fli g ht ", s in ce we have not ye t so ld any o f th e produ c ts we ma nu fac tur e it is for the futur e, so it has to be fo r "F ree Fl ig ht " . Fo r th ose of yo u fo llow ing the " Fr ee Fli g ht " saga, yo u w ill be pl eased to k no w th at t he tes ts a re n ow ca ll e d " FLIGHT 2000 " beca use th e tes t is supp ose d to in vo lve 20 00 a ir craf t a nd sta rt in yea r 20 00. Th e tes t is a lso ex p ec te d to cos t 4 0 0 Milli o ns USO and th e re is co nsid era bl e debate as to who sho uld pay . Th e numb er of prese ntati o ns in th e T ec hni ca l P rogra mm e a r e t oo num erou s to menti o n. Ho weve r, a very int e r es tin g pr ese nt a ti o n o n Hum a n Facto rs is wor th m e nti o n ing . A st ud y m a d e b y D .W e it z m a nn , R C ox a nd D.Rodge rs stated what eve ry co nt ro lle r knows alr ea d y : "T he re a re p ra c ti ca l l imit s t o wha t ca n b e ac hi eve d b y ad din g mo re co nt ro lle rs in a sys te m. " Howeve r , th e ir stud y goes furth e r in p rov in g that "A lth o u g h t ec hn o logy m ay dec rease ph ys ic al wo r k loa d . it may ac tu ally increase m e nt a l wo rk loa d . Thi s is es pec ia lly tru e durin g c riti ca l pe ri ods w h en wo r k loa d is a lr e a dy hi g h ." Th ey go o n t o s a y th a t "Ac ti viti es th at we re easy lo pe r fo rm w ill beco m e m o re di ffi c ult w ith new tec hn o logy.' ' T o prove th e ir po int th ey pro du ced statistics show ing th at in th e 1960s th e es timat ed co ntri b uti o n of M rs Joa n Bau erlein. Dir ec tor qf lnt ern.mional A viarion , FAA. modera /or of !he f irst hum an erro rs in acc ide nt s a nd in c ide nt s p resen tat ion was 20 % . In th e 1990s t hi s co ntri b uti o n is a bo u t 80 % . Th ey fin a ll y advoca t e d th a t Fro m the Ex hibiti o n ar e a. the fi rst inte res tin g thin g to Hum an Fac tors' as pec ts sho uld be given a fa r mo re imp o rt a nt mention was the large E urocontro l stand wil h two new ODS ro le when des ignin g and proc urin g new sys te m s. We co ul d conso les fr o m Ma as tri c ht Ce ntr e. Th e co nso les bo re th e not agree mo re . cap tio n ·"Live traffi c fro m E urope '· w ith the d isplay dow nOn the soc ial side , M r Yves Lam be rt. D irec to r G e neral lin ked via sate llite . Thi s dr ew co nsiderabl e atte ntion, ma inly of Euroco ntr o l , was h o n o ur ed wi th th e G le n G il be rt beca use mos t of the visitors we re No rth Am e rica ns with no Me mo rial Awa rd - th e fi rst no n- US person to re L·eive thi s idea th al: fir s Lly. s uc h tec hn o logy ac tua ll y wo r ked a nd award. A fte r the eve nt. the awa rd was d isp layed in th e A ir & seco ndl y. there wa s so mu ch traffi c in Europe. T he fact that Space M use um in Was hin gto n . It is grat ify in g to note th at only 4llc of the US popul ation ac tuall y ow ns a pa ss port and the Uni ted State s see m to be rea ll y im p ressed b y w h a t is that halt· o f those o nly used it to visit Mex ico or Canada (USA bei ng ac hieved in E urupe. To day stati stics) may ex plain thi s. Nex t yea r the ATCA Conf ere nc e w ill be he ld in At la ntic A n o th e r t h i n g wo rth m e nti o nin g is. o f co urs e . t h e Cit y (N ew Jersey ) from No ve mbe r I to 3. + "'F RE E FLIGHT"' i~sue ··Free F lig ht .. re m ind s me of a

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his year's ATCA Conf ere nce was held in Wa shin gton DC in a trad it iona l Sh era ton ho te l. Th e Exhibiti on was greater th an ever w ith o ver 110 ex hibit o rs and a n e s timated S000 a tt e n dees fr om 32 co unt r ie s . Th e (impeccable ) orga ni sa ti on of suc h an eve nt by a relati ve ly s mall , but very de di ca t ed , A TCA s t aff i s r ea ll y wo rth menti o ning . A s e very year , th e Confere nce was split in to va ri o us p a rts ; the e x hi b iti o n a nd a se ri es o f tec hni ca l pre sentations mak ing the bu lk of th e show. A rg uabl y , th e mo st important par ts of such an eve nt are th e di sc uss ions and m e e ting s one has in the corridors and i n th e so ca ll ed --hos pi ta lity suites' ' . These '"hos pi ta lit y suit es " are simpl y hote ls room s rented by various industry manu fac tur ers, where co mplementar y dr inks and snacks are avai labl e almo st 24 ho urs a da y - this is whe re the future of ATC is bei ng ma de !

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THE CONTR O LL ER/ DECE M B E R 1997


COMMEMORATION

SOUT

FLIGHT _______________

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ATLANTIC CROSSING

Lisbon - Rio de Janeiro in a single-eng ine aeroplane Two voyages 7 5 years apart 0 Armand F. Pereira and Flemming Pedersen

Flying a single-engine " Mooney 20E" , Flemming Peder se n and co- pilot Armand F. Pere ira (a familiar face from the ILO , Gen eva), took off from Geneva to Lisbon on 14 Dece mber , 1996 and continued from Lisbon on 16 Decemb er to arrive in Rio de Janeiro just in time for th e traditional firework s and candle lights of the New Year ' s Eve celebrations at Copac abana beach. Their voyage was pur sued in memory of the first South-Atlantic cro ss ing in 1922 in a single-engine "Fa irey IIID " hydroplane by Gago Coutinho a nd Sacadura Cabral who pioneered sextant navi ga tion in oceanic flight s five years before Ch arle s Lindbergh and others who crossed the Atlantic. Unlike those two Portuguese airmen whose so le objective was to advance air nav igation , Peder se n and Pereira wanted to explore so me of Bra zil' s isolat ed beauty of the commercial airline circuit. This article tell s their own story , drawin bo in siohtful co mpari so ns with Coutinho an d b Cabral's record breaking odyssey. Our idea of flying to Rio across the South Atlantic was first inspired by a few "ca ipirinh as" in a street bar in Rio in 1985. As we explained to reporter s of Santa Cruz TV of Bahia on 3 1 December and RTPI TV of Li sbo n o n 6 February. such a thought see med odd, because of the Mooney ' s fu el eco nomy and the limited reliability and high cost of the satellite-ba sed navigation equipm ent then available to recreational aircraft. Th e project bega n to appear more viable from 199 1 when, in order to fly from Geneva to Palo Alto , California via Ice land and Greenland , Pede rse n and his wife , Angela. retrofi tted th e ir Swiss-registered HB-DVN . This love bird , which the y baptised "Honey Mooney' ' after the travelling ordeals of their wed din g ce lebrations some years earlier. was given two ext ra fuel tank s in the wings, a "Pronav" GPS rece iver, a Coda n HF transceiver. a sto rmscope and all instruments needed for IFR aviation. T HE BASIC PLANNING

After the Honey Mooney' s return to Geneva a year later. we bega n to conte mpl ate the voyage to Rio more se riously. but two additi onal probl e ms had to be carefully con sidered . A safe fli ght across the South At lanti c requ ired more than the Moone; ' s ex tended fue l capacity of 88 (US) ga llon s for 11 hours. On the return trip from Califo rni a via the Azor es. a 14ga llon ferry tank had been used. but it wo uld be too small. Furthermore. long -ra nge flight s w ith sin gl e-e ngi ne a ircraf t are. in general. much riski er over the remote air spac es of the Sout h Atlanti c where survei llance is mor e limit ed than in the No rth At lanti c and the chances of being rescu ed and sur viving a fo rced sea landin g in case of en gine fa ilur e are rath er slim . Notwit hstand ing the odds and the initial disco urage me nt i'rom friend s. inc lud ing ex pe rienc ed pilot s. we dec ided to turn a seem ing ly odd idea from plan to action . with suc cess .

THE CONTROLLER / DECEMBER 1997

THE TWO VOYAGES COMPARED

Our Lisb on-Rio de Janeiro voyage in memory of the first transatlantic crossing in 1922 followed Coutinho and C ab ral 's basic air route: Lisbo n, Las Palma s, Praia (and Sal for refue lling ) in the Cape Verd e islands, St. Peter & St. Paul's Ro cks (600 nautical mile s NNE of Brazil), Fernando Noronh a island s (299 NM from Recife) and Recife and , after a detour to th e Nort heast. slowly downward s to Rio along the Brazilian coa st. [FOOTNOTE : Units and abbrevia tions used : g a llon (U S ) = 3.78 litre s; nautic al mile (NM ) = 1.852 km ; kn o t = NM pe r hour ; flight leve l (FL) 100 = flying altitude of I 0. 00 0 feet : hp = hor sepo we r; ITCZ /FIT = Inter Tropical C o nver gen ce Zo ne / (in Fren c h) Front Inter Tropicale ; CB = cumulu s n imbus clouds; GPS = sate llit e based "global pos iti o ning system " : IFR = instrument flight rule s.] Thi s memor ial voyage (excluding deto ur s) took 8 .2 02 km (4,429 NM) flown in 3 1 hour s and 49 minute s w ith 1.015 litres of avgas. [An additional 2 .192 km w er e flown in detours from the Li sbo n-Ri o track over beac hes. sa nd d u nes. brush land and tropical fore sts.] The tran satlantic cro ss ing itse lf. from L isbon to Recife . took 24 hour s and 19 minut es and. w ithi n this crossing. the longest hop of 2 .560 km. fr om Ca p e Ve rde (Sal) t~ the Fernando Noronha island s too k 9 hours a nd 24 minute s (less than we had expected due to favo urab le w inds d uring the first three hours). The vo yage from Gen eva to Rio (exc lu ding detours to Cape Verde and North east Braz il ) amo u nted t; 5 .304 NM (9.822 km ) in 38 ho ur s and 7 minutes . T he legs flown. distances and flight tim es were as fo llows : - Ge neva-Li sbon , 14/1 2/96 ; 875 NM ( 162 1 km). 6 hours. 18 minute s; - Lisbon-L as Pa lm as (16/1 2/96) : 896 NM ( 1659 km). 6 hour s. 53 minut es; - La s Pa lma s-Prai a ( 17/12/96); 907 NM ( 1680 km). 6 hours. 58 minut es; - Praia-Sal ( 18/ 12/96) : I 14 NM (2 I I km). l hour : - Sa l-Fern ando Noronha ( 19/ 12/96) : 9 ho urs, 24 minutes: Fernando No ronha - Rec ife (19/ 12/96) : 299 NM (554 km). 2 hour s, 6 minu tes : - Re cife-Parn afba-Sao Lufs -Ilhe us: A fun tour over the Bra zilian Nor theast: - Ilheus-Rio de Jane iro (31 December): 574 NM ( I 063 km). 4 hour s. 22 minu tes: Nea rly 75 years ear lier. Cout inho a nd Cab ral had flo wn the sam e di stance (excluding the detour over the Bra1ilian No rth eas t) in t wice as much time. The ~1ngle -e ng1n c ..,...,_

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COMMEMORATION

FLIGHT -

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mec han ica l fa ilure poss ibly assoc iate d w ith adve rse wea th er. hydroplane they used (the Bri tis h ma de Fa irey IIID ) was half Wh en they had mechanical problems, they landed on wa ter and as fast and five times less efficien t in ter ms of di stance flow n managed to be resc ued by ship s and co ntinu e their voyage . We per unit of fue l th a n t h e s i ng le - e ngi n e a ir craf t u se d by wo uld not float for more than I O minut es eve n in a relative ly Pedersen and Pere ira (the America n made Moo ney 20E). Th e ca lm sea, but we had an inflatable life raf t and a surviva l kit w ith open-pit noisy Fa irey h ad a powerf ul but in eff icient 300 hp life j ackets, a portable GPS to locate our co-ordin ates , a shortengine, flew at 70 -75 knots and co nsum ed 20 ga llons per hour wave radio to tran smit them, nine litres of wa ter, bisc uit s, a nd compared with the Moo ney ' s 200 hp (take off powe r), 150 eve n some booze and shark repe llent. Another maj or di ffe rence knots and 8 gallons per ho ur. betwee n the two a ircraf t was th at th e F air ey, accord in g to C o utinho and Cabra l ' s Fairey depe nd e d o n a cl ock , Sacadura Cabral, can-ied "a bottle of Ramos Pint o port w ine fo r compass an d a sexta nt wi th an art ific ial hor izo n patented by . · St had to do Coutinho him self. In sp ite of its 3 1 years of age, the Moo ney exce ptional needs" , whereas the Honey M oo ney JU h w ith a more rece nt vi ntage of port w in e an d so me fr e nc relied mainly on a " Ga rmin Pronav " GP S , a portable batterydriven ·' Garm in 90" GP S a n d ot h er c urr e nt n av iga ti o n champ agne -- not for "exce ptional" but , rath er, bas ic nee ds! eq uipm e nt for IFR . We co nsidered t h e need for work in g out ast r o n om i ca l navigation charts before our departure as a back up system. but realised th at the two GPS wo uld be reli able enoug h under current conditions. B ot h the Fa irey and t he Mooney nee ded to have their fue l capacities extended. The Fa irey IIID "L usitania" had a capac it y of 330 gallon s, initially thought to be e nough to fly the 1.268 NM between Pra ia a nd the Fernando Noronha islands . Eve n w ith the 240 gallons take n between Lisbo n a nd L as F/e111111i ng and Annand in froll/ of 1he orig i1wl Fair ey Ill hw lrop/an e (jlmrn by Co11111in lw and Cabral) al 1he Ma riiim e . Palmas a nd between Las Mu se um in Lisbon. Pa l mas a nd Cape Ve rde , OFF TO BRAZIL WITH FAR LESS TROUBLE THAN however, the ex tra we ight caused a crit ical loss of eff ic iency COUTINHO AND CABRAL (espec ially on take off) a nd a h ig her than expected fue l Unli ke th e 1922 tra nsa tlanti c odyssey, o ur voyage we nt cons umption o f m o re than 20 ga l lons pe r h o u r. Thi s acco rdin g to plan, ce rtainly be tter than what we had prepa red co nsumpti o n wo uld requir e a speed of 80 knots , w hich wo uld for. Th e relative ly new Lyco min g eng ine ( I 00 fl y in g ho ur s on l y b e fe asible w ith rath e r favourab le wi nd s. T hu s, th e befo re the voyage) neve r showed any sig n of str ess and th e Lusitania had to be ref ue lled at sea by a ship. and the best site nav iga tion equ ipm ent never failed . Th e ac tu a l fli g ht tim e in fo r this wo uld be the St. Peter & St . Pau l·s Rocks . S ince these most of the legs was within 15 minut es of th e es tim ated ti me tiny islets are uninhab ited and with no landstri p and fue l, the at zero w ind s. Th e maj or exce pti o ns we re th e Li sb o n -L as Honey Moo ney had its rea r sea t temporari ly co nver ted into a Palmas and the Las Palmas -P ra ia legs . both 44 minut es longe r custom des ig ned and ce rt ifi e d 35 ga llo n fu e l ta nk , w hi c h beca use of headwind s. incr ease d tota l capac ity fro m 88 to 123 ga llo ns and fly in g Th ere we re neve rth e less so me str ess ful m o m e nt s d ue to time from I I to 15 ho urs (at ze ro wind s). Th is autonomy gave pos sible changes in w inds and the persiste nt pr ese nce of large us a co mfortab le margin to reac h Rec ife eve n witho ut need ing cumulu s nim bus (CBs) along the Int er T ro pi ca l Co nve rge nce to refuel in Fernand o No ronha where avgas is ava ilable only Zo n e (IT CZ) - refe rr ed t o in Fre n c h as ··Fron t Int e r thro ug h exce ptional arrangem ents subj ect to spec ial land ing pe rmi ss ion. Trop ica le" (FTT) or " Pot-a u-No ir'· - at 3 to 5 deg rees No rth of the Equa tor. Anot her diff erence betwee n the two voy age s was fli g ht altitud e. T he Fa irey flew mos t of the way betw ee n 500 and O u r adve ntu re m ay h ave bee n s o m ew h a t g ut sy a n d . I .OOOfee l beca use of its open stru ct ure. w herea s the Moo ney certa inl y , a good test of e ndur a n ce. b ut we made n o flew most ly al I0 .000 feet. sign ifica nt acco mpli shm ent compa red to Co utinh o and Cabra l Our voyage was far less risk y than Co utinho and Ca bra l"s. and others after them in the late 192 0s and 193 0 s. w he n du e Unfa vo urab le wind s. rainsto rm s and c lo ud format ions wo uld con sidera tion is give n to our mu c h mo re re liabl e and effic ie nt imp eril the ir ab ility to na viga te. We faced ve ry litt le risk of e ng in e and bette r me teoro logica l p lot tin g a n d navigat ion na v igati o nal e rror s. but had a s light. ye t c r iti c al. ri s k of e quipm e nt . How eve r. o u r voy age and. in particu la r . t he

6

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crossing of the ITCZ/FIT made us realise how courageous and sk ill ful Coutinho and Cabral were. Th e weather we encountered in the Geneva-Lisbon leg on 14 Dec ember fit preci se ly the meteorological forecasts. We were able to top the clouds to avoid icing at FL 110 most of the way, except for the French " Massif Central " and northern Spain , where we had to climb first to FL 130 and then to FL I 50 to stay above the clouds. The Lisbon weather allowed a good view of the city during the approach from the South over the mouth of the Tagus ("Tejo") river onto runway 03 . We spent the next day visiting the Maritime Mu seum in Lisbon to take photos of the flimsy open-cockpit Fairey IIID hydroplane and the very basic navigational instruments used by Coutinho and Cabral. Pereira had spent a whole day in September in the Reference Library of the Museum researching manuscript s with detail s of Coutinho and Cabral's voyage. On 16 December a new warm front Flemmingand Armanddepartingfrom Praia, Cape Vende. was sweepi ng over Portugal with lots of some incredible views of the deserted coast line and beache s drizzle and a resultin g 300 foot ceiling and low visibility, but of the Boavista island to our left and , a bit later, to our right. there was no icing probl e m as the freezing level was the top of the Fogo vo lcano mount ai n: a cone over 9.000 feet unu suall y high (about FLI I 0). "Are you go ing to take off with which dominates the island w ith the same name and where weather lik e this?" wondered one of the reporters and our friends Margi and Gerard Moss nearly cra shed in 1989 photographers from the leading press agencies that came to with their s in gle -engine w hil e flying from Fernando meet us on departure and who provided major he adlin es in Noronha (Brazil) to Praia with a 50 NM directional error and major news paper s in Portug a l, Cape Verde , Brazil a nd very low visibilit y . elsewhe re. We spent an enjoyable late afternoon and evening of 17 Between Li sbo n and the beam across Casablanca , we Dec ember in Praia w ith the ass istance of one of the local crossed several cumulus c loud s, a bri ef show er and a few traffic controllers , Cri s6 1ito Oliveira. Praia was a quiet. CBs , through some light turbulence. Beyond Casablanca 's sleepy town with similar architecture to northern Brazil and latitud e, we had a slow but smoot h ride to Las Palm as until a faces in wide-rangi ng shades of white and brown . "Cris6'' bumpy approach over the Gando Bay where Coutinho and advised us to stay at the '"Tr6p ico" (the bes t hotel in town) Cabral took off on 5 April I 922 to Sao Vicente and Praia , and make a price dea l with the Port uguese owner. The hotel Cape Verde. As soo n as we landed , we checked rates we re some what stee p (in any curr ency) . but the owner meteoro logic al conditions and filed the flight plan for our next wa s so impr esse d with our adventure that he asked how much hop the following day. we co uld pay. "Yo u te ll me ...·'. he said . --w hat about 50 per The weath er was still dominated by a stron g wes terly cent", question ed Pereira. "F ine' ·. he added . wind , about 40 knots at FLI00 until about 300 NM from the We had to fly nort hbound to Sa l aga in because it is the Cape Verde islands, where the winds aloft turn ed south- eas t, on ly place with avgas and , therefore. our departing point for as normall y ex pec ted at such altitud e in the northern Trade the major seg ment of the tran sat lantic crossing. While the Winds belt. As we changed ov e r from La s Palma s Co ntrol to Sa l Hon ey Moon ey was being refue lled against the setting sun . we ex plained to reporters of Cape Verdian TV and radio that Control , we enqu ired whet her any fami liar names we re on th e 123 ga ll ons wo ul d give us 15 hours at 55 per cent duty that clay. We were imm ediately g ree ted by Antonio eco no my c rui se at 150 knots at FL l 00 for the flight to Ca rdoso , a contro ller who had been awa re of our voyage since Fernando Noron ha. which we expected to reach in 9:30 hour s Novembe r when he and his co lleague Car los Brito met wit h at zero wind and up to 12 hours if winds were unfavourable. Pe reira in D a kar during a technic a l meeting of the ·'How could we be so sure about these estimates-r- --How did International Federa tion of Air Traffic Contro llers. suc h a crazy idea get started in the first plac e')' . ··Were we As we flew over Sa l and continued dow n to Pra ia (t he scared?"', someone else enquired. "'The most scary thing so far 1111-..,. cap ital) in the island of Sao Ti ago. our fli ght path unve iled

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COMMEMORATION

had been the taxi ride fro m the Rex Hotel to the Airport in Li sbon ... , and the landing fees we had to p ay° th ere", we retorted. We got a thorough wea th er briefing at the well equipped wea th er office in Sal. Our main worries were the extent of CB activ it y in the ITCZ/FIT an d the direction and speed of w ind s. The ITCZ/FIT appeared not to be too active at the point we planned to cross it. We had been observing it for so me weeks via satellite infrare d movies ava ilabl e on the Internet , and we knew th at it was practically always there, at about 3 to 5 degrees north of the Equa tor. On 18 December , it looked the best we had seen it in weeks . The usual problem wit h the wi nds is that the m ost effic ie nt cruising altitude for the Mooney is about FLl00 , but forecasts are on ly ava ilable for FLI 80. At this level, th e w ind s looked good, including a favourable 10 to 15 knot tailwind for at least the first three hours, and light and varia ble after that. We ex pec ted that a similar wind pattern prevai led at FL I 00 since winds aloft near the Equator are rarely ve ry strong , but we co uld not be sure . We took the wea ther charts to the be st re staurant in the village near the Amilcar Cabra l Airpo rt. It was a simple neo nlit cantina -type room with pla stic water bags hanging on the windows to "keep the flie s away". We spread the char ts and diluted do wn ou r optim ism wit h mineral water and coke . Brito. one of the controllers off duty that evening, soo n join ed us at our table . " So, are you taking off tonight?", he sa id with a positive g rin , while wav ing for a loca ll y brewed beer. ..Yeah , it look s pretty good; .. .a nd if we' re luc ky , we may eve n hav e so me favourable winds for at lea st a bit of the flight ", added Pederse n. Brito turned away to negotiate the menu w ith the owner and s h owed him the newspaper clippin gs from the clay before. " Hey , thi s is real news round these parts ... ; let me borro w the se pa ges for a seco nd", he said while walking slow ly into the kitchen . Half hour later ca me an impres sive platter that wou ld remind any sinner of hi s last supper . Indeed , the baked fish and sauce were delicious but it didn ' t see m to go clown we ll w ith the minera l water 'or the subtle inform ation Brito con vey ed abo ut possible differences 111 the wind pattern s at FLI 80 in the cha rts and tho se at FLI 00 at that time of the year. We dec ided we wo uld definitely turn back to Sal if wind s were to change radicall y aaa inst us w ithin the first five hours of fli ght. We paid the bill :nd went to the closes t inn for a four hour rest. But tw o cr itica l que stion s kept o ur brain tick ing w hil e o ur eye lid s tried to re st. W hat if something went wro ng with the engin e w ithin the first two or thre e hour s of the fli ght and we had to do a forced lanclina on th_esea with a full load of fue l w ithout any visibilit y'l Wh:t if alt er 5 to 6 hours of flight the ITCZ/F IT became too difficult or imp oss ib le to cross beca use of high and turbu le nt w ind speeds or thunderstorms ·) Wo uld we ha ve favo urabl e winds to

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return safe ly to Prai a or Sal ? Based on the position of the ITCZ/FIT , we took off from Sal at 01 :42 local time (02:4 2 GMT) in order to reach th e front about an hour afte r sunrise, when it is visible but not ye t too active. The tower controllers were app arently so absorbed with our adve ntur e, that they let us take off ahead of the new Boe ing 757 of Linh as Aereas de Cabo Verde , alrea dy tax ino behind us _with its e ngi nes rea dy to go. While the H o ne; Mooney climbed more slowly than ever , the Bo e ing's ca ptain was furiou sly threate ning to complain for hav ing " wasted so much fuel while waiting for that insec t to fly out of the way!" The fli ght proceeded exact ly as pl a nn ed and th e H F com muni cation s with Sal , Daka r and Rec ife we nt smoo thl y . We reac he d the ITCZ/FIT near th e Dakar/R ec i fe FIR boundary , and we knew from the deviations requ es ted by the commercia l aircraft above us that a large CB was loc ated near " Ra k ucl" (a "w ay po int " used fo r nav iga ti on a l a nd radi o co ntact purp oses). As it bega n to show on the storm scope. we initi ated a deviation to the Southeast and crossed the FIR bo und ary and the ITCZ/FIT about 50 NM eas t of th e a ir way. Th e fr on t cross ing went smoo thl y for about the first 5-10 m inut es. followe d by light and then modera te turbulen ce for anot her 20 minutes and heavy rain with so me hail for 5 minut es. Some minor changes in co urse had to be made during thi s turbul e nt segmen t of flight , as the storm scope showed a co upl e of reel spots , indi ca tin g storms ju st ahead and to the ri g ht of the aircraf t. When we finally began to see brighter shades in the c lo ud wa ll , we began to re la x . So m e blu e spots of sky appea red all of a sudd en. "Time for so me good po rt ...'· Pereira said while taking a deep brea th . "Not yet. and I" d rather have champag ne", added Peder se n. Thi s deviation did not ma ke the trip mu ch lo nge r as we were programmed to detour to the So uth eas t any how to find and take photos of the St. Peter & St. Paul's Rock s (at latitude 00°58'N and long itud e 29°22'W J. Th ese Rocks ( four major ..,. ..,.

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and five tin y ones) were used by Coutin ho and Cabral as the target for mee tin g their refue llin g ship " Republi ca " on 18 Ap ril 1922. Th ey are less than 200 met ers across in tot al, and did therefore not p rov id e mu c h she lt e r for th e sea pl ane lan din g, but they are the histo rica l landmark of Coutinho an d Cabral' s main achieve ment of proving the acc uracy of their air nav iga tion tec hniqu e. They had flown over 1,700 km (9 I 8 NM ) from Prai a to the Ro cks in a flims y aircraf t, against all the odds , in wind changes and without any fu el margin for nav igation al error , an d in spite of huge uncert ainties about minimum weather co nditi ons, required to na vigat e effec tive ly with th eir sex tant. Th e weather conditions aro und made us appreciate their odyssey far better than hitherto. Even with the two GPS on board , we had to circle around the area in sea rch of the Rock s und er the cloud s. Shortly after we had continu ed from St. Peter & St. Paul' s Rock s came the Equator at I 0:25 (GMT ), and a small bottl e of cha mp ag ne was opened for imm ediate ce lebration . While ap pro ac hing Ferna ndo Noronha 's main island , we es tim ated th at we wo uld ha ve 5:30 hour s of fu el left after landin g ther e. Th e sce nery was ju st spect acular with abrupt cliffs surround ed by lush green vegetation and whit e sand y beac hes without a so ul in sig ht. We decid ed to visit it and have a rest, since we had obtained spec ial permi ssion to do so from Brazil ' s Departm ent of Civil Aviation (DAC) . To our surpri se, how eve r, we we re told that DA C' s permi ssion had not been received . Per eira sho wed Major Lfvio the fax from DAC , which read " tec hni ca l landing ... authorised as an exce pti o n. " ( " p o u so tec ni co ... autorizado e m caracter exce pcional" ). For Maj or Lfvio and his superiors in Rec ife , how ever, " pouso tec nic o" mea nt refuelling and/o r rep airs, and did not include an overnight stay . As a res ult , we were ordered to take off aga in befo re sunset, thu s not allowe d to stay the two day s we had planned. We did not ex pec t to be invit ed to the Governor ' s quarter s, as Coutinho and C abral had been in 192 2 , but we we re

An "il-ing in Ri o de Jan eiro. lw1di11g ,·ite /.

nonetheless astonished by the bur eaucratic atti tud e a nd th e lack of concern for our fa tigue and abilit y to fl y an y fu rther that sa me day . Pereira in sis ted th at we were very ti red an d without much sleep for the last 30 hour s, but to no ava il. To top it all, we were ex pec ted to fly out of there , eve n w itho ut a prop er meteorologi ca l report du e t o commun i c a t ion difficulti es with Rec ife . Ye t, we were asked to w rite on the flight pl an "ciente das condi<;6es meteorol6 gica s" (i.e . aw ar e of meteorolo gical conditions ) . We were nonethele ss gi ven jus t enough tim e to wa lk to one of th e gorgeo u s beache s fo r a sw im , ha ve lun c h , read a s i g n " b e n v ind o ao par a fso· · (we lcom e to para di se) and regretted ve ry much h av ing to leave parad ise so soon. We und erstood perfectl y wh y Brazil's Pr es ident and hi s c lose fa mil y h ad decided to s pe n d t hei r Chri stma s break on that island . The turn of eve nts at Fernando Noro nh a had put us in the wro ng mood for thi s flight. Luckily , it was s m oot h w it h sca tt ere d c umulu s topp e d a t FLIO0 . Like Cou t in ho a nd Cabral, the first sig ht of th e continental landma ss was ju st South of Jo ao Pe ssoa , at Ca bo Branco , th e ea stern m ost po int of th e A m er ica s . The IFR airwa y made u s t urn left soon afterwa rd s to fl y para llel to th e co ast unt il reachi no Ol inda 0 ' ju st befor e initiating the IFR approach to Recife 's Guararapes A irport for custom s and refue llin g . Th e nex t mornin g , we took off to t he E n canta Mo~a Aeroclub (five minute s a wa y) for ser v i ce and cheaper ove rni ght fees . Th e day after , a numb er of fly in g b uffs at the aeroc lub enquir ed about the Mooney an d the trans a tlantic cross ing. Such tri vial question s we re upse tt in g the M o one y· s pil o t in co mm and who , by thi s tim e , w a s get t ing ne r vo u s abo ut th e lack of approp ria te too ls. t he s ub s ta nd a rd wo r k practices of the mechani cs around. the 33-35 degre e (Ce lsius) temp era tur e and , the lack of water and to ilet paper in the bathroom s. Onc e in Recif e , th e fe rr y ta nk was rem ov ed from t h e Moone y' s back sea t and its faithful eng ine was g ive n a 50 hour ~=~~~~~~-... -:_ -.,:3 1.,------~,.... ..,. ..,.. e:. =...-.... -.:;.-...-:.. ---...-...,, ---, in sp e cti o n a nd o i I c h ang e . We gave C o u t inh o a nd Cabral' s l ooe boo k a temp orary re st and beg an to relax from th e s t r es s of th e pa st f i ve days. Pede rse n·s w ife . Ange la . arri ved o n 21 December in a flight fr o m Ge neva. and we spent the next tw o da ys c hec k ing o ut t he loca l mu s ic a n d a rt wo rk a n d the go rgeous beac hes a lo ng the coas t. before e mb a rk i n g o n a fun t o ur a lo n g the northern coa st to Parn aib a. Ilha do Caju. and Sao L uis . Af ter tw o nights in Sao L ufs. we had a lo ng 5 :30 ho ur ha ul (d ue to a sl ight head wind ) to th e coas t in the State of Bahi a, hav ing flown ove r the tow ns of Juaze iro and Pe tro lin a o n the banks of the lege nd ary Sao Franc isco r iver. We co nt inu ed the IFR ai rway just wes t of Va lern;;a and Sa lva dor and southwa rds to Ilhe us (ca lled Sao Jorge dos Ilhe us in the days Co utinh o and Cabra l circled aro und Sall/0 .1· 0 111 110 111Airpo n . 01 C11a11a/JarnBar /nea r Co111 i11ho and Cah ral's it to acknow ledge t he fireworks that ........

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COMMEMORATION FLIGHT -----

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F/e111111i11 g and Ar111a11d ll"ith Crisri!ito and othe r A TCO s at Praia Ai rport.

greeted their passage). This seas ide tow n pro vided the sett ing for the best-selling novel and soa p opera "Gabrie la, Cravo e C anela '路 by Jorge Amado (a wo rld acc laimed a ut ho r of a dozen novels who has been shortlisted for the Nobe l Prize) . The flying weather was fine. but a slight zig -zag was req ui red at FL 90 during the so uth ern part of the leg to avo id CBs. T he two da ys at 路'Po usada da Barra路', with its bree zy beac h fro nt lined with cocon ut palm tre es, were made part ic ul ar ly enjoyable by the good g races of a very fri e nd ly ma nager, Juventino Ribeiro. who help ed us w ith errands aro und tow n and took us fo r a few drinks at the famous --vesuv io'路 Bar where Jorge Amado's Gabr iela used to hang out and drive the young lads out of their mind s . We lef t Ilheus 3 1 December bound for Rio de Ja neiro after inter views w ith a crew from the Bahia State "TV Santa C ru z--- again fo llowing the track of Coutinh o and Cab ral 's flight nea rly 75 yea rs ago. Within th e fir st ho ur . we reached Porto Seg uro w here Pedro Alva res Ca bral landed in Bra zil o n his first voyage in 1500 and w here Gago Co ut in ho and Sacadura Cabra l spe nt th e I ] - 14 June . 1922 for a ircraf t repa ir s. From th e re. we co ntinu ed just West of the coast lin e. passing Mount Pa sc oa l, fo llowed b y the coa s tal towns of Prado. Alcobac,:a a nd C ara ve la~. and a bit later the beaches of Co nce i<;:aoda Ba rra and the town Linhare s. before reac hin g Vit6ria and its ba y where Coutinh o and C abral land ed on 15 June 1922. Th e S a nt o s Dumont airport (nam e d a ft e r Brazi l "s aero nauti cs he ro ) is con ve ni entl y locat ed at the ce ntr e of Rio de Jan eiro by the western bank of the Gua nabara Bay and with the Sugar Loaf mountain _just J km ah ead of the run wa y. The

10

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C B s I::> oo t ra th e r de nse as we app roac hed Ri o, fo rc ing us to ma ke a few dev iat io ns b efore an in st rum e n t a ppro ac h th ro u g h int e rmitt e nt s h owe r s a nd so m e a brupt dow ndra fts. N ew Y ea r 's eve fi ni s h e d on C o p aca b a n a b eac h w i t h s p ec t ac ul a r fir ewo rk s a nd we ll ove r a milli o n sc rea min g ca ri oca 's sp ray in g cha mp ag ne over themse lves and the ir neighb ours as if th ey had ju st wo n a not he r "Fo rm u la l " G ra n d Pri x. A nd , unli ke th e n ega ti ve tempera tur es in Ge neva, it was 26 deg rees (Celsius) at midni ght! As plan ned , Pederse n flew back fro m B raz il w ith anoth er co -pil o t, John M iles, a l so of G e n eva. In thi s case th e tra nsa tlanti c cross in g was done fro m N atal t o D aka r v i a F e rn a nd o N o ronh a, i n memo ry of J ea n Me rm oz , th e pi o nee r of co mm e rc ia l fli g ht s w h o m ade hi s fir s t cross ing in 1930 and d ied in another fli ght on the sa me ro ute in 1936 . Th e to ta l voyage to Ri o and b ack to G e n eva (v ia D aka r a nd M a rr akes h ) , in c ludin g de to ur s a nd int e rn a l fli g ht s in B raz il to talled 13,39 5 N M (24 ,80 8 k m ), which cos t US$ 7,525, inc ludin g 5,728 in fli g ht cos t s a n d 1,7 9 7 (24 p er ce n t) in airp ort fees . De ta il s a nd ph o tos of th e voyages by Pede r se n a n d Pe re ira and Pe derse n and Mil es. as we ll as so me details of Co utinh o and Ca b ra l' s 1922 voyage, are pr ov id ed in th e fo llow in bo Int ernet we b site: . http :// nicewww.ce rn .ch/-pe derse n/www/ br az 1l .htm . _ In Ap r il 1998, Co ut inh o a nd Cabra l' s voyage w ill be rep lica ted by two pil ots o f th e Po rtu g uese A ir Fo rce w ith rep licas of the Fa irey now be ing built for the purp ose. +

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,

Authors Arman d F. Pereira (Economist) Res.: Imp . Flor im ont 3 19, Gex O1170, Fra nce Te l. + Fax (33) 04504 17955 Ema il (Co mpuse rve): 75 1 14, 1157 Burea u: !LO , CP 500, 12 11 Geneva 22 , Sw itzer land Te l. (4 1-22) 799-6430; Fax. (41 -22) 799-796 7 E. mail (INTERNE T ): pereira @ilo.o rg http://www. ange l fi re.co m/a r/arm and fpe rei ra/ i ndex. h tm I

Flemming PEDERSEN (Engineer) Hom e : C hemi n du Scu lpte ur, I 0 , Peney-Dess us CH -1242 SA TI GNY Te l: (4 1-22) 753-4 126 Office : CERN , Mey rin. Sw itze rland Tel. (4 1-22) 767-3466 ; Fax: (4 1-22) 767 -8 590 E. mai l: ped ersen @ma il.cern. ch http://ni cewww.ce rn .ch/-pedersen

TH E CONTR OLLE R/ DECEMBER 1997


HUMAN FACTORS

THE LAST LINE OF DEFENCE: BUILDING A SAFETY NET FOR CONTROLLERS 0 Captain Sharon Jones , Ph.D . n 1993 , I accepted th e invitation of a devoted group of controllers , manager s, and staff me mbers to join their co-operative initiative for minimi s ing lo ss of se paration events in one region of the United States (US). Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) betw ee n the Federal Aviation Adm inistration (FAA) , the National Air Traffic Controllers ' Association (N ATCA) , and the University of Texa s Aerospace Crew Research Project. I gained access to facilities, pe rso nnel. and records in exchange for my assistance in id e ntif y ing. ga th e ring. and analysing data pert ine nt to regiona l performan ce . A central component of the MOU was the confidentia lity agreement g uarant ee ing the anonymity of individuals about whom information was obtained during my research. The purpose of this agreement was to direct attention to wa rd tea m a nd/or organisationa l influenc es on p e rformanc e that were independent of indi vidual va riation s in knowledge and sk ill. Controllers who participat e d in m y resea rch did so voluntari ly . but thr ee explicit ince nti ves were offered for participation . I ) Facilitie s agreed to pay contro llers for the tim e it took to respo nd if they chose to do so while on duty . 2) On ly controllers w ho submitt ed reports were e lig ible to rece ive an award be ing offe red in an outstanding performance conte st. 3) Informati o n from th e repo rt s was deidentified a nd re la yed in aggregate form to reg ional man age ment to ass ist in the correc tion of orga nisa tion a l weaknesses that might hind er controller performance . The rese arch was de s ig ned to id e ntif y actions and too ls associated with successfu l air traffic man age ment so that they might be more con s istently e mplo yed by contro ll e r s to in crease opera ti o nal effective ness. Th e purpose or thi s resea rch was NOT to document th e freque ncy or character or human e rro r in the air traffi c sys tem. It was. rather . to discover and define tho se things that enable the vast majorit y of co nt ro lle rs to se parat e a nd se quence air tra ffic succ ess fu lly desp ite th e multitud e of c halle nges facing them. In order to ac hi eve thi s goal. it was n ecessa ry to ide ntif y c haract eri sti cs co mm on among. but uniqu e to . ope rati o nal eve nt s w ith hi g hl y

I

Questionnaire items add re ssed procedures , weather. co mmunic ati ons, techni ca l ac ti o n s. preparedness. le a d ersh ip. recept iv it y to informati on and sugge stions . respon s ivene ss . feedback. and reso urc es. In order to examine difference s between contro ll er conduct and opera ti o n a l ci rcum stan ces preceding success and fa ilur e. l categor ised operation s according to their o ut co me. Objective sta ndards es tab li s hed whe the r a loss of req uired se paration (Mi shap) occurred o r sepa r a ti on and se quen c ing remained wit hin s ta nd ards (No n -Mishap) . Becau se my interest was in exce llence rath e r than mediocrit y. I further s ubdi v id ed Non Mi shap s into two gro up s. Exempl ary Eve nts. se lec ted by facility pe rsonne l for recog niti on in a reg io nal performance competit ion. we re separa ted from Norma l Operation s. wh ich were o ut s tandin g ne ith e r for exce ll ence nor for deficienc y . System effec ti ve ness stati stics indi cate that co nt ro ller performance varies across fac ilities. spec ialiti es . and shift s. In addition , c redib le anecdo tal repo rts sugges t substantial variation s in operationa l cu ltur es and organ is a ti o nal c lim ates w ithin ATC. H owever. ph ys ica l e n v ironm e nt s . too ls . tasks , a nd co ntroll e r sc ree nin g. a ll of which are we ll stand ardi sed.

de sirabl e ou tco mes. Be tween 199:1 and 1996. I int erv iewed. s ur veye d. and ob se rved co ntroll e rs in th e Re2ion¡ s s ix .. hub .. faciliti es: A lbuqu e rque. Dalla s/Fo rt Worth. and Hou s ton A ir Rout e Traffic Co ntrol Ce nte rs I ARTCC' s I . and the Terminal Radar Approach Contro l (TRACON) faci lities ass m:iated w ith each . Data co llection too ls included back g round sur veys . narrati ve co mm en t forms. and an original questionnair e thal l d eve lnp e d afte r rev iew ing a1¡ailah le lit e rat ur e and co n s ultin g A TC p e rs o nn e l

THE CONTROLLER /DECEMBER 1997

are improb ab le ca uses for these difference s . System perf ormanc e is unli kely to improve as a result of pun is hin g isolated s lip s of the tongue. mistaken keyboard strokes. or m omentary lapses in memor y be ca u se controller s. as human s. cannot wilfull y elimin ate the ine vitable manife station s of their cognitive and psychomotor imperfection s. However , the re lative ly low rate at w hich loss of se paration occur s s uggest s that so mething susta in s the s afet y of the a ir traffic sys tem de spite common cont ro ller mi stake s . Alt hough that 'th ing ' ma y occasionally be nothing more than blind luck . it is ge nera lly an action or tool that enab les error detection and/or correction. Two se parate, but interdependent. mechanisms can help p inp oint and t rap error within a system: technolog y and human beha v io ur. Of the two. hum a n beha v iour ha s more w ide s pread a n d s ub s tantial influ ence o n outcomes and is m o re amenable to chan2:e . Techn o log ic a l impro ve menb are both tin~eco nsum in g a nd costly. On th e other hand. human s ha ve a tremendous ca pa c ity to de ve lop and utili se beha v ioural s kills that further them in the pur suit of th e ir goals.

RESULTS Context To d ete rmin e the r a ng e of issues influ enc ing contro ller d ecision: and actions. I analy se d m y own narrati ve de sc ripti o n s of o perational eve nt s that I observed as we ll as tho se of co ntroll ers in vo lve d in other eve nt s . Th ese na rrati ves des c rib e d th e c ircum sta nces und er which co ntroll ers performed th e ir dutie s. providing a broad per specti ve for their ac tions . T he man y influ e nc es o n ATC pe rforma nce that we re d oc um e nt ed cou ld be s u bdivided int o three group s (see Tabl e I ): I ) un contro ll ab le . ex te rnal o nes s uc h as the numb e r and c harac te r o f air space us ers 2) inte rnal ones such as reso ur ce allocati on that could on ly be addre sse d with co ns id erab le in ves tment s of tim e and mon ey and 3) con 1rolle r be hav iour. w hich is both int e rnal a nd co ntrollabl e.

Internal - Controllable

External - Uncontrollable

assessment standards and techruque s guideline s and restriction s leadershjp behaviour resource allocation training content and methodolo gy cultural norm s reinforcement practice s

politics economics equipment number and charncter of users

Table 1. Challenges facing Air Traffic Control

11


HUMAN FACTORS Unt il co ndition s ch ange, uncontrollable and/or ex ternal influence s w ill limit ATC effectiveness. Howeve r, steps can be tak en in the meantime to help contro llers perform at the highe st poss ible leve ls given the constraints placed upon them. Therefore , the remainder of this discuss ion focu ses on optimi sing the so le factor ove r w hich contro ll e r s ha ve direct contro l: their ow n behaviour.

0.9 0.8 0.7

0.6 0.5

CONTROLLER BEHAVIOUR A lth o ug h a ctual A TC mi s hap s a r e infrequent, I col lect ed d a ta pertaining to equivalent number s of Mi s hap s , Normal Operations , and Exe mplar y Performance for pu rposes of stati stical compa ri son. Of 147 eve nt forms analysed , 42 % de sc ribed Exemplary Performanc e , 23 % pe rtained to Norma l Opera ti o n s, a nd 35 % addressed Mishaps . During statistical analy ses, I searched for com monaltie s w ithin and difference s between the thre e outcome g roup s . Re sult s indicated th at no s in gle factor (control le r demograp hics, circum stanc es, or an y iso lated operat iona l beha vio ur ) uniqu ely chara cteri se d any outcome grou p. Howeve r, when co ntroll er behavio ur s we re organi se d into ca teg ories accord ing to the task that they served (i.e. task manage ment, informat io n managem ent , and interpe rsonal re lations), the int errelation ship s among behavioural classe s and the associa tion between them and o pe rational outcome s became apparent. For this analysis , beha vioura l data within eac h record were comb ined to prod uce thr ee scores per record. Each sco re indicated ge neral performance in one of the three tas k-ori e nted classes of behavio ur. Poi nts were ad ded for the presence of desirab le b e h av io ur s a nd subtracted for their abse nce as we ll as for the practice of co unter produ ctive beha viour s . T he pattern of behavio ura l sco res was suffi cientl y similar in 66% of the Mis haps to indicate that they wo uld res ult in similar outcomes and to disting ui sh them from patt e rn s res ul t in g in Normal or Exe mplar y outco mes. Althoug h t he data did s upp o rt th e

0.4

0.3

Ta sk M a nage ment

0.2 0.1 0

Exemplary Perform ance

Normal Op era tion s

Mishap

Fi gure 1. Associations bet wee n beha vioural patterns and outcome de sirabi lity pre sumpti on that technical comp etence was a nece ss ary foundation for controller p e rform a nce, it was the inte gra tion of interper sonal skills wi th technical one s that di stingui shed Exemplary controllers from all other s. In s hort , the desirability of operational outcomes increased in direct relation to increases in constructive group behaviour and leadership as long as operational activities were prioritised above interperso nal ones. When , on the other hand, soc ia lisa tion sup erse ded all other act ivitie s, Mi shap wa s most often the result. Many of th ese Mi shap s occu rred during period s of low traffic volume , the very set of c ir c um s tan ces und e r which th e st at istical majorit y of AirProx eve nt s occur in the US. The se data s ugges t that co ntroll er s ma y be awa itin g a situ ation al challenge to trigge r the exe rci se of th e ir technical skill s . Ho weve r, cognitive limit ation s and time co nstraint s may pr eve nt acq ui sition of an adequate le vel of awa ren ess and ge neration of a situationally appropriate plan o n an ad-h oe , int e rve nti o n ba sis. Th erefore, althou gh socia l interac tion is

a va lid mean s of enha ncin g vigi lan ce in low stimul ation environment s, it cannot be allow ed to supplant the continuous exchange of taskoriented information and conduct of ta s k management duties.

MISHAP On the ba sis of the se re sult s, it would be unreali stic to expect th e ab ility to predict in advance and with certainty that a particular controller on a particu lar day under a particular se t of circum stanc es would have a lo ss of se paration . The influence of some co mbin ation of factors will always rem ain a mys ter y a nd s ome que s tion s ca n o nly b e answered retro s pecti ve ly. However, thi s r esea r c h identifies so me of the factors that can increase th e probability of effec ti ve pe r formance or decrea se the likelih ood of Mishap. The behaviours as soc iated with dimini shed performance in thi s research could be co n s ider e d wa rning s ign s of developing danger. Organisation s and operator s can detect thei r pre sence and respond with an enhanced understandin g of potential co nsequence s. Th ey ~ ~

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THE CONTROLLER / DECEMBEF< 1997


HUMAN

ca n p la n and prac ti ce va ri ous tac t ics w ith regar d to assess me nt , preca ution , and ac tion modific ation.

FACTORS

Task Management Was workload distribution clearly communicated and ackn owledged? Did team member s remain focused on the problem at hand ?

EXEMPLARY PERFORMANCE

Were precaution s taken to increase safety margins?

Exe mpl a r y co ntroll e r s diff e re d systematica lly from those involved in Mishaps in their manage ment of inform ation , tasks, and peo pl e (see T a bl e 2) . Th e m os t strikin g char acteristic uniqu e to success ful con tro llers was their constant engage ment in one or more of th ese ac ti vitie s, e ve n in th e a bse nc e of tan g ibl e o pe rati o nal c ha ll e nge . Th e m os t e ff ec ti ve o nes so ug ht a nd ex ch a nge d substantial amounts of information. They also pr e p a re d th oro ug hl y for a mu l titude of contingencies . Finally, they acknow ledged the va lu e of th e ir c o - wo rk e r s' input a nd capa biliti es while recog nising the opera tional implic ations of their profess ional and personal limit ations. Be h av io ur s rel a te d to E xemplar y per form ance pro vide appropri ate benchm ark s fo r se lec ti o n , eva lu ati o n, sta nda rdi sa ti o n , re inforc e me nt , and pro moti o n . Th ey al so inform orga nisational assess ment and trainin g d eve lo pm e nt. Fo r ex ampl e, sys tem a ti c obse rva tion will indi ca te which cons tru cti ve be hav iour s occ ur more and less frequ entl y . Thu s , t rainin g fund s c a n be a lloc a t e d in acco rd ance with ac tu al opera tion al strength s a nd weak nesses as we ll as d e m o ns trat e d

Were team membe rs "ahead of the curve," discussing contin gency plans for changi ng condition s?

Information Exchange Were equipment outages or deficiencie s addressed? Did team membe rs call for questions or commen ts following briefings? Did team members freely offer infonnation or clarification upon request? Were team memb ers encouraged to share their perception of the situatio n? Were team members encouraged by working partners to share their plan of action? Did team memb ers accurately and completely describe conditi ons to others?

Interpersonal Relations Was critique accepted objectively and non-defensively? Was there concern expressed for the needs and feelings of team members? Did team members adapt their style in order to deal with the personalities and characteristics of others? Did team memb ers listen actively to ideas and opinion s from others? Did team members admit mistakes when wrong?

-

Table 2. Questions to which Exemplar y contr ollers answer "Yes," but those involved in Mishap answer "No". tra ns fe r o f pre v iou sly tra in ed skill s t o th e operational environm ent. Th e be hav iour s co mm o n to exe mpl a ry controll ers in thi s resea rch ass isted th e m in acquirin g and applying knowledge not only of

circum sta nces, b ut also of their co -wor ker s . Thi s is i mpo r tan t becau se controller s co mm o nl y i nfo rm re sea rcher s that the y co n s ide r k n o w le d ge of th e ir co-worker s¡ abilities, limit at ions, expectat ion s, desires. and ........

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THE CONTROL LER/DECEMBER 1997

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13


HUMAN FACTORS

Ask questions

verify that statements are heard and understood solicitinformation,comments,and recommendations verbalise; never assume anything is obvious:

concerns and confusion observations and their implications

intentions priorities preferences actions Advocate solutions Express gratitude for feedback Explicitly delegate tasks Acknowledge information and guidance Take initiative o/>. void plans that would require flawless

equipment performance or pilot compliance

I was the Captainon a 737 flying a standard instrumentdeparture from a largeUnitedStates (US)airporton a clearday. Afterbeingcleared by the controllerto climb beyondthe normal limits of the StandardInstrumentDeparture (SID), I receivedand respondedto a Traffic CollisionAvoidanceSystem(TCAS)Resolution Advisory(RA),narrowlyavoidingcollisionwitha light twin. Talking later with the facility supervisor, I discovered a numberof problems. Thefollowingpointsexemplifythe dangersof assumingthat the introductionof advanced technologywill eradicatethe consequences of humanerror. 1. Althoughthe samepersonwas controlling both planes,a heavyload,hightemperatures, and substitutionof a lesspowerfulaircraftfor normal equipmenthad invalidatedcontroller assumptions thatI couldout-climbthelighttwin. 2. Thiscontroller,likemanyothers,wasunaware of the existence or diversityof operatorpolicies with regardto response to TCASadvisories.

Seek out specialised knowledge/expertise Increase separation above minimum standards under sub-optimal conditions Amend/abandon plans and actions in response to new information Prepare alternative plans Specify bail-out point Implement plans as briefed

Table 3. Controller actions that decrease the likelihood of Mishap intentions to be essential to effective performance. However. they struggle when asked to explain the process of acquiring such knowledge. My results explicitly describe specific acti1¡ities in which controllers can engage to increase the probability that they will have both the information they need and the ability to employ it. Examples of such activities can be found in Table 3.

LEADERSHIP Results regarding ATC leadership are as interesting as those concerning floor controllers. For example. controllers tend to underestimate the impact of supervisory behaviour on outcome desirability. Super\'isor credibility suffers from controller perceptions that leadership mis-prioritises administrative duties above operational ones. fails to respond to information regarding system weaknesses . or assumes a more punitive than supportive stance toward subordinates. These findings suggest a need for study of the team aspects of ATC supervision and of organisational practices related to controller selection. utilisation. standardisation. promotion. and reward. Additional leadership issues involved the conduct of On-the-Job Training (01T). Despite its importance as a source of practil¡al skilb and enduring attitudes. OJT is neither consistenl in its delivery nor compatible in its conduct with operational goab.

14

TRANSITIONING TO THE NEXT GENERATION Profound changes lie just over the horizon for ATC organisations around the world. Air Traffic Control will become Air Traffic Management as air carriers assume new decision-making roles and demand increased operational flexibility. The operational needs and capabilities of flight crews will in large part be dictated by the idiosyncrasies of on-board flight management systems. The use of data1ink will substantially alter the means, frequency, and substance of pilot/controller communications. Controllers will be forced to modify the mental models that drive their actions as airspace restructurisation progresses. The global economy will increasingly necessitate international standardisation and cooperation between agencies. Technological advancement will enable (and system decay will require) the design and installation of radically different hardware and software on the ground and in the air. Navigation protocols will change from ground-based ones to airborne platforms or sat-nav. Finally. each of these changes will occur in an era defined by the profit motives of commercial operators and the reality of worldwide airspace capacity limitations. I have no doubt that the eventual result of these advancements will be a safer, more efficient air traffic system. However, during the transition from the current system to the new one, controllers must be prepared to deal with the uncertainty. inconsistency. and distraction that inevitably accompany technological advances. Therefore, it is imperative that controllers receive the support they need to continue serving as a last line of defence while the industry undergoes this metamorphosis. The cheapest. most expeditious. most effective tools the organisation can offer them are education and leadership. Specifically. this means developing. implementing. and reinforcing practical

3. TCAShadco-ordinateda conflictresolution betweenaircraftthat was diametrically opposed to the controller'splan. Controllers arenot privy to TCASadvisoriesor commands;conversely, TCAScannotseeas muchof the pictureas a controller, nor can current versions choose between or combine lateral and vertical solutions. 4. Because regulatory requirements differacross operatorsandaircraft,pilots currentlyhaveno meansof knowingwhetherconflictingaircraft are TCASequipped(and thus co-ordinating solutions)or not (andthus likelyto followonly controller's instructions). 5. TCASsearchanddisplaylimitationscurrently prohibitpilotsfrom positivelyidentifyingsources of conflictadvisories.Pilotreportsof "aircraftin sight" and acceptance of commands to "maintain visual separation" can mislead controllers into assuming conflicts will be resolved in themannertheyintended.

training for controllers, instructors. and supervisors in error avoidance, recognition, and countermeasures.

REFERENCE Jones. S. G. ( 1996). H11111an Error: The Role of Group Dynamics in Error Tolerant Systems (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). The University of Texas at Austin. National Academy of Sciences ( 1997). Flight to the Future: Human Factors in Air Traffic Control. Washington. DC: Academy Press.

CAPTAIN SHARON JONES, PH.O. CaptainJonescurrentlyflies B-737's for Southwest Airlines.Priorto her employment with Southwest,she flew turboprops(ATR-42,DHC-8,BA-3100)for two Regionalcarriers: EasternMetro Expressin Atlanta, Georgia, andPanAm Expressin Berlin,Germany.She has an Airline TransportPilot (ATP)certificate for AirplaneMulti-EngineLand (AMEL)with B-737 and BA-3100typeratings,anda commercialcertificatefor AirplaneSingle-EngineLand (ASEL)and Rotorcraft Helicopter. Dr. Jones obtained her Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Sciencefrom Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University'sPrescott,Arizonacampus in 1984. In 1996,she completedher Ph.D.in social psychology after six years of research supervised by Robert Helmreichat the Universityof TexasAerospaceCrew ResearchProject. Her doctoral studies addressed performance issuesin the UnitedStates(US)Air Traffic Control(ATC)system. Her on-goingpost-doctoralwork addresseshuman factors issues related to the proposedAir Traffic Management systemas well as the non-punitiveuse of self-report safety data in the design of organisationalinterventionssuch as training. Her company,lsys Consulting,providesinformationand methodological advice to those responsible for recordingor analysingthe antecedents,implications, and consequencesof human behaviour in sociotechnicalorganisations. Editor's Note: The Controller is indebted to Captain Jones for submitting this article for publication. +

THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1997


________________

REGIONAL MEETING ________________

_

AMERICAS REGIONAL MEETING

S

O Samuel Lampkin, Executive Vice President for the Americas (EVP AMA)

ixteen out of a possible twenty-six AMA MAs were in attendance (upwards of 50 individuals) at the 8th AMA RM in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 1997, October 13 - 14. Non-MAs and International Organisations were not represented. Observers included, representatives of the Director of Civil Aviation Trinidad and Tobago, representatives on the Committee for the reorganisation of the Civil Aviation Division of Trinidad and Tobago, Aviation Health Consultants Inc. (Anne Logie and Erik Little) and Elder Associates Ltd. (a local group of psychology and sociology professionals involved in developing Employee Assistance Programmes). Following the Opening Ceremony, at which the acting Minister of Works and Transport, Parliamentary Secretary Chandresh Sharma, delivered the Feature Address and declared the Meeting open, delegates gathered to continue with the work of the meeting. Formalities were quickly completed and the meeting proceeded to the business of acceptance of the Report of the J996 Georgetown Meeting. Followup action on that report resulted in a task for the EB/SC l/SC4 to develop, provide Guidelines that MAs can use to approach their authorities for knowledge and input on new equipment features etc., a task which had inadvertently not been attended to since the 1996 RM. Under Agenda Item - Reports, the meeting received an insight into the various activities and concerns since the last RM/Annual Conference from EVP AMA. the Deputy President (DP). Regional Sub Group (RSG) and Member Associations (MAs). EVP AMA's report on his activities and concerns was accepted, though he was queried for not having provided a written one. DP updated the meeting on the activities. developments and concerns of the Executive Board (EB) since last Conference.

A verbal report on the activities of the RSG was also provided. The Barbados ATCA has indicated interest in becoming a member of the RSG. EVP AMA and BA TCA will follow up on this matter. All MAs gave account of their activities as well as expressing their concerns and needs. Most of them expressed serious concerns over existing inadequacies in the area of equipment and maintenance thereof, personnel training and staffing levels, hours of work and overtime as well as the low levels of remuneration and poor working conditions. Panama and Uruguay, the two MAs that were involved in industrial activity gave updates on their situation. This resulted in the EB Members present (DP, EVPF, EVPT and EVP AMA) and the representative of the Panamanian ATCA convening a separate meeting with a view to clarifying the issues and determining a course of action forward. There was a fair amount of exchanges between the Uruguay ATCA and EVP AMA on their issue, with the resultant acknowledgement on the part of both parties that owing to the occurrence of miscommunications IFATCA reaction was necessarily delayed. It was, however, pointed out to MAs by the EB that it was of utmost importance that the EB be brought into the picture at the inception of engagement in negotiations/industrial activity in order to give the EB a fair opportunity to be able to react in a most meaningful and solution-prone manner. MAs were reminded of their obligations to the Federation reference the Information Hand Book, membership dues and the submission of a proxy where it was foreseen that they would be unable to attend Conference. Explanation and advice were also given on the availability of and use of the Special Circumstances Fund (SCF) and Conference Attendance Fund (CAF). Two AMA Questionnaires were

THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1997

distributed. one on phraseology and the other, for an update on the working conditions of AMA A TCOs. Under Technical Matters. the meeting was updated on the activities of the GREPECAS and its contributory bodies, LAC AT AG and the RSG. Arising from the discussions which ensued, it became evident (as have been previously stated by EVP AMA) that very few MAs are up to speed on the technological developments within their area of representation. It was suggested and accepted that the EB (through the EVP Region and the Regional Information Circular) keep MAs informed on developments and the schedule of all ICAO and other Technical Meetings/Events etc. EVPT made a very interesting presentation on the Global Implementation of ICAO' s CNS/ A TM. It proved that many MAs are eager to be informed. In this connection it is anticipated that the Office will. to some extent. through EVPT and EVP AMA fulfil this role. Under Professional Matters. accent was placed on the socio-industrial issues which so commonly affect MAs in the AMA. It was the meeting's view and particularly. that of NATCA. BPSA and BATCA that the Federation does not. at present. have a clearly defined mechanism or policy to deal adequately with socio-industrial issues. While the EB was not totally in agreement with the sentiments of the MAs. the meeting was assured that the matter would be placed on the EB Agenda. notwithstanding the task which wa:-(through IFATCA'97. Committee A> assigned to SC6 work programme. ··to review the role of IFATCA in relation to its status in professional and industrial issues as related to unions··. Two professional presentations were made by Aviation Health Consultation:-lnc. (Anne Logie and Erik Little). one on ·critical Incident Strcs:-Management· and the other on IP~

15


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' Shift wo rk, H ea lth a nd Fatigue Manageme nt '. Here again thes e presenta tions were we ll received. It is reported th at t wo MA s , on bein g exposed to the subject at the meeting, are considering e n gag in g Av iation Health Cons ult ants Inc. for the conduct of works hops/training sess ions and th e set-up of a CISM Programme in th e ir country for their member s. NATCA offere d to ho st the 1998 RM in Mia mi. Detail s of date s, ven ue, cost, etc. would be forwarded as soon as possible. Tentati vel y, CA TC A h as offered to ho st the AMA RM in 1999 and BA TCA in the yea r 2000 . The Meeti ng was informed on EVP AMA can did acy for the office of PCX at next Conference b y TT A TCA and both TTA TCA 's a nd EVP AMA ' s view that the nex t EVP AMA should be from a L atin Ame ri ca n co untr y. This sug ges tion see med accep table to the MAs that attended. ACT AU has , however, indicate d that th ey a r e willing to nominate Fern and o Reyes to the office of EVP AMA at IFATCA'98. Owing to th e natur e of the deliberat ions that ensued at the RM , it was decided t ha t a Press R e lease should be issued on the outc ome of th e meeting. This was done , afte r consultat ion with the IFA TCA President. Al l in a ll , yet anot her ve ry good RM. At times the discussio n s we re ver y lively and demanding . It took a great deal of strength, co ur age a nd experience to satisfy the wis hes of the MAs w ithout co mpromi s in g the position of the EB and the Federat ion. It is my view the MAs depa rted Port of Spa in with a fee lin g of ac hi evement and hope for further supp ort from the Federat ion in their q uest fo r so luti o ns on how to deve lop them se lves to b e bette r ab le to t ake c h arge of th e ir domestic affa irs. In this rega rd it ca n be safe ly sa id that IFATCA is alive in the AMA . T he Federatio n, as a rep resentat ive body for its members hip (air traffic contro lle rs) if at no other junctur e is at the point where se riou s questio ns on the way fo rward are being asked; questions w hich must be ad dr essed so as to deriv e answers which w o uld e ns ur e o ur growt h in strength and stat ure wor ld-wide in the years ahead. +

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REGIONAL

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MEETING _____

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:1'loNOI. FEOERATION r;x-AIR-TRAFAC CQNTR()llER5ASSOOATI~i IN ASSOQATION WTT1i

1RINIDAD& TOBAGO AIRTRAF FICCONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION 8 "'AMERICAS REGIONALMEETING~

@

RJU ·OF·SPAIN. 15-14 OCTOBER . 1997

~

THE CONTROLL ER/ DECEMBER 1997


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REGIONAL MEETING _____________

4TH As

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A/PACIFIC REGIONAL MEETING

Tokyo, apan, 21-23 October 1997 D

1

I

he 14th Asia/Pacific Re g ion a l Meeting was held in Tok yo from 21 to 23 Octob er 1997 and was ho sted by the Japan Federation of Air Traffic Controllers. Th e ve n ue was the N ew Takan awa Prince H ote l s itu a ted in Shinagawa district in downto w n Tok yo. There were over 60 participants at the m ee tin g in c luding th e following orga nisation s: IFATCA : Deput y Pre sident and EVP Asia/Pacific Member Associations: Australia , Fiji , APCA T ahiti , APCA Fran ce , Ho ng Ko ng China, Japan , Mac au , Malaysia, Papua New Guin ea, Sri Lank a and Tai wa n. Non-Memb er Associations : Singapore , Mongolia and Vietnam. Int e rn a ti o n al Or ga ni sa tion s : !CAO , IFALP A and IATA. The me etin g was chaired by Mr. George Ch ao, IFATCA EVP/ASP and he was assisted by Vice-Chairman, Mr. Hiromi c hi T ade of JF AT C, th e sec reta ry. Mr . Hiro shi Jn og uchi of JFAT C a nd Dep ut y Pr es id e nt of IFATC A, Mr. Paul Robinson. Af ter the we lco ming speec h by Miss Sanae Mizura, the MC of the con ference, she introdu ced the following key spea kers to make the ope ning address: Mr. Noburjuki Uchimur a C h a irman of JFATC , Mr. George C h ao - Executive Vice Pr es id e nt As ia/Pac ifi c JFATCA , Mr . Yukio Kusuki - Director General JCAB. Mr. Shige tomi T anaka - Chief Executive Offic er, Work ers Un ion Mini stry of Tran sport After the roll ca ll and self introduction , the Chairman bega n th e wo rkin g sess ion. The meet ing rece ived th e report from the IF ATCA Execu ti ve Board , the re po rt o n ICAO 5 th South Eas t A s ia ATS Co ordin ation Mee tin g, the report on I st, 2nd and 3rd CNS/ ATM Guidance Material Task Force Mee tin gs, th e report on ICAO 7th Europe/ As ia Ai r Route Mee tin g. the report on ICAO ATS/A IS/SAR/SG7 Meeting. the report on !CAO Co m/Met/Nav/S ur Meeting and th e re port on !CAO A P ANP IR G/8 Mee ting. T he Ch airm an gave a detail ed briefing to the memb ers on the deve lopmen t of the As ia/Pac i fie CNS/ A TM Opera tions Gu idance Materia l and the memb ers we re ab le to view the lates t ver sion endor sed by states durin g th e APANP lR G/8 mee ting

George Chao - Ex ec uti ve Vice Pr esident Asia/Pa cific Th e par ticipant s were also advise d of the development on the a d o ption of 50/50 separa tion criteria in the South Pacific area and also the progre ss of the ATS route re-structure in the South China Sea . On the CNS / A TM front, a bri efing was given on the current CPDLC/ADS operation s w hi c h were be ing co nduct e d by va riou s

THE CONTROLLER / DECEMBER 1997

States in the As ia/Pacif ic reg ion. Views on training requir ement s were also exchanged. In thi s regard , Malay sia ATCA had prese nted a pap er co nce rnin g ADS/CPDLC trial s in the Kuala Lumpur FIR. On the tech nica l side. the meeting was plea s ed to r ece i ve input s from !C AO represe ntative from the Bangkok Off ice, Mr. Y. Jm awaka. With hi s ass istance. seve ral tec hni ca l matt ers wer e clarifi ed . On the professio nal matter s. the meeting lea rnt w ith int e res t on th e re port s from severa l Member Associat ions co nce rni ng the privat isat ion of ATC and train ing o f milit ary co ntroller s to !CAO standard s. Durin g the mee ting . guest speaker s we re in v it e d to m ake p rese ntati o ns on th e following topi cs: Mr. Kanichi Ito o f JCAB present ed a

paper called ' CNS / AT M Implementation Plan in Japan ' . Mr Kenji Ko ga of JC AB p resented a paper cal led ' ATFM Experience in Japan· . Mr. B . Lor sc hy of Austra li a Ci v il Air pr ese nt ed a p ape r o n behalf of B ernard Rodger s of BAS ! Austra lia. The paper was titled 'ATC Investigat ion Proced ures' . Mr. K . Brome of New Z ealand presente d a pap er called ' OCS Training Deve lop ment ' . Durin g the s es s i on on membe rs/ ob serve rs acti v it y report s . the me etin g was plea sed to learn that Singapore int ended to j oi n IFATCA next year and Mo ngo lia was also ve ry keen to j o in. Fin a ll y . the Macau ATC Association prese nted a working paper wit h a propo sa l to h os t the 19 98 IF A T CA A s ia Pacific R e £i onal Meeting in Macau. The m;et in Q un a nim o us ly ag reed to accept th; mv1tat1on from Macau to ho st the 1998 meeting. During the two-day meetin£. arrang emen ts were m ade by the ho s~s to v is it the Tok yo Haneda A ir port alld th e Tok yo Area Control Centre. The tour s we re ve ry co m p rehensi ve a nd th e d e leg at es we r e able t o obser ve the parall e l run way operati o n 1n Haned a and th e CPDLC/ADS sys tem in the ACC. The soc ial programme kept all the de legate s full y occup ied eve ry even ing. The Japan ese trad itional Kabuki show and the hot-pot dinner on 21 October was qu ite a new ex perience for most of the de legates. Th e Corporate Member s o f JFATC generously sponsor ed a buffet din ner on 22 Octob er. The highlight of the evenin g was a ba lle t pe rfo rm ed by th e fo ur mo s t ·talented and charm ing· ATC co ntr o lle rs in Jap an (see photograph). T he Fa rew e ll Part y he lu Jointl y w ith ATC A -Japa n in th e Interna tional Co nvention Cem re was another astou nding success. Overall it was a constru ct ive and useful meeti ng. Throughout th e m ee ti n g. th e members we re able to ga in exper ienc ; from ot her s and to e xc hange view s for m utual be nefit s . T he C hairman in hi s c lo s in g remark thanked JFAT C for the ir ex ce lle nt efforts in orga ni s in g t h e eve nt. Th e dedication and enthu siasm displa ye d by the org a nising co mmitt ee contribut e d to the success of the meetin g. +

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IFATCA '98 _______

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THE CITY OF TOULOUSE 0 D aniel CASANOVA

T

he city of Toulouse wi ll ho st the next IF A TCA Conference from Marc h th e 30t h to April 2nd 1998. The French Me mb er As sociation , APCA, has chosen Toulouse , the ca pit al of the aero nautic s industr y in Europe , to maintain the lin k between a ir traff ic control, s pace and aero n a utic tech nology. T ou lo use has been a dynamic economjc centre for two thou sand yea rs. Fro m its begi nnin gs. th e c it y h as excelled in such diver se act ivities , such as the rrulling of gra in. the manufacture of textiles , foo d and agricultur e. During Wor ld War I the French Mi litary aerona utica l industry moved to Toulou se to be far from the front line . This acti v it y c ont ribu ted to th e prospe1ity and renown of Toulou se. People ca ll Toulou se « la ville rose » (the pink cit y) . A large p a rt of the pr i vate building s and a ll th e p ubli c building are in p ink brick. Th e « Cap ito le » the city hall is th e most famo us buildin g of the cit y. In 1229 . the Second U ni vers it y in France was inaugurated in Toulouse . The city was a cultural ce ntre linking the Atlantic and the Med iterran ea n. A sy mb o l of thi s link is the « ca nal du M idi » bu ilt by Pier re Paul Riq uet in the XVI!I cen tur y. Anot h e r i s th e Cap it o l Theatre fo r Opera and Music .

Sa lle Des I/lust res

several yea rs! The role of Aerospatiale is imp orta nt. Th e head quart ers of Aerospatiale , which has six spec ifi c operating ce ntre s and emp l oys c lose to 16 ,0 00 peo pl e thr o u g h o ut France , is loca te d in Toulou se. Th e four Toulouse si tes emp loy 8 , OOOpeo pl e. For the futur e, Aero s patiale is working on the ATF milit ary plane, the A 3XX w ide bodied tran spo rt a ircraf t, the new ge nerati o n sup erso ni c aircraft an d th e future 100 sea ter , in partn ers hip with China .

Equipment suppliers a nd s ubcontractors incr ease the indu s tri a l potential. Lateco e r e , Li e bh e rr Aerospace , Mi cro turb o , Rohr Fran ce , T ec hno fa n , R a ti e r , Socata, Br eg ue tDassa ult , are all committed to lon g term pro gra mm es of European aircraft build . Toulou se's indu s trial b ase a lso co n s is t s of a n e t work of sma ll a nd medium- size d companies and indu strie s s peci a li s in g in precision me c hani cs . s he e t m e t a l m a nufactur es, s urfac e .. .. Page 2 1 tre atm ent , and on boa rd sys te ms .

THE AERONAUTICAL SECTOR L ink ed wit h T o ul o u se a re m a ny fa mou s names which includ e : C leme nt Ader. Geo rges Latecoe re, Jea n Mermo z. Anto in e de Sa int- Ex up e r y . Em il e Dewo itin e , Lo ui s Breg ue t a nd the Carave lle. Co ncorde, A irbu s. ATR ... To ulou se has participat ed in so me of mankind·s most exc itin g ac hieve ments . T he c ity is at th e he ad of a ne twork whic h in c l ud es co un t ri es fro m the Europ ea n Union. and it 's the reso ur ce ce ntr e fo r s ma ll and me dium -s ize d lea din g edg e co mpanies and indu st ries in the reg ion. In 1997. Aerospat ial e w ill h ave de l i ve re d o r tak e n o r de r s for 2700 aircraft w hi c h e quat es t o th e manu fact ur e of o ne airc raft a day fo r

18

?11111 -Ne,1(

THE CONTROLLER / DECEMBER 1997


Please, Note you can file your registration form directly on Internet to this Email address: http///www.infosalons.fr/ifa tca/ ECRETRAIT USE ONLY

EG/'lt>: ••.••••••••••••••••••••••.•••••.•

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use block lett ers or print co complete this form

Famil y Name : ......... ............ ............. ... ....... ...... ........ .

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Postal address : ................................................................................................................................

.................................................................. I ....................:......................... City: ......................... ................ .............. ......... ...... . Tel: ............................................... E-Mail:

.

Country:

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

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

Prefered name on Name Badge:

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Mobile phone : ..............................

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

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

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

Association/Organisation/Company

: .............. ...... ...... .......................... ...... ... ... ......... .... ............ ......... ...............................

D Director

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

D Deputy Director

M emb er

D D e legates Member D Individu al Member D Officer of IFATCA Full members of member Associations Must Register as One of the Above

D Observer

D Panel Speaker

An Observer/SJ,eaker is a person attending conference by invitation or approval of the executive Board. ACCOMPANYING PERSON Family Name: ...... .... ........ .. .... ...................

I= Director I.J Dele ga te member C Observer

D Accompanying person

USD USD USD USD

s u

0

T

B

T

A

u Officer L

A

U

S

AP- I TOULOUSE City tour

Tue. March, 3 l eh Wed. April, 1st Thu. Apri l, 2n d

r1 AP-2 CARCASSONNE tour AP-3 ALBI/CORDES tour

TOTAL

of IFATCA

FOR ADULT

TOTAL

Credit ca rd :

/ CHILD

A M OUNT

R (A+

persons ' pro gra m

(USD)

B ) -

~t;:T~OD

100 200 200 150

USD 15/free USD 50/25 USD 50/25

* Chi ldren under 12 years old ma y hav e 50 % discount ro parric ipare in rhe accompanying

GRAND

USD USD USD USD

D

FEE

DATE

=

First Name : ... .. ..... ..... ....... ... .... ........ .. .......... ..... .... .. .. .. .

D Deputy director D Corporate member D Individual Member

100

150 200 150

TOUR

SUB

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

-

-

-

--·-

-

-

_OF PAYMENT D Visa

Ca rd N ° : ............... .... .... .

.

J Mast ercard . ...... .......... ... ... ...... .. ..... Exp ira tion Dat e : .... .. ........ .. .. (M ) /. ...... .

Card Member ( ln block let ters): ................

. .. (Y )

.. .

Card Member 's Signature ( Same as on your ca rd) : ............

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

~lease return this farm to: IF:ATC:~98/ B.P. 247 / 93205 S'TDENIS CliDEX / France f'a-x: (+33~. 01.48.B.54.99. Mot line: (+:33).01.4'8.13.29.94

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


Please, Note you can file you r registration form directly on Internet to this Email address: http///ww w .infosalons .fr/iiatca / SECRET RA IT US E ONLY REG W' : .......... .................... .. .

HOTELRESERVAT ION FORM * Please

Family Name:

use b lock lett ers or print co comp lete this form

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

Fi rst Na m e : .... ........... .... .......... ... ..... ............ .... ..... .. ............ ...... ... ..

Postal address : ... .. .... ... .... ... ...... .... ...... ........ ... ... ...... ......... ............. .... .......... .............. ...................... ..... ......... .... ..... .. .... ... ........ ........ .. .

.................................................................. I .............................................. Ciry: ..... ............. .. ........ ....... ...... ... ....... ....... ... ..... .... . Tel: ............. ...... ... .. ........ .... ........ ... . E-Mail:

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

ROOM TYPE:

AFTN : .... ...... ..... .......... .... ...... .... .... ... ... ..... ............. .

Co unt ry : ........... ....... .... ..... ................. .... .... ... ...... ........ . .

Fax: ...... ...... ........ ... ...... .... ........ ..

Mobi le p h one : ........ .... ....... .. ..... ......... ..... .... ..

.

D SINGLE

D TWIN

/ LARGE : Sharing with .... ..... ................................

.

Please indicate hotel preferencesand tick checkonly the hotel codebox . HOTE

L CO DE

D H4 -l D H4- 2 D D

C D

CATEGORY

RATE HIGH COST MEDIUM COST LOW COST HIGH COST MEDIUM COST LOW COST HIGH COST ME DI UM COST LOW COST

H4 · 3 H 3- l H3 -2 H 3-3 H2 - l H2 -2 H 2-3

4 STARS 4 STARS 4 STARS 3 STARS 3 STARS 3 STARS 2 STARS 2 STARS 2 STARS

S I NG L E 790 650 650 SSS 480 420 420 350 250

FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

TWIN

(145 USD) (120 USO) ( 120 USD) ( 100 USO) (88 USD) (77 USD) (77 USO) (64 USD) (46 USO)

920 760 690 640 535 45 0 460 4 10 350

I L ARGE FF (168 USD) FF (140 USO ) FF (126 USO) FF (117 USD) FF (98 USO) FF ( 82 USD) FF (84 USO) FF (75 USO) FF (64 USO)

HOTEL DE POSIT

SINGLE deposit

H OT EL CO DE

H4 -1 / H4 -2 / H4 -3 I-13- 1 / I-13-2 / H 3-3 H2- l I H 2- 2 I H2 -3 TOTAL

AMOUNT

TW IN / LARGE deposit

150 CSD

170 USO 120 USO 90 USO

JOO CSD

80 USO (U

NUMBER OF ROOMS

TOTAL AMOUNT OF DEPOSIT

X .......... .. X ..... ..... .. X .... ....... .

SO)

METHOD OF PAYMENT Cred it card :

L Visa

Masc e rcard

Ca rd N ° : ... . ... .. .... ........... .. .... .. .. ....... Expiry Dace : Card Me mb er ( In block let ters):

. (M) / . .. ..

. .. (Y)

Card Me mb er Sig nature: ( Sam e as on yo ur ca rd ) PLEASE NO TE : 1. All prices includ e a 20,6% VAT gove rnm ent ·rax and service charg~. Breakfast is includ ed. 2. Shutll e buses are arranged fo r all part icipants to and from the hotels and conference & exhib ition venue Comp ans Caffarelli Center. Some of the hotels are adjo ining the SCCCT [ ATRIA i H 3-1 l, NO VO TEL (H 3- 1), BRIENNE (H 3-l ),VIDEOTEL (H2 -3),....I 1. In the event of a no show, you w ili be sub ject to a deposit room charge 4 . rill' db(lvc special rates w ill not be guar·anteed dfter Ma rch 1st , 1998 . 5. In r asf' oi hotel can,·ellatio n, w ritte n not ificati o n shou ld be sent dire ctly lo . APCA / 25 rue St Flo rent / 6 7500 HAG U ENA U / France I F;ix i + ll i O Ull l.h Ui4 .4 4 U ntil Mar ch 1st 199 7, the depo sit for HOH i. charge w ill be refund ed . There wil l be no refund ther eafter

Please return this form to: IFATCA98 / B.P. 247 / 93205 ST DEN IS CEDEX / France Fax: (+33). 01.48. 13.54.99. Hot line: (+33).01 .48.13.2 1).94


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IFATCA '98 ______

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THE FRENCH CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY IN TOULOUSE The French CAA (DGAC) has many s ite s in the city . They include the Toulouse Blagnac Tower with it s Approach Centre , the French Civil Aviation Academy (ENAC) , the research centres (CENA), the technical headquarters (STNA) , the National School of Meteorology (ENM) and the National Pilot Training Centre (SEFA). THE SPACE INDUSTRY SECTOR With the CNES , the National Centre for Space Studies, and the major firm in the space sector, Toulouse is at the heart of the most important space industry in the world , after Los Angeles. Companies involved include Matra Marconi Space, Alcatel Espace, Thomson CSF , France Telecom, ECS and Spot which is working on the satellite and Ariane launcher. It should also be noted that APCA has chosen to put GNSS on th e IFATCA meeting programme. OTHERS ACTIVITIES Toulouse i s a cross-roads of expertise . Its strength lie s in it s teachin g facilities , re sea rch , and indu stry. How eve r, the city's greatest as se t is the so lid tie s that hav e bee n established between these three fundamental aspects of eco nomic g rowth: Co -operation a nd prime contractorship , from milit a ry to the civil sector and the chain reaction. Re sea rch i s a technologic a l orientation aro und the Univer sity Paul Sabatier and engineers' high sc hools . In electronics the city ha s reaped succe ss with the manufacture of se mico nductor s and its traditional indu str ies renowned for innovation .

Canal Du Midi

Disi rict of Toulouse

THE CCNTROLLER/DECH /!3ER 1997

TOULOUSE THE MARRIAGE OF ART AND THE ART OF LIVING Toulouse is a medium size city on the Ri ve r Garonne which cultivate s a running dialogue between the life of the city today and it s herit age. It offer s a rare , lively touri stic ex perience . Stop to admire « Th e Renai ssa nce Hote l »; to your s urpri se it 's an admini strative office or serv ice com pany or law firm ! Walk along a street that dates back to Rom an times which is lined with more boutiques than the bes t shoppi ng mall. The pink coloured c it y ca n t a k e pride, a mon g o th e r thing s, in hav ing achieved two notewort hy distinction s: it has the larges t landmark area in France a nd th e hi g h est den s ity of sh o p s. Bounded by th e innermo s t ring of boulevards , within which is located the Conference Ce ntre and the city's historic ce ntre, covering more than 200 hectares where yo u ca n enjoy a comp lete visit. ln the « cafe », « bar )} and « bar a vins » yo u can enjoy the life of the city. Due to a Spa nish influ ence, the peop le stay up late into the night. Th e students brin g a n unu s ua l atmo s phere to the street s and make up a large percentage of the popul ation . In the res taurant s yo u may c hoose the produ cts of Gascon y , on the left bank ) or Lan guedoc (on the

right b ank) along with all the other famous products of Fra nc e. Toulouse ' s culinar y special i ties include « casso ulet », « ravio li de foie gra s » , « confit de canard » and the famous « sa uc isse de To ulouse » with the local wines from Madiran , Buzet and Cahor s . T o ul ouse ha s a lo ng history a s a cult ural capital , the land of Occitan marked by the achievements of painter s such as P ierre Subleyras or Toulou seL a utr ec (the famous French Cancan paint er) and writers suc h as Jean Cassou or Kl ebe r Haedens. In the field of mu s ic , the c it y adored great singers including Mer ly. Capo ul. .. and Pierr e Nougaro. The « Orc hestre National du Capito le » managed by M ichel Plasson has enjoyed succe ss for over 20 years. R eme mber the Ta n go was born in Toulo use with Ca rlos Gardel. Toulouse mixes traditional cultur e with the Augustin museum . P a ul Dupuy , Refectoire des Jacobins , Espa ce d ' Art Moderne and sci e n t ifi c c ultur e with a visit to Aerospatial ' s fact o ry o r the « cite de 1·espace » . In Franc e we sa y ·' Wh e n yo u a re workin g in aviati o n. yo u have to spe nd time in To ulo use . and it will a lways be a good mem ory.·· WELCO l\:lE TO TOULO USE +

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IFACTA SYMPOSIUM

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ATC IN AFRICNMIDDLE EAST AT THE CROSS- ROADS 0 An extrac t fr om an article provid ed by Willi am K Shamu of ATCAZ

T

he fo urth IFATCA A ir T raffic Co ntro l

Symposi u m was h os ted b y th e Air Traffic Co n tro ll e r s Assoc ia ti o n o f Zimbabwe (A TCAZ) on be half of lF A TC A. The symposium was held in the Ho lid ay Inn Crowne Plaza , in Harare, from 4 to 6 Jun e , 1997. The even t was a tt ended b y 14 5 participants from 19 Me m be r Assoc iati o n s, non-Member Associat ions and represe ntative fro m ICAO , IATA . I FA LP A a n d ot h e r corporate gro ups. Th e sym pos ium was opene d by the Preside nt of A TCAZ , Mr R ic h ar d Maradze w h o we lcome d th e IFA T CA President and Exec utive Boar d toge ther w ith all the delegates to Harare. T he D irec to r of Civil Aviation in Harare, M r Amos Marawa , introdu ce d the g u est of ho n o u r , t h e Honourable Ministe r of Tran spo rt and Ene rgy,

Z imb ab we, g ive n b y th e Z imb ab we Chi e f

fru strati ons th at co nt ro llers w ithin the reg io n

Dr Simon Khaya ope ned the event .

A ir T raffic Co ntro l O ffice r, M r M Mhl anga . · A R ev iew of de m a nd a n d sys te m

are hav ing to face.

ceremo n y, th e

Capac ity', g ive n by Mr Trevo r Fox of IAT A

sy mp os ium was that gove rnm ents mu st take

Mo y o , w h o officia ll y

Fo ll ow ing the opening IF AT C A President

A m o n gs t th e r eso luti o n s from

th e

and C hi ef Exec uti ve

a n d Ca pt a in R ay m o nd M u ka h a n a n a o f

the initi ative in recti fy ing the situat io n in the

Officer. Mr Preben Lauridsen. ou tlin ed th e objectives of the sympo sium and defi ned the

Aff reta ir. 'Tra inin g the Reg io ns Co ntro llers, g ive n

reg ion in acco rda nce w ith Ar tic le 28 of the

foca l point of the mee ting as add re ss ing the deficienc ies and problems assoc iated wit h air

by Mr Robe rt P urki ss of A ir T raff ic a nd Nav iga ti o n Sys te m s in So uth A fr ica a nd fro m the sa me o rga nisatio n Mr Vic Va n de r

traffic co ntrol in Africa . The major is s ues includ ed: The neg lect by so me authorit ies to co m p ly with ICAO Standards a nd Recommended Pract ices (SA RPS )

Fac ilities and Se rvices ' . It was reco mm e nded that all States should re inves t av iati o n re lated fees int o th e A T C infr as tru c tur e of th e ir States . It is co nsidered ab so lute ly necessary to

- Lack of prop er tra ining - Poor eq uipm ent

prese nta tio n on the ' Opera tional Use of ADS ' .

fund equipm ent. trainin g and re mun e ratio n of personne l and other safety re lated co nditi o ns .

T he !FA T CA Hum an Fac tors Spec ia list.

S ta tes we re ur ge d to co mpl y w ith all

- Poor working co ndi tion s

Be rt R uit e n be r g spoke o n ' ATC Re late d

Int e rn a ti o n a l Av ia ti o n S t a n da rd s a n d

- T h e c ha irman made it c lea r that the

Huma n Factor s A s pect s in CNS/A T M Sys te m s·.

IFA T CA supp or ted th e c rea ti o n of a sa fe ty ove rsig ht o rga nisa tio n und er the a uspices o f

the me of the sy mpos ium meant that Africa n air traffic co ntro l mana ge me nt is . indeed . at the c ross-roads i.e. the roa d tha t le ad s to disaster and the other to a sys te m of inc reased air traffic safety and e fficienc y . The sympo sium had a to ta l or 8 working se,s ions inc ludin g 22 wo r ki ng pap e rs . Th e report, and prese n ta t io n s i nc I u d e d t h e followi ng: !CAO report hy Mr A Kharu ga on beha lf of the ICAO Regiona l Representati ve. A pr ese nta ti o n e n t itl e d ·Aeronautica l Infrastru cture De fic ie nc ies in the AF I Reg ion· from Cathy Bill. the Ge nera l Manager of the A irline Pilots Assoc iation or South Africa and IFAL PA re prese ntati ve A n · Over v iew or ATS in th e AFM Re gio n · g iven b y O li \·e r Fa rira y i . th e IFATC A Regional Vice Pre side nt. An m ·c r\ ic" or the a ir traffic se rvice, in

22

Wes thui ze n gave a repo rt o n the ' So uth ern Afr ica n Deve lo pm e nt Co mmunit y CNS/A T M T ask Fo rce .' EV P T ec hni ca l. Ma r t in Co le gave a

Chicago Co nve nti o n. T his A rticl e states that ' the State has the ultim ate res po nsibilit y for the prov ision and o pe rati o n of A ir Nav iga tio n

A n add ress o n ·co mm e rc ia lis ati o n of

!CAO to v is it. b y in v it a ti o n . a reas w he re

C iv il Av iatio n A uth o riti es· was g ive n b y

safe ty co nce rns have bee n ex presse d . A lthough the bus iness o f the sy mp os ium was by n a tur e add ress in g so m e se ri o u s issues , the mood was lighte ned soc ia lly by the exce ll e nt a rr angemen t s m a d e by th e Zimb abwe Or ga nising Co mmitt ee. A cock tail

Wing Commander G ha na.

A nd y K Me n sa h fr o m

T he IFA T CA EV P Pro fes sion al. Sa nd y Opp e nh e im o utlin ed the IFATCA po licy on pri vatisatio n . M ess r s Bar r y Maw s o n a nd A nt o n y Besw ick . from !CAO, spok e abo ut 'Sa fe tyth e Nee d for Reg u la ti o n ' a nd ·Acc id e nt / Incid e nt Inves tigat io n·. Group Cap ta in Fra n k Oky ne made a pres e nt a ti o n on ·c iv il /M ilit a r y Coo rd inatio n ·. Ar m a nd Pe re ira spoke abo ut th e 1979

part y was he ld o n th e eve nin g pri o r to th e eve nt and an exce llent d inn er was hosted for th e de leg ates a t the Mo noomota pa Crow ne P la z a . w h ere li g ht e nt e rt a inm e nt was pro vided by the Z im babwe Po lice Ba nd. T he dinn e r was Di ve r s if ied

ge n ero u s ly s po n s or e d by In ternat iona l

Corpo r a ti o n . a Co r po r ate

Se r v ices

Mem b e r

of

IFA T CA. O n th e la s t clay o f th e eve nt. a

I LO Reco mm e ndat io ns. S uppo rt Gro up Me mb er gave a de tailed and

farewe ll dinn er was e njoyed by a ll under the g e ne ro u s s pon s o r s hi p of Aff ri::tair. a

disturb ing in s ig h t int o the prob le m s a nd

Zi mbabwe an Ca rgo Airline.

A lb e rt Ta y lo r . a n IFATCA

Reg io na l

+

THE CONTROLLER / DECEMBER 1997


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W ORL

0 Patrick Schelling,

Contributing

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_

AYS Editor slightly larger envelope but keep s the same nacelle he use d on previous trip s. The B a ll oon of K ev in Ulia ss i from Arizona, unlike all other teams using Cameron envelopes , will be white as it doe s not have a second sk in . Both th e Virgin a nd the Breitling ballo ons had to abbreviate their mis sion earlier this year for technical rea so ns . Both are b ack - with new equipment. Bertrand Piccard rece ntly briefed this editor about the preparation for the flight with the Breitling Orbiter 2 .

Breitling Orbiter 1 is prepared for take -off at Chateau D 'oex, Switzerland.

O

ne of the last grea t adve ntur es in mode rn hi s tory w ill b e to c ir cu mna v igate the g lo b e in a

Thi s co min g 97/98 w inter seaso n (north e rn he mi spher e) , no less than five att e mpt s h ave been announced to - go

balloon - non- sto p. In 1863, Jul es Verne

w ith th e w ind - aro und th e world!

had dreams about balloon ing (F ive W ee ks in a Balloon) althoug h it was sc ie nc e fiction based o n ass um ed technological progress . Aided by to d ay ' s tec hn o logy and with a lot of perse vera nce , a few individuals are gett ing closer to fulfillin g this dream. T here is no doubt that , o ne day , someo ne wi ll succ ee d - and air traffi c co ntrollers arou n d t h e wo rld may potentia lly contrib ute to thi s success. On 13 Ja nuary th is year , balloon pilot Steve Fossett took off in St.Lo ui s (USA) a nd flew his " So lo S pirit " ac ro ss th e At lantic Ocean , via south of Spa in , Nort h Africa, Saudi Ara bi a and all the way to India. He landed the balloon after 6 da ys, 2 ho ur s a nd 44 minut es and so me 16.673 .8 1km in dista nce. W ith thi s fli ght , he set two records: one fo r d urat ion and the other for distance. Th is was a remarkab le ac hieveme nt, co nsiderin g that Fossett wa s a lo ne a nd us in g re lative ly unsoph isti cate d eq ui pme nt. Hi s nacel le

co ntend e r s can b e classified in t wo categories: the " hi g h " flyer s (around 12 ,000 m ) and th e "lower" fly ers, who w ill be c rui sin g at around 5000 mete rs. H oweve r , th ese a re no t th e o fficial cla ss ifi ca tion s of the F e d e ration Aero nautique lnt ernati onale (FAI ). In fact the FAI records are cla ssified according to the size of the balloon. Th e three " high " flying contenders are Rich ard Bran so n, Per Lind strand and Rory McCarthy w ith th e Vir g in Gl o bal C hall e n ge r ; Bertrand Pic ca rd , Wim V erstraete n a nd And y El so n w ith th e Bre itlin g Orbiter 2 and Ri chard Abruzzo and Dick Rut an using a Cameron Ball oo n featur ing a 12,000 cubic meter s envelope. Mo st of th e above crew are ex perience d av iato rs hav ing parti cipat ed in other long ran ge ballo o nin g act iviti es . Howeve r, Di c k Rutan , re lat ive ly new in ballooning co mp et itio n, ho ld s the no n-s top aroundthe-wo rld reco rd in a (p urp ose built ) twin engine aerop lane - the Voya ge r. Togeth er w ith Jea na Yeage r, the y co mpl eted th e fli ght in fou r and a half da ys in Jul y 1986. A t lowe r altitud es , the two co ntenders are Amer ica n ball oo ni sts, and the y w ill e mbark a lo ne' Steve Fo sse tt w ill use a

was not press uri sed , a ltho ugh cr ui sing at an a ve rag e a ltitu de of 20.0 00ft' H is ba lloon was a Ro z iere t y pe . u s ing a co mhinat io n of gas and hot air to stay aloft .

24

Th ese

NEW NACELLE A n ew nacelle has been s pecially de signed for thi s mis sion . To pr eve nt a kerosene leak inside the cabin, which wa s the cause of the dow ning of the first flight , the propellant is now stored in six external fuel bags. While creating additional space for storage , this change has po se d another problem : since outside temperatur e can reach - 70 ° C at night , a special type o f kero se ne fuel with low freez ing point had to be obtained and pro cessed eve n furth er. The pow er supply will co me mainly from solar powe r. Num ero us so lar panels han g in g be low th e go ndol a will charge lea d ac id batt e ries ca pabl e of suppl y in g norm al daily requir ements. Lif e support is provid ed by an almo st silent syste m th at "scrubs" carbon di ox ide from the atmosphere . Oxygen is replac ed from a liquid oxyge n supply co ntroll ed by co mput e r. If th e p e rce nt age of atmo sph e ric gases goes outside pr ese t limit s, an alarm so und s and the crew can make manu al adjustments. Th e sys te m is full y duplic ated and modul ar, so that in eve nt of fa ilure it ca n be replac ed by crew members. Liquid azote (nitrogen) is used to co mp e nsa te fo r pr ess ur e loss. A s in comm e rcial aircraft. th e cab in i s artifi c ia lly kept at a (pr ess ur e) a ltitud e betwee n 2,800 and 3,000 meters. To avoid surpri ses , th e ca bin has bee n ex tensive ly tes ted , at a resea rch ce ntr e in Fran ce . to + 12,000 meters and -55°C. On thi s trip , th e sca rce li v in g space w ill be occ upi e d by thr ee m e n. A nd y E lson Joi ns Be rtrand Pic c ard and Wim Ver straete n, to take th e function of flight e ngin ee r. He turn e d hi s a tt e ntion to ..,.., --------

TH E CONTROLLER / DECEMBER 1997


______

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Internal pressure equiva lent to 3,500 m (12,000 ft). Hull tested to withstand a pressure differential of more than 10,000 m (33,000 ft).

SPECIAL FEATURE _ _ ____

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_ _ _

Insulation and sound reduction pro vided by two specific layers of foam.

Tubular hull constructed from Kevlar and carbon fiber.

ball oo nin g in 1986 and quickl y bec am e th e wo rld' s ackn ow leclgecl expert in hi g h a ltitud e flyin g. culminating in th e fir st cros s in g of Mt Evere s t b y b a ll oo n in 1991: se ttin g so m e seve n ballo o nin g world r eco rd s along th e way. H e deve lo ped the spec ial burn e rs nee ded to operate a ball oo n a t 3 0 ,000 f ee t and abo ve . For the last two ye ar s he has bee n wo rkin g o n pe rfec tin g th e des ig n of the sys te ms necessa ry to e nable a ba llo o n to circumna v igat e the ea rth. Th e Bre itlin g Orbit er 2 is the result of thi s wo rk.

THE ROZIER COMBINED BALLOON DESIGN Th e Br e itlin g Orbiter 2 f ea tur es a "roz ier" (o r roz iere) des ign, nam ed for its o rig inal inve ntor. the 18th ce ntur y Fr e nch phy s ic ist and aeros tati cs pion ee r Fra rn;:ois Pi latr e de Roz ier. rev ive d a nd imp roved t wo d ec ad es ago b y D o n Ca m ero n. A "ro zier" balloo n co mpri ses a doubl e skin . o r e n ve lo pe . a nd co nt a in s both ho t a ir a nd a gas. H e lium h as no w b ee n

THE CONTROL LER/DECEMBER 1997

sub stituted for th e fl a mm ab le hydro ge n o f ea rli e r clays w he n Do n Ca mero n m ade hi s fir s t attempt to cross th e At la nti c Oc ea n aboard suc h a ball oo n. Th e ad va nt age of thi s type of balloon i s that. in s t ead of h av in g t o j e tti so n b a lla st a t s und ow n in o rd e r to s low it s ¡c1esce nt , th e h o t -a ir burn e r s ca n b e sw itch e d o n t o s t a bili se th e craft's a ltitud e , with o nl y a tin y quantit y of prop a ne re quir e d to wa rm th e he lium. Furth e rm o re. such a ba lloo n nee d not be a s large as a he lium -fill ed d es ig n laden w ith to ns o f ba lla st. A sa fe. in e rt gas. h e lium is thu s co nt a ined in a sph e re loc at e d in s ide th e hot-a ir ba llo o n. A t th e start. the sph ere is on ly ha lf - fill ed w ith he lium. Durin g th e asce nt pha se . lesse nin g pr ess ur e a nd ris ing gas te mp e ratur e ca use d by the heat of th e s un ex pand th e h e lium t o it s co mpl ete "c rui sin g" vo lum e. T he syste m i s d es i g n ed t o ve nt h e liu m gas a utom a ti ca ll y if it s pr ess ur e becom es excess i ve. In ot h e r wo rd s. a "ro z 1e r"

balloon depend s on the heat of the sun by clay a nd the heat o f propane gas at night. Even if th e balloon experienced a m aj o r loss of h e li um. it would r emain a lof t. turni ng it se lf into a c lass ic hot-air ba ll oon . If a l l went c atas trophic ally wro ng. th e b a lloo n fab ri c would double as a g i an t par ac hut e. keeping the ba ll oo n's desce nt rate at 5 111 (about 16 fee t) pe r seco nd. Sho ul d it actua ll y fa ll faste r than that. the thr ee crew memb e r~ wo uld st rap o n back-up pa rach u tes and ex it th e caps ul e . T he c rew actually went thr oug h t hi s eme r ge n c y p r ocedu r e during the test in th e press ur e chamber. where s imul at e d a l titud e a nd l ow tempe r at u res came close to r ea l co ndit io ns . The material used for th e e nve lope or th e Breitling Orb ite r 2 is n y lon fabri c we lded to a heli um -tig ht me mbran e . The ho t- a ir co ne fabr ic is a lso made of nylon. It a lso fea tur es an o uter prot ec ti ve skin . a luminum - coated o n b o th side~ . designed to pro \'icle b ertcr co nt rol of Ill-....

25


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_ _ ___

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thermal exc hang es between the ba lloon and the atmo sph e re , mod era ting sol ar radiations in da y time and co n serv ing hea t in si de t h e b a lloon a t night. To provide better in s ulation of the area where the helium valve is located, a tent -like struc ture ri ses at the top of the balloon, kept firm by a small, heliumfilled ba ll oo n and feat urin g a solar powered fa n to avoid overheating of the area in the daytime. The outer sk in it se lf is reinforced from top to bottom by a net wo rk of so lid polyester strap s to h e lp it s u stain the fully loade d capsule's four ton s. The b a lloon's main envelope w ill h ave a volume of 16,500 cubic meters (582 ,800 cubic fee t) a nd a hei g ht of 53 m e ter s (just under 177 fee t).

MISSION CONTROL A contro l centre w ill be in sta lled at the Geneva Airp ort Main T erminal. Here t he progress of the balloon w ill be m o nitored . Apa rt from th e tec hnic a l con straint s and the depe nd e nce on th e weather co n dit ion s , there i s a third di men s ion that can cause so m e he a da c he s to orga ni sers of s uch ex pe d ition s : the overfl ig ht clearance s . A lt ho ugh mo st of t he co untri es h ave a lr e ad y positi vely re s ponded to o ver flight reque s t s for the B re itlin g O rbi ter 2, so me ha ve not even replied' C lea ranc es fr o m the to-be -o v e rfl ow n na ti o n s are vit a l , s pecia ll y af t e r the s h oot in g do w n of a Virg in I s l a nd s reg ister ed ballo on by Bye loru ss ian arm ed fo rce s participatin g in the Cou pe Gordon Be nn e tt of I 995. Two ba ll oo n pi lo ts , A lan Fra e nck e l and Jo hn Stuart-Jervis , los t th eir lives . To avo id anot he r tra gic in c ident. the co nt ro l cen tr e s staff w ill p art ic ul a rl y focu s on o btaining th e se clearanc es by using all po ss ibl e channe ls . Co mmun icat ion s eq ui pm e nt on board in c ludes two HF radio s fo r worldw id e co mmunic a ti o n s: tw o V H F rad ios fo r co mmun ication s w ith ot her a irc raft. a ir tra ff ic co ntrol ce ntr es and airfi e ld s: two Inm a rsat C sat e lli te dat a tr a n s mi ss io n sys te m s: on e Inmar s at M and one Inm a r s at Mini - M s at e ll it e v oic e communi cati o n sys te m - both pro viding di a l- u p te le ph o ne co nn e c t io n s w h e n fly ing ove r hi g hly populat ed ar eas: t wo rad ar tran spond e rs to show the po s iti on a nd a ltitud e o f th e ba ll oo n o n ground bas ed radar s. ..,__., -

26

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SPECIAL FEATURE-----

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OU TER

MYLAR -

/--..../--

SKIN GAS CELL

52.5 M

LOWER GAS FABRIC

0 .5 M

I

2 .25 M

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THE CONTROLLER / DECEMBER 1997


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FEATURE ________________

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The ca ll s ign will be HB-QBV "Breitling Olympic Balloon '' . Should communication in Engli s h become a probl em , a se t of specific language tape s have been prepared for the diffu sio n of a me ssage ex plaining the mission , says Bertrand Piccard. A last resort communication capability is being eva luated as preparation is ongoing for the flight. It is foreseen to have a translator at the mission control centre should severe langu age problem s ari se.

ATC ISSUES For an air traffic controller, it is not a big problem to route traffic around a tar ge t that i s visible through a transponder return on a radar sco pe (screen). The difficulty is in area s wher e there is no radar. Here , the only solution is for the controller to assure vertical (procedural) separation. Thi s will require the crew to be extremely precis e when communicating their flight level in order for ATC to take the appropriate m a rgin. Balloon pilot s have been found " cheating" in th e past about their real altitude for competitive reasons, which could po se a h azar d to other airspac e use rs (see The Controller issue 1/96). Thi s will not be the case for thi s record attempt , asserts Piccard . Addition a lly , the b a lloon is equipped with dual GPS rec eiver s. Th ese are connected to a laptop computer to chart the fli g ht path . At any time, the exact po s ition can be interro ga ted from the ground by the team at mi ssio n control. As during th e fir st Orbiter flight earlier this year , Intern et surfe rs w ill be ab le to follow th e progre ss of the ballo on on Breitling 's Horn e Page (www.breitling-orbiter.ch). Naturally , the crew of Breitling Orbit er 2 will seek to rid e th e two m a in j et str ea m currents to m ove them aro und th e wor ld: the polar jet stream loca ted between N30th and N60th parall e ls at about 9,000 m (30,00 0 fee t) and, more import ant , the more south ernl y subtropical j et stream between N20th and N30th para lle ls, at an altitud e of 12,000 rn (40,000 feet). Jet stream currents are sh aped so m ewhat lik e flatten ed tube s some 500 to I ,OOOkm (300 to 600 mile s) wide and I to 3 km (2 mile s) in height. They exte nd for th o u sa nd s o f kilometres und e r th e tropopaus e at a n a ltitude of 9.000 to 14,000 m (5.5 to 8.5 mile s) depending on the latitud e. Th ey can reach speeds of 300 and occas io nall y eve n 400 k .p.h . ( 185 and 250 mph ) alo ng th e eas tern sea board of the U.S . and in As ia during winter. Needless to say that any change in flight level requ es ted by ATC would be detriment al. Should the balloon be requ ested to descend w hil e riding a favourable c urr e nt , the c re w wo uld probably not be ab le to join the current again within reaso nabl e time and the mission could be comprom ised, acco rdin g to Piccard. Departure of the Breitlin g Orbiter 2 w ill be mad e from the Swi ss Alpine ski resort Chatea u d'Oex. Take-off is foresee n from th e 30t h No ve mb e r onward s - looking for a favourable meteorological window. An AFTN distributed Flight Plan wi ll be se nt to all like ly-to -be-ove rflown region s. Bertrand Picca rd co ncede s, that help and encourage ment from a ir traffi c contro ll e rs ha s a lways been exce ll e nt and th e ir profe ss iona l ad vice ext reme ly valuab le. The re is no doubt in his mind , that the co ntro llers aro und the world ca n play an imp ortant role for the succe ss of such a miss ion . Let' s see who has one of the contender s on the frequ ency... + THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1997

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27


_________

AGENDA1997/8

_ REGIONAL MEETING ___

____

EUROPEAN REGIONA

__

_

MEET

3rd - 5th OCTOBER 1997 DECEMBER 10 - 11 IFATCA Symposium ATC' 97 Asia Pacific , Bali, Indonesia Contact - Miller Freeman Phone +44 181 302 8585 Fax +44 181 742 3182

15 - 17 Asia Airports Meet Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India Contact - Clive Richardson Phone - +44 1819107746 Fax +44 1819107747 e-mail clive.richardson@reedexpo .co.uk FEBRUARY 12 - 15 IFATCA Executive Board Meeting , Montreal Contact Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone +44 1635 24 7890 Fax +44 1635 247891

17 EGATS Forum -ATC 98 'How Far Can You Stretch an Air Traffic Controller ' Maastr icht, The Netherland s Contact - EGATS Phone - +31 43 3661 234 Fax - +31 43 3661 541 e-mail - egats@tip.nl 17 -19 ATC 98 Maastricht, The Netherlands Contact -

Jane 's Information Group Phone - +44 181 700 3700 Fax +44 181700 3859

28

0 Guenter Melchert, Exec utive Vice Preside nt, Europ e This year's European Regional Meeting took place in Noordwijk aan Zee. a vi ll age located some 40 kms out of Ams te rd am, The Ne th erlands. from 3 - 5 Oc tober. Control lers from 41 European Member Assoc iations had been invited to spe nd a few day s on the coas t of the North Sea on th e occa s ion of th e Ne th er lands Guild of Ai r Traffic Controller s 40th a nni versary a nd many of them accep ted the invitation . Th e Ne th er la nd s G uild of Air Traffic Controller s was fo und ed on 7th September 1957 and it was wi th so me pride th at our Dutch Membe rs announced that , after th e fou ndin g conference of lF A TCA Amsterdam 196 I, and th e 2 1st ann ua l conference in 1982 , thi s was the third time th at th e Nether lands had hosted an import ant lFATCA eve nt. T he m eeting took place a t the H o te l Noordzee, a re lat ive ly small, quiet hote l at the sea s id e, over look in g th e roug h No rth Sea. I arrived in Amsterdam o n the Frid ay mo rnin g w he re I was met by the Organ ising Comm ittee w ho were bu sy complet ing the last preparations for the even t. Af te r Da ve Grace , Regional Vice Pr es id e nt T ec hni c al h ad arrived and Bert Ruir e nb erg. whom man y of yo u w ill remember a s th e Pa s t Exec uti ve Vice Pre s ident Pr ofess io nal of the Federat ion , we took a forty minute dri ve ro Noo rd w ijk-aan-Zee. For so me of the part icipan ts wo rk h ad started a lready o n the Friday afternoo n. Mo st of th e IFATCA re pre se ntativ es to EUROCONTROL and !CAO/Europe atte nded a m ee t in g of tec hni ca l a nd p rofe ss ional re pre se ntati ves. Th e mee ting wa s c ha ired by Da ve Grace from GATCO. Th e meeting was extreme ly va luabl e to tho se att e nding and thi s was exp ress ed c lea rl y b y H a nne s Z iegler. IFA TCA" s Repr ese nt a ti ve to the HRT , th e Hum an Reso urce Team of EATC HIP , when he stat ed that w ithout a co mpr ehensive knowledg e o f the mo st rece nt de ve lo pm ents in the technical fie ld. the wo rk in the HRT co uld nut be assesse d a ppropriatel y . Not th e leas t. thi s me e ting of re pr ese nt at ives se r ve d as an opportun ity for tho se vo lunt ee rs wo rkin g for the Fede ration to meet a nd ge t to know each other. During thi s mee tin g I had th e hono ur to we lco me Mr. C hri s Brain u f EUROCONTROL w ho had co me tu No urd w ijk to di scus s w ith o ur re pr ese ntati ves the new EUROCONT ROL M a rk e ting Strat e g y and th e mea ns by w hi c h I FA T CA and al I it s me mb e rs co uld be ne fit from thi s s trat eg y in ob tai ning mor e informat ion o n th e wo rk of th e agency: in particu lar EA T C HIP .

From the Organising Co mmitt ee' s point of v iew ther e were several la te reg is trati o ns and eve n m ore la te cance ll a ti o n s as we ll as a number of p eop le w h o h ad regi s tered. n o t showing up . Unfortunately. thi s ha s beco me a common practi ce at these meetin gs and ca uses cons id era ble problem s in term s of roo m payment s a nd registration fees . Although the lif e of air tr aff ic contro ll e rs is so m et im es dictated by lat e -c ha ng in g wo rk co mmitm e nt s and other un fo resee n c irc umstan ces , I s ho uld lik e to remind th ose ha v ing reg iste red and not s h ow n up , th a t it create s a good deal of problems and a loss of fund s. In the int eres t of futur e meetings we a ll should try to a ssis t the Organi sing Co mmitt ee and keep th e numb er of participants to tho se registered. The traditi o n a l ge t-t oge th er o n Friday eve nin g took place in the Aviaclome at Schiphol Airport and was spon sored by Schiphol Airport Authority. As usual thi s mee tin g se rved to re new o ld acquaintance s and es tab lish new ones. I have to say that it is a lways a pleas ure to see so man y we ll know n faces at o ur mee tin gs. Many yea rs of opera ti ona l a ir traffi c co ntrol expe ri e nc e ga thered in the A viadome and the exc ha nge of old and new ex perie nces acids to the ex pe rtise of tho se present ing the controllers ' viewpoi nt o n beha lf of the Federation to the av iation indu stry. On Saturda y m o rnin g the m ee tin g was addressed by Mr. He nk Waltman. th e Pres iden t of th e Ne th e rl a nd s Gui ld of A ir Traff ic Contro ll e rs fo ll owed by an address b y Mr. Pe te r Pe lt. a former !F A TCA re pres e ntativ e. Af ter a short ope nin g ad dr ess by EVP Europe the mee ting starte d its work. It is notewo rth y to menti o n that thi s year路s wo rkin g sess io ns we re atte nd ed by Mr. Jea n-Daniel Monin. a form e r Pres ide nt of the Fede ration and long-s tanding chairman of !CAO FLO Mee tin gs and Mr. Lex He nd rik s, a former Exec uti ve V ice Pr es ide nt Tec hni ca l of lFATCA and c urr e nt c hairm an of th e Air s pac e and Naviga ti o n T ea m in EATC HlP . The latt e r a lso ga ve a ve r y int e res tin g pr ese ntation on Sunday o n th e progr ess of work th e ANT i s ab o ut to undertak e. Th e m ee ting wa s co n duct e d in a n ew fo rmat thi s yea r . Th e f ir st cla y s aw al l aclmin istrati o nal age nd a ite m s dea lt w ith w h ile th e plan s we re to co ntinu e on S un da y wi th di sc uss ion s on tec h nical is su es. In fact. we ru s he d through th e a dmini s trati o na l matt e rs quit e quickl y w hich a l low ed us to ha, 路e a ll the tec hni c a l 1路e port s pre se nt e d o n Sat urd a y aft e rno o n . T o illu s trat e th e hu ge amo unt o f wo rk co nduct ed in th e Europ ea n Reg io n. I list tho se fie lds w he re re port s we re de li, 路e red :

THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER

1997


_ _ _ _ ___

_ __

REGIONAL

MEETING _________

_

NG NOORDW JK AAN ZEE Report of RVP Tech nica l. .. .. . . . . ..... Report of ODT ....

.. . . . ......

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

. . . ......

. .......

Report of ANT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Report of ODIAC. .....

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

Report of APDSG . ....

. .......

Report of EATMS . .....

Report of I-IRT ....

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

. . ... .....

. . .. . .. ....

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

Philip Mar ien

Michael Schops . . Robert Sant

. .......

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

Report of ATFM Situation . ....

MARCH

. .. . . . . .. . .. . . . ... Simone Cecchetti , Sergio Perdicch i

Report of AWOG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Report of SMAN .....

Dave Grace .. Tard Gu stavs son

. . . ... . .. Cat harina de Decker ....

AGENDA1997/8

Stephanie Simmonds

9 - 11 Inter Airport Dubai Contact - Mack Brook s Exhibitions Ltd Phone +44 1707 275641 Fax +44 1707 275544

. . .. . . . Hanne s Zieg ler

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

A ll report s we re liste ned to w ith extre me inte res t but did not create as mu ch di sc uss ion a s clicl th e for th coming impl e mentation of Reclucecl V e rtical Separation Minimum (RVSM ) in E urop e. The leadin g question still was , if a s in g le o r double a lt e rnate sys te m should be impl e me nted w hen RVSM is in place by 200 I . As the nex t me etin g of the ANT was expec ted to take th e dec is io n o n thi s issue it wa s imperati v e t o the m ee tin g t o tak e a s tandp o int o n thi s m atte r. After co n sid e rabl e d isc uss ion th e E uropean Reg ion cleciclecl to go fo r th e s in g le alternate op ti o n , prov ide d a numb e r of inev itable requir e me nts in the fie ld of test ing a nd eva luati o n were met. In th e ad mini s trati o n a l field. th e forthcoming e stabli s hm e nt of th e European Fu nd was a nn o un c e d. The fund h a s b e e n es ta b li s h ed in a Dutch Ba nk a nd furt h er information is g ive n e lsewhere in thi s re port. On Saturda y eve nin g the del ega tes had the chanc e lo e xpe rienc e a dinner of a diff e re nt kind 111 ··s urpri s in g.. Am s te rd a m. KLM . TR ANS A VIA had in v ite d us to a re s ta u ra nt ca lled --Je Ee nhoo rn· ·. Th e res taurant' s inte rior wa s shap ed like an old sailin g shi p and be fo re the ··Captain .. a llo wed us to co me o n boar d we wer e e nterta ined in front o f the restaurant by his crew. The e nt e rt ai nm e nt e nclecl w ith a toa st accompan ied by so me orig inal Dutch Sc hnapp s which got us in the mood for the thing s to com e - and the re was much to com e ' Be fore we sat clown for dinn e r we enjoye d wa tchin g the c rew ge t a ll the shi ps tac kle on deck. w hic h in thi s c ase was a som e what c umb er so me pro ce dur e . How eve r. it mad e many people think that be ing an a ir traf"fic controll er might be an e as ie r job than be in g a sailo r in th e 18 th c e ntur y . Th e d inn er wa s diff ere nt bu t e xce lle nt and e ndl ess reso ur c e s o f all kind s of liquid s m ad e th e eve ning an un for ge ttab le eve nt. Wh en at last the mu s ic start ed to tak e us on a jo urn ey o ve r the Seve n Seas ev erybod y fe lt like a sa ilor. If yo u we re n·1 the re. you ce rtainly mi sse d somethin g. Th e Sund ay wo rking sess io n sta rted w ith two pr ese ntaiinn s. First. Lex Hendrik s gave a p rese nt a t ion o n the wo rk o r th e AN T. Thi s pr ese nt a ti o n was ve r y in fo rm a t i ve and s tru c tur e d and th e re for e ga1 ·e an exce ll e nt

THE CONT ROLLER /DECEMBER 1997

Philippe Domagala

ove r v iew o n th e d evelop m e nt s in th e A ir Navigation Do m a in. The seco nd presentation wa s g ive n by Mr. Robin Baker a nd Mr. A l Bailey from the UK CAA Safety Reg ul at io n Group on their project wo r k towards h a rm o ni s ed ATC li ce ns in g in Europe. Thi s presentation was g ive n o n behalf of EUROCONTROL/ HRT. Th e pr ese nt a tion s were fo ll owecl by numb er of que s ti on s . A numb e r of iss ue s European co nt ro ll e r s w ill have lo co pe w ith in th e mid-t erm future. such as Free Routing . we re a lso cliscusse cl. After th e pre se nt atio n s a nd final di sc uss io ns o n th e RVSM iss ue we turned to th e MA 's report s . It pro ved to have been a g rea t advantage in having se nt out al l tech nica l paper s by the beg innin g of Sept e mber - th ank s to the ve ry effec tive work o f our Reg iona l V P T ec hni ca l. Dav e Grace. Add iti o nall y . we had so me 30 9'~ of MA re port s in around the agr eed deadline of 3 1st of Aug ust, a llow ing them to be c ir c ul a ted a b ou t two wee ks be fore th e RM. Compa red w ith last ye ar. MA· s pe rform a nce in send ing in the re port s had inc rease d by alm os t 200 % . I hop e that ne xt yea r thi s fig ur e w ill furth e r imp rov e . Thi s procedur e cuts lim e use d fo r MA re port s q uit e con side rab ly a nd allows amp le time for di sc uss ion s o n real issues . The meet ing was brought to a c lose ea rl y o n S und ay aft e rnoon a nd l be lieve it wa s a n e fficient a nd ve ry we ll org a ni se d eve nt. T he Ne the rland s Gu ild ha s clone a gr eat job and the mee ting d id not see an y prob le m w ith reg a rd to orga nisa tion. l should like to tak e the c hance to e xp ress m y s in c e r e a ppr ec iat ion t u th e Net he rland s Gu ild fo r a g 1·eat j o b don e . Unfortun ate ly . alth ough scheclulecl to attend . Oli ver Far iray i. EVP A frica/ Midd le East. cou ld not m ak e it to N ordwi_jk. du e to s u blo a cl probl e m s. A c c o rdi ng ly . I h a d to c h a ir th e mee tin g a lo ne . Howeve r. I have to say that eve n thouu g h it was ha rd work. I had great pleasure c h a irin g th e m ee tin g . T h ank s to a ll o r y o u prese nt I A ltho ugh l mo st probab ly w ill not be cha irin g the reg io nal mee ting nex t yea r in Os lo. 1 am looking forward to see you a ll the re again .

18 - 20 EUROCONTROL Conference EUROCONTROL Headquarter s, Brus sels Implementation of ACAS in European Airspace Contact - Thoma s Williamson Phone +33 1 69 88 7326 Fax +33 1 69 88 7333 e-mail: Tom.Wi11iamson@eurocont ro l.fr 27 - 28 IFATCA Execu tive Board Meeting , Toulou se Contact - Executi ve Secr etary, Edge Green. Phone +44 1635 24 7890 Fax +44 1635 247 891

30 - 3 April 37th IFATCA Confe rence, Toulouse Contact - Fra ns;ois Koch Phone +33 l 69 57 65 30 Fax + 33 1 69 57 65 32 APRI L 4 IFATCA Executive Board Meeting, Toulouse Contact - Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone +44 1635 247890 Fax +44 1635 247891

OCTOBER 27 - 29 Inter Airport ' 98 Atlanta Contact - Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd Phone +44 1707 275641 Fax +44 1707 275544

A lthou g h it is a he ll or a _job. it's a lso great fun to work for thi s Fede ration 11 1

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CALL SIGNS Las t mon th 2 " new " Ru ss ian airline s decided to merge. They were prev iously kno wn as VLADIV OST OK A VIA (VLK ) an d SH AKALIN Air lin es (SH U ) . Th e new ai rlin e w ill be c a ll e d D ALN E V SO T O CH NAYA A VIA KOMP ANIY A (meani ng Far E ast Airlines appare ntly) . No w yo u can guess which R/T ca Usign they will be using and start pra ying they do not dec id e to fl y internationally ... Talking about call signs, Me xico alw ays bad nice ones like the old "AERO COCO (CCO ), They h ave a new airli ne no w 路 called AEROBANANA (OBA ) ..Nice .. I hope the aircr aft are paint ed yello w with brown spots ....

AIRBUS ADVERTISEMENT "When yo u hav e cli mbed ove r 35 ,000 feet who wa nts to cl imb ove r 4 mor e? " cl a ims Ai rbu s, sho w in g a pair of women's legs with written und er it " Our Economy Class" . Next to it are four male legs in dark tro user s, with th e caption , "Their Econo my Class" (meanin g Bo eing of course ). The ad is meant to ind uce the idea th at on an A340 yo u only have to pass ove r one pass enger to ge t out of a middle seat, while on a B747 you have to pass two passengers. But one also could tnis-und erstand that it is better to climb over ladies legs than men 's ' I wo nder, in th e c urrent U S clim a te of po liti ca l correctne ss if Boeing will sue Air bu s for sexual harassment ?

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TO BE LATE OR NOT TO BELATE Qu estion: How do you know when a new A TC faci lity is we ll behind schedule? A n sw er : W hen one of th e equipm e nt suppli ers tells you that his products were installed on time, on budget and although they have not been used operationally they are already out of the warranty period. (Austri an manu fac tur er refe rrin g to hi s eq ui pm en t in a ne w e n- ro ute ce nt re somew here in the South of England)

SLOWCOACH Due to a lack of taxiways at one particular airport, a run way must be used as a taxi route. A cer tain mil itary VC 10 advised he was rea d y to taxi . A s the airc raft a p proac he d the run way th e t ower contro ller ass essed the timin g was goo d for th e traffic s itu a ti o n usin g bo th run way s IF the V C 10 taxied a t a " norm al" spee d. T he VC 10 entered the ru n w ay b ut t ax ie d ve ry slow ly . Th e contr oller adv ised the pilot not to delay, du e to traffic . The res ponse wa s ve ry sarcastic "Are you talki ng to us? We are doi ng 9 knots" . After gathering his wits fr o m la u gh in g the to we r co nt ro ll er

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in stru cted th e VC 10 pi lot to turn ri ght immediately and return to the apro n via the taxiway where he co uld tax i as slow ly as he wished!

EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY In a rece nt paper fro m Eu roco ntrol , a d efiniti o n of sec tor ca p ac it y a nd controller product ivity was attempte d. It sa id that, in trying to defi ne the above , some potential key indica tors we re to be take n in to acco un t. Th ey inc lud ed th e numb er of co nt ro ll ed k il o m e tr es p er act ive contro ll er pe r mo n th a nd to tal co nt ro ll ed kil o me tr es per h o ur. Very intere sting! So a co ntro ller givi ng direc t routings, by shortening the actual numb er of mi les (or Km ) actually flow n by th e a ircraft , wi ll D ECREA S E hi s ow n productivity ...Or another contro ller giv ing sy stematica lly ho ldin g patt ern s or go aro und s w ill be co n si d ere d m o re pro du cti ve .... If thi s is go in g to take pl ace , and if pr iva ti sat io n br ing pro du ct ivi ty bonu ses, as in th e pri va te sector, I think it is only a matter of time before co nve rsatio ns like thi s wi ll take place in co ntrol roo ms: "Hold all traffic fro m now on please !. I am a bit short of money this month !....

CONTROL RAT Las t Summ er, in Bara nquill a Co lumbi a, the airport was comp letely clo sed for one hour as no com muni cat ions were possible betwee n A TC and the aircraft. It turned ou t th at a ra t tr igge red a m aj o r short circuit in the co ntro l tower after urinating on a high powe r cable. This knocke d out all ATC co mmu nicati ons cau sing many aircraf t to di vert. The rat, if it sur vived, must have had the kick of its life .....

FLYING RAT Last September, British airways cance lled a fl ight from Jo hannes bu rg to Lo ndo n because a flight attenda nt saw a rat or a big mou se in the aircraft. Ev idently, the captain was afraid that the rat co uld bite into the control cables ... Ah ..fly by w ire' 200 passengers waited patiently while the aircraft was sear hed and disinfected ...

30

"Thell 路s ajfinn cu ive A irfr>rce I , due to a tem p omn路

cash ;/ im, 路 f'l'ohl e 111hold elf FL260Jr1r a ji1r the r 3 0 min u tes .1 ..

THE CO NTR OLLER/ DE CEMBER 1997


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Clues Dow n: 1. First name of Miss Chapman . 2. When you over fly this marker you are OK. 3.Around it in a balloon is still a challenge in 97. 4. (2) Opposite of from in a VOR 5. Without it you squawk 76. 6. When made of bread it is half a sandwich.

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1997 /98

CROSSWORD

Clues Across: 1. A lot of Aerodrome controllers in them. 2. (1) Abbreviation for Report Upon Overflying. (2) Second part of the name of a major Israeli Airline. 3. (1) Franco-Italian aviation success. (2) Famous hi-born lady 4. Famous British (Scottish) Footbal l club. 5.Dean River Airport in Canada spelled in IATA luggage code immediately followed by Air Ops International Airways

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SHORT TRIVIA QUIZ

Questions 1. Wh ich Europea n airline has painted all the tails of its aircraft differen tly to induce confusio n amo ng a ll tower contro llers j ust before Christmas ... 2. What are the names of the 3 balloons that attemp ted to go around the world LAST year.(and who wi ll try aga in this year probab ly ) .... ... and wh ich one got the farthest ? 3. W h ic h one of the 4 ba l loons attempting the same this winter will win? 4. How many minutes on average does a Boeing 747 from London to Tokyo save when u sing the new Tran sSiberian FANS route ? Answers on page 32.

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LETTERS To THE EDITOR ARE ENCOURAGED A ND APPRECIATED THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1997

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To advertise in

call +44 181 8687399 Answ ers I. British airways which asked various ethnic artists to "have a go at their logo 路路 In one anecdot e a crew at night repo rted " abnormal black tar depos its on the tai l of their 747". to be to ld late r: "this was not an incident but the new paint scheme of this aircraft... "

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3. Read the newspapers to find out. As we go to press , the Virgin attempt had been thwarted by stro ng winds. My guess: Solo spirit again ...

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4. A 8747 saves only 7 minut es that way but about 30 minutes on the return leg from Tokyo to London.

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2. Breitling Orbiter , Virgin Global Challe nge r and Solo spirit. The Solo

Spirit of Steve Fossett. (the cheapest and sma llest of the 3) flew l 0,360 miles in 6 days and 2 hours and 44 min utes. This is the current world record in a balloon. (See article. abo ut the Breitling Orb itor. by Patr ick Schelling in this edition of The Contro ller.)

~ THE CONTROLLER . JOLRNAL OF AIR TRAFF IC CONTROL.is published quarterly by the Internatio nal Federation of Air Traff ic Contro llers路 Assoc iati ons (IFATCAJ. Iss ues appea r end of Ma rc h . Jun e. September and December. Subscription rate~ are CHF 20 per annum (4 issues) plus post & pack ing. Postag e Rat es : Surface. Worlclwicle Cl-IF 6.00 Europe (de livery within 14 clays) C HF 640 Airmail. Worlclwicle CHF 10.80. Cheque~ or money orders (not cash) in Swiss Francs should be made payable to THECON TROLLER.

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