IFATCA The Controller - 2nd quarter 1998

THECONTROLLER JOURNAL

OF AlR

TRAFFlC

CONTROL

r

Conference Reports

Rio Presentation

Concorde Flight

European lssues

2/98 2nd quarter 1998 volume 37 lSSN 0010 - 807 3

THE JOURNAL

PUBLISHER

bottom of page 4 for contact address.

Carlos Olmos Mendoza Executive V ice-Presiden t A mericas George Chao Pao Shu Executive V ice-President Asia/Pacific Marc Baumgartner Exec ut ive Vice-President Europe John Redmond Executive Vice-President Finance Martyn Cooper Executive Vice-President Professional Martin Cole Executive V ice-President Technic al Terry Crowhurst

AIR

TRAFFIC

CONTROL

This ssue

IFATCA, International Federation of A ir Traffic Controller s' Associations. See

EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA Samuel Lampkin President and Chief Executi ve Offic er Paul Robinson Deputy President Oliver Farirayi Executive V ice-President Africa/ Middle East

OF

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Foreword President and Chief Exec utive Officer, Samuel Lampkin

7

3 7th IFATCA Annual Conference A report from Toulouse

12

Committee

Reports

The Chairman of Committee A, B and C report

18

Accompanying

Persons' Programme

Sandra Maidens reports

21

Supersonic Transport Patrick Schelling reports from the Concorde flight deck

Exec utive Board Secretary/Editor

EDITOR Terry Crowhurst 29 Heritage Lawn, Langshott, Harl ey, Surrey, RH6 9XH, United Kingdom Tel. +44 (0) 1293 784040 Fax +44 (0) 1293 771944 CompuServe :

25

Bert Ruitenberg addresses the Rio Conference

28

terry_ crowhu rst@compuserve.com

Controlling

the Airbus Beluga

Philippe Domagala reports from Toulouse

Intern et :terry.crowh urst@srg. caa.co .uk

ADVERTISING AND SALES OFFICE Ron Mahendr an

The Human Factors of CNS/ ATM

30

European Issues Patrick Schelling reports from Luxem bourg

107 Drake Road , Rayners Lane, Harrow, Middlesex , HA2 9DZ, United Kingdom Tel & Fax +44 (0) 181 868 7399

ACCOUNTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS Tim MacKay "Dunadry", M inshull Lane, Wettenha ll, Winsford , Cheshire , CW7 4DU , United Kingdom .

Tel +44 (0) 1270 528363 Fax +44 (0) 1270 528478 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Patrick Schelling Ch . Sur le Moulin , 1261 Le Vaud, Sw itzerland .

Tel +41 (0) 22366 2684 Fax +41 (0) 22366 4305 Philippe Domagala Mere lstraat 5. NL 6176 EZ Spaubeek, The Netherlands Tel +31 (0)46 4433564

32

Charlie's Column

34

New Executive Board Members

United Kingdom

Pen pictures of the 3 new Board members

Advertisers in this issue Airsys ATM, A lenia, Crim p, lnterairport , NEC Corporation , Raytheon, Schmidt

Charlie Cartoon Ken Tully Copy Editors Lucy Leveson, Harry Cole

Junel99 8 Volum e 37 No 4

Cover British Ai rways Concor de in fligh t (Photo Courtesy British Airways )

Photographs

T Crowhurst , P. Domo gala, P Schelling , British Ai rways S. Maidens

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PRINTING M ercury Press

Issues Appear End of M arch , June, September , December . Contrib utors A re Exp ressing Their Perso nal Point s of Vi ew and Op inions Which

Unit 1. Baird Close, Craw ley, We st Sussex,

May Nol Necessarily Co ,nc,de Wi th Those of The Inte rnational Federation of A ir Traffic Controllers ' Assoc,at,ons. IFATCA IFATCA Does Not Assume Responsi bil ity Fo r Statement s Mad e and Opinions Expressed , ,t Accepts Responsibi lity For Publishing These Co ntributi ons

RHl0 2SY, United Kingdom .

Tel +44 (0) 1293 523000

Contribution s Ar e Welcome as Are Comme nt s and Cr itic ism. No Payment Can be Ma de For Manuscripts Subm itted For Publ1cat1on ,n The Controlle r. The Editor Reserves Th e Right to Make An y Editorial Changes ,n M anuscripts , Which he Believes Wi ll Imp rove The Material

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Without A lteri ng The Intended Me aning Writ ten Permi ssion by The Edito r ,s Necessary For Reprinting Any Part of This Journal

11 CONTROLLER

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Corporate Members of lFATCA AD A CEL PTY LTD. Canberra, A ustralia

IAI - MLM DIVISION Beer Yaakov, Israel

AIR TRAFFICA ND NAVIGATIONAL SERVICESCo. Ltd. Johannesbu rg , Repub lic of South Africa

JEPPESEN& Co. GmbH Frankfurt am Ma in, Germany

AIRSYS ATM LTD. Chessington, UK

MILLER FREEMAN EXHIBITIONS London, UK

AIRWAY S CONSU LTING LTD Wellingto n, New Zealand ALENIA Rome, Italy AMBI DJI GROUP PTY LTD Melbourne, Au stralia ARINC INCOR PORATED Annapolis , MA, USA ATS A EROSPA CE St. Bruno, Canada BREITLING SA Grenchen, Swi tzerland CESEL SA Madrid, Spain CELSIUSTECH SYSTEMS Jarfalla, Sweden CRIMPA/S Allerb , De nmark COR IS Le Plessis Robinson, France DENRO Gaithersburg, MD, USA DA IM LER - BENZ A EROSPAC E AG Ulm/Do nau, Germany DICTAPHO NE CO RPORATION Stratford, CT, USA D IVERSIFIED INT'L SCIENC ES CORP. Lanham, MD, USA EL AR ELECTRONICS Ltd Or Yehuda, Israel FLIGHT REFUELLING Ltd W imborne , UK

4

The International

Federation

of Air Traffic Controllers' Association s would like to invite all corporations ,

NAVIA AVIATION Horten, Norway NAVIA AV IATION AS Oslo, Norway

organisations, and institutions interested in and concerned with the maintenance and promotion

of safety in air

traff ic to join their NICE SYSTEMS Ltd Tel Aviv, Israel NORTHROP GRUMMAN Baltimore, MD , USA OMNILIFE Overseas Insurance Co. Ltd .

London , UK RAYTHEON Co. Marlborough, MA, USA

organisation

as Corporate

Members.

Corporate Members

support

the aims of the Federation by supp lying the Federation with technical information

and by

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subscription.

The

Federations ' international journal 'The Controller'

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offered as a p latform for the discussion of technical and

SERCO-IAL Bath, UK SIEMENS AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT Che ssingt on, UK SOCIETED'ETUDESET D'ENTREPRISES ELECTRIQUES M alakoff , France

procedural developments

in

the field of air traffic control.

For further information concerning

Corporate

Member ship, or general SONY COMPUTER We y bridg e, UK SWEDAV IAAB No rrkoping , Sw eden TELUB A B Solna, Sweden

IFATCA matters, please contact the:

IFATCA Office Manager:

1255 University

Street,

Suite 408, Montreal, TERM A ELEKTRON IK AS Birkero d, Denmark THOM SON-CSF, Division SDC Meu don-La-Foret, France

FREQUENTIS lmmendstaad, Germany

V IT ROCISET S.p.A .

Rome, Italy

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1

CONTROLLER

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I

Foreword

Samuel Lampkin, President and Chief Executive Officer y the time this issue of the Journal goes to press, I will have been in office for just about seventy-five days. I am overwhelmed by the confidence, support and congratulatory wishes I have received from within the Federation and from outside it. However, I have taken stock of the onerous task that lies ahead, as I do have a hard act to follow.

Nonetheless, I have chosen some words from George Bernard Shaw, famous Irish Playwright, Critic, Novelist and Nobel Prize Laureate: "Life is no brief candle for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations" to comfort me along this Journey.

At this juncture, I wish to reassure you that I remain committed to the principles on which this Federation was founded as well as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) new global concept of Communications, Navigation, Surveillance/ Air Traffic Management (CNS/ ATM) But, at the same time I must be mindful of the realities of the day. While there have been vast improvements in the delivery of air traffic services in a number of countries there are still a great number of air traffic controllers, in many countries of our world, who yearn for improved infrastructure and work ing conditions, that are fitting fo r the delivery of a safe, efficient and cost

I I ii CONTROLLER

effective air traffic control service to our clients.

Moreover, many air traffic controllers continue to provide yeoman service with the very little they have and furthermore, at sub-standard working conditions. Time has come when we as a Federation should no longer stand by without voicing our concerns to the world public on the professional issues which are so important for the continued assurance of safe air navigation. One surely cannot expect the best out of people if they are not provided with the . infrastructure and applicable conditions that engender output. It disturbs me when air traffic controllers are forced to resort to industrial activity in order to obtain functional tools of the trade and improved working conditions. Common sense tells me that in order to achieve the best output from people, the y should be adequately provided with t he tools required in the performance of the trade, they should be adequately trained and certified , they should be comfortable, the y should feel as belonging, the y should see their contribution as a worth y input, recognised and respected by the powers that be, in other words th ey should be secure and be treated as profe ssionals The areas that imp act on tho se aspects of th e human in the air traffic control systems ough t to be addressed by the variou s Civil Aviat ion Author ities (CAAs) in the countri es w here the re is propen sity for

disruption in the provision of air traffic services. In my view no amount of forced action, coercion or piecemeal solutions will suffice, as these steps only serve to postpone the eventualities . The only way to solve these problems is by wholeheartedl y doing the right thing, that is, undertaking to bring about the necessary and internationally accepted standards to the operations, by implementing, to the fullest, the standards and recommended practices which are contained in the various Annexes to the Convention on Intern ation al Civil Aviation, the conclusions of the Regional Air Navigation Plans, as we ll as tho se recommendations of the International Labour Organisation that relate to the Air Traffic Control Profession .

Certainly, a long and difficult journe y Iies ahead. Perhaps, hopefully, positive action on th e many issues, directl y affecting the air tr affic controller, that take away from th e assurance of maximum safet v standards in civil air navigati~n throughout and particularly in the developing w orld , may be instituted by the CAAs concerned , after thei r having attended th e ICAO Wo rldw ide CNS/ ATM Systems Implementation Conference Rio de Janeiro.

When I look internally though , I see the Federation at the crossroads. We have finally found a permanent home and w ith t his a Vision Document to take us through to the new millennium . However, more is yet to be doneI

Regional structure seems to be approaching the poin t w here perhaps the mechanics for func t iona lity needs to be reviewed.

Operationall y w e have been increasing our invol vemen t in ICAO matters in the less deve loped Regions as w ell as in Eastern Europe . Th is w ill require additiona l financing which must be obtained if we are to maintain an increa sed representation and wh ich in my mind seems to be inevitable.

Membership of smaller and less developed Con tro lle r Associations ought to be strengthened . The concept of Assistance Teams needs to be developed and made to work for our members. I call upon the stronge r, efficient and more affluent Member Associations to give some thought to th ose matters.

Indeed, it w ould be a sad day if t he "musical chairs" of suspensions, terminat ions and rejoi ning by some of our less we ll off Membe r Associations is not halted.

It is therefore my wish to invite all Membe r Associations to cons ider such a reality , as w ith ICAO 's transparent and seamle ss Air Navigat ion System of the future , it behoves us to belong to one fabric We should dispense with apath y and focus now , if at no othe r time in the history of this Federation, on building an orga nisation that is representat ive of all air t raffi c contro llers , wor ld wide.

Finally, I look forward for your suppo rt and to working with and for yo u and for our Federation .

5

Editorial

Terry Crowhurst, uring the recent conference, held in Toulouse, a question w as raised concerning the publi cation of material w hich primarily addresses industrial issues. The terms of reference for the Editor require that this type of material is submitted to the Executiv e Board for their considerat ion before publishing action. The reason behind this po licy is that The Controller magazine should present the profe ssional image of the Federation to the wo rld and that the Circular is considered to be a more appropriate medium for industrial and oth er mo re controversial type issues to be aired This policy was confirmed w ith the addition that Member Associat ion s have the right to use the Circular to info rm other Member Associations of t heir concerns and w itho ut any editorial action on their subm ission. If Member Assoc iations w ish the or iginal

D

Editor & Executive Board Secretary

to be published in the format as sent it w ill be photocopied and attached to the circular as an enclosure. Accordingly, Me mber Associations who w ish to submit articles w hich the y require to remain in their original form, should clearly state this fact w hen submitting them.

Finally, an apology for those of you that received the last edition of the magazine late and w ith more mistakes than normal. Six wee ks prior to the Toulou se Conference preparation of the March edition began. After f ive proof copies and checking by our proof readers, the final amendm ents to the magazine w ere taken to our printers, on the Monday of the wee k prior to Conference start. During the prev ious we ekend, thieves had entered th e printing house and stolen all the computers, w hich included all the previous work fi les for the production of The Controller Ac cordingly,

we had to start production of the magazine again and just managed to complete it on the morning I left for Toulouse.

This event also coincided with an amended, more modern, style to the layo ut of the magazine which we wished to present at Conference . Whilst everyone at Conference received the magazine, further disaster occurred at our printing house. Whilst we were in Toulouse, the printer re-equipped all his computing equipment and guess what7 The thieves returned and although all the new equipment had been secured they decided to break it all up before leaving the premises.

This time we lost our database of distribution addresses and it took another three weeks to build it up from historical file s.

I hope thi s goes some way to explaining the problems but hopefull y you wi ll all understand and enjoy reading the magazine in its revised format

THECONTROLLER regional sub-editors AFRICA M IDDLE EAST Mr A lbert A idoo Taylor PO Box 918 1 Kotake International A irport Accra GHANA Tel: +233 21 773283 Fax:+233 21 773293 and Mr Khaled Kooli Aeroport lnt. de Tunis-Cart hage CNA-2035 TUN ISIA Tel: +216 1755 OOO Fax: +216 1 782 106

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AMERICAS Rosanna Baru (ATCA U) PO . Box 6554 Mo ntevideo URUGUAY Tel +598 2770299 Fax: +598 2770299

ASIA PACIFIC Mr John Wagstaff ATMD, CAD Hong Kong International Airport Kowloon Hong Kong Tel: +852 25510081 Fax: +852 23628101

Neil Martin 67 Castle Rock Drive Richmo nd Hill , Ontario CANADA, L4C 5W3 Tele: + 1 905 508 4771 (H) + 1 905 676 5228 (W) Fax: + 1 905 676 3121 (W)

EUROPE Mr Philippe Domagala Merelstraat 5 NL - 6176 EZ Spaub eek THE NETHERLANDS Tel +31 46 4433564 Fax +31433661541

CONTROLLER

TC 3 7th IFATCA ANNUAL CONFERENCE 30 March to 3 April 1998 his year's IFATCA Annual Conference was held in the city of Toulouse, France. On the M onday morning of 30 March, several hundr ed delegates gathered in the newly buil t Conference Centre for the Opening Ceremony and Plenary Session. By the end of the week 972 attendees had registered for Conference from a record 90 represe ntative Member Assoc iations.

Patrick Gristi, the Liaison Officer of l'A ssociation Professionnelle de la Circulation Aer ienne (APCA - the French Air Traffic Controllers Associatio n) took the podium on the stage of the impressive Plenary Hall, to we lcom e the delegates and guests. He then introduced Preben Laurid sen, the IFATCA President and Chief Executive Officer, who delivered his tr adit ional 'State of the Federat ion' speech as follows : "Hallelujah - our prayers have been heard . Well, at least by some!

Last year I mentioned in my introduct ion to the "State of th e Federation" paper, t hat it was tim e to bri ng safety back in the driver's seat; that it was tim e to increase national investm ents in ATC and to make sure th at the mon ey received by the users -the airlin es - had to be reinve sted in all the element s contained in ATS.(technology, hu man resources, traini ng etc .)

I am, therefore, also pleased to see that ICAO and its Member States, has accepted that we w ill have a major prob lem on our shoulders if we do not change course and let efficiency and cost-effectiveness come AFTER safety. I am pleased to see that the African RAN meeting last year adopted a plan whereby safety audits w ill be introduced in the region and wi ll include ATC. I am also pleased to see that ECAC has adopted a safety policy w ithin the EATCHIP Programme I am also pleased to see that IATA has taken the initiative to look at safety elements w ithin th e Central and South Amer ican Region and I am happy to see the joint partnership that IFALPA and IFATCA often represents at various meetings around the globe.

Howev er, I do not feel too much joy

CONTROLLER

w hen I disco ve r that yet anothe r country has d ismissed the major ity of its air traffic controlle r staff. I am not pleased w hen I see how some national administ rations completel y ignore concerns raised by the operatio nal staff wh o are expected to perform their duties with outd ated unreliable technical equ ipm ent and under worki ng condition s tha t can onl y be considered indecent in an industry such as Air Traffic Control. Today, internationa l aviation relies heavily on eq uipment and huma n beings in ATC. Th erefo re, we must create an envi ronment whe re the se two elements are afforded the respect and attention that they require to perform at an optimum level.

If we fail to successfully meet th e required safety standards expected

by ATC. we increase the risk of putting our name on the list of "acciden ts and incide nts w 1th1n aviatio n". To us controllers - one accident is one too many.

It is the duty of this Federat ion and of each and every person invo lved in aviation, to stri ve for a better and safer ATM syste m. It can not be the safety objective of a Director of a nation al ATC autho rity to dismiss controller staff and replac e them w ith unqualified personnel. It can not be the safety policy of an airline to fly th rough airspace considered highly unsafe and subseque ntly deny an incident that occurred durin g such a flight. Furth ermore , it can not be the objective of any pilot or co ntro ller to accept a procedure t hat he or she considers unsafe We all know that it w ill be a hard task to accommodate a continuous increasing vo lum e of air traff ic whilst maintaining or increasing our safety margin s and our efficienc y. How ever, a lot can be done if all players - the control ler included - accept and fulfil their roles. Neverthe less. a prerequi site wi ll be that w e do not act in a way that is direct ly contr ary to our common goal -Safety

Left to right: Frani;ois Koch. Preben Lauridsen, Philip pe Jacqu ard.

Dire ctor s at Conferen ce to go ahead w ith the Montrea l offic e, the Secretariat was very involved in draw ing up the advertisement and advertisi ng for the Office Manager .

Follow ing the subsequen t appointme nt and the successful quest for new prem ises in Mont real, the Execut ive Secretary visited Canada to meet the new Offi ce Manager and to arrange the handover to the new office . Obviously to enable an unint errupted service to cont inue, the actual arrangements had to be carefull y handled to ensure a smooth transition.

Responsibility for the Federation's admini stration was off icially handed from the Executi ve Secretary to the Office on November 1st. last year.

The exception w as that the Executi ve Secretary would conti nue the liaison with the Organising Comm ittee and arrange for the staff ing of the Conference Secretariat fo r the 1998 Conf erence.

The transition perio d wil l cease follo w ing thi s Confe rence when Edge Green off icially steps down as Executive Secretary. The posit ion of Executive Secretary wi ll be disestablished , and the secretarial duti es at Conference and Executive Board meetings w ill be assumed by the Editor, the reby reducing the Execut ive Board to ten members .

ADMINISTRATI ON Qui te a mome ntou s year, t his year, w ith the establishment of t he new permanent off ice in Montr eal Follow ing the decision of the

The transition plan has worked well. w ith the new Ma nager accepting responsibility as planned The Executive Secretary also spent a few

more days in Canada p rior to th e February Board Mee ti ng , to ensure that t he distributi on of t he working pape rs w ent accordin g to plan . It will take some t ime before the office has enough ex per ience to handle IFATCA matters - understandabl y so .

Unt il such ti me as the archives and all act ive file s are in place, and the Off ice Manage r has been in the posit ion long enoug h to see a fu ll circle, it w ill be next to impossible for the offi ce to f unct ion at its fu ll potential. It is the Off ice Manager's opinio n th at, w ith in 18 months , the Off ice wi ll beco me the resource centre of IFATCA and w ill be running at the expect ed level of efficienc y.

The ti ming of the establishmen t of t he permanent off ice is perfect 1n th at , as the Federation looks to the 21st Century, the off ice w ill be we ll established and able to supp ort th e wo rk and goa ls of IFATCA and it s members The new Off ice Manager , Maura Estrada, is to be commended for setting up and equ ipp ing the off ice w ith more than considered for. less than expected . The office 1s current ly operat ing below budge t . and 1sexpected to do so fo1 the balance of the fiscal year Wh ile the estab lishment of the Office has progressed , the rout ine work of the Secretariat has also had to continue . Once again the prod uction ot the Conference Report , two Manual amendment s

7

lFATCA

The Conference Centre and Hotel.

Special Newsletters and the quarterly IFATCA Circulars have been achieved in a smooth and timely manner. In addition, the Executive Board Guideli nes have been expanded and distributed to all Standing Committee Chairmen and IFATCA representative s, and the Brochure has been updated. A new Information Handbook wi ll be distributed early in this next year.

After much work by last year's Executive, in October IFATCA publish ed its Vision Document "Towards the 21st Century" . This document states the Federation's view of th e implementat ion of the CNS/ ATM concept, and has been wi del y distr ibuted throughout the aviation industry .

As a result of discussion in Committee A at Conference '97, a Task Force was estab lished under the chair manship of the Deput y President to review the structu re and procedures of our Stand ing Comm ittee s. A report was submi tted to the Executive Board, and two worki ng papers propos ing changes to these bodies w ill be presen ted to the Directors at th is Conference .

Standing Committee 6 has again had an exte nsive wo rk programme, and we thank the Committee for their advice and assistance w ith const itutional and adm inistrat ive issues.

FINANCE From a financial perspective , the Federation cont inues to operate on a sound foot ing . The result s for 1996/97 show a surplu s of CHF 40,000 .00 . Th is surplus Is largely th e

8

result of income runn ing ahead of budget by about 36 ,000.00.

Expenses remained slight ly below budget at 2,500 00 less than anticipated. Projections for the current year show tota l income and expenses runn ing right on budg et .

The Executi ve Board continues to closely moni tor t he financial situat ion, and has trimmed expenses wherever possible, causing litt le impact on th e overal l operatio n of the Federation. As one method of containi ng total expend itures, general ly, th e Executive Board meetings have been reduced to three days, SC3, under the gu idance of Mr. Alexis Brathwa ite , met once in Toron to during the year, and should be thanked for the ir ongoing review of our financial polic ies and status.

THE CONTROLLER MAGAZINE During t he past year, The Contro ller magazine has been produced as required by the Federation and the qua lity and conte nt of its articles has cont inued to rise. Seve ral info rmative and original items have reinforced the standing of the magazine in the aviation fraternit y.

Regretta bly, advert ising revenue has still been difficu lt to realise in sufficient quant ity to tota lly support t he product ion and d istributio n of the magazine . This shortfa ll has been compounded by the consol idation of many ATC related companies and the diff iculties associated by not having fu ll time staff dedicat ed to selling in th is aggressive market .

However , and fol low ing the

Directors gu idance from the 1997 Conference, negotiations are we ll und erway to cont ract the sale of advert ising and the production of t he magazine to a commercial agency. Should the negotiations be successful, membership can rest assured th at the interests of IFATCA w ill be w ell protected and th at full editorial control of the magazine w ill contin ue to be exercised by the Federation. Further details w ill be notified du ring the 1998 Conference. A lso du ring the year, The Contro ller has sponsored and produced the IFATCA Vision Document for wo rld-w ide circulation. Feed-back received so far has indicated that this document has received much acclaim and has considerably raised the image of t he Federation.

PROFESSIONAL The professional status of Ai r Traffic Controller s in some countries is still in a need of major change. Industrial disputes are a common phenomena in a large numbe r of countr ies, and IFATCA has been asked, over and over again, to come forwar d and assist. even in non-lFATCA member States. Air traffic contro llers in Bulgaria, Panama and Zimbabw e we re dismissed . In these countr ies, IFATCA strong ly believes that local authorities violated basic labour rights of air traffic contro llers and at the same time - a parallel infringement of air safety in relative airspace has been w itnessed by the aviation wo rld . IFATCA gave full support and financial assistance whe re needed, but as previously stated we must reconsider w hat role IFATCA should play in fut ure disputes The IFATCA Symposium, held in Harare last June, highlighted some of the professional discrepancies in some Afr ican countries, based on lack of equipment and prop er training, together with poor wo rking cond ition and remuneration. A press release, wh ich stated our concerns, was issued . A similar lette r by IFATCA , offer ing our help , was sent to all African Author ities, w itho ut any reply.

The professional standing comm ittees- Standing Comm ittee 4, whic h addresses "Human Factors". and Standing Committee 7- "Legal Matters in ATC"- have once again per.formed well. The major task this

year was a Joint SC4- SC7 project: Creation of a Professio nal Policy Manual. Th e Professional Manual incorporates all lFATCA professional polici es, guida nce and study materials together w ith background information . Thi s is a very important document, and for t he fir st time, t here is a compr ehensive overview of all professional aspects of our unique profession, to gethe r wi th all refere nces for each policy state ment.

Other agend a items considered by SC4 were: "Rev iew of Performance Indic ato rs", "Medical effec t s of Night Shifts", "Q ualifi cat ion and Training of Aerodrome Flight Information Service Personnel" , and "A ut omatic Dependent Survei llanc e ATC Rating Policy" SC7 issues discussed last year, included, the Use of GNSS - ATCO responsibilities, and the Un author ised Int erference w it h R/ T Transmissions. A ll of the above studies wi ll be p resented in wo rking paper format during the Toulouse Conference .

The Hum an Facto rs area was also active last yea r. Our repres ent atives attended both ICAO and IFA LPA meetings and committees, together wit h some ot her int eresting Internatio nal Sympos ium s in that area.

A profe ssional dialogue was kept up w ith the ILO and t he ICAO (both on the international and the reg ion al levels) as we ll as w ith other European regional bodi es.

TECHNICAL The past year has seen a conti nuation of the grow ing importance that ICAO has placed on IFATCA tech nical input in the area of CNS/ ATM . This increa singly important role has been both grat ify ing and challenging It is gratifying because it is the culmination of the diligent eff orts of Federation officia ls and repr esentati ves, both past and present. Howeve r, it also present s us w it h increasing challenges Not only ICAO, but also State CAAs and ot her internationa l orga nisations, are active ly soliciting IFATCA poli cy and positions on rap idly advancing tec hnol og ies and proced ural innovations . These include RVSM, 8 .33 radios, datalin k, satellite

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CONTROLLER

REGIONS

navigation, and reduced oceanic separation standards .

AFRICA / MIDDLE EAST 1997 came and went wit h very little to celebrate about in the Regio n as far as aviation was concerned.

Despite safety concerns raised by intern ational aviation repre sentatives, such as IFALPA, IATA and IFATCA , th ere seems to be little or no interest from the Regional authorities to improve the sorry state of aviation in most parts of their areas. Equipment remains obsolete, the Regions' controllers safety-related wo rking conditions, rank among the worst in the wor ld and money raised in aviation is often mismanaged or spent on non-aviation areas. This state of affairs appears likely to continue for a long time to come.

Because these seeming ly separate issues are in fact increasingly interrelated our technical represent atives have found it necessary to closely co-ordinate their work in separate technical panels and regional organisations. A prime example of this is in the area of reduced oceanic separation standards , w hich is dependent on both datalink communications and satellite navigation . This has required an unprecedented level of coordination between our representati ves to the ADS Panel, the RGCS Panel, and the ISPACG. In order to support this increased need for co-ordination, the Executi ve Board, worki ng closely w ith the Chairman of SC1, has furthered the w ork started in Taipei regarding the makeup of SC1. It is hoped that this trial implement ation w ill allow more opportunity for our technical representati ves to formulate and propose co-ordinated IFATCA Policy.

Delegates in the Opening Plenary regional ICAO meetings and were also invited to make various presentations during the meeti ngs.

In this regard IFATCA we lcomes very much the latest ICAO initiatives aimed at increasing air traffic safety and improving efficiency in Africa.

Let us hope t hat the States of t he region now w ill follo w their ow n recommendations.

IFATCA, through the orga nisation of an ATC Symposium in Harare in June 1997, played its role in tel ling the Regional authorities that this state of affairs is not only unacceptable, but also compromising safety. ICAO, IFA LPA, IATA, ILO and other aviation organisations were present and the message delivered by most speakers was in line w ith IFATCA 's views.

Wha t is left now is to see w hether this message w ill be taken seriously.

The Executive Vice President Technic al has spearheaded an increased level of co-ordination betwee n our Federation and IFA LPA. We have seen the import ance of co-ordin ation of Policy between the two organisations and of maintaining a unit ed front in these technic al areas.

We have also continu ed ou r improved w orking relationship w it h IATA. IFATCA was again represent ed at Global Navcom in Bali and IATA participated in the technic al panel in Taipei.

remunerat ion, poor w orking conditions, lack of recognit ion of th e ATC profession and t he importanc e of t he air t raffic contro ller in t he Region's air traffic cont rol syst em.

Although industrial act ivity gene rally abated during the period , Urugu ay had to take action for t hei r empl oyer to obta in revenue owed to the authorit ies by several op erato rs, w hic h aff ected t he pay packets of controlle rs as t heir salaries are paid out of t he income fr om user charges.

The sit uation in Panama, as was reported last year, has also not yet been resolved . Both th ese matters are not as yet f ully settled. IFATCA intervened in both cases and is providing support fro m th e Legal Conti ngency Fund to th e Panama ATCA in fightin g the Court action brough t against t he A ssociation and ATCOs by the employer.

THE AMERICAS Duri ng th e period under review very litt le improvement has been registered in air traffic control operat ions in the maJority of Caribbean and Latin Ame rican Member Associations , although significant increases in traff ic moveme nts have been recorded .

Serious concerns stil l exist over existing inadequacies in the areas of equipment and maintenance thereo f, personnel training and deve lopment , staffing levels, hour s of work and overt ime. These shortcomings are combined w ith low levels of

Due to poor working condi tions, control lers from the A SECNA region , Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe undertook indu strial action . This was done as a last resort action and although such action w as not entirely successful , it seems to be one of the few option s left to get the message home to the authorities Relations wit h ICAO, IFA LPA and IATA remains very cordial at hig h level. IFATCA atte nded most

Region-w ide , th e ICAO new CNS/ ATM activit ies have been

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a·r t affic management.

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ENTRA I

The Conference ArrivalArea taking root as several States have begun tri als and demonstrations of th e varyi ng components of the new system. Human Factors and train ing needs for the new and future ATM system have received some attention by w ay of symp osiums and work shops , but much more is yet to be done by the many contracting States so as to view all these develop ments in a holistic manner .

Memb er Associations are still not fully up to speed w ith the deve lopment s and in many instances do not have the ability to make inputs in the dev elopmen t al plans and programme s in th eir area of representat ion Input, however is made on a regio n-wi de basis at the !CAO Regional Plannin g and Imp lementa t ion Group (GREPECAS) throu gh participation at the GREPECAS ATS, COM and CNS/ ATM/IC Sub-groups.

Greater inpu t and co-or dinat ion from Member Associ at ion s w it h the Regional Support Group is necessary to ensure t hat, if individua l Associations are not able to make contr ibut ions, t hen at least Regional IFATCA concerns and policies can be introduced w ith a hope t hat t he various Associat ions would accept these contrib uti ons thereby allowing for their imp lementation national ly Anothe r successful Regional Meeting was held in Port of Spain at wh ich the Me mbe r Assoc iatio ns resolved to work towards t he developmen t and bet termen t of

10

ATC and improv ements in their adm inistrative procedures in the yea rs to come.

ASIA / PACIFIC In the Asia/Pacific Region, traffic continues to increase . Wh ile some of t he States are already wel l underway in t he implementation of the CNS/ ATM plan, longitud inal separation standards of 15-20 minutes are still being app lied in some parts of the region . Despite the fact that ICAO urges States to adopt a co-ordinated regiona l approach in the implementation of a CNS/ ATM plan , the progress has been rather slow . In this area, IFATCA plays an important role in cross-feeding the tech nical information to the Membe r Associat ions w ith the view of keeping the m updated on t he developments of the CNS/ ATM programme .

On 10-11 December 1997, a CNS/ ATM symposiu m was organised by IFATCA. Experts from the field of Air Traffic Management w ere invited to make presentations and t he aim was to concentrate on t he pract ical and operationa l issues in the implementation of t he CNS/ ATM system. The symposium was we ll attended by members and observers in the region .

The 1997 Regional Meeting was held in Tokyo and was very we ll attended by MAs from t he Region and by invit ed guests and obser vers. The focus was as usual on regional and national developments and apart from very

we ll organised wo rking sessions, the attendees also enjoyed a social programme wh ich included visits to local ATC facilities. The 1998 regional meeting is scheduled for Macao on October 5th & 6th.

Finally, it should also be mentioned that it is expected a couple of nonMember Associations in the regio n wi ll apply for member ship of IFATCA at this year's Conference in Toulouse.

EUROPE The wo rk in the Region has changed over the last year as a result of a revised structure . Thi s revision has resulted in a far more efficient method of co-ordinating work . Mr . Dave Grace, who besides his job as Technical Secretary, is also the region's Regional Vice President Technical, deserves a good deal of praise for the work undertaken in these roles. The regional professional wo rk has also been administered by RVPT Hop eful ly, this is only temporary measure before we can get a vol unt eer to be the Regional Vice President Professional_ As a result of the different wo rkin g structure EVP EUR was able to return to a more political position, thus easing his workload .

Consequently, more liaison visits could be accomplished during the past year. These visits included meetings wit h representat ives in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece. Four out of these five visits (the exception was Greece) we re requested by the

respecti ve Member Associations.

Unfortunat ely, our MA from Bulgaria still sees last yea r's dispute with its emp loyer not co mpletely resolved . Two of BULATCA's leaders are sti ll out of wo rk and a third controller has been di smissed for - officially - professional reasons, although it is qui te obvious that he was fired as a result of public criticism of his Director General.

Greece might see radar serv ice in 1998 but only if t he ongoing problems w ith the communications system can be resolved in th e ve ry near future. If thi s is not the case it wi ll be another diff icul t summer for companies and controllers using Greek airspace .

In November a new forum was establ ished by EUROCONTROL, on behalf of ECAC, called the ATM 2000+ Strategy Board . Th is Board w ill closely monitor the current work of all t he Teams in EATCHIP and define a strategy for ATC in the new millennium . It is the very first t ime that IFATCA, which is on th is high ly po lit ical panel . has been appointed as a full member , rathe r than an observer.

Last but not least, it Is very important to note t hat Europe has agreed to establish a European Fund , on a voluntary basis, wh ich is intend ed to finance those activities w hich cannot be covered by other Federation Fund s. Thi s fund shou ld enable Europe to engage in even more activities on its Continent than it has been able to up to now .

CONTROLLER

The ILO in Geneva has undergone changes during the past year, which has meant th at our old "connection" has moved. Fortun ately, the ILO has now appointed a new transportoriented expert to replace Mr. Pereira, w hich should ensure continued effective dialogue .

RELATIONS WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS. Relations w ith international organisations continue to be an important part of IFATCA's activities. It is therefore a pleasure to note that our co-operation w ith IFA LPA, ICAO , IATA , ILO and others remain positive and in some cases develop into a closer partnership. I refer here in particul ar to our relation s with IFA LPA and ICAO. Ohen we find ourselves in the same boat as the other fron t end user of the ATM system - th e pilot. It is gratifying to see that we are not alone in the struggl e for increased safety measures to be applied . The yearly meet ing w ith th e Principal Officers of IFA LPA resulted in an agreement that common policy w ill be dr ahed in areas w here a j oint approach seems possible.

Finally, it is to be noted that a new organisation called "CANSO "(Civil Air Navigation Service Organi sation) was born in 1997. Its arrangements have been und erway for some t ime now, but in the latter part of last year CEOs of "independent ATC service prov iders" realised their plans of creating an organisation, whose objective it is meeting .

As CANSO is based in Geneva, our Swiss MA has been given the t ask of monitoring its w or k and liaise as necessary to represent these nonstate agencies in aviation.

Although differ ences still occur, the ti es w ith ICAO continue to strengt hen. Our participation in A LLPIRG is a sign of ICAO 's recognit ion of IFATCA and the work in the variou s panels and worki ng groups is ohe n meeting more understanding from the experts of ICAO, t han from national administrations.

CONCLUSION It has been a good year for the Federation itself. Our permanent office was ope ned and w ill clearly be a long awaited improve ment in the admin istr ation of the Federation . W e have become t oo big to rely on "pri vate accom modat ion" . A V ision Document w as released, outlining IFATCA's standpoint on how we w ish our future wo rkpl ace to look.

Finances remain sound wit h a considerable profit made in 199697 and w it h projections of t his fiscal year on target . A Professional Policy Manual is und er dP.velopm ent w hich w ill no doubt be of benef it to a vast ma1ority of our membership.

HOWEVER - to some individual

IATA's request for IFATCA participatio n in regional task forces, has incr eased during the past year.

This must also be considered import ant as IATA is a major player in the aviati on commun ity. The airlines influence on regional ATM plans must not be underestimated and IFATCA must use th e corpo ration with IATA to try and influ ence national administrations to meet their obli gations w ithin ATM .

Member Associations the past year has not been a j oy ride. National dispute s resulted in dismissals.

Controllers we re w itho ut job s and w ithout pay.

I w ish all Member Associat ions a goo d Conference w ith some good debate, w hich hopeful ly in t he end wi ll equip you to solve nati onal disput es before th ey end up in an all lose - no w in situation . None of us seek confrontations - w e all seek soluti ons. Let the we ek in Toulouse be one filled wit h soluti ons, to the benef it of th e industry w hich w e have decid ed to w ork in."

Follow ing this address, th e President of A PCA, Francois Koch, we lcomed all th e attendees and t hen introduced th e Dir ector of Civil Aviati on, Philippe Jacquard. M r Jacquard fo rmally opened the Conference on behalf of the French M inister of Transport. There t hen fo llowed a short film wh ich graphically showed all t he ma1or home and overseas locations where

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The fol low ing reports from the Confe rence Comm ittee s give an overview of the major topic s and deci sions that were made

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Follow ing the formal opening , th e Plenary recon vened and th e business of Conference commenced. The Annu al Conference of the Int ernat ional Federat ion of Ai r Traffic Co ntrollers' A ssociati ons (IFATCA) is held in some part of t he w or ld wh ich high lights the prof ession for a period of on e w eek, specif ically of benef it to t he hosti ng M ember Association and t he Regio n fr om w hich it or iginat es It is at this time t he previous year's work and activ ities are revi ew ed and the proceedin g year's goals and object ives are planned Aher the Opening Cerem ony and Plenary t he Conferen ce is d iv ided into three committees - A , B and C respectively dealing with administrat ive matters, technical and operational matters and profess ional and legal matters , all running simultaneousl y, until each Committee 's Agenda is complete d, aher whi ch Final Plenary is convened to ratify the dec ision s arrived at during committee sessions.

We do not believe that firing staff w ill solve a management problem.

We believe that replacing operationally certified staff w ith non-qualified staff does not imp rove eit her safety or eff iciency. But one thing we have learned is that if you become involved in an industrial action, th en yo u must be prep ared to face the consequences!

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A ll assembled then moved to t he impressive Tech nical Exhibi tio n w hich w as formall y declared o pe n by a Commissioner of t he European Union , M r. Claude Probst.

IFATCA, in its policy on national disputes, states that disputes should be solved throug h negot iation through mediation and consultation. We do not recommend strike actio n as a means of solving problems.

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French Air Traffic Con t rol lers are serving. The f ilm w as made by French contro llers and w as w ell received by the audience.

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Committee Reports Committee A report Shazzard Mohammed, Chairman n Monday 30th March 1998, Committee A convened its first session at 2:30 p.m. at which t ime the Chairman welcomed t he Member Associations in atten dance and introduced the personnel at the Head Table. He then out lined the procedures to be fo llowed as regards t he conduct of the debates. This year there w ere in excess of sixty Work ing Papers to be dealt w ith in addition to the establishment of Standing Committees 3 and 6 and their respective work programme.

O

Fiv e countr ies had subm itted applicat ions for membership of IFATCA, increasing the membership of the Federation in three of its Regions (Amer icas, Asia/ Pacific and Africa/Midd le East). Congratulations to the ATC Associations of Jamaica, Mongolia, Singapore, Dominican Repub lic and Rwanda, w ho w ere all successfu lly aff iliated to IFATCA. Reports fr om t he President and t he Executive Board in addition to thos e from Standing Committ ees 3 and 6 Chairmen, t he CMG Chairman and th e Corp orate Memb ers Co-o rdinator w ere presented, updated, que stioned and classified after w hich each w as ado pted The 1996/ 97 Incom e/ Expenditu re accounts along w it h the associated A ud ito r' s Report revealed that the Federation is in a sound financial state, reflecting a positiv e balance of CHF 39,996 .30 w hich w as allocated to the fo llow ing fund s.

CHF 817.40 1. ReserveFund 2. Special Circumstances Fund 5,000 00 3. ConferenceAttendance 5,00000 4. Equipment Fund 5,000.00 5. LegalFund 24.178.00 The Deput y President presented a detailed report on th e Permanen t Off ice establishment and intro du ced the Offi ce Man ager, Ms. Ma ura Estrada, w ho bri efly addressed the Committee . The Chairman on behalf of the M As we lcomed Ms . Estr ada into t he fo lds of IFATCA and w ished her stay w ith us to be satisfactory and rewa,¡ding . As regards the operations of the offi ce, vis vis the Executive Board , a paper was presented w hich basically autho rises the Board to oper ate

a

12

t he office in accordance w ith the practices implemented du ring the previous year plus any changes they may consider necessary. The Executive Board w ill report to Conference 1999 the significant changes to t he authority and procedu res that t hey propose for the future Constitution and operation of the Execut ive Board and Office for consider ation by Director s. These changes, if and whe n approved , w ill be incorpo rated in the Manual.

Edge Green, the Executive Secretary, presented his last report to Conference as Executive Secretary, the off ice having assumed the major functions of this positio n. The Chairman and Deput y President tha nked Edge for his many years of service and ded ication to the Federation and w ished him wel l in his retirement from th is position.

During th e report by t he Editor of T he Controller ', the issue of articles put forward for publication by the Uru guay MA , was brou ght t o the Committee's attent ion for clarif ication. Acco rding to the Editor, t he articles did not meet th e criter ia for pub lication and he had refer red t he matter to the Execut ive Board. The Board agree d w ith t he Editor and offered Uru guay the "IFATCA Circular" to have their articles published in. No response was received from Uruguay and, as such a summ arised version was printed in the Circular. Afte r furth er discussion s it was agreed that article(s) not fou nd suitab le for pub licat ion in "The Controlle r" can be pr inted in the Circu lar, wit hout editing, upon request by the submitting MA. The Income / Expenditure Accou nts of 'The Contro ller" for 1996/97 revealed a positive balance of CHF 567 .95 . This was allocated to "The Cont roller Reserve Fund" . The 1998/ 99 'Contro ller' Budget of CHF 30,950 00 w as accepted, cont ingent upon the acceptance of the A NI Contra ct. UK GATCO was again elected as the CMG for the oncoming year.

There we re a tota l of tw elve W orking Papers produced for discussion under Constitution and Ad ministr ative policy of wh ich one was w ith draw n and another failed

CommitteeA Head Table to reach a conclusion. The recommendations of the Standing Committ ee Task Force we re accepted in its entirety and this will result in a slight reduction of expenditure to th e Federation. As regards offers to host IFATCA's annual conferences, th e conditions have been fir med up and on this point the ATC Association of Morocco has been elected to host the 39th Annual Conference in the year 2000, w hilst Chile has been confirmed as the 1999 host. The Committee also accepted the creation of the 'Professional M anual' w hich is a collection of all professional policies plus the Work ing Papers leading to th eir creation.

W hilst at the start of Conference we did not have Work ing Papers proposing nominees for all the Executiv e Board vacancies, at the time of election s th ere were nominees for all the vacant positions .

Congratulations to Samuel M .

Lampkin, of Trinidad and Tobago w ho was elected to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer; John Redmond of Canada re-elected as EVP - Finance; Marty n Cooper of the United Kingdom to the position of EVP Professional; Carlos Olmos Mendoza of Mex ico to the position of EVP - Amer icas and Marc Baumgartner of Switzerland to the position of EVP - Europe .

Standing Committee 3 wi ll compr ise the following MAs : Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom and Guyana and Standing Committee 6 M embers are United Kingdom , Trinidad and Tobago and the Netherlands, w ith Ghana and Algeria as corresponding, unfunded members. Both Standing Committees Work Programmes were established.

During th e closed session of Committee A, the astounding and dang ero us conditions under which some air traffic controller 's are expected to perform their duties again reared its ugly head. Thi s past year saw drastic action being taken by some administrations towards their staff, resulting in dismissals and suspensions. To thi s end, the recommend ation s of Working Paper 50 titl ed "IFATCA's Role in Professiona l and Indu strial Issues" was debated and forwarded to Committee C w here it was incor porated as professional policy .

IFATCA Scrolls of Honour were reco mmend ed for the following persons respectively: Outgo ing Preside nt - Preben Laurid sen and Executive Secretary - Edge Green The IFATCA Awa rds of Merit we re recommended for Anne Log ie and Mike Dooling, for thei r work in the area of Critical Incid ent Str ess Managem ent prog rammes for air tr affic controll er's. Add itiona lly, We ndy Green was elected as an Hon orary Associate M ember of IFATCA, due to her long and earnest support of the Federation's aims and object ives.

Finally, as I indic ated in my report to Committee A , th is has been indeed one of the more effec tive and eff icient Comm ittee As I have had th e pleasure to Chair and in no small way it was as a result of you , the MAs in atte ndan ce th e Secretaries - Sue Brash (New Zealand) and Art hu r Kitao (Kenya), Vice-Chairman - Daniel Cassanova (France), the Deputy President, Paul Robinson and the rest of the Execut ive Board . M y sincere th anks to one and all. The Organis ing Comm ittee (France APCA) must also be thanked for th e excellent facilities they prov ided for us to cond uct our business.

CONTROLLER

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Committee Reports Committee

B report

David Grace, Chairman ommittee B is where the Technical and Operatio nal Matters of the Federation are debated, and this year's deliberations were again of an excellent standard to provide reinforcem ent to current policy, and create the development of new pol icy.

C

The first of t hese was t he use of latera l offset used in the North Atlantic. IFATCA sup ports the use of offset to overco me the problems associated with TCAS and wake turbu lence, but would like to see a more control led use rather than t he cur rent random use. It was therefore proposed:

The reports of both the Technical Representat ives and th e Regional Representatives clearly show the pace at which develo pments of CNS/ ATM are moving. The workload on these individuals is great , but is matched by the ir enthusiasm wh ich off -sets their personal sacrifi ce in attending the vario us meetings in their own time.

That IFATCA endorses the investigation of the concept regarding the use of lateral offse t in Oceanic RVSM airspace .

Atten ding t his conference we re the IFATCA representati ves, the Federation's experts on North Atlantic System s Planning Group (NATSPG). Informal South Pacific Co-ord ination Group (ISPACG), IFAL PA ATS Committee representative, and the Review of th e General Concept of Separation Panel (RGCSP) In add ition, representat ives from ICAO , IFALPA, IATA, CANSO , Swedish CAA , Belgian CAA, Service Technique de la Navigation Aerie nne and British Airways were in attendance.

This wealth of exper ience and know ledge proved ext remel y useful 1nthe de bate of some of the more controv ersial subj ects wh ich ge nerated, at t imes, emot ive di scussion .

Reduced Vert ical Separation Minima (RVSM) This proved to be a length y discussion as oper ational experience w it hin the North At lantic de monst rates t he benef its, of opt imum leve ls and add itiona l capacity , it highlights specific conce rns. These and the add itio nal fl ight level or ientation system s to be ut ilised in the ECAC area circa 2001 were of much interest to the de legates

14

The ECAC area wil l creat e add it ional prob lems with the acceptance of exceptions into the RVSM airspace and the areas associated with the tra nsitio n areas. As a result IFATCA accepted the fo llow ing po licy: The reduction of vertical separation above FL 290 should not be implemented in any Region until the necessary procedures, staff and equipment are available to safely and expeditiously handle aircraft in the airspace experiencing the reduction and also in systems responsible for transition areas to airspace not affected by reduction. Only aircraft capable of meeting the Minimum Aircraft Systems Performance Specifications upon which reduced separation is dependent be permitted to operate in areas where reduced vertical separation is in effect Exceptionally, State aircraft may be accepted when appropriate procedures have been evaluated, validated and ATCOs are train ed in the operation of a mixed traffic environment' . If non-MASPS e.g. military State aircraft are required to operate in RVSM airspace, then, in order to preserve system safety, their number should be kept to the absolute minimum.

Failing a clear operational advantage for either the sing le or the double alternate FLOS, IFATCA proposes that RVSM tr ials utilise the single alternate FLOS in ord er to achieve the global app lication in acco rdan ce

Committee B Head Table with /CAO A nn ex 2. In order to validate the results du ring th is trial period, enhancements on a subregional level may become necessary through adequate FLAS. IFATCA urges all States concerned to ensure that the appropr iate infra-str ucture wi ll be in p lace prior to the commence ment of these trials, this invo lves staff, equ ipme nt, training, airspace and route structure, including the transition areas. All factors must be verified and validated through simu lations prior to implementation .

The next issue was the deve lopme nt of A irbo rne Separatio n Assurance Systems (ASAS ) & Cock pit Display of Traffic Info rmation (CDTI). As expected this generated much debate resulting in the fol lowi ng policy : Before ASAS app lications are put in place it should be proven that they maintain or improve system safety while providing net cost benefits . Where ASAS is imp lemented, a clear and unambiguous statement of the separation responsibilities of pilots and controllers is required .

IFATCA has no fundamental objection to the use of CDT/ in areas where it is demonstrated to maintain and improve system safety IFATCA considers the following to be the minimum attributes of any CDT/ system used in Airborne Separation Assurance applications , positive , unambiguou s identification of all relevant aircraft to the standards currently required of ATC

systems and con tro ll ers.

Suffic ient in fo rmatio n as to the intent of relevant aircraft to avoid any actio n taken in maintaini ng sepa ration from ge nerati ng additiona l conflict .

There was f urt her debate o n t he int rodu cti on of 8.33 kHz and t he prob lems id ent ified in Taipe i were still an issue. IFATCA was appreciative of the interactio n w ith Euroco ntrol on this matter and that the re w ill be a meeting between the two organ isations at the end of April to further discuss IFAT CA concerns regarding, qua lity, fl ight plann ing , monitoring, operatio nal and exemptio ns.

A new ite m at Conference, but not to some operationa l contro llers, was Short Term Conflict A lert (STCA) Although SARPS exist for that other safety net TCAS, t here are no global standa rds for STCA. As a result of discussion fol low ing a proposa l from SC 1 , th e fo llow ing po licy was adopted Ground based safety nets , like STCA, can enhance overall safety in the automated ATC syste ms Therefore , each automated ATC radar system should be provided with a ground based safety net system such as STCA, as a last resort , which only shou ld be used to advise the controller of potential losses of separa tion .

Controllers shall be involved during the design and development phase with proper introduction and training , as necessary, when implementing STCA system s It is important

CONTROLLER

that for each individual ATC radar unit, parameters and nuisance filters in the STCA systems are being developed and tested, which are suitable for the area involved, adjusted to the procedures, airspace layo ut, separation standards, radar source, traffic mix, etc. The system's logic and parameters should be flexible. In ATC areas where STCA will be installed , studies and real time simulations shall be carried out to ensure that possible conflicting warnings with TCAS can be kept to a minimum.

The next agenda item proved, as expected controversial, as it was asking Conference to endorse the non-proliferation of the use of FANS - 1/ A into other areas.

This was as a result of the differences in operating practices between the ATN and FANS-1/ A, especially with regard to Direct Controller Pilot Comm unication (DCPC) and Cont roller Pilot Datalink Communications (CPDLC ).

After lengthy debate where the issues of the current trials, which were on going in many parts of the wor ld, we re considered, the following was adopted as policy: FANS-1/ A CPDLC has limitations . Further, these shortcomings must preclude further proliferation of this technology, into states of the worl d wh ere it is not currently dep loyed. Once the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) Data/ink system is deployed, use of the FANS-1I A CPDLC should be replaced by the ATN system and FANS-1/A

Commit tee B Delegates

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CONTROLLER

systems should not be accommodated in the ATN, as this would seriously degrade the operational suitability of the ATN .

Following this discussion the committee discussed the current provisional policy, with the recommendation from SC1, that specific items be upgraded to policy. The first of these was mixing datalink in the same airspace and in view of the previous discussion the following was made policy: Controllers must not be required to utilise more than one operat ionally disparate Data/ink system in any unit of airspace. If aircraft equipped with more than one type of Data/ink functionality are operating in the same airspace, the interface presented to the controller must be functionally identical. In addition to the interface presented to the controller, procedures and systems events must be operationally identical except where an operational advantage can be achieved by dissimilar implementations and where there is no adverse impact on safety or controller/pilot workload.

The next issue was Downstream Clearances, which was fairly straight forward and required littl e discussion to establish the policy statement: Where Downstream Clearance capability is provided via Data Link , sufficient safeguards must be implemented in accordance with the Draft /CAO Manual of Air Traffic Services (ATS) Data

Link Applications, Draft Version 0.4, dated 20 September 1996.

However, the next item was to make up for the previous lack of discussion, Direct Controller Pilot Communication . This complex issue had already been the feature of a previous ADS Panel and is still in the process of being defined. Howeve r, the term DCPC is being used as part of separation definition by certain groups and as such, requires IFATCA to further examine what is direct and indirect. In the interim, the current policy was accepted under the new heading of Controller - Pilot Communications: In any ATS system, where data link is considered a safetycritical element of that system, data link based ATS must be accompanied by direct two-wa y contro ller-pilot voice communications, w hich is also safety critical. This direct vo ice functionality shall be rapid , continuous and static free .

Direct voice communication s requires that no third human party is involved in the set up and/ or delivery of these communications. Any set up procedu res by either the pilot or the contro ller must be minimal and neady instantaneous.

As a result of all these discussions it was evident that much work has to be done on many of these issues and as a conclusion the Committee B meeting the foll ow ing items were accepted by SC 1 for the coming year Monitor issues regarding the

interface between Flight Management Systems (FMS) and Air traffic Control (ATC), participate in the update on the CNS/ ATM Operational Concep t Manual, define communications requirements as related to separation minima, study safety elements in a separation standard , investigate the reservation of 'safe levels' in oceanic RVSM airspace, investigate the use of CDTI w ith ground control systems, study CDTI requi rements and standards in relation to ATC, study the separation standards in use by ATC and/or ASAS, monitor CNS requirements for the reductio n in longitud inal separation below 50 NM, develop further policy on FANS-1/ A Datalink communications , prepare , in liaison with SC 4 and SC 7, a WP on the use of GNSS-ATCO , stud y and define types of communications between controllers and pilots , stud y Automatic Depende nt Surveillance (ADS) further befo re it can be upgraded as polic y, formulate guidelines together with SC 4, in order to assist MA's to evaluate new techn ologies , investigate the impact of Year 2000 computer problems as relates to ATC , investigate M SAW (M inimum Safe Altitude Warning ) systems There was again thi s y ear a jo int Committee B&C session w hich dealt successfull y w ith t he following item s The use of the word 'Main tain ' in ATC and use of GN SS ATCO respon sibili t ies & W eat her Deviation Procedure s.

It was a privilege and honou r for me to serve as Chairman Committee Ba t thi s Confe re nce .

However , I wou ld like to pay tribute to other membe rs of the top table ; V ice Chairman Jean Pascal Gille, who se eff orts made sure the facilit ies we re t her e w hen needed . Secretary Dav id M ainw aring , w hose d iligent note taking on t his, his first IFATCA conferen ce produ ced t he report of the Committe e. EVP-T M artin Cole whose know ledge and understandi ng of the subi ect s enhanced the debate s resu lting In the production of essent ial policy for the Federation

15

Committee Reports Committee

C report

Martyn Coope r, Chairman This year's Conference saw an unprecedented number of MAs represented in Committee 'C some 58 in all. This w as very encouraging, especially, when you conside r the difficulties that many MAs have in arrang ing t ravel and time off to attend Conference.

Despite the size of the Committee room - wh ich must have been the largest Committee 'C has ever had - it was often standi ng room only! 1 This, undoubtedly, indicates the importanc e of the w ork undertaken by t he Standing Committees SC4 and SC7. You may remember that in my report in "The Controlle r" magazine last year, I made a rather brave statement, indicating that in my op inion th e w ork being considered by Committee 'C was the most important for the Federation - inasmuch as it directl y impacts controllers, regardless of where they are and wh at equipment they have to do their work .

So, it was not surpr ising to see that this year's agend a also contained many issues that w ere important to all lFATCA contr ollers. The discussion of agenda items also lived up to expectations - the seemingly difficult issues w ere agreed quite rapidly and the less 路controversia l' items often attracted much debate .

The majority of workin g paper s were presented using either OHPs or 'PowerPoi nt' . The latt er w as used to good effect , even for the simplest of report s. Howeve r, the 'Oscar' must go to the Editor of the IHB, Geert Maesen from Belgium , who put toget her a lively 'movie' to demonstrate th e content and use of the IHB. Using every 'PowerPoint' technique available , includi ng background music , Geert proved that even the 'older路 contro llers can master technolog y - given time 11 The process of good presentation , encourage d by the out goi ng EVPP Sandy Oppe nheim, was put to good effec t and w ill undoubted ly become a standard require ment for all future Conferences Despite the exce llent visual aids. it 1s also

16

clear that regard must be given to the use of translation services for those MAs whose language is not usually English. To encourage full debate on IFATCA policies, and to ensure a wid e range of opinions is achieved, the involveme nt of all MAs must be seen as an important aspect for future Conferences.

Another matter, which would make the task of Committees more efficient, would be to ensure that all MAs come prepared to Conference and that their respective delegates understand the wo rk items and have read through the working papers beforehand.

Once again, Committees 'B' and 'C got together for some group discussion on the fo llowing top ics: Weather Deviation Procedures (new Policy), the use and meaning of the RT term "to maintain"; use of GNSS - ATCO responsibilities and the important subject of what is wi dely known as the "M illennium Bug". Thi s latter item was raised

by Col in Hume, from British Airways, w ho drew contro llers' attention to the effects that this computer problem w ou ld have on all aspects of the aviation industry.

W ith so much dependent on the reliabilit y and accuracy of computerised data, the inabilit y of many computers to recognise the year 2000 cou ld cause chaos in ATC systems and Air lines, alike, and w ould have serious safety imp licat ions .

Now to the wo rk considered w holly by Committee this year:

路c

Perhaps the most important item from my point of view, as I was directly responsible for its compilation - w as the presentation of t he 'new路 Professional Manual.

This Manual identifies all lFATCA Policy and shows al! the relevant information that has lead to the Policy being adopted. Ther efore, this Manual is somet hing of a bulky docume nt that includes all t he relevant wo rking papers. It is basically desig ned for use by IFATCA rep resentati ves, but w ill be made available to all MAs - at a cost - later th is year. The quest ion of keeping t he document up to

CommitteeC HeadTable date is a work item in itself. It is a most complex document and wi ll have to be reviewed and amended after each Conference.

A lso in need of constant updating is the IFATCA Information Handbook. The Editor IHB gave his yearly report on the lack of response fro m many MAs to his requests for information. The layout of the IHB has now been changed and a new copy wi ll be sent out to all MAs shortly. A lso enclosed, will be a new questionnaire that MAs are requested to reply to in time for their responses to be collated at their annual Regional Conferences, later in the year. The importance of having up-to-date and relevant information was once again echoed by many MAs .

At last year's Conference in Taipei, a very detailed working paper was presented on the subject of Sleeping Patterns and Night Shift work ing . SC4 were tasked in developing specific Policy from that WP and the following aspects were covered - adequate working environments to meet the needs of shift-work ing; the design of rosters; minimum time off after a night shift; the use of overtime and considerat ions for its effects on rest periods needed by controllers; regulation of duty times ; fatigue management ; staffing levels during night shift wo rking and the use of strategic 'naps'. It was interesting to see that several delegates adopted the last Policy item once it had been agreed ' A lthough not (yet) a general requirement of all MAs , the purpose and need for an ADS Rating was accepted and ex1st1ng

Provisional Technical Policy was revised and adopted as fu ll Professional Policy. The policy seeks to address the ind ividua l characteristics of ADS and ensure A DS is seen as somet hing distinctly different from other ATC ratings - requiring specific tra ining and instruct ion before any ATCO 'contro ls' w ith A DS. Provisional Policy on Press and Public Relations was also made fu ll Policy. Debate focused on the different ways that ATC data is used and often misused . This Policy seeks to control the use of such data, not to stop positive use to promote ATC, but to prevent data be ing misinterpreted and presented to the detr iment of the indiv id ual contro ller or the ATC system in genera l.

The use of "Performance Indicators" in ATC had proved to be a very difficu lt work item for SC4 to deal with . In many ways, the positive use of "performance" could recognise the qualit y and importance of controllers and so enhance t heir salaries and working conditions. However, there were many negative aspects that could undermine the role and professionalism that all controllers seek to achieve. It was, therefore, reassuring that despite all their research into the matter, SC4 we re unable to identify ATC product ivity or ident ify a single performance indicator that could adequately measure overall ATC productivity .

The need for CISM has been on Committee 'Cs agenda for some five years now and a detailed WP from Trinidad and Tobago pro vided IFATCA wi th a 'model ' training course for the

CONTROLLER

•

establishment of CISM at ATC Units. Although not accepted as a 'definitive' way of introducing CISM, the IFATCA model does provide MAs with key features that are required. This 'model' will be copied into the IFATCA Manual, as well as the Professional Manual.

A lso presented by Trinidad and Tobago, but this time on behalf of SC7, was a detailed review of IFATCA legal policies that finalised 8 changes.

Following on from this, was the adoption of new Policy on the subject of the legal responsibilities of aerodrome controllers with regard to surface movements.

Once again, a previous WP had been used to form Policy in an area not yet covered.

Not many ATC Units are directly affected by RT interference, but those that do, face difficulties that are not easily rectified. RT interference can be caused by atmospheric or equipment problems , but there is also a growing trend towards 'bogus controllers making incorrect and unsafe RT calls on ATC frequencies . SC7 had therefore taken the opportunit y to identify the safety concerns and legal aspects that false or misleading RT calls might have on a control ler's responsibilities . Essential Policy was adopted requiring MAs to bring to their National Administrations the need to address the matter of disrupti ve RT - whether it be equipment problems or malicious intent.

A WP considered in Committee 'A' was forwarded to Committee 'C for action. As a result, 6 Policy decisions were made on the subject of IFATCA's role in the area of Professional and Industrial issues.

situations involved . This was obviously a most complex item to present in only a short time available, but to their credit, Mr Budde and Mr Vogt were able to do this in a most comprehensible way.

At the close of 'business', presentations were made on the Labour implications of ATC Privatisation and on Stress.

Sitting in Committee for 3 or 4 days, listening to a wide-rangi ng discussion on numerous topics, most of them highly detailed and complex, can be a most tiring experience. But, the interest shown from delegates to the German presentation was reflected in the amount of questions asked and rounded off the Committee 'C proceedings in a most encouraging way and proved that 'strategic napping' does assistfatigue management in Committee!

Werner Bopp, IFATCA liaison Officer to the !LO, presented a WP originally prepared for the Professional panel at the Taipei Conference. Due to time difficulties with the presentations, Werner was unable to present this in Taipei, but was now able to give an informative briefing on the results of ATC privatisation so far identified. A major Conference wil l be held in September 1999, when the !LO wil l invite employees' representatives, employers and Government bodies to consider this most important subject.

IFATCA's Policy is that privatisation is not necessarily a 'bad thing' but that the safety aspects of privatisation must be a paramount consideration.

The subject of Stress - often an opportunity for lively debate - was raised by a WP from Peru and a detailed presentation on a German study on stress and stressors. Mr Gerd Budde and Mr Joachim Vogt gave a shortened insight into a recent study of German controllers. The background to the study was discussed, together with the methods used and the types of controllers and traffic

Despite the 'usual' short agenda 37 new Policy statements were adopted to add to, or modify, existing IFATCA Policy. This in itself commends the work undertaken by the individuals within SC4 and SC7 and is an encouragement for all MAs to assist the Standing Committees with their work programmes, whether they are active members or not. IFATCA needs good, sensible and reliable Policy to meet existing and future controller needs. It is, therefore, essential that particip ation in Committee work is seen as an important role for all MAs in their membership of IFATCA I had arrived in Toulouse absolutely confident that this wo uld be my last year 'in charge'

of Committee 'C proceedings .

This had been my sixth Conference as Chai rman and it was certainl y ti me to let someone else 'have a go'. What I had not expected, however, was to be nominated for the post of EV PP; a task that has often attracted me, but one that I felt others were more able to do. So, I'll be back next y ear on the 'top' table, to participate and assist, but leaving the real 'hard- work' to someone else I! In closing, I woul d like to thank Claude Edeb from France for his active support and organisation that undoubtedl y made the proceed ings of Committe e 'C run so smoothly. Max Shortley, from the UK, undertook the role of secretary and managed with good humour and much dedication to pro vide a full set of minutes. Another essential aspect of the proceedings , is the role of the 'typists' in the Secretariat to put words onto the page. Once again, the girls excelled I Finally, my best wishes go to Sandy, to wish him relaxation and success in the future, and to Edge and Wend y as they rel inqui sh their responsibilitie s for the running of the Secretariat to Maura Estrada, IFATCA's new Office Ma nager. Maura has already shown tremendous enthusiasm and dedication in 'organising' the work of IFATCA and I'm sure she wi ll continue to impro ve the way IFATCA manages its Conferences when we next meet in Santiago , Chile .

Committee C Delegates

ll

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17

lFATCA'98 Accompanying person's programme Toulouse, France, IFATCA •93

-

by Sandra Maidens, Canada The charming city of Toulouse was host to th is year's conference. As well as being the cent re of the French aircraft and space industry (Airbus, ENA C, first flight of the Concorde), Toulouse is the cultural and economic centre of southern France. The city, the fourth largest in the country, lies at th e junct ion of th e Garonne River, the Canal de Brienne and the Canal du Midi. After lunch on a mild, sunny, last day of March , we set off on our tour of the 'Pink City ', named because of the numerous red bricks used in the city's architecture . Our bus took us past the main train station (Gare Matabiau), the war memorial , over the Pont Neuf (new in 1543) and passed the 19th centur y Water Tower, now being used as a photography museum .

We started our walkin g tour at the Place du Capitole wh ere Toulouse's City Hall is located .

Despite the best efforts of our tour guide to lose some of us (six of us were abandoned I), we final ly caught up with the rest of the group as they we re leaving the old Church of the Jacobins (they hadn't even missed usl) _ That church has a dark-ve ined, vaulted ceiling wh ich radiates in fan formations aro und the supp orti ng pillars. It is here that St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-127 4) rests. The othe r part of the tour was a visit to the Basilica of St. Sernin, the largest church built in the Romanesque style in France. One big, happy gro up again, we walked down to t he shores of the Garonne, to board our boat for a cruise along the river.

Bo;il n ui,<· 011 the Garonnc River

18

On Wednesday, t he second day of touring, we set off bright and early for an excursion to Alb i, where we visited the Bishop of Albi 's Palace (Palais de la Berbie) w hich houses an extensive collection of work by the artist Henr i de ToulouseLautrec. Afte r an excellent guided t our of the art museum, we we nt to the Basilica of Ste.Ceci le, an impressive Gothic structure, looking more like a fort ress than a chu rch. However, inside was a breathtak ing display of artwork, decorat ions and intricately carved stonework .

Next , we were off to Cordes-surCiel, a picturesque, hilltop village that looks much the same today as it did whe n it was built in the 12th century. After a steep climb up one of the access roads to t he top, we enJoyed a delicious lunch and some equally delicio us w ine. We then had a few minutes to browse in the local shops and buy a few souven irs for friends and family back home . The wine at lunch was just a taste of w hat was to come .

After a short bus ride, we visited the v ineyard of Chateau Candastre to taste some excellent w ines of the Gaillac region . We heard how the grapes w ere grow n, harveste d , fermented and bott led .

We we re then invited to sample some wine wh ich many decided made a much better souvenir to take home. (I wonde r how many bott les actually made itl? I) We arrived back at the conve ntion site around 7:00 p .m., tired and mellow.

'l '.l

The walled city of Carcas sone Thursday's start was an early one too . This ti me, we headed off in a south-easterly direction towa rd the old walled city of Carcassone.

Our first glimpse of Carcassone, perched on a hill off in the distance was thro ugh the mist, as tho ugh we we re looking back in time. The interior Gallo-Roman wall of the city was begun at the end of the 3rd century to guard against barbarian invasions, wi th the addition of the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire prior to the end of 11th century. The walled city was home to the Visigoths, then the Saracens and dur ing the 1200s, the Crusades swept thr ough t he area. During t he 13th century, the exterior ramparts were built, covering an impressive 1600 metres. Carcassone's fortunes began to decline in the mid-1600s w hen it lost its strategic importance as a defender of the Franco-Spanish border with the annexation of Rousillon.

Restoration of the city began in 1844 and today we can appreciate the medieval military architectu re that otherwise wo uld have been lost to t he ravages of time.

Fitti ngly enough , lunch was served at the restaurant de la Dungeon .

However, the food was more suitable for a king, definite ly not

for a prisoner! Our last to ur took us to the awesome Cabrespi ne Cavern, ju st north of Carcassone.

This cavern was a fantasy land of stalactites, stalagmites, discs of conical for mations and star-bur sts of crystals. Thank goodness we didn't have to descend to the botto m of the cavern w hich stretc hed in expansive blackness below us. Every once in a w hile, flashlight beams would dance in the darkness like fire fli es and pinpoint the location of a few intrepid explor ers who had climbed to th e dept hs. Needless to say, they were not part of our group . Not t hat we weren't intrepid, it' s ju st that we didn't have t he time! Even so, we got back to our hotel at 7:30 p .m., almost a full twe lve hours of touring . We certainly got our money 's wort h that dayl In fact, we got more than our money 's wo rth on all thre e tours .

Cofr@tour did an except ional job of giving us a taste of the best and most fascinating of southern France. A lso to be congratu lated is Marc Biele and his team for organ ising such an extensive accompanying person 's programme . Merci beaucoup .

See you in Santiago ! !

I

CONTROLLER

·1

J

lFATCA Conference t the end of a busy week, all assembled again for the final Plenary. During emotional scenes, the President and Executive Secretary relinquished their posts after long periods of loyal service to the Federation. In recognition of th is outstanding service and as mentioned in the Committee A Report, both Preben Lauridsen and Edge Green were awarded the IFATCA Scroll of Honour .

This is the high est award of the Federation and was well earned by both of them. It was also pleasing to note that Wendy Green was elected as an Honorary Associate Member of IFATCA because of her long and earnest support of the Federation's aims and objectives.

All three of these loyal helpers received a standing ovation from the Plenary attendees.

A

Two new Corporate Members: Reflectone Limited and Flight Refuelling Limited, w ere formal ly welcomed to the Federation together with the new Member Associations. Executi ve Board Awards were made together with warm thanks to the retiring Executive Vice President of Europe, Gunter Me lchert and Executive Vice President Professional, Sandy Oppenheim for the ir considerable efforts as Executive Board members (see Comm ittee A report fo r fu ll details of awards) In an slightl y unusual venture, the Director General of EUROCONTROL, Mr . Yves Lambert , was given a short period of t ime to address the plenary particip ants. He shared a common concern of contro llers in the increased strain being placed on the air traff ic infrastructure with the relentle ss growt h in traffic levels coup led w ith the increasing corpo1¡atisation and privatisation of air traffi c pro viders . He fo llowed this by giving an

20

Conclusion update of developments in the structure of EUROCONTRO L, a str ucture in wh ich he believed IFATCA has an import ant role to play.

Our new President and Chief Executi ve, Samuel Lampkin briefl y addressed the audience and outlined his intended polic y.

His perception of the Federation and its future can be read in th e Editorial at the front of this issue.

Marc Baumgart ner and Martyn Cooper wer e w elcomed to the Executive Board in the positions of Executi ve Vice President Europe and Executi ve Vice Preside nt Professional, respectively.

And so another Conf erence drew to its conclusion . The APCA President formally closed the proceedings and handed over the responsibility for next year' s Conference to the Chile an Assoc iation. A final night party included an impressive show of Parisian dancers and the evening incl uded a draw for an IFATCA inscr ibed Breitling watch . In an extraordinary coincidence, the watch was won by the previous yea r's w inner , M r Ibrahim Haroun , from Egypt Due tha nks are given to the Organising Committee, our Corporate Members and all those that generously sponsored the occasion. The spo nsors included Nav Canada, A leni a, Air Transit, Aero International (Regional), Airbus lndustrie , Europcar, cofr@tour , British Airways, Frequentis, Meteo France, AOM , Dassault Electronique, Thalassa International, Dimension , Airsys ATM, EUROCON TROL, Eva A ir, Aeroports de Paris, ADB, Raytheon Systems Company, European Committee of Transport , SEEE, Air Liberte, Alcatel , Breitling, SITA, Spie - Trindel.

The hard working team in the Secretariat

Edge Green [right) being awarded the IFATCA Scroll of Honour

Wendy Green is elected as an Honorary Associate Member of IFATCA

Preben Lauridsen [lefl) being awarded the IFATCA Scroll of Honour

CONTROLLER

Concorde Supersonic Transportation

Comes of Age

Patrick Schelling, Contributing Editor with the same crew, which permitted an extensive inside view of Concorde operations.

he most controversial airliner of this century comes of age. In regular service for over 23 years,

Airline operation

Concorde has proven its reliability

Concorde is the only Supersonic Transport aircraft in scheduled operation. British Airways operates two daily flights between New York (JFK) and London Heathrow, while Air France serves JFK once a day from Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG), and vice versa.

The two airlines offer this serv ice 7 days a week. Additionally, British Airways and Air France operate a number of non-scheduled flights to various destinations around the globe. By May this year, BA's Concordes had visited 248 Civil and Military Airports, 72 of them in the USA!

and demonstrated an outstanding safety record. Air traffic controllers have learned to handle the specific requirements of supersonic operations. Patrick Schelling, looks at present and future SST operation in relation to ATM. Recently, Patrick Schelling was fortunate to be allowed a (return) "fam trip" on Concorde by British Airways on the route between London and New York. All takeoff's, landings and most.of the cruise were completed in the cockpit, occupying the fourth seat.

In flight meals were taken in the world's fastest flying restaurant!

The round trip was undertaken

ATC procedures Although well int egrated into ATC operation , Concorde differ s

somewhat from subsonic aircraft, particularly with respect to acceleration/ deceleration, and operations within terminal areas.

Understanding the aircraft's specific requirements by the controllers is essential and is integral part of the successful SST operation.

local Manual of Air Traffic Servi ces ) and disseminated to the controllers.

Flight Profile Figure 1 shows a ty pical transatlantic flight profile. The following

paragraphs d iscus s

tactical (ATC) issues particular to One of the basic principles is that the ideal way to fly the aircraft is to operate it as fast as possible at all times! This is w hat the aircraft has been designed for in the f irst place!

Thus, any deviation from its ideal profile does compromise economy and efficiency . Natur ally, Concorde needs to fit into the mix of today's traffic - and it does. Accordi ng to a Heathrow controller, Concorde operation is basically treated like any other t raffic - on a first come first served basis. However, special procedures do app ly and are we ll documented (i.e.the Heath row

Concorde operation and inc lude observations made in the coc kpit during the "fam trip". After takeoff, the speeds flo w n are ty pica lly bet w een 300 and 400 kts up to Fligh t Leve l (FL) 250 . Ofte n the restriction of "250kt s below FL100" is lifted . Wh en the aircraft is (sti ll) heavy and there is an AT C need to leve l-o ff , the preferent ial leve l is between FL250 and FL290 .

FL290 is usually assign ed to the Nominal Acceleration

Point (NAP)

On both climb-outs (from LHR and

TypicalTransatlanticProfile(Fig.1) Deceleration Point

I

590

500 _J

~ 433 w _J I-

I

CJ

p"' "

Acceleration Point

:J lL

w <(

0

a: a.. a..

<Ill

M~ 93

290

M .95

~ 1.0

\

~

x

<ff

Subsonic Cruise (heavy) \

I-

Subsonic Cruise (light) FL370

~

No vertical and only limited lateral manoeuvres 350kts (GAS)

<(

3-400kts GAS ¡

250

In exceptional circumstances only aircraft may level off for a maximum of 2 minutes

Over Land (UK) Subsonic Cruise

More tolerant of track and flight profile deviations BUT radii of turns will be large

Vertical and lateral manoeuvres possible

Over Water (North Atlantic) Transonic Acceleration

Supersonic Climb Supersonic Cruise Climb

Manoeuvrabi lity similar to subsonic jet 250kts (GAS)

Over Land (USA) Source: BA & NATS June 4 , 1998/prs

(Fig ure I I Ty pi cal Tran sarlanr ir Pro ii le

,, CONTROLLER

21

Concorde JFK), intermed iate flight levels were assigned by t he contro llers, but none actual ly resulted in a level-off. A proof of good planning from ATC. The need here to stay we ll ahead of Concorde is evident I The subsonic climb is carried out wit h a Rate of Climb (ROC) of 3,000 - 6,000 ft/ min. To avoid any negative "G" force s, t he cont roller w ill also need t o ant icipate any level-off rest rict ion . Howev er, tactical adjust ments t o the flig ht path (assignment of heading) are preferred by t he pilot s t o climb interrupt ions. Even wh en on subsonic cruise (on ly). Concorde is t he fastest airliner around I The Mach number is betw een .92 and .95 depending if the aircraft is flow n manually or on aut opilot . At heavy weights , the maximum cruise flight level possible is FL 310. At the end of cruise.

Concorde can accept FL 370 or below, due t o its lighter wei ght.

The ti me w here thing s get really interesting is during th e transo nic acceleration. Accord ing to th e UK National Air Traff ic Serv ices' Procedur es, th e f inal tactical decision fo r clearance for transo nic acceleration is made by the radar cont roller A three minutes lead t ime is reco mmended to allow for t he crew t o prepare t he cockp it . The (ATC ) clearance shou ld extend at least to t he supersonic clim b phase . Here to o, no probl ems we re encountered , and out of JFK, the clearance to t he alt itude band betwee n FL550 and FL590 came only 6 minute s after take-offl During t ransonic accelerat ion, Concorde is less to lerant of tr ack and/ or fl ight pro fi le dev iations.

Only in except ional circumstances should t he aircraft be asked to level-off during t his phase Should th is happen, how ever, the limit wo uld be two minute s. An extended discontinuatio n of t he climb du ring acceleration could oblige the aircraft to retu rn to subsonic fl ight and its related ope ration levels. The fuel penalty would be so heavy t hat continua tio n to destination is unlikely!

On the JFK LHR flig ht. the beginning of t he supersonic climb segment was reached 20 minutes

22

afte r take-o ff and w hen passing FL430. At M ach 1.7, the reheat w as t urn ed off but maximum cont inuo us powe r was maint ained .

In th is phase of fli ght , t he aircraft becomes more to lerant to trac k and fl ight profile deviatio ns, but the aircraft is already above most of t he subso nic traff ic.

The cruise Mach numb er (2.02) is reached aroun d FLS00.

Depe ndin g on out sid e te mperatu re, t he aircraft steadily climb s as w eight red uces fro m th e fuel burn . The supersonic cruise climb reaches its peaks close to FL600 w hich usually marks the mom ent when Concorde starts to decelerate and descend fo r landin g at the other end of the Atl antic . A s prev iously stat ed , FL370 is an accepta ble level to reinteg rate into subsonic t raffic regimes. Deceleration has be made at least 200n m befor e t he coast line in ord er fo r t he sonic boom not to reach popul ated areas. Ma intenance of 350kts for as long as possib le assists fuel economy approach ing d estinat ion.

A ho ldi ng patte rn can be flow n at 250kts, but t he fue l reserves erode at a fast pace.

becomes an important value as the airplane appro aches destination.

Decision for diversion or commit ment to th e destination airport needs to be done rigorously.

The entire crew is very "fuel conscious" during the entire flight.

North Atlantic Tracks Unlike fo r norm al jets, the supersonic t racks used over t he Atlantic are fixed . They do not need to be determin ed daily since Concorde flies we ll above significant weat her (i.e Jetstr eam) w here wi nds, betwee n FLS00 and FL600, are comparat ively low.

Westboun d flight use Track "SM ", w hile Eastbou nd Concorde use pre-d efined Track "SN". The latt er are optim ised fo r minimum time. A reserve track (50) , south of "SN", provi des separation should a t hird aircraft be crossing th e At lantic at th e same tim e. Late ral separation is essential, since th e entir e alt itude band betwee n FLS00 and FL600 is occup ied by one aircraft duri ng cruise climb , deceleration and descent. The routes leading to t he t racks start w ith an acceleration and end w it h a decelerat ion point. Needless to say t hat t hese point s are away from popu lated areas - over water.

Fuel used for Trim Trimm ing Concord e for the diffe rent fl ight phases is mainly done by tran sferring fuel back and fort h betw een main and rear tanks, as no external aerody namic features (as fou nd on conventio nal jets) perfo rm this f unct ion . This is mainly to keep the aircraft "clean" from aerodynam ic drag. Duri ng transonic acceleration , for exampl e, t he Cent re of Gravity (CofG ) moves rearwa rd and comp ensation is made by pumping fuel into the rear tanks. At the end of cruise, f uel (w eigh t) is shift ed fo rw ard again , and so on . This certainly keeps t he Flight Engineer busy throughout the fligh t l

Fuel Manag ement Concorde , despite w hat many of its det ractors used to say, is not a "fuel-crit ical" aircraft per se.

However, fue l has to be much more closely managed than for convent ional airliners, since t he fuel burn is comparatively highe r, specially d uring high drag, low level oper at ion Thus, EAT (Expected Appro ach Time)

clim b out ove r the ocean . The 25° bank ju st after take-o ff is impressive to experie nce .

Noise Abatement Noise is still a sensitive issue w herever Concorde appears.

Noise abatement procedur es are str ictly adhered to and require perfect timing (coordination) and alertne ss from t he entire crew. On departure from JFK fo r example, the active runw ay w as 31L. Two noise monito rs are placed close to th e departure route , one just after take-off , on the residential area of Howard Beach and th e ot her near Belle Harbour, on the shorelines of th e At lantic.

Afte rburner (reheat ) w as used for take-off for 57 seconds After lift off and as soon as t he vertical speed indicator showed 500ft positive rate-of-cl imb, a 25 bank left tu rn was initiated onto head ing 235' to follow the SID . Powe r was t hen reduced JUStbefore the first noise monitor and later increased again (withou t reheat) Just befor e reaching the shoreline, powe r was reduced again unt il 7NM DME JFK, where Maximum Conti nuous Power (MC P) was applied for the

The Crew Because of the complex ity of t he aircraft and its operation, t he crew members are carefully selected to fly t he Conco rde. Specific pro cedur es, not fo und in sub sonic types need an add ition al effo rt in tr aining. A lso, the technolog y used is comparative ly old and a lot of decisions rest w it h the crew.

The fly ing tim e betwee n LHR and JFK is usually aroun d 3 hour s 20 minutes, w hich w ou ld theor etically allow th e crew to do the round t rip in one day. Howeve r, t he closeness to the crew d uty t ime does not allow for enou gh reserves should any delay occur.

Therefore the ent ire crew (cabin and cock pit ) typically rests one night before bringin g back Concorde to Londo n t he next day.

The short travel t ime journ eys allow for the crew members t o stay on London t ime du ring their mission .

, CONTROLLER

British Airways Concorde (G-B0AF) shows its (grace) clean lines and new livery. The aircraft"s tail artwork depicts the Admiral's Original Flagloft [Photo: Adrian Meredith) One of the mo st notic eable differenc es, com pared to subson ic operation , is the closeness of th e crew in terms of co-ordi natio n.

Because of th e rate at w hich thing s happe n and the fol low-up actions tha t have to be taken, the Capta in , First Offi cer and Flight Engineer lit erally seem to "f use" during some port ions of fligh t -

this is specia lly true d urin g t ake-off and noi se abateme nt pro cedur es.

It was a real de light to see the se profes siona ls at w ork. On e co uld also sense the proudness in the job t hey we re doing!

Passenger Comfort Of course , there is no compari son between the cabin size (cross

Tlw fli gh1 visor is lowered and ihP nose is dropped

lO

5" for 1axi. During

approach. the anglt' is 15·· si11c P 1hr angle or a11ack 01· 1lw aircraf1 is around 14".

,, CONTROLLER

section) of a B747 and a Concorde . But can you compare a Ferrari w ith a Rolls Royc e7 Sub sequen t re-furbishin g over time has rendered th e passenger cabi n of th e Concorde pleasant and inv iting. British Airwa ys is using a 'classy' grey fo r the ir leather covered seats that matche s well w ith the rest on the chosen

co lours . T he seats are comfortable and equipped w ith st ereo head sets . T here are no displa y s for movies - but after all - would there be any time to watch ? Mea ls are served in style (accompanied w ith fresh roses) and are of high quality. The aeroplane can accommo date up to 100 passengers in 25 row s.

Concorde pni111sits nose up a1 l-lea1hrow\ Termina l 4. Nntr tlw nosl' i, stowed in the ··up·· positio n and is lowered only rnr taxi.

23

Concorde The cabin noise is similar to t hat of subsonic Jet aircraft. One noticeable difference, is the size of the wi ndow s. There are several technical reasons for having made th em conside rably smaller t han th e ones fitted in subson ic aircr aft.

How ever, the view is adequat e and th ere is not really muc h to see from, say 60,000ft (18k m)I Some flight parameters (Mach Nu mber, M PH and Altitude) are disp layed on th e front panel of each passenger section. There is no physical sign w hen Concorde is going th rough th e sound barrier except fo r the emotion from reading th e Mach number on the display panel.

Close to th e w indo ws, one can feel the heat that is produced due to the high speed. Altho ugh in an environment of -56' C, the actual airframe (skin) temperature reaches over 100' C w hile flying supersonic due to compressio n and fri ction of the air. This high temp erature actually elongates Concorde by a hefty 8 inches (20cm or about th e w idth of t he page you are readingl) wh ile t he aeroplane is crui sing at high speed I The added value of a Concorde flight certainly comes from reduc ed travel time. Business travel lers are t he most frequent users of t his servic e. Ap art fr om being a not iceable gain in time, there is certa inly less stress for t he body in terms of jet lag. A nother plus in passenger comfort is t he low altitud e (5,500ft) at w hich the cabin is maintained thro ugho ut the flight. In conven ti onal jet aircraft , the cabin artificially "fl ies" at around 10,000ft . Lower (cabin) alt it ude certainly contribute to less fatigue One passenger comment ed that he likes to take Concorde for its smoot hness of flight. Indeed, at these cruising levels, there is hard ly any weathe r and therefo re no turb ulence. A few occasional bumps can be felt they usually can be attr ibuted to shifts in outs ide air tempe rature .

a direct comp etit or. Ot her studie s go eve n farther and are cont empl ating sub-orbit al and orbital tra ve l. How eve r, thes e conce pts are still "paper vehicle s" and may we ll remain concepts.

Indeed, deve lopm ent costs, oper atin g costs, politi cal and enviro nm enta l issues, just to name a few , w ould need to carefull y looked into. Mea nw hile, Concord e w ill be aroun d we ll into the next millenniu m, accordin g to Jock Low e of British A irways, "Provided the aircraft continu es to be profitab le", he said .

Future ATM issues Users' requir ement s regarding A ir Traff ic Ma nagement (ATM ) stipulate that t he futu re syste m w ill need to cat er for all ty pes of operat ion - t his includes superson ic operatio n. Aga in, contro llers in contact w it h Concorde to day, successf ully master t he pro cess. How ever, t he num bers of fli ghts are comparat ively low and t herefo re perm it the ext ra fl exib ility requi red to opt imise th is specifi c op eration. Should the number of SST ope rat ions (ever) increase, hand ling the traff ic mix betwee n sub and supersonic aircraft , cou ld become prob lemat ic (i.e allocat ion of optim um fl ight pro fil e, speed differe nces, etc) .

The centre panel showing indicators for the four Olympus eng ines. During this phase in cruise, the engines are operated at max. continu ous power. The nose operation lever is on the upper right on this picrure, while the TCAS display can be seen to the right of the captain's altimeter.

Conclu sion The feedback from t he cockpit regardin g contro llers and SST operation w as very posit ive specially regard ing the ones that hand le Concorde on a ro uti ne basis. When go ing on routes ot her than the North Atl ant ic, the contro llers have a te nde ncy (in order to be helpfu l) to allocate the highest leve ls possible, accordin g to the pilots As descr ibed above, subsonic cru ise leve ls have to be comparat ively low (i e FL290 whe n heavy) and hig her leve ls are only possible w hen t he aircraft is cleared to accelerate to the supersonic flight reg ime.

Heading west during cruised climb, FL477. Mach 1.9 and an CAS or¡ 530kts.

ROC is between 100 to 500fi/min.

The Future of Supersonic Transport ation Since the introduction of Concorde, several million dollar s have been spent on both sides of the At lantic in research stud ies, with the aim of eventuall y replacing the aircraft or to provide

24

Edito rs Note : Our gratefu l thanks are exte nded to British A irways for providing the facilitie s for th is flight

A glimps over the flight engineer's shoulder shows evidence of Mach 2 a1 FL567 with a 101altemperawre of+ 112' !

CONTROLLER

Human Factors CNS/ ATM systems implementation: training and other Human Factors' issues Bert Ruitenberg, Human Factors Special ist he fo llow ing article is an extract from a presentation made by Bert Ruitenburg, on beha lf of IFATCA t o t he CNS/ ATM Conference, held in Rio fr om 11 to 15 May 1998.

Overview of present ation This presentat ion co nsists of the fo llowing elements: IFATCA's invo lvement in the !CAO CNS/ ATM concept A snapshot of t he CNS/ ATM system today Turning theory into practice The road to CNS/ ATM from here

IFATCA's involvement in the ICAO CNS/ ATM concept The CNS/ ATM concept originates from ICAO's Committee on Future Air Nav igation Systems called FANS, in wh ich IFATCA was represented. This Committee created some spin-offs of which I'll ment ion the Automatic Dependent Survei llance (or ADS) Panel and the RGCSP, w hich stands for Revi ew of the General Concept of Separation Panel. Both pane ls are still active, and IFATCA is represented on them IFATCA w as also afforded Observer-status at t he seco nd meeting of CAS ITAF, the high leve l implementation task force chaired by Dr¡. Kotaite . We furthermore participate in what cou ld be desc ribed as the successor of CASITAF, i.e.

ALLPIRG, the high-level !CA Omeet ing tha t oversees th e activ ities of the various regiona l plann ing and implem entation groups mentioned earlier W ith respect to the theme of th is presentat ion, Training and Huma n Factors , I sho uld

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mentio n that IFATCA atte nded

Navigat ion

IFATCA has stated its concern

two of the more recent TRAINA IR co-ordination meeti ngs and also is represented in th e ICAO Flight Safety and Huma n Factors Study Gro up . At

Thanks to Russia and t he United States of America global navigat ional sat ellite systems have been available to the civ il aviation wo rld and indeed ot her user-gro ups for a number of years already. These and future simil ar satellite systems are often referred to as the backbone of t he CNS/ ATM system . Just like a backbo ne in itse lf doesn't const it ute a fu ll skeleton, it

with respect to the poss ibi lity of ADS being seen as an equi va len t to radar . T he difference fo r

th e 1996 ICAO Globa l Sympos iu m on Flight Safety and Hu man Factors, held in A uck land (New Zealand), IFATCA presen ted a paper called "H uman Factors" aspect s in CNS/ ATM Systems" that addressed a number of the issues t hat are be ing addressed at this Conference in Rio de Janeiro.

I hope th is short overview illustrates IFATCA's commitment to t he !CAO CNS/ ATM concept Compared to today's situation, many of our members stand to gain much in terms of improved equipment and enhanced Job satisfact ion from providing an even better service as a result of t he transition to CNS/ ATM IFATCA's endeavours are, therefore, aimed at avoid ing such potent ial gains for contro llers being negated by increased work load and perhaps even frustration resu lting from poor design and tra ining

should be realised that perhaps it would be wise to also retain an infrastructure of terrestrial-based navigatio n-aids. Th is point has been made by IFATCA representati ves at various occasions and it was therefore interesting to read in a recent article in Aviat ion Week & Space Techno logy that t he USA's FAA has decided that GPS w ill not be the only navigation-aid since it is vulnerable to solar activ ity and terrorist acts. By retaining selected terrestrial-b ased navigation aids in addition to the satellite systems the vulne rabi lity of t he overall system w ill be reduced and thus safety w ill be enh anced.

Surveillance Automatic Dep enden t

A snapshot of the CNS/ ATM system today A llow me to begin this section w ith a disc laimer: a snapshot by definition shows only a limited part of the wh ole situation as it exists at a speci fi c point in time Its content is very much dependent on w here its creator, i.e . the photographer behind the camera, is point ing the lens at the mom ent th e pictu re is taken .

Yet it may serve to provide an impre ssion of t he w hole situ at ion

Surveillance (A DS) is increasing ly being dep loyed , mainly in the Pacific and As ian coastal areas.

Th is undoubtedl y is bring ing benefit s to Contro llers w ho now are able to see on a screen the traffic that, w ithout A DS, the y only had represented to t hem by means of paper Flight Progress Strips on a board in front of them. Ulti mately t his in turn w ill

co ntro llers bet ween a radar target (determined by an independent source , i.e. the radar head) and an ADS target is that each aircraft communica tes its pos it ion from its internal navigational system to the ADS displa y. Aircraft on radar are fixed relati v e to each other throughtheindependen t senso ~ wh ereas aircraft AD S positions are not relative to each other apart from the accurac y of th e informa tion transmitted from air to ground.

As has been ex pressed by our representati v es in pre vio us and more technical forums, IFATC A belie ves this difference wi ll need to be taken into accoun t wh en establishing the separationcriteria th at are to be appl ied w hen an ATC serv ice is pro vi ded based on A DS .

Communication Co ntrol ler/ Pilot Data Link Communication s, o r CPDLC, is thought to have an enormou s potential to en hanc e safety, to increase effi ciency and t hu s capacit y, and t o red uce pi lot and contro ller workioads . IFATCA recognises t his potential but is at the same t ime aware that the fu ll-scale imp lementation of CPDLC w ill requ ire a cu lt ural chang e in the cock pit and on the gro und. Related issues, ident ifi ed by IFATCA and ot hers, are : adequate and appmpriate train ing and the cockpit / grou nd

bring benefits to t he airline s as we ll, for it is expected that

interface . For these and other

separation -minima w ill be

mainta ined t hat vo ice communications between pilots and contro llers w ill be requ ired

at that moment in time if seen in

reduced and therefo re capacity

the righ t context

be increased once A DS becomes fu lly operational.

reasons IFATCA has always

for the foreseeab le future

25

Human Factors One of the w orld's fi rst ATCunits to use CPDLC operatio nally is t he A uckland Oceanic Control Centr e, wh ere the staff invo lved in th e implementation of CPDLC current ly has some tw o years' experience w ith w hat is called "the inte rim syst em". Howeve r init ial results show t hat there

. *

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Rio de Janeiro Conference War

- W ICO Cl451,\ TM

Sys :~m, lmpfcmenl.u,on

may st ill be a long way to go in th e t est ing and validation process. The Auckland Oceanic controll ers estimate that the use of CPDLC so far has increased th eir wor kload by about 40% and th ere w as no correspond ing increase in traffic -numbers to

accountfor thatfigure.

Admittedly this figureappliesto the interim system,in which controll ers have to operateboth th e co nv e nt io nal syst em w it h Hig h Fre q uency

vo ic e

communication and t he new CPDLC in a complimentary fashion Furt hermore, CPDLCinterchanges have only occur red betw een ATC and FAN S-1/ A equ ipped Boeing 747-400 aircraft t hat were using an on-boar d system that w as not orig inally designed for t his pur pose. In an ultimat e CN S/ ATM enviro nment CPD LC w ill take place via the Aero naut ical Telecomm unications Network (ATN) which hopef ully w ill includ e dedicated CPDLCdisplays in t he cockpit and on th e grou nd. The New Zealand Oceanic Contro l Syst em w ill feature such dedicated d isplays and many aut omated f unctio ns t hat are expecte d to make life easier for the controllers. Yet th e danger seems real that even the newer systems could harbour similar prob lems w ith respect to contro ller workstations and w orkload, unless all relevant Human Factor s issues are considered and resolved at t he appropr iate t ime. And , as highlighted in several of the ICAO W orking Papers to this Conference, the appropriate time for that is dur¡ing the desig n stages.

26

(left to 1ig h1) Captain Peter Foreman (IFALPA) , Bert Ruitenburg, Frank T. Ruggiero, Ph.D. (FANS Stakeholders Group) and Mr. Wolfgan Phillippe (Eurocontrol) Our Federat ion is of the opinion that it is generally not a good idea to dev elop, test and conduct train ing on new equipment at the same t ime.

This v iew , how ev er, as a preimp lementat ion principle is apparently not always shared by the various author ities w ho are respon sible for t he implementation of new ATC equ ipmen t. It is as if there is an unw ritt en rule in ATC t hat says that w hen ever new equ ipm ent is being installed, that equipment is to be used operationa lly from t he very moment the manufacturers release it to the new owners .

IFATCA fee ls that the owners of new ATC equ ipment w ill need to allow fo r adequa t e t ransit ion tr aining , w hich ideall y shou ld take piace aft er solut ion s have been found t o all problems related to installi ng, debug ging, testing , val idating and certify ing the new equ ipment, and before t he equ ipmen t is used operation ally.

W e furth ermore beli eve that it is

important to cater for the requirements of the operator s w hen designing autom ated CNS/ ATM systems such as CPDLC .Assupporte db y documented evidence fro m both IFA LPA and IFATCA the FA NS1/ A data link system has exposed a numb er of unacceptable deficiencies to the pilots and controllers. These prob lems have seemingly resulted from various causes, some technical, some procedural, some related to the Human Machine Interface (HMI ), and some related to user tra ining and currency.

Thi s has led IFATCA to accept the following Policy at its recent An nual Confe rence held in Toulouse, France "FANS-1 / A CPDLC has limitatio ns. These shortcomings must preclude further pro liferation of this technology, into States of the wo rld wh ere it is not current ly dep loyed . Once the Aeronaut ical Telecommunications Netw ork (ATN ) data link system is dep loyed , use of the FANS-1/ A

CPDLC shall be replaced by th e ATN system and FA NS-1 / A systems shall not be accommodated in the ATN, as thi s wou ld seriously deg rade the operational suit abilit y of t he ATN ."

It is import ant to realise that the Policy ju st quoted is not an antidata link state ment. Th e Policy is meant to emphas ise the fact that the FANS- 1/ A CPDLC was intended as a trial but is meanwhile cons idered by aircraft operators to be a full y comm issio ned system, w hich from the users' perspecti ve it clearly is not. IFATCA very much looks forward to the impl ementat ion of a mature ATN-supported data link system The experience gained in the use of the FANS- 1/ A systems wi ll be invaluable for the deve lopment of the future system , and even more so if that experience can be incorporated already in the design process of the f uture systems.

ii

CONTROLLER

Air Traffic Management The last element of our snapshot is ATM. From what was said before on the other three elements it will be evident that, since the supporting technology is still in development, the ATM side in reality has not had a chance to begin to develop yet.

How are ATS providers supposed to plan for future staffing requirements and transition training when there still are so many uncertainties about equipment and procedures to be resolved? How can States establish national regulations when ICAO is still developing the SARPsand other guidelines for the use of ADS and CPDLC? And bear in mind that the introduction of the new systems will have to be processed in parallel with the continuous operation of the current system whilst handling increasing levels of traffic.

IFATCA doesn't claim to have the answers to these questions.

We merely wish to make the point that there is more to the implementation of CNS/ ATM subsystems than just fixing the technological problems: these are the Human Factors' issues.

Turning theory into practice The point made by IFATCA just now is not an original one.

Other speakers from other organisations raised the same point before at other occasions.

In one of the Working Papers for this Conference, presented by the Secretariat, are inter alia the following statements: • "In order to maximise safety and cost-effectiveness of CNS/ ATM systems, the proactive management of Human Factors' issues should be a normal component of the processes followed by designers, providers and users of these systems. The time to address Human Factors' issues is during

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technology design, before technology is deployed into operational contexts."

• "Furthermore, flight deck operational experience shows that once technology is deployed, it is too late to address Human Factors' issues arising from flawed human technology interfaces, and such issues become endemic, hindering safety and efficiency of the system."

From the IFATCA Vision Document are the following quotes: • "Implementation of new equipment and procedures must be preceded by appropriate verification and validation followed by a reasonable period of stability to allow system bugs to be resolved. New equipment must be proven safe and capable of supporting any reduction of separation minima. " • "Throughout the evolving process of implementation, controllers and pilots must receive the appropriate level of training before using new procedures and equipment."

IFATCA expresses its sincere hope that the aviation-industry will heed this, and similar advice, as guidance for the transition to

The reason I introduce this quote is to underscore the point that, in order to keep control over the shape that our technology-driven industry will take, we must ensure that the system with all its components remains workable for the human operators in it. One way of achieving this may be to adhere to the principles of human centred design and also to allow for adequate training of the operators, as promoted by ICAO.

The road to CNS/ ATM from here In our view the road to the future CNS/ ATM system from where we are doesn't significantly differ from what it looked like where we started.

The aviation Human Factors and Training communities have been aware of the challenges facing the industry in the transition to the CNS/ ATM system for a long enough time. But we may not yet have been sufficiently successful in getting our messages across to those communities that are masterminding the transition. To paraphrase an expression: we need to convince them to put their money where our mouth is. This will require commitment from all communities in the aviation industry alike.

the CNS/ATM system.

Conclusion To wrap up this part of my presentation I'd like to quote the IFATCA Vision Document once more: "There is an enormous amount of technology looking for business, and the danger is that it will proliferate to the detriment of harmonisation and standardisation. These factors, plus the principle that system safety must be improved to keep pace with the increase of traffic, are likely to mould the ATM development process to such an extent that it is almost impossible to forecast the final outcome.

Many view the voiced concerns of controllers as being barriers to progress. This viewpoint is unfounded as controllers accept the advances that the enabling technologies in CNS can bring to the way that they control air traffic. Controllers accept the technology as a progressive development in the evolution of the air transport industry.

However, to realise the advances will require cooperation: 0 co-operation in the form of

consultation with the end users who have the operational knowledge with which to turn the capabilities of technology into a service; • co-operation with other system users to make it happen and realise their goals; and • co-operation with the system itself.

This co-operation must be both at the level of the workstation on the ground and in the cockpit. It is only by mutual cooperation with the systems and tools which will support ATM control activities that a control service can be provided with safety and efficiency, just like co-operation will provide the experience to grow in the future.

IFATCA once more pledges its allegiance to the CNS/ ATM concept and looks forward to continued co-operation with the other parties in the aviation industry in order to help create an even safer and more efficient Air Traffic System for tomorrow.

References ICAO WP/30. Human Factors issues in CNS/ ATM. Working Paper for the World-wide CNS/ ATM Systems Implementation Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 11-15 May 1998.

IFATCA. Towards the 21st century - A Vision Document.

IFATCA, 1255 University Street, Suite 408, Montreal, Quebec "H3B 3B6, Canada.

IFATCA WP no. 82. Proposed Policy for FANS-1/ A data link communications. 37th Annual Conference, Toulouse, France, 30 March-3 April 1998 IFATCA. Report of Conference Committee B. 37th Annual Conference, Toulouse, France, 30 March-3 April 1998

27

Super Transporter Controlling the Airbus Beluga Philippe Domagala, Contributing Editor out, that in practice, the SAT pilots will not accept more than 2 or 3 knots. The pilots also hate wet or contaminated runways .

They often prefer to divert than to land on a contaminated runway, as one has to be extremely careful with braking.

It can land on 1500m runways (for example, Chester in the UK is often used) and it has Category 2 Autoland capabilities (it is not certified for CAT3).

The aircraft is also very sensitive to yaw and is very difficult to handle in case of engine failure.

Otherwise, it is very easy to fly and its pilots refer to it as typical "Caravelle" type handling .

The SAT has only 2 doors, the huge main cargo door above

Airbus In dust ri e A3 00 - 600ST

uring t he last IFATCA

the cockpit and a small special cockpit access door just below the cockpit. Similar to the

cockpit, a modified tail and aerated engines (in fact the same engines as the A310)

the SAT is a much more

visit the Oper ations Airbu s Beluga, or Super Transporter as

Unlike the Gupp y which had to

like a slow A300 but there are,

Guppy, only the cockpit is pressurised with the whole

be flown manuall y all the time,

however, some particularities:

cargo area unpressurised,. One

it is now called (SAT in short)

the Beluga has full auto pilot. So

Firstly, the maximum cruise

advantage over airliners is that

D

Conf erence in Toulouse I to ok t he opportunit y to

controller friendly machine. As I said earlier, it basically handles

As you may know, the SAT

for us controllers at least, we

speed of the SAT is limited to

there is little commercial

rep laced t he famou s super Gupp y, w hich are now all gone .

have a stable Mode C read out from them .

Mach.69. Although its maximum operating altitude is

pressure put on the crew. One or two hours delay does not

Three Gup py's' we nt to museum s and the last one w as bo ught by NA SA for eventuall y tr ansporting rocket parts in the States (see note below ) The SAT is a much "mightie r machine" th an t he super

The SATs are operated by a

certified for FL350, the preferred cruising altitude is

aircraft building schedule. The

Guppy . Ap proximately, it can fly tw ice t he load in half th e t ime,

special Company called Airbus Transport International (ATI) w hich is 99% ow ned by Airbus lndust rie. There are cu rrently three SATs flying with the fourth due to arrive in June 98. They w ill use t he four aircraft for

make much difference in the

FL290 or FL310. The aircraft

normal aircraft operating hours

recently won ETOPS (180 minutes) Certification that allows it to cross the Atlantic.

(Attention Oceanic controllers -

depend on the opening times of the various Airbus partner factories. These hours are

less than Mach .7 at FL310 can mean some nice surprises I)

exceptionally 2300 in Toulouse,

normally 0730-2200 with so it is unlikely you will see a SAT flying at night The SAT is the only new Airbus

comp ared to th e Gupp y. In a ty pical mission a SAT can carry tw o sets of A34 0 w ings, dir ect

appro ximately 4000 hours per year, almost exclusi vely in Europe . How ever, some "special" fligh ts can and

fr om Hamburg to Toulou se in less than 2 ho urs, w hile t he

prob ably w ill be made anyw here on Earth . Therefore,

stabilised approach. Typical approach speed is 130 knots at

Super Gupp y could only carry

t he possibilit y exists that anyone

the Outer Marker.

supervisor In factthe thi rd man

one and had to stop en route

Max imum cross w ind

is indispensable , as operating the

for refue lling

of us might have to control the SAT one day

component is 30 knots and

loading/unloading equipment

The SAT Is based on a "normal"

Un like t he Gupp y, w hich

maximum tail wind is, in theory,

needs specialised supervision

A300-600 but w it h a lowe red

neede d spec ial ATC treatment,

10 knots. How ever, you w ill find

How ever, trai ning fo r t he SAT

28

Rates of climb and descent are "normal" (i e. much better than an A340) but the SAT needs a

aircraft operated by three crew consisting of two pilots and a combined flight engineer / load

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,,_

Updating

ATIS- VOLMET? Airbus !ndustri e AJ00-600ST

takesthree times longer than for a "normal" A300. There are currently twelve SATpilots, all detachedfrom Airbus lndustrie to ATI. Totalstaff at ATI is around 40, which allows a friendly atmospherewithin the company,as everybody knows each other well As ATI is a normal public transport company,it can offer its commercialservicesto any firm, although of course,Airbus will have priority Possibilitiesto carry ARIANE Spacerockets partsor largesatellitesto the Kourou launch site in French Guyanaare also being studied.

The maximumcargo load is normally45 tons but acrossthe Atlantic it will be reducedto 25 tons Of course,on weight alone SAT,is much more expensivethan an AN124 or

, , !1 CONTROLLER

IL76so there is no plan to compete in that market.The big advantageof the SATis in its volume possibilities In a forthcoming article next year I will report on a typical operating day of a SATwith its very specific loading/unloading proceduresand high technology used for it.

Note: Forthose interested in the Super Guppy history, their Chief Flight Engineer,Mr Daniel Mechain, has written a book on the history of the Guppy. At the moment, it is only availablein French( ISBN 2.85428416X) but will soon be availablein English If interested contact Philippe Domogalaat the addresson page 3 of th is magazineand he will passon the contact address.

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29

Strategic and Conceptual issues discussed at Lu Patrick Schelling, Contributing Editor uxembour g - Strategies and concepts on paper are worthless unless they are endorsed and there is a certain amount of commitment towards implementation. This was one of the frequently heard comment s during a week-long workshop organise d by Eurocontrol (2-6 February' 98). Over 200 participants attended the event that contained a total of 10 working sessions.

L

On of th e sessions dealt with "Operations" and was attended by more than 30 delegates, representing airlines, pilots associations, airports, CAAs, ATS Providers, R&D centres , manufacturers, military and

The CFMU wo uld of course be involved in p lanning and producing the "Daily Plan".

The needs of the mil itary and general aviation should not be

furth er input on the EATM S

overlooked. In both documents the access of mili tary and genera l aviation to the vario us airspaces

(OCD) and the ATM 2000+ Strategy, with a focus on the (future) Air Traffic Contro l Process, Departure / Arrival Management, Human Factors, Human Machine Interface, fall back strategies , etc .

The fol lowi ng report is a summary of the discussions that took place during the sessions that ext ended over two days The reader knowing the content of both the above mentioned documents , w ill draw an additional benefi t fro m the following text, as the participants were asked to specifically challenge the content of these Eurocontrol publ ications, in order to produce updated versions.

A ir Traffic Control Process W ithi n the overall ATC process, the system involvement between Pilot/ AOC/ ATC 1snot yet clear and the rules of collaborative decision making needs to be explained . The role of the Central Flow Manageme nt Unit (CFMU ) in

agreed that there were two dist inct

not an issue.

professions and t hat separati ng traffic using too ls in a "mov ing" cockpit was indeed very d ifferent to using a ground based "fixed" system.

The te ndency is to keep adding ever more comp lex tools to the cockpit; nothing ever seems to be taken away. The discussion returned to the subject of Free Flight and respon sibility in the cockpit. If pilots are to provide their own separation then they must be give n t he too ls and traini ng to carry out this task.

The military concern is that aircraft Concern was expressed that computer (system) support may not fulfi l all t he expectations of ATC. The vision is that technology w ill be available to support the St rategy.

The view was put fo rward that the d esign and development of complex ATC systems may result in the human controlling, but not being an int egral part of, t he loop . The Target Co ncept provides a "vision" of the ideal situation . Solutions w ill have to be anticipated but a considerable amount of R & D wi ll have to be carried out.

Eurocontrol experts. The objecti ves were to obtain comments and Operational Concept Document

and flexibility for thei r own sake is

should be expanded and given greater prominence.

Traje ct ory Predi ct ion There is no doubt th at knowing the predicted positio n of aircraft permits early deconfliction of traffic. Benefits could be achieved by using trajector y prediction based on ground system informa t ion prior to the int roduct ion of the data-linking of precise trajectory prediction .

Separation Assuranc e The major topic relat ing to separation assurance was the conce pt of autonomous aircraft operations in Free Flight Airspace (FFAS). There w as no doubt that the responsibilit y for separation

not equipped to fly in FFAS may be denied access. Any restriction could affect National Security. Whi lst free fl ight may be feasible in low de nsity airspace it w as gene rally accepted that there w ill not be much scope for autonomous separation in ECAC high density airspace. W ithin Managed A irspace (MAS), systemisation may be seen as a means of achieving separation assurance without direct intervention

Operations Room

we re such too ls as Minimum Safe A ltitude Warning (MSAW), Short

The Group considered that the ATM 2000+ Strategy did not adeq uately address Human Factors issues.

With in the operatio ns room, roles and responsibilities are continua lly evolvi ng . The advent of new tools to assist the controller could shift emphasis from tactical control to more planning. This w ill lead to

Term Conflict Alert (STCA) and Area Proximity Wa rning (APW) . The conclusion of the group was that safety nets we re not an element of ATM, but an integra l part of ATC.

reducing t he tact ical w orkload and increasing producti vity g iving more capacity. There was concern that the role of the controller cou ld dimini sh over the next 10 years as machine s

by the controller.

Safety Nets In the overall picture of increasing capacity it was d ifficult to see how Safety Nets per se could make a contribut ion. Included in Safety Nets

Departure / Arrival Management There was a strong belief that to be effective, an Arrival Manager needs to operate we ll beyond the TMA .

Indeed, the question of ju st w here the shift from En-route to TMA in respect of Ar rival Manag er might be, was raised. Furthermore, it could be considered that wi th some of the short distances involved in flights between airports wit hin ECAC. there is hardly an En-route phase at all. In

d id more of the planning of fl ight trajectories and resolved potentia l conflictions even befo re an aircraft was airborne . This wi ll result in th e controller having more of a monitoring role leading to possib le reduction in profici ency. To maintain cur rency, greater use of simulat ors for contin uatio n training, especially dealing with aircraft emergencies and equipmen t failures, is recommended . Indeed , there is no doubt that controll ers aged 30 today will tr ain on new equ ipment and learn new proced ures as the Str ategy is imp lemented

assurance w ill have to be exp licit - in the air or on the ground . The cost of equipping aircraft for autonomous operations w ould have to be matched to a benefit. The results of R&D 1nrelation to free flight cou ld

these cases, the Departur e and Arrival Managers could overlap . It was considered that to ful ly reflect the Gate-to-Gate concept , both the (EATM S) OCD and ATM 2000+ Strategy, needs further development in the area of Departure / Arrival

controlle rs can be resistant to change . Howe ver, involvement of control lers in the R &D of new

collaborative dernion making was

not be anticipate d The quest ion

Management, includi ng Aero drome

systems can go a long way towa rds

discussed In particular, there vvas a

Surface Movement .

early acceptance of new tec hnol ogy

fear that the CFMU might have too

was, w ill autonomous operation work and 1fso w hat wi ll be the

big a role in ATM to the detr iment of the AOC, the pilot and even the

benefi t? It may bring flexibi lity but

Flight Deck

concept of multi sector planning

wo uld capacit y be increased?

Flexibil ity 1s onl y useful 1f 1t

The point was forcibly made by an airline pilot that "pilots are not

since they w ill be maJor players in future ATM systems both controllers

This was certain ly not the 1ntent1011

contribu tes to effic iency Autonomy

trained Air Traffic Cont rollersI" It was

30

Experience has shown th at

Furt hermore , it was suggested that

and pilots should work together w ith the engineers in the development of

CONTROLLER

Agenda 1998 JUNE

12 - 14 Contact : Phone:

xembourg

Fax:

Email: new tools. In considering new technology the need for tools has to be based on clear operational requirements and not adopted just for the sake of a new piece of equipment.

Human Machine Interface There is no doubt that systems are becoming more complex and perhaps complicated to operate. It is important, therefore, that the machineshould not drive the humanI Very sophisticated Human Machine Interfaces (HM I) will be quite a change, and a challenge for controllers, pilots and engineers. In implementing systemsconsideration must be given to the abilities of the operator. It was suggested that inputting data to electronic displays, especia!!y for transmissionon data link to aircraft, could result in more mistakes being made. On the other hand, data put into the systemcould be easily distributed to all interested parties. From a controller's perspective maintaining basicskills is essential. Overall, the "keep it simple" philosophy should be employed as far as is possible Contingency, fallback and degraded modes in the future ATM systems.

As air traffic increases, any failure in the systemcould have a dramatic effect on aircraft movements. It was concluded that the cost of full systems redundancy fallback would be prohibitive and systemsmust incorporate safe and graceful degradation. Possible alternatives

such as adjacent ACCs taking responsibility in a harmonised environment were discussed.

However, it was thought that there might be legal and institutional hurdles to overcome, especially if the ACCs were in different countries. In addition, the issue of validity of a controller's qualification to assume (control) traffic in an adjacent FIR would have to be resolved.

Conclusions Overall there is satisfaction that the OCD and ATM 2000+ Strategy are addressing the future of ATM. Having said that, there is a feeling that there is an over optimistic view that computers (system) will be the answer to all problems. It was felt that both the OCD and ATM 2000+ Strategy needed to be developed in the areasof roles and responsibilities, airports and environment. It was interesting how often the sametopics came up in the different discussion areas. Responsibility, systems,roles of the controller and pilot, and costs and benefits all seemto be a part of every areaof operations. Finally, clear operational requirementsshould be the driver for new technology.

The revised version (V.2) of the EATMSOCD is scheduled to be endorsed later this year while the ATM2000+ Strategy is due to be presented to the ECACTransport Ministers during early 1999. The general feeling of the participantswas that this workshop proved extremely helpful - an exercise certainly to be repeated in the future.

An update d ve rsion of the ATM 2000 + St rate gy is distr ibut ed Issue 2.0, dated 1 May 1998, of the ATM 2000+ Strategy is currently being circulated for comments to the aviation community. The document is now split in two volumes: Volum e 1 provides a high-level description of the main features of the strategy, while Volume 2 gives a more detailed description of the rationale behind the strategy,together with a road-map of change and implementation. This version includes comments made at the Luxembourg Workshop together with new material and ideas developed by the ATM 2000+ Strategy Board and their Executive Committee. Eurocontrol encouragescomments on both volumes. The latter are available on Eurocontrol's home page (http :/ /wwweu rocontrol.be)

CONTROLLER

IFATCA Executive Board Meeting, Frankfurt IFATCA Office Manager, Maura Estrada +1 514 866 7040 + 1 514 866 7612 ifatca@sympatico.ea

OCTOBER

5-6 Contact : Phone: Fax:

9-11 Contact: Phone: Fax:

Email:

27 - 29 Contact: Phone:

Asia Pacific Regional Meeting Macau EVP Asia Pacific +852 26244047 +852 26244021 IFATCA Executive Board Meet ing, San Francisco IFATCA Office Manager, Maura Estrada + 1 514 866 7040 +1 514 866 7612 ifatca@sympatico.ea

Fax:

Inter Airport '98 Atlanta M ack Brooks Exhibit ions Ltd 441707 275641 +44 1707 275544

29-30 Contact : Phone: Fax:

Afr ica M iddle East Regional Meeting Kampala EVP Africa/ M iddle East +263 4 575187 +263 4 575163

TBN Contact:

Americas Regional Meeting Miami EVP Americas

NOVEMBER TBN Contact: Phone/ Fax:

European Regional Meet ing Oslo EVP Europe +41 21 825 46 02

1999 JANUARY 14- 16 Contact: Phone: Fax: Email::

IFATCA Executive Board Meet ing, Montreal IFATCA Office Manager, Maura Estrada +1 514 866 7040 +1 514 866 7612 ifatca@sympatico.ca

MARCH

12 - 13 Contact: Phone: Fax: Email::

IFATCA Executive Board Meeting, Santiago IFATCA Office Manager, Maura Estrada + 1 514 866 7040 +1514866 7612 ifatca@sympatico.ca

15 -1 9 Contact: Phone: Fax: Email:

IFATCAAnnual Conference, Santiago IFATCA Office Manager, Maura Estrada +1 5148667040 +15148667612 ifatca@sympatico.ca

20 Contact: Phone: Email:

IFATCAExecutive Board Meet ing, Santiago IFATCA Office Manager, Maura Estrada +15148667040 + 15 14866 7612 ifatca@sympatico.ca

APRIL 14 - 16 Contact: Phone: Fax:

Inter Airport 99 Asia, Singapore Expo Centre Nadine Smith +44 1707 275641 +44 1707 275554

Fax:

31

Charlie's Column SCHEDULING IN CANADA

FLIGHTS

actually flown, and the "customer" gets the most for his mone y. This is probabl y why West Jet Airlines put it on their schedule in the first place.

Howe v er, I cannot imagine the face of the passenger who is afraid of fl y ing and avoids turbo-props at all cost and insisted on being on that B737 flight to find himself being trapped for fi v e and a half hour's in an aircraft.

HOLLYWOOD CRASHES (2) There are dozen of flights daily betw een Vancouver and Victor ia, in Canada.

The two tow ns are onl y separated by a fe w miles of wat er and all but two flights a day are operated by turb o-prop aircraft . Th e typical j ourney in a Dash 8 takes 20 to 25 minutes direct. One of the flights on the schedu le is operated with a Boeing 737 from W est Jet A irlin es. I supp ose this jet flight is for those who do not li ke to fl y turboprops, but on the time table t he flight takes 5 hours and 35 minutes 11l(see attac hed ext ract of the schedu le) More than 5 Hours for a B737 to fl y less t han 30 naut ical m iles between the two airport s?

The answer is that the aircraft operates from Vancouver but has t o go to Calgary f irst, then o n to Edmo nto n before reachin g Victoria . Over 5 hours in a jet in stead of 20 minute s in a turboprop fo r t he same price7 If we we re to appl y modern cost effic ient rhetoric , like those used curre nt ly in ATC, th is w il l prove to be a very efficient cost-be nef it route - very cheap in $ per minute

32

STYLE

The Americans always do things in a spectacular way w hen the y can. As in TV dramas, they can eve n man age to crash their aeroplanes wi thout anybody being killed .

Follo w ing the Sylvester Stallone sty le crash landing of a Fed Ex M D11 at La Guardia, pre v iously reported here in Th e Controller, anot her one w orth y of a good Holl ywoo d mo v ie occurred on 9 Febru ary '98 . A Boeing 727 of Amer ican Airlines crashed on the runway in Chicago O'Hare in poor visibi lity. The aircr aft broke in two , and debris fle w everyw he re along the runway, the main cab in stopped 1OOOmet ers further down the run way.

By a miracle, nobodv wa s kill ed. As the ap p ro~c h sequence w as p retty tight (it always is in KORD) and due to t he bad v isibili ty, nobody in the Towe r act ually saw the cras h , the aircraf t immed iate ly fo llow ing t he B727 on t he approach act ually landed among the debr is and raised the alarm .

Furthermore, t hi s did not prevent the next aircraft

following on the approach actually touching down in the middle of the pieces, before deciding to take off again (and avoid the second aircraft stopped somewhere else on the runway! I Ahh, the infamous USA landing clearances!

OVERHEARD FREQUENCY

ON THE

Pilot checking in ( Female voice ): Airline 1234 maintaining FL 280 good evening.

Another pilot ( Male voice): Marianne is that you?

Female pilot : Yep! Male Pilot: Are you also going to Paris?

Female Pilot: Yep! Sorry Headache .

DELAYS IN DELIVERING NEW AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTRES (2) Follow ing the last Charlie's list of engineers' language to keep us believing that everything is under control w hile it is delayed beyo nd und erstanding, two more sentences. When an engineer says: "A number of differ ent approaches are being tried " it means in fact "We don 't know where we are going but we are mo v ing ..

Like w ise w hen the y say: "The design wi ll be finalised in the next reporting period " it reall y mean s " We have not st arted this job yet." and finally when th ey say "The project is slightl y behind sche dule due to unforesee n difficulties" it really means "W e are already w orking on something else."

More of this in t he next issue .

ENTERTAINING PASSENGERS I read th at Korean Based ASIANA Airlines, in order to win new passengers, introduced a new form of entertainment on board their aircraft. This included aerobic classes, listening to live concerts and birthday parties.

Each passenger with a birthday on the day of the flight will receive a musical treat (played by the cabin crew quartet) , complete with cake-cutting ceremony and blowing out of candles ... for instance. But this so called "new way of entertaining passengers" was in fact inaugurated some 15 years ago when AIR JAMAICA used to have a fashion show on board its DC8s on its 'long" flights between London and Kingston. The peak of the show was when all flight attendants showed the latest swimming wear while loud reggae music played on the aircraft public address. Maybe w e controllers should think of something similar to keep pilots amused (I did not say awake) during their now very long flight s.... Ideas welcomed.

PARKING AIRCRAFT In April' 98, in Bangalore, India, a Malaysian DC10 came rumbling down a taxiway backwards - all on its own, with no pilot s in the cockpit The tow-tug apparentl y lost its grip while parking and the aircraft went rolling dow n t he taxiway towards the runw ay It finally stopped in high grass betw een the runway and the taxi-way. (Bangalore runway has qu ite a slope apparent ly).

The airport was closed dow n for one hour w it h lots of embarra ssed people looking around You betl

, 11 CONTROLLER

LETTERS TOTHE EDITOR ARE ENCOURAGED AND APPRECIATED

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A NUfYIBfROF:bifftR&fl

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â&#x20AC;˘

ew Execu 1ve Board Mem Introducing the Executive Vice President Europe - Marc Baumgartner M arc is 29 years old and was born in Bern (Capital of Sw itzerland).

Afte r leaving schoo l he attended a business administr ation schoo l and used to wo rk as an account clerk withi n swi sscont rol; the same company he has been w orking for as an Ar ea Cent re Controller for the last seven years. He works at the Geneva ACC and lives in a little village along t he shore of Lake Leman (Geneva) .

With in his M ember Association , SKYCONTROL SW ISS ATCA, he has been working as the main person responsible for all international affairs (w ork for the Association, but also for the

Union). During t he so-called ZOE project and the fo llowing feasibil ity study of a common French-Swiss Control Centre, he represented Swiss ATC personnel on a high-le vel government w orking group studying all implications and consequences of an international ATC project.

Marc states how he wou ld like to w ork w ith his IFATCA colleagues and how he intends to complete his mandate: "I need your assistance and input concerni ng all matters yo u are dealing with. I don 't want to change anythi ng at all regarding the w ay you are con du cting you r

wo rk. There is an old saying : "Never change a winning team'!"

Coming from a neutral country w ith direct democracy he is used to worki ng by following the principles of the majority and consensus. Thi s is also the way Skycontrol are used to accomplishing their work (in groups and teams, in the search for the best solution ). It is his intention to work in this way in th e European Region of IFATCA as well. But, as said before, to meet the objectives together as a team he w ill need your active, or better yo ur proactive input, and also you r feedback, so that we get the best out of all t he experti se and

knowledge this Federation has. So don't hesitate to come forward w ith yo ur comments and suggestio ns, or even criticisms (as he says 'Even at swisscontrol, we are all train ed to give and receive feedback')!

Back home he wil l be assisted by Christoph Gilgen (for technic al issues) and Lawrence Donald (for othe r issues).

Introducing the Executive Vice President Americas Carlos Olmos Mendoza

Introducing the Executive Vice President Professional Martyn Cooper

Carlos Olmos M endoz a Air Traffic Control Specialist, attached to the Operat ional Standards Management of Servicios a la Navegacion en el Espacio Aereo M exicano (SENEAM), Mexi co.

In 1960 started studi es of Air Traffic Contro l in Centro Internaciona l de A diestr amien to de Aviacion Civil (CIAA C) in Mexico City. In 1963 began as Assistant Controller in t he Cont rol Tower of the Inte rnati onal A irport of Mexico City after being Ai rpo rt Manager for Aero mexico in Acapulco . He has perfo rmed several control positio ns in Towe r, Approach and Enro ute, reachin g the top operat ional catego ry of Radar Termina l Contr ol in Mex ico City . He has been a Supe rvisor in the Contro l Towe r and in t he Ar ea Control Centre in M exico City.

Carlos has compl eted cour ses on the several specialit ies of control and also has been inst ructor of these discipli nes. He has also done courses on Aero naut ical Med icine, Supervision Techni cs, Technical Instructor Format ion , Univers ity Professor Formati on and Is a licensed Private Pilot w ith an experience of 600 fly ing hou rs.

Carlos has been an instructor of A ir Traffic Contro l and A ir Navigation at CIAAC and Is, at present , Professor of the same subjects in the Centre for Capacitat 1on Alas de America. for

Martyn is aged 49, and is married w ith two teenage boys. He q ualified as an Approach Radar and Aerodrome controller at London Luton Airport in 1973 w here he is now a Watch Manager and ATC Examiner.

34

the Commercial Pilot and Aircraft D ispatcher's professions .

In 1970 , together w ith other colleagues he founded Asoc iacion de Controladores de Transito Aereo de Me xico , AC. (ACTAM), serving th is Organizat ion in several posit ions, mainly as International Aff airs Secretary. He was President of ACTAM from 1987 to 1989 . In 1990 he organized the 29th Annua l Conference of IFATCA in Acapulco .

In 1980 he was elected Regional Counsellor (later Regional V icePresident ) of IFATCA for North and Cent ral Am erica. During his term , Carlos encouraged the development of IFATCA in Latin A merica, organizing several Regional Meetings that aw oke inte rest in t he Federation by th e Cont rollers¡ Associations and t he A eronautical Authorities as wel l, w hich allowed progress toward the solut ion of t he problems .

He has late ly rep resent ed Me xico in t he ATS Subgroup of the Air Navig at ion Plann ing and Impl eme nt ing Regional Group for Caribb ean and South A merica Regions (G REPECA S) of ICAO .

With in t his subgroup he has participated activ ely in several Task Forces, particularly as Representat ive of SSR Cod es Task Force for the CAR and SAM Regions. He has also been the Representat ive of t he A eron autic al Phraseology Prob lem s Task Force In these Regions .

He was President of the London Region UK Guild of Air Traffic Contro l Officers (GATCAO) from 1986 to 1988 and was Dir ector Professional of the UK Guild from 1988 to 1992

A Supranational approach for European ATC systems

Add itional tasks that he has taken part in include :

and on behalf of IFATCA, papers including :

Member of t he UK CAA Committee for the Regulation of ATCO Hours 1988- 1990 .

ATC Licensing

Member of UK A PHAZ (ATC Air miss) Panel 1989- 1992

Responsibility and functions of Ae rod rome Controllers with regard t o surface movements

Memb er of UK CAA Hum an Factors Steering Group 1987-1992 .

Member of UK CAA Air Traffic Safety Ad visory Committee 19971998 .

Member of IFATCA Standing Committee 4 (Professional matt ers) 1987-1998 He has also prepared several significant papers on behalf of UK Guild , includ ing European Standardisation for ATCO Licences

l

Legal liabilitie s of the ATCO

The Regulation of Air Traffic Contro ller's Duty Hours

Automation and th e ATCO

Preparation of IFATCA Professional Manual For several years, Marty n has been Chairman of the Annua l Confe rence Committee C, the committee w hich overs ees and develops the profess ional policy for IFATCA

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