IFATCA The Controller - April 2011 by IFATCA

THE

CONTROLLER Journal of Air Traffic Control

Spring* 2011

INTER-

* Southern hemisphere: Autumn

TION OF AIR TRAFF ERA IC C FED

LLERS’ ASSNS. TRO ON

Also in this issue: 4 Focus on Nepal 4 Solar Impulse

NATIO NAL

4 METEOROLOGY & ATC

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Contents

THE

Spring* 2011 Volume 50 Issue 1 – ISSN 0010-8073

CONTROLLER

*Southern hemisphere: Autumn

THE

CONTROLLER Journal of Air Traffic Control

Spring* 2011

4 METEOROLOGY & ATC INTER-

NATIO NAL

TION OF AIR TRAFF ERA IC C FED

Cover photo:

In this issue:

LLERS’ ASSNS. TRO ON

Also in this issue: 4 Focus on Nepal 4 Solar Impulse

* Southern hemisphere: Autumn

PUBLISHER IFATCA, International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations 1255 University Street · Suite 408 Montreal, Quebec · H3B 3B6 CANADA Phone: +1514 866 7040 Fax: +1514 866 7612 Email: office@ifatca.org EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA Alexis Brathwaite President and Chief Executive Officer

Patrik Peters Deputy President

Alex Figuereo Executive Vice-President Americas

Foreword .......................................................................................... Editorial .............................................................................................. Meteorology Windshear in Hong Kong ......................................................... MSTA ..................................................…………………..........… Aviation Meteorology ...........................................................… Volcanic Ash ...........................................................……………. MTCD .................................................………………………....... Wake Vortex .......................................................…………….... AFR447 ........................................................………………….... Keeping Weather in Our Sights ..........................................…. Solar Impulse .....................................................................…………………………. Jordan OC & 50th anniversary update ...............................................................… Focus on Nepal .....................................................................………………………. Romaero .....................................................................……………………………..... Quintiq adverticle .....................................................................…………………... IATA IDTI Scholarship .....................................................................…………….… Charlie .....................................................................………………………………..

4 5 6 9 10 12 17 18 20 23 24 26 28 31 32 34 35

Hisham Bazian Executive Vice-President Africa and Middle East

Raymond Tse Executive Vice-President Asia and Pacific

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Philip Marien Van Dijcklaan 31 B-3500 Hasselt, Belgium email: bm@the-controller.net

Željko Oreški Executive Vice-President Europe

DEPUTY EDITOR Philippe Domogala email: dp@the-controller.net

COPY EDITORS Paul Robinson Helena Sjöström, Stephen Broadbent, Brent Cash, Andrew Robinson and David Guerin

CORPORATE AFFAIRS Vacant Darrell Meachum Executive Vice-President Finance

REGIONAL EDITORS Africa-Middle East: Mick Atiemo (Ghana) Americas: Doug Church (USA) Phil Parker (Hong Kong) Europe: Patrik Peters & David Guerin

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Scott Shallies Executive Vice-President Professional

Andrew Beadle Executive Vice-President Technical

Philippe Domogala Conference Executive

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this magazine are those of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations (IFATCA) only when so indicated. Other views will be those of individual members or contributors concerned and will not necessarily be those of IFATCA, except where indicated. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this publication is correct, IFATCA makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the nature or accuracy of the information. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or used in any form or by any means, without the specific prior written permission of IFATCA.

VISIT THE IFATCA WEB SITES:

www.ifatca.org and www.the-controller.net The editorial team has endeavored to include all owner information, or at least source information for the images used in this issue. If you believe that an image was used without permission, please contact the editor via http://www.the-controller.net

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Foreword

WELCOME TO THE “MET” EDITION OF THE CONTROLLER Scott Shallies, ^ by Executive Vice President Professional IFATCA As you all know weather conditions, forecasts, reports and warnings are an integral part of a controller’s everyday working life. Turbulence and ride reports are routine business for the enroute controller, and making weather observations, and dealing with wind shifts & wind shear and wake turbulence are “ops normal” for tower and terminal controllers. These actions and many other “weather” related duties are so integral to our operations that we don’t really give them a second thought. But they are also some of the most important safety related duties we perform.

A significant number of aircraft accidents […] are weather related. Interestingly, IFATCA actually has no specific policy on weather or meteorology related issues, and only two short references to meteorology in our policies on training and the provision of operational aeronautical information. As with other aspects of our work, the quality of the training we receive, combined with our own experiences, will dictate the level of serv se rvic rv ice ic e we p rovi ro vide vi de. This de This is is especially espe es p ci pe cial ally al lyy true tru tru rue e service provide.

with weather related issues. “Local knowledge” is also very important in provision of weather information, particularly in the tower environment. A significant number of aircraft accidents, particularly involving non-scheduled flights, are weather related. In many of these the accuracy, timeliness and completeness of the weather information is called into question. The legal implications for ATC are obvious. Is our training in these vital areas sufficient? Should we be discussing the need for specific policy on training or equipment levels? The articles in this edition of The Controller, as well as being very interesting, contribute to our professional development and understanding of these important areas. ATCOs are also called upon to deal with the impacts of “non-standard” weather events. From aircraft diversions around convective weather to more “extreme” situations. We all remember the aftermath of a certain ‘volcano’ event that disrupted the return from the Punta Cana conference for many IFATCA people. And we remember the amazing work of the controllers who dealt with the immediate and continuing effects of the ash cloud. In recent times, in the country of Australia, ATCOs have had to deal with some unusual situations. The recent floods in Queensland caused major disruptions throughout the state for a protracted period. Cities were isolated, and some aerodromes shut. The city of Rockhampton was totally isolated for some time as the floodwaters blocked all road access, and supplies were being flown in – until the aerodrome slipped beneath the waters! The controllers there, typical of ATCOs in similar situations around the world, were amongst the ‘last to leave, and the first back’ to keep the vital air link to the city open. ATC facilities were ‘shored up’ to protect them from

4 Rockhampton airport during the Queensland floods.

Photo: Rockhampton Regional Council

the floodwaters as much as possible to facilitate a resumption of service as soon as the aerodrome reappeared. To give some geographic perspective, at the worst the floods affected an area larger that of France and Germany combined. Unfortunately, these floods were soon followed by Cyclone Yasi, a category 5 cyclone that was bearing down on the coast of far north Queensland. This storm was larger in size than Hurricane Katrina. The ‘eye’ of the cyclone was over 35 kms wide, the main block of the cyclone was 500 kms wide, with 250kph winds, and the associated area directly affected around it was over 2,000kms wide. When it looked like the city of Cairns would be where the cyclone would make landfall, the ATCOs there stayed on duty until all air activity ceased, then the facility went into a controlled shut down, again with the ATC and airports being prepared as best as possible against the expected impact. Not your average day at the office when the TAF reads like this! TAF AMD YBCS 012329Z 0200/0224 16025G35KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN BKN025 FM020200 16035G50KT 9999 LIGHT SHOWERS OF RAIN BKN025 FM020800 21050G70KT 6000 RAIN BKN015 FM021100 250100G140KT 2000 RAIN BKN010 OVC015 FM021800 35050G80KT 6000 RAIN BKN015 TEMPO 0200/0208 3000 RAIN BKN015 TEMPO 0208/0218 0500 HEAVY RAIN BKN005 OVC010 RMK FM020200 SEV TURB BLW 5000FT TILL022400 T 30 29 27 26 Q 1004 1001 997 995 Fortunately for Cairns, the cyclone made landfall further to south, between major population centres, but unfortunately causing major damage to a couple of our smaller cities. The cyclone pushed inland for 1,000 kms before it dissipated. ^

evpp@ifatca.org

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Editorial

A SINGLE MAGPIE IN SPRING, FOUL WEATHER BRING Philip Marien, ^ by Editor MacDonald. Willis MacDonald. That was the name of my meteorology instructor nearly 25 years ago in the Eurocontrol Institute in Luxembourg. I’ll bet everyone remembers his meteorology instructor for one simple reason: as was then, and probably is now, there are two types of controllers. There are those who like the subject of weather and those that abhor it with equal passion. There doesn’t appear to be a middle way… And that makes your instructor someone to remember. Although I’ve always been in the first category, it would seem the majority of colleagues are of the second persuasion. And that is strange. The job of an air traffic controller is invariably affected by weather conditions. From airports closed due to snow, to wind components influencing how you solve radar conflicts, to aircraft deviating around Cb’s all over the place, to having to scrape the ice off your car after a night shift. Understanding weather phenomena can certainly help you coping with them.

During the preparation of this issue, devastating earthquakes struck both New Zealand and Japan. Unfortunately, we’ve learned that one of our colleagues, Jillian Murphy, was fatally injured in Christchurch City as a result of the earthquake on February 22nd 2011. Jill was a controller in Christchurch tower and is survived by her partner, Richard, and her two children, Taylor and Bond. Her stepson is currently training towards his ATC licence after Jill mentored him through the ATC selection process last year. NZALPA is taking steps to setup a trust fund in Jill’s name. Details can be obtained via Scott Shallies – EVP Professional (evpp@ifatca.org) The full aftermath of the March earthquake in Japan was still not clear when going to press. The images of Sendai airport being hit by the post-quake tsunami made a lasting impression on everyone who saw them. At the moment, we have no reports of casualties in the controller community. It’s beyond any doubt however that our colleagues, as well as the whole Japanese population, will be greatly affected by these events for years to come. On behalf of the whole of IFATCA, we’d like to convey our sympathy, support and where appropriate, condolences to all those affected by these events. The IFATCA Executive Board & The Controller Editorial Team

And with scientists predicting the worlds’ weather to become more extreme due to global warming, it may well be that it will start affecting our jobs more and more. In addition, it would seem that newer aircraft models are more susceptible to weather influences than older models. Ultra-efficient aerodynamic design appears to make operating envelopes tighter and more affected by things like turbulence, icing and air temperature. As highlighted a number of times throughout the articles, quite a number of accidents can be directly or indirectly attributed to weather. One can wonder whether new regulations, which force airlines to compensate passengers for delays for example, are not increasing pressure on companies and pilots to push ahead when conditions are questionable at best. I’m sure statistics would show a disproportionate number of accidents occur on a second or third landing attempt in poor weather

conditions. No doubt in my mind that ‘external’ considerations heavily influence the cockpit decisions in cases like this, which can be detrimental to safety. It is probably only a question of time before service providers and controllers are subjected to similar pressures: what is there to stop airlines from passing the blame to ATC for some of the (weather) delays they are experiencing? Until now, we were an easy delay-scapegoat, but it might become more serious if airlines start demanding money from service providers to compensate their passengers! In that respect, knowing as much as there is to know about weather and how it affects our jobs may well be a good defence!

terms as president his association, having attended over two dozen IFATCA conferences and being a member of Standing Committee VII (Legal Matters) for several years. For those who’d like to congratulate him with his career move, he can be contacted via e-mail: the_lanca@hotmail.com Hoping you will enjoy this weather hardened issue of The Controller. ^

ed@the-controller.net

On a completely unrelated note, Portugal’s António Lança, having served two

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4 Meteorology

HONG KONG WINDSHEAR ALERTING SERVICE UNIQUE DATASET HELPS REFINE WINDSHEAR FORECASTS S.M. Tse, ^ by Hong Kong Observatory

4 Terrain-disrupted airflow

4 Sea breeze

4 Gust front

4 Microburst

With the help of controllers relaying pilot reports of windshear, the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) has collected the most comprehensive dataset on this phenomenon of all major airports in the world. Analysis of pilot reports since the airport opened in July 1998 show that about 1 in 500 arriving and departing flights have reported significant windshear; i.e. a headwind change of 15 knots or more. To ensure flight safety, a suite of meteorological equipment has been installed by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) to detect windshear. This article will explore the different types of windshear, windshear detection methods, discrepancy between pilot reports and windshear alerts, as well as future developments on windshear detection and alerting system at HKIA.

Types of Windshear The majority of significant windshear events in HKIA are reported in the spring months of March and April. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a second peak during the summer time. Windshear can be caused by a wide variety of weather phenomena. The five typical types of windshear at the HKIA are due to: terrain-disrupted airflow, sea breeze, gust front, microburst and low-level jet (Figures 1a-e). The terrain around HKIA is very complex. Lantau Island to the south has peaks and valleys varying between 400m and 1000m above mean sea level. This causes a disrupted airflow, which climbs over or around the mountains and thereby produces windshear, which is transient and sporadic in nature. This type of windshear, the terrain-induced windshear, is the most common type of windshear (Figure 1a) in HKIA and accounts for about 70% of the pilot windshear reports. It usually occurs in spring, under east to south-easterly flow in stable atmosphere, and in the summer, under southwest monsoon and influences of tropical cyclones. An aircraft may experience increases and decreases of headwind when traversing through alternating high-speed airstreams, which emerge from mountain gaps, and low-speed airstreams lying in between.

The second most common type of windshear is due to sea breezes (Figure 1b). It accounts for 20% of the pilot reports. It usually occurs during winter and spring under fine weather and light wind conditions. Cooler and denser air over water flows towards warmer and less dense air over land. When a sea breeze sets in over the airport, prevailing easterlies turn to westerlies over the western part of HKIA. An aircraft may experience a sudden increase of headwind when it flies through the sea breeze front. The remaining 10% of windshear events relate to convective weather, such as gust front, microburst, and low-level jet. The gust front is the leading edge of cool downdraft, which spreads out near the ground (Figure 1c). An aircraft flying across the gust front may encounter a headwind increase. The microburst is the most violent form of downdraft from a thunderstorm (Figure 1d). It causes a sudden outflow of horizontal wind above the ground. In a typical microburst, an aircraft may encounter headwind gain, followed by downdraft and then headwind loss. The low-level jet is a narrow band of strong winds in the lower atmosphere (Figure 1e). When an aircraft enters or departs the jet, the headwind and the lift change. Apart from the types of windshear mentioned above, turbulence/windshear may also arise due to the low-level wind effects associated with buildings/structures at HKIA (Figure 1f).

Windshear Detection Methods In order to detect and monitor windshear, HKO deploys a suite of meteorological instruments on and around the airport (Figure 2). There is a Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) at Tai Lam Chung. It continuously scans runway corridors to detect windshear and microbursts using sophisticated algorithms in rainy conditions. In dry conditions, the Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) systems are used for windshear detection. A sophisticated algorithm

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4Low-level jet

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4 Meteorology All Photo Credits: HKO

and valleys of Lantau Island. Five weather buoys are deployed over the waters on the eastern and western sides of HKIA. The wind sensor data is analysed by the Anemometerbased Windshear Alerting Rules – Enhanced (AWARE) system to alert significant headwind changes.

4 Buildings/structures

Windshear alerts from TDWR, LIWAS and AWARE together with alerts from other algorithms are all fed in real time to the HKO Windshear and Turbulence Warning System (WTWS). The WTWS prioritizes the alerts based on the significance of the event and the credibility of the respective system. A single integrated windshear alert for each runway corridor will then be generated. These are passed on to the pilots by air traffic control.

Discrepancy between Pilot Reports and Windshear Alerts

4 Meteorological equipment inside and around HKIA developed by the HKO is used to detect significant wind changes in the headwind profile along glide paths using wind data produced by LIDAR. The LIDAR Windshear Alerting System (LIWAS) consists of two LIDARs, one located near the northern runway and the other located near the southern runway, so that each runway is served by a dedicated LIDAR. The dual LIDAR operation mode – the so-called dual LIWAS, detects windshear in clear air conditions, in which the majority of low-level windshear occurs at HKIA. A dense network of anemometers is installed on and around the airport, and at the peaks

The performance of the windshear alerting service at HKIA is closely monitored by comparing pilot windshear reports and flight data retrieved from quick access recorders (QAR) on the aircraft. Over the years, through detailed analysis and continual refinement of the instrumentation, the performance of windshear alerting service has seen significant improvement. The probability of detection now stands at about 90%. An example of matching report and alert is given in Figure 3. WTWS issued a windshear alert on a headwind loss of 15 knots, which was consistent with the pilot report and was confirmed by the flight data. However, the false alarm rate, presently at about 30%, still needs to be reduced. A detailed analysis is made of situations where the alert and the pilot report don’t match. A major reason for false alerts is the transient and sporadic nature of the terrain-induced windshear. The windshear feature may affect

a particular runway corridor for a short period of time and thus is not experienced by all aircraft manoeuvring over that corridor. In other cases, the windshear encountered was fairly gentle and was not considered to be significant by the pilots involved. Gentle windshear refers to windshear with lengthscale between 3 and 4 km and often occurs in springtime at HKIA, when surface easterlies prevail in the airport area. The easterlies gradually veer with altitude to south-easterly winds. As a result, the headwind encountered by an aircraft on approach from the west to HKIA would gradually increase, as it gets closer to the runway. Studies of null reports from pilots together with weather data at HKIA have revealed that pilots tend not to report or report less on this more subtle windshear. Pilots sometimes consider that gentle windshear is less significant, especially for departing aircraft, which are normally at full thrust. However, it is not practical to remove the alerting of gentle windshear events altogether as they are still considered to be significant in quite a number of pilot reports. Very occasionally, pilots report windshear for which no alerts were issued. Detailed analysis confirmed that some were due to the low level wind effects of

4 Aerial view of Hong Kong International Airport (VHHH) Photo: Wylkie Chan | Wikipedia

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4 Meteorology Ways to detect such turbulence/windshear are being investigated.

4 Headwind profile from an aircraft that landed in HKIA in July 2010. The shaded area corresponds to a headwind loss of 15 knots. WTWS issued a windshear alert of 15-knot loss in headwind, which matched with the pilot windshear report.

However, there were also cases where the reports were not substantiated by the QAR. Discussions with pilots suggested that they might have over-estimated the headwind difference after making reference to the onboard â&#x20AC;&#x153;Speed Trend Vectorâ&#x20AC;?, which corresponds to the predicted airspeed increment in the next 10 seconds based on the actual airspeed acceleration. An example is given in Figure 4. Flight data of the aircraft gives a wavy headwind profile, i.e. fluctuating headwind when the aircraft moves through the disturbed airflow. The maximum peakto-peak headwind change during the aircraft landing is just about 11 knots based on the QAR data. However, the speed trend vector predicts airspeed changes as large as 31 knots, i.e. 3 times as large. Similar discrepancies have also been observed in sea breeze conditions.

Future Developments A short-range LIDAR with high spatial resolution was set up on a trial basis in the summer of 2010 to observe the wind fluctuations downstream of the buildings/structures and calculate the turbulence intensity. Subject to funding, further study on issuing alerts due to buildings will be performed. Research is ongoing to explore the use of the LIDAR data and the TDWR data in the detection of turbulence by calculating the eddy dissipation rate from these data. The development of the new turbulence detection algorithms will be based on not only the pilot reports, but also on turbulence intensity calculated from the flight data of commercial aircraft and an instrumented fixed-wing aircraft of the Government Flying Service in Hong Kong.

buildings. Due to their smaller scale and higher temporal variations, turbulence/windshear due to low level wind effects of buildings are not adequately alerted by the existing instrumentation. A section on the low

level wind effects has been included in the Aeronautical Information Publication Hong Kong issued by the Civil Aviation Department to alert pilots about the possibility of building-induced turbulence and windshear when landing on specific runway corridors in HKIA under different weather situations.

Work is also in hand to study the feasibility of up-linking real-time windshear alerts to the flight deck for immediate attention by the pilots. Prototype products in graphical format will be developed for future uplink applications. As discussed above, pilot reports are essential for HKO to continuously refine our windshear alerting service. Contributions from controllers and pilots in providing these reports were instrumental in making our alerting service one of the best in the world. We look forward to your continuing support in relaying the windshear reports! ^

smtse@hko.gov.hk

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4M Meteorology eteorology

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES IN THE TERMINAL AREA HARMONIZING TWO “CULTURES” TO SOLVE OLV VE THE THE CENTURY. PROBLEMS OF CROWDED SKIES IN THE 21STT CENTURY. Dr. Herbert Puempel, ^ by Chief Aeronautical Meteorology Division,, W WDS WMO DS / W MO Background

The WMO Initiative ative ve e

Since the beginning of civil aviation, meteorological services have supported pilots and aircraft operations with observations and forecasts for flight planning and in-flight decisions. While the ATM community had access to these, it became increasingly clear that the legacy products were not tailored for ATM needs: they mainly address current conditions at aerodromes and provide a 12-30 hour forecast of these conditions for flight planning. The crucial time horizons for ATM decisions ranging from clearances, runway selection, sequencing to slot allocation were not specifically supported by specialized services.

The World Meteorological ogical O Organization rg ganiz an niz iza atio tion n ha has as n w Meteorone Mete Me t orro-te thus embarked on a sett o off new e Term rm min nall A rea re a (MST (M M TA) A). logical Services in the Terminal Area (MSTA). addr d esss decision deci de cisi ci ssiion supssup up-up These are intended to address m port in the wider terminall area, basically from ck to the top of descent to landing and b back the top of climb. This initiative is in the hands of a dedicated Expert Team on MSTA, and is supported by a Task Team on MSTA User Needs of the Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM).

Fundamental Issues In addition to this problem, a fundamental “cultural” difference between the meteorological and ATM community rendered a harmonious collaboration difficult. Controllers are trained and selected to make rapid, binary and clearly understood decisions. Meteorological information on the other hand is highly variable, 4-dimensional and has an element of randomness. In particular, phenomena such as atmospheric turbulence, wind shear and convective storms have a limited “exact” predictability. Their occurrence is best predicted in terms of a probability function in space and time.This demonstrates clearly the need for a concerted effort in establishing dedicated, tailored meteorological services for personnel involved in air traffic management (this goes beyond sending a “legacy product” such as TAF, METAR or aerodrome warning to a teletype on a control tower). Such services need to bridge the gap between the established cultures, must be able to be integrated in multi-disciplinary decision support tools, and must be presentable in easily ingested forms (graphic, symbolic, acoustic) to all stakeholders required to cooperate in a collaborative decision making process, from Pilots, TWR, APCH, ATFM, AIM, to airport and airline operations officers.

These teams, building on emerging pilot projects for several international hub airports such as Paris CDG, the New York area, Hong Kong International Airport and several more have developed such tailor-made services. Some examples include high-resolution wind profiles through the approach and climb areas that facilitatie continuous descent approaches, sequencing and compression problems. Runway wind forecasts enable runway selection at high temporal resolution. They’ve made graphical and digitized “nowcasts” of convective weather in the wider terminal area as well as specialized forecasts for “winter weather”, addressing snow fall rates, ground icing, aircraft deicing etc. High-precision lightning detection and forecasts of heavy precipitation, which affects runway conditions, allow continued safe ground operations during convective weather.

Initial User Feedback These prototype forecasts were presented at several MET/ATM/AIM workshops and ICAO regional meetings and found a positive echo from the ATM community. The following issues were considered vital. ATM personnel require clear indications on the accuracy and reliability of the information expressed in ATM-relevant terms (e.g. wind errors expressed in timing or location error of approaching aircraft, expected lead time

for runway changes etc.). Also, probabilistic information can be useful in the longer timehorizons such as 4-6 hour slot planning, sector staffing and flow management. On the contrary, “ad-hoc” decisions in the 0-15 min time horizon requires the information converted into deterministic form (e.g. by choosing the most likely values and events). ATM staff also like to be informed about typical “scenarios” for which they have a well-developed procedural approach, such as crosswind, visibility, thunderstorms and snowfall thresholds.

Future Development The WMO is working closely with ICAO and the ATM community to define and map out the details of the new MSTA services in support of ATM. It is expected that a proposal of MSTA, in the form of procedures and manuals, empowered by the regulatory document (ICAO Annex 3) will be developed for consideration by the next Conjoint WMO CAeM / ICAO MET/AIM Divisional Meeting in 2014. ^

hpuempel@wmo.int

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4 Meteorology

AVIATION METEOROLOGY WHAT HAS CHANGED OVER THE PAST 100 YEARS? John Wagstaff, ^ by Asia Pacific Representative 4 Charles van den Born makes his first powered flight in Hong Kong. At 5 pm the Clerk of the Weather reported that the wind had abated and at 5.10 pm Charles van den Born took off in his Farman 2, named the ‘The Shatin Flyer’ for the event, and made the first flight of an aircraft in Hong Kong. A few remaining guests and some curious local Chinese residents from nearby villages watched the flight.

The weather report for Saturday morning, 18 March 1911, was good and Charles van den Born was anticipating creating another historic aviation event in the Asian region. Having

Meteorology will be one of the significant factors in the collaborative process of handling the ever-increasing traffic more safely.

4 Line squall about to hit Hong Kong airport (VHHH) Photo: Phil P.

conducted a series of inaugural flights in Siam (now Thailand) and Vietnam with his Farman 2 biplane, he now was planning to make the first powered flight in Hong Kong at 2 pm that afternoon. The Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Frederick Luard, and many dignitaries were invited out to a field at Shatin in the Hong Kong countryside to witness the momentous event. Unfortunately after lunch a strong north-westerly wind developed and at 2 pm Charles van den Born decided the weather was unsuitable for flying and he could only taxi his aircraft in front of the assembled crowd. Whilst the strong winds continued he taxied around the field, but the interest and anticipation of the assembled crowd soon waned, and at 4 pm the Governor and many of the guests returned to Hong Kong city.

Accurate weather reports were important to a pilot 100 years ago, and despite the unprecedented development of aviation since that time, accurate weather reports and forecasts are important in today’s aviation world and will be even more important in tomorrow’s environment. In the future global ATM system meteorology will be one of the significant factors in the collaborative process of handling the ever-increasing traffic more safely, more efficiently and also more environmentally responsible. For this to happen there must be close cooperation and coordination between the controller and the meteorologist. Until recently there has been very little direct contact between ATC and MET. The World Meteorological Office Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (WMO CAeM) 14th Meeting was held in February 2010 in Hong Kong and IFATCA was invited to attend. Although the pilots, through IFALPA, regularly attend these meetings, this was the first time that a controller had participated in the discussions. Similarly, at the ICAO Aerodrome Meteorological Observation and Forecast Study Group (AMOF SG) 8th Meeting, held

4 Meteorology in 2010, the lack of ATC involvement was highlighted when there was discussion on the provision of meteorological information in the final approach area and terminal approach area. However, because those present did not have adequate knowledge of the different types of airspace, the meeting had to defer further discussion on these significant topics. Therefore it is not surprising that there has been misunderstanding and disagreement between ATC and MET in the past. The controller needs to be aware of the limitations of meteorological information and the meteorologist must know about the needs of ATC. Fortunately things are changing. In the United States, the FAA ATC System Command Centre has developed a comprehensive liaison programme with the National Weather Service for handling significant weather events. Meteorology is also one of the key items in the development of NEXTGEN. Similarly in Europe the development of SESAR includes close coordination with the meteorological authorities. In other parts of the world, the ATC and MET authorities in individual States are cooperating to provide improved meteorological services and specialised information tailored to the controllers’ requirements. In the Asia Pacific region, the MET authorities in Hong Kong and Japan are providing detailed short-term forecasts of convective activity within the terminal area, (Nowcast and Meteorological Services in the Terminal Area – MSTA) via displays at the controllers’ consoles. In other parts of the world, there are ATC and MET authorities that are cooperating to develop other services and products specifically for controllers. But what of the many ATC units outside of these areas like the controllers in Control Centres and Control Towers that only receive the basic TAF or Met Report from their local meteorological office. When will they start to benefit from the improved forecasting services and additional meteorological products? If they wait for Annex 3 to be amended and for new guidance material to be published by ICAO, it could be a long wait. Instead, controllers should to be proactive and talk directly with the meteorologists. Does your unit have regular meetings with the local aeronautical meteorologists? If not, suggest to your supervisor or senior controller that such a meeting would be very beneficial for all. (Annex 3 Chapter 10 contains the following statement, ‘The associated meteorological office shall, after coordination with the air traffic services unit, supply, or arrange for the supply of, up-to-date meteorological information to the unit as nec-

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4 Water spout to the North of Chek Lap Kok Airport (VHHH) Photo: Phil P.

I’ve come to realise that [meteorologists] are simply unaware of what the controller wants. essary for the conduct of its functions’.) In the past, I have frequently criticised the accuracy of a TAF or the obvious discrepancies between a Met Report and what I can see from the control tower, but after talking with the meteorologists, I now understand their procedures and limitations in forecasting and observing. While I still criticise the TAF and Met Report, I now know why they are inaccurate! The primary reason for any difference of opinion between ATC and MET, is because aeronautical meteorological offices provide a service in accordance with ICAO Annex 3, a document that is written by meteorologists for meteorologists, even though the end user of the service are controllers and pilots. As part of the initial training of a student controller, they will have some instruction in basic meteorology (occluded fronts, adiabatic lapse rates and cumulonimbus cloud were some of the subjects included in my syllabus). Meteorologists at airports are trained solely as meteorologist and they mostly have little or no aviation knowledge at all. It is only through coordination with controllers that aeronautical meteorologists can find out what additional services they could provide. I am very fortunate that in my career as a controller I have had the opportunity to work at many ATC units in different parts of the world, and I know from personal experience that each control tower and control centre has its own meteorological requirements. However, there is only the one Annex 3, so unless ATC coordinates with MET, we will receive the basic service in accordance with ICAO documents and we will continue to complain about the deficient service. Prior to becoming involved in discussions with forecasters and aviation weather experts, I was a typical controller. I had a very sceptical regard for this group of scientists who appeared to be solely concerned with meteorology and totally disconnected from its effects on the aviation world. Now, having

talked with them and explained the consequences of changing winds, the implications of fluctuating visibility and how other weather events such as CB’s can have a direct influence on how a controller handles traffic, I’ve come to realise that they are simply unaware of what the controller wants. They are only too willing to provide additional information and new services to assist ATC. As ATC transitions to ATM, the advanced automated systems that will become the tools of our trade will require more data with regularly updated and accurate meteorological information in order to facilitate precise trajectory planning and efficient traffic management. This can only be achieved with more coordination and cooperation between ATC and MET. ^

John.wags@gmail.com (This is an extract of the IFATCA presentation made at the WMO/ICAO MET-ATM Seminar in Japan in January 2011)

4 Typhoon Becky, 17 September 1993 covered 2/3 of the Hong Kong FIR. Photo: Phil P.

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IAVWOPSG

4 Nearly one hundred representatives from States and international and regional organizations attended the first meeting of the IVATF. Photo: ICAO

CONFRONTING THE IMPACT OF VOLCANIC ASH ERUPTIONS Raul Romero, MET/AIM Section, ^ by Air Navigation Bureau, ICAO In November 1987, ICAO established the International Airways Volcano Watch (IAVW) to help face the threat of volcanic ash in the atmosphere to aviation. The IAVW faced many technical and procedural challenges, which needed to be resolved. Thanks to the cooperation of all the stakeholders, nine volcanic ash advisory centres (VAACs) were established, together with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Another excellent example is the inclusion of State Volcano Observatories in Annex 3 – Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation.

VAACs Within the framework of the IAVW, the VAACs were tasked to collect data from State volcano observatories and ground, airborne and space-based detection systems. Using this information, they forecast the movement of Volcanic Ash (VA), using VA numerical trajectory/dispersion models and produce volcanic ash advisory messages, in both abbreviated plain language and graphical format. This informa-

tion is used by States to issue appropriate warnings to aircraft in flight; airport authorities; airlines; service providers; and other stakeholders involved in aviation activities with the aim to avoid aircraft encounters with volcanic ash. The system worked very well over the years, even without a definition of acceptable levels (or thresholds) of volcanic ash concentration. These would have been necessary in order to increase safety, optimize re-routings of aircraft and to minimize aircraft exposure to non-visible ash, which would reduce long-term maintenance.

Eyjafjallajökull However, the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in April 2010 caused extreme disruption to commercial air traffic in Europe. It paralyzed aircraft operations in the western and northern parts of the EUR and eastern parts of the NAT Regions for many days. It prompted ICAO and the whole aviation community to take urgent measures to address the crisis. Complementing the existing work of the International Airways Volcano Watch Operations Group (IAVWOPSG), ICAO established the International Volcanic Ash Task Force (IVATF) in May 2010. They will assist in the development of a global safety risk management framework, which will allow the definition of safe levels of operation in airspace contaminated by volcanic ash.Resuming operations during the April eruption in airspace contaminated by volcanic ash required defining of different (predicted) thresholds and subjecting airframes to appropriate maintenance follow-up measures. Formalising such requirements will require a lot of effort from airframe and engine manufacturers, aviation safety regulators, operators, meteorological authorities and scientific communities together with ICAO and other international organizations involved. They are working under the umbrella of the IVATF, to develop research results, which are to be applied in an operational environment to make a risk-management assessment. For example, it will require development of new volcanic ash andsuphur dioxide sensors; review of dispersion models; and deployment of volcanic monitoring equipment.

Work in Progress The first meeting of the IVATF was held at the ICAO Headquarters in Montreal, Canada from 27 to 30 July 2010. Attended by almost one hundred representatives from States and international and regional organizations, the IVATF elected a Programme Coordinator and established four sub-groups: Science (SCI); IAVW Coordination; Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Airworthiness (AIR). The agenda of this first meeting included: • Eyjafjallajökull eruption, including lessons learned, • A review of contingency plans and the operational response to volcanic ash encounters • Notification and warning systems • Development of ash concentration thresholds • Improvement of ash detection/avoidance systems • Improvement and harmonization of ash dispersion models and their visual presentation. In this regard the Task Force endorsed twentyfive deliverables or tasks, which should be addressed by the four sub-groups. It was agreed to hold regular quarterly teleconferences to ensure that the tasks were on the right track and to facilitate coordination between the project managers of the different sub-groups. At the moment of writing, the work of the Task Force is progressing very well. A second meeting will be held in Montreal in July (11 to 15) this year. Two teleconferences were been held in addition to several informal contacts between the different sub-groups. Guidance material to support operational exercises has been forwarded to the European and North Atlantic (EUR/NAT) ICAO Office. ICAO is confident that the work of the Task Force will shed more light on this important safety issue and will assist aviation to successfully face future volcanic ash events. ^

http://www2.icao.int/en/anb/ met-aim/met/ivatf/

4 Volcanic ash is not restriction to borders and requires international coordination. Here the plume from Chaitèn volcano in Chile stretches across the continent into Argentina. Photo: NASA|Google Earth

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VOLCANIC ASH WHAT‘S THE PROBLEM?

We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped.

Philip Marien, ^ by Editor Perth, Australia. Flying in darkness at FL370 above the Indian Ocean just south of Java, the crew noticed bright flashes outside the windscreen. These were similar to St. Elmo's fire, which is normally associated with thunderstorms. Oddly enough, the weather radar did not show any such weather systems. Soon after, engine 4 surged and flamed out. Within 2 minutes, the three other engines also gave up.

4 Light microscope image of ash from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington. Photo: wikipedia

Tephra Volcanic ash often contains tephra: bits of pulverized rock and glass, up to 2 millimetres in diameter. The force of the eruption and convection currents propels this into the air and the wind then carries it away. The ash with the smallest size can remain in the atmosphere for a considerable period of time and be carried well away from the eruption point. This tephra has a melting point of approximately 1,100°C, which is below the operating temperature of modern commercial jet engines a, about 1,400°C. When it’s ingested into aircrafts’ engines, the ash melts and contaminates fuel nozzles, turbine blades and sensors. Additionally, volcanic clouds contain high concentrations of sulphur dioxide (SO2), which is highly corrosive and thereby damaging to aircraft flying through. Ash clouds may not be readily recognisable to pilots, especially when flying at night. In addition they do not show up on radar, as these are tuned to detect water droplets and not the smaller sized ash particles. Even when flying in daylight, an ash cloud can be easily mistaken for a normal cloud formed by water vapour.

1982 – Mount Galunggung On 24 June 1982, a British Airways 747 was en-route from Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia to

Unknown to the crew and ATC, BAW009 had flown into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung (approximately 180 kilometres south-east of Jakarta, Indonesia). The crew decided to try and divert to Jakarta, while attempting to restart the engines. Captain Moody famously made the following passenger announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control. I trust you are not in too much distress.” Approaching an 11,500ft mountain range, they eventually managed to restart all 4 engines. With power restored and without knowing what had caused the problem, they climbed again in order to have some additional altitude above the mountains. The flashes outside the aircraft came back and engine number 2 flamed out again. Descending back, they exited the cloud again and made it to Jakarta on 3 engines.

re-routed airways to avoid the area.

1989 – Mount Redoubt A nearly identical event occurred 7 years later, in December 1989. KLM Flight 867 en route to Narita International Airport, Tokyo from Amsterdam was descending into Anchorage International Airport, Alaska when all four engines failed. The Boeing 747-400, less than 6 months old, had flown through a thick cloud of volcanic ash from Mount Redoubt, which had erupted the day before. After descending more than 14,000 feet, the crew were finally able to restart the engines and safely land the plane, again barely able to see outside. In this case the ash caused more than US$80 million in damage to the aircraft. ^

ed@the-controller.net

The approach was largely made on instruments, as the ash had damaged the windscreen and landing lights. Unable to see where they were going after landing, the crew requested to be towed off the runway. All four engines needed to be replaced as well as all exposed glass surfaces. In addition, fuel tanks were found heavily contaminated with ash that had entered the pressurisation ducts. The airspace around Mount Galunggung temporarily was closed after the incident, but was re-opened days later. It was only after a Singapore Airlines 747 was forced to shut down three of its engines in the same area nineteen days later, that Indonesian authorities closed the airspace and

4 Detail of the residue left on a BA009’s engine part Photo: BA

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4 Meteorology 4 D-CMET in mid flight. Some of the probes on the aircraft can be clearly seen. Photo: DLR

MEASURING THE ASH CLOUDS DASSAULT FALCON 20E – D-CMET Philippe Domogala, ^ by Deputy Editor As discussed in the previous articles, real-time measurements of volcanic ash concentrations are important to validate the mathematical dispersion models used by the VAACs. The German aerospace research institute DLR uses a Dassault Falcon 20E (registration DCMET) to perform such airborne measurements.

Airspace is being closed based on theoretical models, not on facts.

The Aircraft The DLR uses this Falcon 20 business jet as a flying laboratory since 1976. It’s based in Oberpfaffenhofen airport (EDMO) near Munich, Germany. The aircraft has been modified to perform all kinds of weather observations. It can fly at altitudes of up to 42.000ft, which is sufficiently high for it to reach the lower stratosphere at mid-latitudes. In recent years, this has become a focal point for research into ozone depletion. It can also fly close to thunderstorms and up to 30 meters behind the jet engines of another jet aircraft (e.g. to measure aircraft emissions). As can be expected, the aircraft is packed with specialized instruments, both inside the cabin as well as on the fuselage. Very

4 Crew of D-CMET in front of the aircraft. Photo: DLR

prominently visible is a nose-boom, which contains a flow probe device used for measuring inflow velocity and direction. The aircraft has special windows, which enable the use optical systems, including cameras and a Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) system. The latter is a remote sensing instrument that can measure the concentration of dust and ash particles using laser beams. It also has four under-wing connection points for carrying Particle Measurement Systems (PMS). The aircraft seats up to 10 people, depending on instrumentation. It has a range of approximately 3700 kilometres a maximum speed of Mach 0.865 (910 Km/h) and an endurance of 5h30 (depending on payload).

4 Promoted to “Volcano Ash Hunter”, D-CMET was instrumental in getting German and European airspace re-opened in April 2010. Photo: Bernd Sieker

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4 Meteorology Eyjafjallajökull Volcanic Ash Measurements After the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland in April 2010, many States in Europe followed the advice of the UK based VAAC and closed their whole airspace. When the situation persisted and under mounting pressure from the airlines, it was decided to send specific aircraft measuring the real position and density of the ash cloud. The information from the VAAC was based on mathematical models or as IATA Head Giovanni Bisignani put it: “Airspace is being closed based on theoretical models, not on facts.” However, few countries had the technology to actually do these measurements. D-CMET quickly came into view as the best option and so the German DLR was asked to make the first measurements on April 19th overhead Germany. This was 4 days after the first airspace closures. They had to verify whether the airspace closures were justified and whether the VAAC forecasts could be refined. They used the LIDAR system and collected samples that allowed calculating ash particle concentrations. These showed that airspace closures in Central Europe were initially justified but that the ash overhead Germany had sufficiently aged and dispersed after Saturday 17 April. The aircraft flew several more measurement missions during the following weeks and was sent from 29 April to 2 May to Iceland to study the cloud itself.

Flying into the Cloud On 29 April 2010, D-CMET observed the volcanic ash cloud over Iceland and carried out preliminary measurements. Coming in from the Faroe Islands, the Falcon flew from East to West along the southern coast of Iceland, at an altitude of about 8000 meters. Iceland was covered by continuous cloud, above which the volcanic plume of Eyjafjallajökull clearly rose. The Falcon also flew in the vicinity of Keflavik, some 70 km South

4 Over-wing shot of the plume rising from the

of the capital, this time at lower altitudes of 5500m, 4200m and 2000m, to determine the vertical profile of ash concentration in the atmosphere. It detected layers of volcanic ash at altitudes of between 2000 to more than 5000m. High concentrations of small liquid droplets were found at an altitude of 5500m. “As always, flying directly into the concentrated ash plume is far too dangerous,” said Prof. Ulrich Schumann, Director of the DLR Institute of Atmospheric Physics, about the mission. The particle-measuring devices attached to the wings of the Falcon were used at an altitude of 4200m, to one side of the axis of volcanic ash cloud. This device detected tiny concentrations of large particles (3-800 micrometres). The measurement data obtained during the first flight were sent to those responsible in Iceland, to the German Weather Service (DWD) and to the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in England. These first measurements gave the Icelandic air traffic control authority data to review the no-fly areas. Although it is clearly weaker than it was shortly after the start of the eruption, the volcano was still active and the volcanic ash was reaching altitudes of 5000m. Dense rain clouds prevented measurements the next day. The Falcon took off again at about 13:00 CEST on Saturday, 1 May. Conditions were nearly perfect, despite a light cloud cover. Their track led them directly past the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. At about 200 km from the volcano, the aircraft made several passes above the volcanic ash cloud roughly 6000m altitude. On the return flight, visual observations by the crew and measurements showed that Keflavik and Reykjavik were free from volcanic ash, because of wind from the northwest. At 16:30 CEST, the Falcon landed at Keflavik again. Like every measurement flight in the past few days, a thorough examination of the engines followed. No damage was found.

Flying directly into the concentrated ash plume is far too dangerous. During the middle of May, several other missions showed differing results: • May 9 over Southern Germany: measurements showed very thin concentration of particles (< 10 µg/m3) which had lead to a disputable airspace closure. • May 13 over the English Channel: a thin ash cloud was detected (< 30 µg/m3) without VAAC warning • May 16: England and North Sea: a thick (2000 µg/m3) volcanic ash plume was visible • May 17 over the North Sea values of 450 µg/m3 were observed by LIDAR • May 18: A thin ash cloud was discovered over Germany. All the observations and measurements by D-CMET were passed on to VAAC but also to the different CAA’s. The data allowed them to refine predictions and in quite a few cases, allowed withdrawing or at least easing some restrictions. While not a replacement for the VAAC models, the two complement each other and are vital in ensuring the highest degree of safety in ash contaminated airspace. Article written using information given from DLR and using their web site: http://www.dlr.de. ^

4 Ash clouds are not always as easy to distinguish

volcano.

as on this picture.

Photo: DLR

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INTERVIEW Capt Gemsa was one of the pilots in charge of the various ﬂights made by the DA20 during the volcanic ash disruptions in April and May 2010. Philippe interviewed him last February.

Philippe: How did the performed measurements influence your flights? Capt. Gemsa: We had a satellite phone on board and we kept close contact with our base and the scientists constantly adopting their computer models. We also had a 3rd pilot in an office in Germany who kept track of our demands, contacted ATC for coordination and adapted the flight plans accordingly. This worked extremely well. Philippe: Do the external modifications to the aircraft change the profile and performance compared to a normal DA20?

4 Capt. Gemsa Photo: DLR

Philippe: What was the interaction with ATC during those flights and did you file normal flight plans? Capt. Gemsa: DLR Scientists made forecasts on where the ash cloud should be, based on DLR modelling. This was the basis for the ATC flight plan. But measurements in the air modified our demands, and many times, we had to deviate significantly from our original flight plan. I must say that during all those flights we had exceptional cooperation from ATC everywhere in Europe. We only had one request denied and that was due to a military area active for a military exercise over the North Sea. That was the only time.

Capt. Gemsa: Yes they do. The Particle Measurement System probes under the wings limits our speed to Mach .75. The heavy instrumentation and the aerodynamic disturbances of the probes restrict us to FL 390 maximum. The engines are standard Garrett jets. We just have a couple of extra generators on them to run the extra electric power needed for the mission experiments and instruments. Philippe: As a pilot, and knowing the results of the measurements, do you think the complete closure of European airspace last April was justified and measures taken safe?

Capt. Gemsa: Initially yes, because nobody really knew what was going on. But later on it seemed to be more like an overreaction. In fact, on some occasions we measured strong ash concentrations very close to the ground and hardly anything at higher altitudes, yet the authorities banned flights in the upper airspace but allowed VFR flights at low altitudes. This was a “legal” measure as due to allow commercial flights to operate, but scientifically, it made no sense. On the positive side, on some occasions when the airspace of South Germany was closed, we made flights to check, found nothing serious and the authorities, after our flight, agreed to reopen the airspace. Philippe: Were you not afraid of engine damage or engine shut down? Capt. Gemsa: We initially flew from airport to airport, so we could divert immediately in case of any problems. We also limited ourselves to VMC conditions. Additionally after each flight we thoroughly inspected our engines and engine systems possibly affected. But most importantly, we also had a laser system on board that looked down and measured the ash concentration, so we knew what to expect before we approached ashcontaminated airspace. ^

4 Eyjafjallajökull volcanic ash cloud over Iceland on 1 May 2010 Photo: DLR

Many times, we had to deviate significantly from our original flight plan. THE

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WIND UNCERTAINTY AND MTCD EFFICIENCY

Jean-Marc Alliot, ^ by Head if R&D, DSNA (France)

A large part of the controller workload comes from conflict detection and monitoring. The SESAR project aims at giving tools (such as MTCD) to air traffic controller that will lighten this part of their burden and help them to have a more strategic planning activity while letting the computer take into account some of those “housekeeping” tasks. In this article we will show that because some uncertainties like wind prediction errors are unavoidable, even a perfect MTCD will always detect more conflict that the actual number of conflicts that really occur.

Understanding Conflict Detection from a Mathematical Point ov View The figure below shows a typical conflict pair: the speed of aircraft 1 is v1; that of aircraft 2 is v2. The angle of incidence is α:

Let’s take a concrete example: aircraft p1 is flying at 400kts and is at a distance l1=60Nm of the conflict point, aircraft p2 is flying at 380kts, the crossing angle is 45° and the separation standard is D=5Nm. Then p2 will be in conflict with p1 if its distance to the crossing point is in the interval [r1,r2] with:

For the given parameters, this results in r1= 62Nm and r2= 52Nm. In other words: if p2 is closer to the crossing point than 52Nm, it will safely pass in front of p1 and if it is further than 62Nm of the crossing point it will safely pass behind ρ1.

A very interesting value is the length of the segment to monitor: L= r1 − r2 Thus we have to monitor a 10Nm segment and the length to monitor does not depend on l1 (the distance to the crossing point): if information was perfect and there was no uncertainty of any kind, conflicts could be exactly predicted as soon as we know the position of the aircraft, even if they are very far away from the crossing point.

The Importance of Uncertainties Controllers have to monitor and even sometimes solve conflicts that will often never occur: their priority is safety and they have to take into account uncertainty margins the best they can. The advocates of MTCD tools claim that it is possible to enhance the efficiency of conflict detection by using information downloaded from the aircraft FMS in order to reduce uncertainties. This is only partially true. The FMS can provide very accurate information on air speed. However, for detection purpose, its accuracy on ground speed depends on the accuracy of wind prediction. Of course, for resolution purpose, it would be possible to have the FMS enter a “closed loop” mode, where it would guarantee a given ETA on the crossing point, a prominent idea in one of the SESAR concepts. But it is impossible to use this mode for every detected conflict, because we would have to compel aircraft to have an ETA for every crossing point. This would be much too complex and expensive. For conflict detection, even if the FMS provides perfect information on air speed and aircraft intentions, wind uncertainties have to be taken into account. The wind prediction is never perfect and we have an unknown error on the wind defined by its maximal module Wm. We suppose that aircraft automatically correct their heading by a drifting angle to maintain their course whatever the wind, and that they also maintain their air speed (mach point). Then it is possible to show that the additional number

of conflicts to monitor is given by:

where ta is the look-ahead time, Wm is the wind maximal error, D the separation standard and α the crossing angle. Let’s take a simple example: the max. wind error is Wm=18kts, we want to detect conflicts ta=5 minutes before the crossing point, and the separation standard D=5 Nm, with a crossing angle α=90°. Then:

The MTCD will detect 30% more conflicts than there really are, to ensure that none are missed. This number linearly increases with the look-ahead time. If conflicts are detected 15 minutes before the crossing point, the MTCD will detect 90% more conflicts, almost twice the actual number. And this is provided all other parameters are perfect: perfect FMS air trajectory prediction; no unexpected maneuvers by the pilots; etc.

Conclusion SESAR promotes the “business owned” trajectory concept, the use of contract between air and ground to reduce the number of conflicts, and the development of ATC tools to ease the air traffic controller’s tasks regarding conflict detection, resolution and monitoring. Enhanced on board navigation systems and data-link facilities offer new opportuni-

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4 The aircraft are far away from the

4 The aircraft are closer to the con-

crossing point. Uncertainty is large; the controller detects a potential conflict and gets ready to solve this conflict by turning the red aircraft to the right. However, he still has time before the conflict occurs and he decides to wait and monitor the situation. ties to develop these tools but even with a perfect collaboration between the board and the ground, the above results show that future tools' efficiency will strongly rely on accurate wind prediction. Thus a

flict point and uncertainty is much smaller. Now it looks quite clear that the aircraft wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;t be in conflict, and the controller can either monitor the aircraft or rely on an ATC tool to monitor the situation for him.

sustained effort is necessary to increase the quality of wind modeling and to reinforce the relationship between people working in both fields (meteorology and civil aviation) in order to promote a better understanding of the needs of both of them. ^ alliot@cena.fr

4 The aircraft have crossed and the problem is over.

For the interested reader, the full paper including mathematical proof is available at http://www.alliot.fr/papers/ifatca.pdf

WAKE VORTEX SEPARATION UPDATING 40 YEAR OLD CATEGORISATION WILL LEAD TO MORE EFFICIENCT RUNWAY SEPARATION Paul Wilson, Head Eurocontrol ATM Unit & ^ by Peter Eriksen, Head Eurocontrol Airport Unit Wake Vortex separation has been an issue for many years. The ICAO wake vortex separation requirements have, over the last couple of decades, become increasingly out-dated. This has lead to many variations, as States tried to solve particular problems where certain aircraft were producing higher than average wake vortex encounter rates. This situation arose due to the fact

Would the A380 not require more separation than the existing Heavy aircraft?

that it was simply not possible to make any revisions to the long established ICAO separations â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the technology or detailed level of understanding of the nature of wake vortices was not sufficient to propose changes. Over the last few years, with the advent of mature measuring technology combined with a greater understanding and new modelling ability, it is now possible to develop updated separation criteria together with new wake vortex avoidance procedures. New reduced separations combined with dynamic applications could increase runway throughput at congested airports while safety and efficiency could be improved with future developments.

40 Years of History It is now more than 40 years since the ICAO Wake Vortex categories were established. It was mainly the introduction of the Boeing

747 that made it necessary to define longitudinal separation standards for the departure and arrival phases of flight. Whilst these ICAO separation requirements are still in place, as mentioned earlier there are now many variations around the globe. These national exceptions are normally based on empirical data and pilot reports. They have led to a situation where the harmonisation has been lost, and pilots are often unaware what separations are being applied as the fly from State to State.

New Requirements Appeared The Airbus 380 is 30% heavier that the B747400, which raised the question about the current Heavy Category: would the A380 not require more separation than the existing Heavy aircraft? On request from ICAO, a working group with participation of Air-

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For each pair of aircraft […] the required minimum separation will be determined.

4 Meteorology

bus, EUROCONTROL, FAA and EASA (at that time the JAA) was formed. This working group developed a methodology and collected data from flight trials and modelling that resulted in the current separation standards. These standards are still under consideration by the working group, and trials are still being conducted by Airbus to further optimise the separation minima. A similar process is being used to define the separation requirements for the B747-8 that will enter into operation later in 2011.

of the laser light reflected back to the LIDAR allows the movement and velocity of the particle to be accurately measured, which in turn then allows us to see what is happening to any turbulence that is created by aircraft. The strength of the turbulence, its movement and decay rate can all be accurately determined using LIDAR. By scanning perpendicular to the departure or approach path of a runway, the nature of the vortex generated by all types of aircraft that fly through the LIDAR can be accurately measured and the separation requirements determined. These LIDAR data collection campaigns have taken place in a number of US airports and several major European airports.

New Separation Standards and Dynamic Applications

Future Developments to increase Safety and Efficiency

The successful development of the methodology and completion of the safety case for the A380 has fostered other projects where Wake Vortex separations are being considered. First of all a proposal to revise and update the ICAO Wake Vortex categorisation scheme is under development. ICAO has asked the FAA and EUROCONTROL and other organisations to investigate the possibility of developing a new wake vortex categorisation scheme that could eliminate the need for the many variations that presently exist. The initial results of this activity will be proposed to the newly formed ICAO Wake Vortex Study Group during spring 2011 for further development. The main differences compared to the current categories is that the Heavy and Medium classes have been split in two, which potentially can increase runway throughput at congested runways by 5 to 8% depending on fleet mix.

Within the SESAR and NEXTGEN programmes, work continues on the future concept of “Dynamic Pair-wise Separation”. All factors that exist at the moment when two aircraft need to be separated are taken into account such as the type, the actual weight and speed of the aircraft, the prevailing wind and other meteorological factors and the stability of the air mass will be taken into consideration. For each pair of aircraft either on departure or on approach, the required minimum separation will be determined. This information will be used to optimise the arrival and departure sequence and so allow an enhancement of capacity. The information will be provided to the controller using decision support tools that will permit the required separation to be established and maintained.

Also other advance procedures that will allow a reduction of separation under certain wind conditions are under development. As little as 5 knots crosswind or 10 knots headwind on final approach, or a combination of the two, is enough to transport the wake vortex away from the path of the succeeding aircraft, or to make the Wake Vortex decay fast enough to reduce longitudinal separation. The huge amounts of measured data prove this point clearly and that data will allow a full safety case for the new procedures to be completed. These applications are now ready for operational trials. One of the enablers for the development of these new procedures that allow the required data to be collected is LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). A LIDAR works on the same general principles as radar, except it transmits laser light. Particles in the air, such as dust, reflect back the laser beam. The frequency

In addition to that, airborne safety nets are under development. Such safety nets can either be based on sensors that can in real time detect the wake vortex and other turbulence in front of the aircraft or by information broadcast from aircraft via ADS-B. This information would enable the encountering aircraft to calculate the position and strength of the wake vortex ahead of it and initiate any avoidance measures that would be necessary. ^

paul.wilson@eurocontrol.int peter.eriksen@eurocontrol.int

4 The EUROCONTROL Wind Tracer (LIDAR) on a roof top near London Heathrow. Photo: Eurocontrol

4 The wake vortex generation is a direct consequence of the lift generation. The tail having a negative lift, the secondary vortices are counter rotative compared to the vortices generated by the main wing. After a quick roll-up, the wake results in two vortex tubes. Photo: Eurocontrol

4 The ICAO Wake Vortex longitudinal distance separation. Photo: ICAO

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AF447 CRASH: METEOROLOGICAL ANALYSIS SEARCHING FOR CLUES IN THE ABSENCE OF FLIGHT RECORDERS

4 The aircraft involved in the

by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor

On June 1st 2009, around 0215UTC, an Air France Airbus A330 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France crashed in the South Atlantic off the Brazilian coast. The aircraft was cruising at FL350 on the route NATAL- ORARO, under procedural control of the Brazilian ATLANTICO Oceanic centre. Examination of the recovered debris confirmed that the airplane struck the surface of the water intact, pitch-up, with a slight bank and at a high vertical speed. All 228 persons on board died. There are still many unresolved questions surrounding this crash: despite massive scale recovery efforts, the CVR and FDR have yet to be found. As a result, the real causes for the crash remain unknown. ACARS messages and meteorological information collected after the accident gave some clues. One theory is that when the aircraft inadvertently entered a thunderstorm, the pitot tubes became contaminated. This would have resulted in erroneous airspeed values fed into the computers and instruments. In trying to recover, the crew may have lost control of the aircraft. This article concentrates on the meteorological aspects of this accident.

There are 2 preliminary reports on this accident issued by the French investigation office the BEA. They’re both available online in both French and English at http://www.bea.aero. This article is based largely on those 2 reports.

PRE-FLIGHT Briefing As usual, the AF crew received meteorological information prior to their departure. The weather parameters came from an Air France computer tool called “OCTAVE“. Those included the TAF and the METARs for airports of destination and alternates, as well as the maps with forecast winds, temperatures

and turbulence (called “TEMSI” in French) valid for the period of the planned flight. Although the map mentioned an area with “Embedded Cbs“ there was no clear air turbulence (CAT) reports planned for the route.

accident, F-GZCP Photo: Pawel Kierzkowski

Requests for Weather info During the Flight Using the ACARS data link system, crews can request updated information, including weather reports. The crew of flight AF447 made the following weather requests after departure: 22:51 The crew requests and receives METARs for Belo Horizonte, Salvador de Bahia and Recife airports. 00:31 AF dispatch sends a message to the crew: AF447 METEO EN ROUTE SAILOR: PHOTO SATELLITE 0000Z: CONVECTION ZCIT SALPU/TASIL PREVISION CAT (Clear Air Turbulence): NIL

4 Infra red Météosat 9 picture taken on June 1st at 2 h 15, with track of AF447 overlaid. Photo: BEA | METEOSAT | GOOGLE EARTH

For the ETOPS (oceanic) part of the route, more maps were given to the crew. These included a SIGMET (Significant Meteorological Information) selection. The crew reportedly asked for additional information and maps for the flight.The crew also had access to a tool called EOLE in the briefing room in Rio. This computer system provides access to maps and weather satellite pictures (in colour), which can be also be printed (in black and white). The above suggests that the crew had all the required available weather information prior to the flight.

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4 Meteorology to MAX mode. The TILT is set between -1 and -1,5 degrees. The crew decided to deviate 20Nm to the West to avoid a long line of CBs. He said the returns were red and yellow when the gain was set to MAX, but turned green and yellow when selected CAL. No lightning was observed. They kept their deviation within about 70-80NM from planned route. The crew also requested to climb from FL350 to FL370.

LUFTHANSA 507

4 VIRS infrared image taken on 01/06/2009 at 02:30UTC, centered on the last known position of AF447.

00:33 The crew requests and receives METAR and TAF for Paris Charles de Gaulle, San Salvador and Sal, Amilcar. 01:13 The crew requests and receives METAR and TAF for Dakar, Nouakchott and Natal.

also has a turbulence detection feature. This is limited to a range of 40Nm, independent of the range selected in the display. The crew can toggle this feature on or off. It’s not known what settings the crew used for the weather radar display that night.

On Board Weather Radar

Other Flights

All Air France Airbus A330’s are equipped with a Collins WXR700X weather radar. The radar picture is superimposed on the route on the navigation displays in front of the pilots. The radar specifications allow detection of raindrops bigger than 1mm as well as wet hail. The radar can display most clouds but cannot detect dry ice, snow or dry hail of less than 3cm diameter.

There were a number of other flights close to AF447 that night. The investigation team interviewed the crews of those flights.

This weather radar has a very narrow aperture angle (3,5 degrees). Because of this, the TILT (angle between the horizon and the middle of the beam) needs to be precisely tuned, depending on the range selected on the navigation display. This range is typically set to 160 Nm for anticipation and 80 Nm during actual weather avoidance. For flights above FL200, it’s recommended to have the TILT tune only slightly down to avoid ground reflections. In normal mode the GAIN (amplification of the return signal) is set to CAL (calibrated) to avoid saturation. The crew however can modify and tune that value. This radar model

IBERIA 6024 IB6024 (Airbus A340) overflew ORARO at FL370 about 12 minutes after AF447. The crew reported that, when passing INTOL, they encountered typical tropical convective weather for the area. These conditions were particularly strong 70 to 30 NM before TASIL. They spotted a CB on their radar and deviated about 30 Nm to the East to avoid it. They then resumed their original route under clear sky to TASIL.

LH507 (B747-400) preceded AF447 by 20 minutes at FL350. The crew reported it riding the top of the clouds in the vicinity of ORADO. They had only green radar returns, but nevertheless decided to avoid those by deviating 10 NM to the west. During the crossing of this zone, they had moderate turbulence. They observed no lightning but some St. Elmo’s fire on their windshield. They reduced speed to recommended IAS in turbulence.

Satellite Information after the Accident Meteosat The investigation team initially requested Meteosat to provide the satellite pictures of the weather at the time of the accident. They were given Infra red pictures from the Meteosat 9, one of their most recent and advanced weather satellites. This geostationary satellite lo-

AIR FRANCE 459 AF459 (Airbus A330) overflew ORARO at FL370 about 37 minutes after AF447. They reported clear skies. They crossed a turbulence zone in cumulus heads not visible on radar by NATAL. The captain selected the weather radar to max GAIN. At 02:00 he noticed that the picture was very different when he switched the radar from CAL mode

4 New on-board weather radar of the A380 has a vertical cross-section of the weather below the conventional view. Photo: Honeywell

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4 Meteorology

How is an on-board weather radar used? These photos were taken during a flight in a B737NG above the Atlas Mountains in Africa last year. They show what, on a clear day, the cloud tops look like in the “convective” period. (i.e. still climbing). They look very much like “normal” cumulus clouds. Pilots then use the on-board weather radar to determine if the core is an active one or not. On the left you can see what it looks like on the airborne radar: the red part is the very active one that should be avoided. In this case the crew selected to deviate a few degrees left to avoid going inside the core. As described in the main article, depending on how pilots tune the GAIN and TILT of the antenna, the responses (colors) might be different. Hence the difficulty sometimes in assessing the danger, especially if both the visual inspection and the radar gives the impression that there is no real activity inside the cloud.

cated above West Africa, takes Infra red pictures every 15 minutes and are the best source of information, as they show the exact weather conditions at FL350 around the time of the accident. They selected the 2 pictures taken 7 min before and 7 min after the last ACARS message send automatically by AF447. Analysis of those pictures show that there is nothing exceptional in the Thunderstorm area shown. They concluded that these Cbs were already at max intensity before 02:00, and that the tops might have reached FL350 and would induce some turbulence.

mentary meteorological information based on data provided by the TRMM satellite. TRMM stands for Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, and is a joint NASA and Japanese space Agency program aimed at measuring tropical rainfall. This satellite is placed in a non-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 350 km. By chance the satellite overflew the area close to the time of last known position of AF447.It overflew the area at 02:30, about 20 min after the last ACARS message received from AF447. This satellite carries several instruments. The Lightning Imaging Sensor did not observe lightning in the area, confirming the other aircraft crew reports.

TRMM Satellite

Another optical instrument carried by the satellite is a Visible and Infrared Scanner. (VIRS). The image on the previous page was taken around the time of last position of AF447 and shows nothing exceptional.

In December 2009, in their second Interim report, the investigators provided supple-

The report says the Analysis of the observations made by TRMM satellite two optical in-

struments confirms the absence of lightning and does not support a sudden and exceptionally intense development of convective activity between 02:07 UTC and 02:30 UTC. However, analysis of another sensor on board the satellite (the Tropospheric Microwave RadioMeter) showed high condensation at an altitude of around 10 km, which could correspond to convective columns (CBs) at that altitude. The rest is speculation. Did AF447 fly into a Cb? Did the crew see anything on their radar? Was it properly tuned or even defective? No one knows for sure. What is interesting, from an ATC point of view is that afterwards, so much information seemed to be available, even images of the weather. But that information was not available in real time (or even slightly delayed) to air traffic controllers or to the crew of the aircraft. A small sat receiver could do the trick or even an internet connection. If controllers had access to the satellites images showing the CBs in real time, they could easily warn the airline crews prior entering the area, even on HF. Perhaps a lesson for the future. ^

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4 Meteorology Photo: NOAA / Flight Explorer

KEEPING WEATHER IN OUR SIGHTS WEATHER REMAINS AN IMPORTANT FOCUS FOR NATCA Dan Doerr, Milwaukee ATCT (KMKE), ^ by Terminal Weather Representative & Matthew Tucker, Jacksonville ARTCC (ZJX), Enroute Weather Representative The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has maintained a presence in weather seminars, meetings and initiatives for over 10 years. From 1998 to 2005, NATCA had a National Weather Liaison assigned to the FAA’s Requirements Service to provide controller perspective in aviation weather research. In the United States, just as the rest of the world, weather is the number one reason for delays to the air traffic control system. The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) has spent many years attempting to address weather re-routes and better weather forecasting in a effort to reduce delays in the NextGen Air Traffic System. By using computer forecasts and better information being available to the controller, the theory is deviations around weather would not happen as early as they do today. NATCA has expressed our concern with this type of thinking: most controllers will tell you the “gap” between two weather systems is closed when the first pilot says they will not go there, not when the computer tells you it will be closed. Over the past several years there have been several aircraft accidents where weather was a direct factor. The Weather And Radar Processor (WARP) places weather on Enroute controller displays that can be over six minutes old. This has at times eroded controller confidence in the actual weather being reported. Prior to August of 2005, NATCA had a National WARP Representative but there has not been any direct activity for NATCA toward WARP from August of 2005 until just recently. Due to the difference in weather reporting requirements and equipment used by controllers, NATCA has appointed weather representatives for both Terminal and Enroute. Some of the issues being worked by these two gentlemen are:

• Weather Dissemination Workgroup: This group has been focusing on the changes to the FAA Handbook 7110.65 which is where all regulations such as phraseology and separation standards for Air Traffic Controllers in the United States are located. The group has also kept their attention toward the Airman’s Information Manual (AIM) which outlines pilot/controller phraseology for weather deviations. There is a lack of understanding about the amount of coordination required when aircraft are deviating. One issue that is common between pilots and controllers is training. The group feels pilots and controllers should receive the same training when it comes to weather deviations. The training should cover the differences in airborne weather information, controller weather displays and phraseology. Examples of the different phraseology with graphic presentations or videos are being explored. • Safety Risk Management Panels (SRMP): NATCA has been identified as a stakeholder in the SMS process. NATCA has participated or will participate in SRM Panels for the following two issues: – Changes to TAF: Mr. Tucker participated on this panel. These changes will affect all air traffic controllers as the format of the Terminal Area Forecast is being changed. Mr. Tucker provided the controller perspective to ensure the changes did not increase the controller’s workload to a point where it affected the safety of flight.

Over the past several years there have been several aircraft accidents where weather was a direct factor. provide input back to the Safety and Technology Department in order to keep the membership up to date on this initiative and to also ensure there are no high risk safety risks. NATCA continues with our work to reduce controller and pilot risks during weather events. It is imperative as the United States moves toward its NextGen initiative that weather is not overlooked for the sake of capacity. NATCA’s motto has long been “Safety Above All” and it is as true today as it was over 20 years ago when NATCA was formed. ^

Photo: Dmitri Izosimov | Dreamstime.com

– Ceiling and Visibility Analysis (CVA): NATCA accepted the invitation to participate in the SRM Panel for Ceiling and Visibility Analysis. Mr. Doerr will represent NATCA on this group. NATCA has not participated in any CVA activity previously so it will be very important for Mr. Doerr to

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4 New Technology

SOLARIMPULSE AND ATC FORMER SKYGUIDE GENEVA ACC CONTROLLERS IN LANDMARK PROJECT. Niklaus Gerber and Greg Moegli, ^ by Solar Impulse Mission Team. At 9 AM on July 8th 2010, the solar airplane SOLAR IMPULSE, HB-SIA, successfully landed at the Payerne airbase, Switzerland, to the cheers of a crowd who came to celebrate this great aviation milestone. For more than 26 hours, André Borschberg, pilot, CEO and Co-founder of the project, took the aircraft up to 8,700 meters (28,500 ft) above the Jura Mountains without using one drop of fossil fuel. Built into the enormous wings, almost 12,000 solar panels supplied power to 400 kg of batteries, which enabled the aircraft to keep flying throughout the night. With this historic flight, Solar Impulse reached a crucial step closer to the dream of perpetual flight using renewable energies and clean technologies without causing any pollution!

History In 1999, Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard and British pilot Brian Jones, landed their capsule in the Egyptian desert after the first ever round-theworld balloon flight. They had just 40 kg remaining of the 3.7 tons of liquid propane they had on take-off. Bertrand Piccard then vowed to fly around the world again, but this time without any fossil energy. The idea of an aircraft powered only by solar energy capable of flying night and day had just entered the mind of the Swiss psychiatrist and explorer. By flying around the globe in multiple legs with landings and presentations, Solar Impulse

4 While the wingspan is comparable to that of an Airbus 340, Solar Impulse weighs about 1/170th of a fully loaded A340. Photos: Solar Impulse

aims to bring the idea and the philosophy of solar energy driven vehicles to political and economic leaders and the population around the world. The immense challenge to make the vision of Bertrand a reality requires a dedicated team of 70 members, 80 partners and 200 advisers. After a one-year feasibility study, 4 years in design and simulations, 2 years in construction and one year in testing, the prototype HB-SIA made its maiden flight on 7th of April 2010. A large number of supporters gathered in Payerne to see this gigantic plane with a wingspan of an Airbus 340, (63,4 meters), the weight of a midsized car (1,600 kg) and the power and speed of a scooter (40 horsepower and 75 km/h.). In September last year the HB-SIA made its first flights to international airports, Geneva and Zurich, in order to test our ground crew, collect data for the mission team and test special airport procedures.

Our Mission We already provided controller experience during the Breitling Orbiter 3 flight, routing the balloon through different airspace around the world. As we achieved quite a lot of experience and “know how” during this flight, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg approached us for our assistance for this historic and unique flight around the world with solar power. We joined the Mission Team, composed of experts responsible for preparing the flights and missions. The Flight Director, air traffic controllers, modelling engineers and MET specialists will all play a crucial role in the adventure, providing the pilot with data vital for following his flight plan. Right from the first virtual flight, we have been studying possible scenarios, gathering data and building models, in preparation for D-day. What is our function in the team? Specifically, the flight modelling specialists

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4 New Technology

4 Overhead Lac Léman and the Château-de-Chillon, near Montreux, Switzerland and the MET-team provide us with a 6 to 12 hour forecast of a safe and optimal track for the solar plane, using a very sophisticated computer application called Platoo (Planning Tool). We then make a comprehensive analysis of the corresponding airspace: are there any traffic congested sectors (AWY, TMA, CTR), any danger, shooting or restricted areas, which need circumnavigation or coordination? Together with the Flight Director we discuss all “trouble shooting actions” to ensure a safe conduct of the flight. Safety first! During the flight, we will also coordinate in good time with the relevant ATC units to obtain and ensure transit clearances. This should considerably reduce the pilot’s workload. In addition, with the help of “JeppView“ (all Jeppesen Manuals on a computer database), we have already listed hundreds of suitable alternate and emergency aerodromes on the different legs, which are suitable for this specific airplane. Runway length and width, obstacle clearance on the RWY and environment, elevation, military or civil, ... all need to be taken into account. We are also responsible for filing the flight plan and, during the flight, adding any updates or adjustments.

The third European flight will bring the aircraft back to its home base at Payerne. The objective of all three flights is to get familiar with ground crew logistics, to train the mission control centre during cross-country flights and to test aircraft operations within congested European airspace. Over the next months, we will work closely with experts and all the operational units concerned in order to establish safe and appropriate procedures. Throughout this, we hope to achieve good understanding and cooperation with our

The weight of a midsized car and the power and speed of a scooter. controller colleagues during these challenging flights. For more information on this project we recommend you to consult the site: www.solarimpulse.com ^

4 400kg of batteries allow the aircraft to continue throughout the night.

Roadmap 2011 From April to July this year, Solar Impulse will attempt to do three European Solar Flights: the first destination, departing from Switzerland, will be to Brussels. The goal of this flight is to present the aircraft to the European Parliament and Commission. In June HB-SIA will fly from Brussels to Paris-Le Bourget, and will be a featured guest at the Paris Air Show.

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4 Annual Conference

WELCOME TO JORDAN HOME OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY IFATCA CONFERENCE!

4 The light is one of the marvels of Petra.

Philippe Domogala, ^ by IFATCA Conference Executive For this special event, the Jordanian Organizing Committee has been working very hard and is cooperating extensively with the IFATCA Executive Board to make this event a success. They achieved a major milestone, in getting His Majesty King Abdullah Of Jordan to graciously accept to officially open the Conference on Monday 11 April. It will undoubtedly be an experience that those present will never forget. At the same time, it gives recognition to the status of the Federation and will give

an additional boost even beyond the usual grandeur of such proceedings. The Organizing Committee is composed of local controllers and other ATC staff. Most of them work full time in their normal ATC jobs and help out on the Conference in their spare time. All Jordanian controllers have high expectations from receiving so many foreign colleagues. As with any event of this magnitude, there were many problems to overcome. While resolving some of these took longer than expected, their good spirit and goodwill ensures that, in the end, In ĹĄa Allah, we will have an excellent Conference and celebrations for IFATCA 50th anniversary. In addition and as many of you will know: Jordan is a beautiful country

4 The organizing Committee showing hospitality to Office manager and Conference executive. From left to right: Khaled Arabiyat (chairman OC), Philippe Domogala (CE), Hanan Qabartai (OC), Tatiana (OM) and Atallah Abo-Ghalyon (OC).

4 Amman Control tower.

with one of the richest cultural heritages on the planet. Therefore alongside and after the Conference proceedings, there will be plenty of possibilities to discover that heritage. One of the jewels of Jordan is of course Petra. Everyone will have seen pictures, videos or even movies that feature this place. But take it from me: itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing compared to the real thing. Walking through the rock chasm in the same manner as people did 3000 years ago, and after this 20min walk, discovering the marvel of the rock city is truly unforgettable. ^

4 Inside Amman ACC.

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4 50th Anniversary Update 4 From left to right: • His Majesty King Abdullah II, who will open the Ceremonies. • Master of Ceremonies, former IFATCA President Charles Stuart. • Panel speaker on IFATCA past Former IFATCA President Preben Lauridsen • Panel speaker on IFATCA future Immediate Past IFATCA president Marc Baumgartner

IFATCA‘S 50TH ANNIVERSARY UPDATE EVENTS DURING THE 50TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE IN AMMAN Philippe Domogala, ^ by IFATCA Conference Executive Opening Plenary and Ceremonies His Majesty, King Abdullah II, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has graciously accepted to open the Conference and the anniversary ceremonies on Monday 11 April. His presence combined with his wellknown interest in aviation, will boost this ceremony beyond the splendor normally associated with the event. The ceremony will take place in the Ishar ballroom in Hotel Le Royal and former IFATCA President (19901994) Charles Stuart has accepted to be the Master of Ceremonies. During the ceremony, the IFATCA slogan for the year 2011 will be officially revealed.

50th Anniversary PANEL On Thursday April 14th, a special 50th anniversary panel will be organized for all par-

ticipants and guests. The title of the panel is “IFATCA NOW – One sky & one voice since 1961. What we achieved, where we go and how we serve you better in the future? “A series of short presentations will be made to set the scene. Preben Lauridsen, former IFATCA President (1994-1998) will look back at the past: what have we achieved in the last 50 years? This will be followed by a vision of IFATCA for the future, by Marc Baumgartner, immediate past IFATCA President (20012010). After this, prominent guests representing our partners will take the stage to share their views on the role of IFATCA in the aviation community. We have invited the most influential organizations including ICAO, Eurocontrol, CANSO, IFALPA, FAA and ITF. Each of them will elaborate on how they see IFATCA

Come and join us for the 50th Anniversary Ceremonies and panel in Amman! today, and what they expect us to do, now and in the future, to help global ATM to be safer and more efficient. The panel will be held in the Jerasia reception room of Le Royal Hotel and moderated by Philippe Domogala, IFATCA Conference Executive. ^

Confirmed speakers so far are:

• 1 | David Mc Millan, Director General Eurocontrol • 2 | Graham Lake, Director general CANSO • 3 | Vince Galotti, Deputy Director Air Navigation Bureau, ICAO Montreal • 4 | Capt Mohamad Kheir Hassoun , Director of Operations and Head Technical Middle East Airlines • 5 | Stephen Creamer, Director FAA Europe and Middle East office

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4 Focus on Nepal

ATC IN NEPAL

4 Nepalese “skyline”.

Philippe Domogala, ^ by Deputy Editor and Conference Executive

While this will improve things a little bit, it’s still far too steep for an ILS. Almost all domestic operations are VFR. In fact, well over 70% of all operations in Nepal are VFR, in types ranging from small single engine Pilatus’ or Cessna’s, to ATR 42s, and even Boeing 757s. It is common to use the runway in both directions minutes apart. (e.g. one Dornier 228 landing on RWY 20 followed minute later by a departure of a B737 on RWY 02!) The largest aircraft operating regularly in KTM today is a B777, by both Thai and Korean. The larger B747 can operate there, but with lots of weight penalties.

Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport (IATA: KTM; ICAO VNKT; elev. 4390ft / 1338m) is single runway operations. It’s considered to be one of the most dangerous airports in the world due to the high terrain all around and the weather conditions. Visibility is often very poor due mist, fog and pollution. There is also no ILS: the current 11-degree glide slope doesn’t allow it. A project is underway to reduce the slope to 9.6 degrees.

Kathmandu TWR The controllers sometimes handle up to 41 a/c an hour with a mix of VFR/IFR on the single runway. On average, there are about 60 IFR movements and between 250 and 400 VFR movements per day, largely depending on the weather. The airport is open from 0600h to midnight. Arrivals must be IFR (VOR-DME APP) if visibility falls below 5km. The controllers work 6-hour shifts and have a six-days-on / one-day-off roster rotation.

Kathmandu ACC The ACC has only one sector, which uses procedural control. All traffic in Nepal is in/ outbound Kathmandu airport, currently the

only international airport. There are only 2 flights a week overflying Nepal (from Bhutan to Sikkim in India). A number of domestic airlines have plans to open international routes from regional airports, but these have not yet materialized.

Kathmandu APP Referred to as the “Radar room”, Kathmandu approach uses a Toshiba terminal radar system. This was installed in 1996 (with the help of Japan) after a series of accidents approaching KTM in 1992*. The secondary radar has a range of 200 Nm, while the primary has only 60 Nm. Radar service is only provided up to 50 NM DME from the airport and even then, there are a lot of bind spots due to the surrounding mountains. The approach is a single sector, which provides a “radar monitoring” service. No vectors are given, only information if the aircraft is on centreline and passing the correct and safe altitudes by comparing Mode C with terrain. The initial approach fix (IAF) is FL105 at 13 DME, then 9500ft at 10 DME and quite a steep descent after that.

Pokhara TWR Located only 200 Km East of Kathmandu, Pokhara air-

4 Pokhara airport.

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4 Focus on Nepal 1.

port (IATA: PKR; ICAO: VNPK; elev. 2712ft / 827m) is the second busiest airport in Nepal. It’s a very popular tourist destination, due to its location at the foot of the Annapurna Himalaya range. While the airport is controlled and has a class C CTR, only VFR flights are allowed. It only has a DME and no instrument arrivals are permitted. Logically, the airport is open from sunrise to sunset. The weather of course plays a major role in operations here: after a morning with bad weather, all flights will have piled up in KTM and all set out for Pokhara at the same time when the weather clears up.

Nepalese ATCA Problems

The controllers in Nepal belong to the Nepalese CAA, a semi-government authority that has separated from the civil service. Their main issue is related to salary and contractual terms and conditions. At the moment, a controller earns the same basic salary as a government official plus an ATC rating allowance. This is between 20 % and 60% of their basic salary, depending on the rating (tower or radar). Very recently, after an initiative from their association, controllers received a socalled “stress allowance”, which is paid per hour actually worked on the position. The grand total of all this comes to around 800 USD/month. Even in Nepal, this is not very much if you have to feed your family, send your children to a good school and pay your daily transportation to work: almost no controllers own a car in Nepal. The association argues: Controllers’ terms and conditions should be separate from administrative and other staff working for the CAA. They should be able to focus 100% on their tasks as controllers and not have to think about how they will pay their next bills.“ Other problems are the urgent need for ATC automation – all strips are still hand-written for example – and more reliable communication channels: landlines with India for example are not reliable and often break down. Preparations by the Nepalese ATCA to organize the 51st IFATCA Conference in 2012 in Kathmandu are well underway.

4 1. Kathmandu ACC 2. Kathmandu “radar” Approach 3. TWR controllers in Pokhara 4. Kathmandu TWR 5. The controllers parking lot in KTM. Photos: DP

* In July 1992, a Thai A310 crashed approaching KTM killing all 113 on board. Two months later, a Pakistan International A300 crashed there killing all 167 on board. Since then, there have been no major International accidents. ^

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4 Focus on Nepal Photo: Vitalii Kozhema

FLYING VFR IN NEPAL Philippe Domogala, ^ by Deputy Editor

Flying VFR in NEPAL is easy. No hassle; air traffic control at almost all airports or at least AFIS; good VHF coverage; friendly controllers here to help.

4 On final approach in Pokhara. Photo: DP

4 Map of Pokhara airport with the Annapurna range to the north. CAA Nepal

During my visit in Nepal, I took a day off to get to Pokhara, some 200Km west of Kathmandu, near the Annapurna range. I was hoping I could rent an aircraft to make a VFR flight. The only one available was a modified ultra light with a 100 HP engine. Not the kind of aircraft you’d think would be suitable to fly around 8000m mountains! But I learned that this aircraft, a Foxbat 22L (built in the Ukraine by Antonov) is modified to a MTOW of 650 Kg and is fully certified. It is also fitted with a ballistic parachute (!), has 8h endurance and can divert to any airport in Nepal. So all in all, it is after all a very suitable (and safe) choice. The weather that morning was exceptional for flying: not a single cloud on the horizon (they normally come later), the dry air provided a visibility of over 100 Km and no wind: a perfect VFR day! It took very little time to sort some things out, including arranging Vitalii Kozhema as my safety pilot. Vitalii is from Ukraine and ex Captain of the Russian Army. He would know how to get me back to civilisation, in case we had to pull that

parachute and ended up in the Nepalese wilderness! The pre-flight briefing was quick: take off at 50 knots & flaps 1; climb out at 60 knots, cruise between 70 and 80 knots. Then Vitalii said: “You fly, I sleep, but don’t worry I’ll be watching you!” After take-off, we climbed straight to 12,000ft. The airport is at 2,600ft so nearly 10,000ft to go. Rate was initially 500ft/min, but above FL100, this reduced to 200ft/min. To pass the first “hills”, at nearly 10,000ft high, we needed to make a few 360s to get above them. With this hurdle passed, we faced the first “monster “ the Machapuchare (Fish Tail in Nepalese). At nearly 23,000ft, its top is a near perfect black granite pyramid: the sides are too steep for the snow to stick on. It is the only “virgin” top left in Nepal: the mountain has been declared sacred and is forbidden for climbers. Behind this peak, lay the other monsters: the Annapurnas (*) all between 23,680ft and 26,545ft. To enter, we needed to fly through a V-shaped pass and climb to 14,000ft. At this altitude, the pass is less than 1 Km wide, but climbing higher without oxygen would be unsafe. We stayed on the sunny side (where the updrafts are) keeping a positive vario. Fortunately, Vassilii was wideawake and both of us were watching out for and scanning our instruments very intensely. Flying at nearly 15,000ft, the summits are still almost 9,000ft above us! Entering the Annapurna range is magnificent. We made a couple of circuits behind Machapuchare to see the unique, twisted fish tail-like summit

that can only be seen from behind. Before aircraft were around, only very few people had been able to see the summit, as you had to climb to at least 5000m to go around it and be able to see the shape. We then flew all along the remaining Annapurnas. We then cautiously exited again and followed the ridge around Machapuchare. This was far less challenging as we have the Pokhara valley 10,000ft below on our left. We then slowly descended towards the airport, a mere 20 minutes away. We landed facing the Himalaya range to end the “perfect“ flight. ^ (*) Annapurna is a close cluster of 6 mountaintops. (see map) The highest, Annapurna 1 is 8091m (26,545ft), the lowest, Annapurna South is 7219m (23,684ft). They are considered the world’s most dangerous mountains to climb, with a fatality to summit ratio of more than 40%.

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4 History

ROMAERO: 90 YEARS IN AVIATION Philippe Domogala, ^ by Deputy Editor During a visit in Bucharest last October, on a sunny morning in the middle of the week, I was surprised to see an aerobatic patrol performing above the city. Asking around, I discovered that a local Romanian Aviation company (ROMAERO) was celebrating its 90th anniversary. Incredulous of the 90 years, I decided to go and have a look for myself. Christina Radu, the President of the Romanian Air Traffic Controllers Association drove me to the “old” Bucharest airport of Baneasa, located in the middle of the city. The airport is fully operational and many charter flights still use the airport. It’s also the “home” of Romaero, the company in question. Romaero is a Romanian aircraft manufacturer that was founded in October 1920. I was told that in that same year, a Franco-Romanian airline (CFRNA) started to fly its Paris-Strasbourg service.

Romaero developed and built many small aircraft types, but their main claim to fame was to build two well-known aircraft under license: at the end of the 1960’s, they build over 500 BN2 twin-engine “Islander“ aircraft and later from 1976, they constructed BAC 1-11’s (a twin jet similar to a DC9 for our younger readers). Today, Romaero no longer builds aircraft but has converted to a heavy maintenance and repair company. They perform maintainance on various types, including Boeing 737s, BA146s and Airbus A320s. From 2003, they became a major maintenance centre for Lockheed C130s (Hercules), which is now their main speciality. Parked outside the Romaero hangar was an Antonov 30, which looked as good as new. The aircraft is still used as a photographic platform for making maps and is the perfect example of what good maintenance can do.

Not unlike the USA or France, Romania is a country that pioneered aviation. A little known fact is that a Romanian engineer, Henri Coanda, invented the jet propulsion engine and the first turbo-propulsion engine as early as 1910! As many as 20 aircraft manufacturers were operating in the country back then. Many types were very innovative and advanced for their time. It is a pity that World War II put a stop to that, and the Soviet occupation and communist regime that followed, put an end to that creative aviation period. Nevertheless, happy 90th birthday Romaero! ^ dp@the-controller.net

4 1. The Antonov 30 photo-geographic aircraft. 2. Baneasa airport with its very typical Control Tower and passengers terminal 3. The 90th celebrations speeches in the main Romaero Hangar.

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4 Quintiq Adverticle

PANSA REACHES FOR A NEW LEVEL OF WORKFORCE PLANNING Hidden behind the fraught, frontline activities of air traffic control there lies a less glamorous but also critical layer of planning and control for Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) – that of creating and managing the controllers’ working schedules and daily rosters. In its simplest terms workforce planning is getting the right number of people with the right skills, experiences, and competencies in the right jobs at the right time. Adjusting the number of ATCOs to the flow of traffic and positioning controllers in the right sectors to always ensure that safety regulations are strictly adhered to.

The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA), is about to change all that with a workforce optimization system from Quintiq. A system that incorporates strategic, tactical and operational planning within a single solution, complete with an electronic ‘planning board’ that will allow planners to see the implications of their decisions as they are made. A self-serve portal will also keep controllers fully informed and in touch, wherever they may be. PANSA is the only company in Poland employing air traffic controllers, with around 500 people to perform the task across around 60 different working positions in ACC, 4 APPs, 11 TWRs and a few FIS de-

partments. It has experienced a significant growth in demand, as Bartłomiej Bochenek, Head of ACC, explains: “We are still using essentially the same systems we were using in the early 1990s, but the demands are so much greater now. In the first three months of this year alone we served the same number of operations that we did in the whole of 1995. Even during winter months, we have to open all sectors for eight hours. Staff shortages and last minute changes are incredibly difficult to handle. There has to be a better way.”

A Balancing Act Three years ago Bartłomiej began researching the issues: “It’s a balancing act. We have to meet stringent safety and security regulations, while balancing numbers and types of people needed to perform specific tasks against unexpected changes in flight traffic and staff absences. This means we have to account for a whole range of factors, including the varied skills and training certifications of individual controllers, employee preferences and the assignment of mentors to new trainees. All against a backdrop of a shortage of skilled controllers”.

Photos: Andrzej Karwowski (PANSA)

Constantly increasing legislation, changing workforce agreements, fluctuating traffic volumes and a shortage of skilled controllers make the task time-consuming and

complex. Typically, people go about the job using spreadsheets or legacy computer systems that struggle to achieve optimum results. The time taken by traditional methods and their inflexibility have direct impact on the work/life balance for controllers, on the smooth running of ATC operations, and on fatigue risk-management. The costs can be high both in financial and human terms.

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4 Quintiq Adverticle “It quickly became clear that better levels of automation should be able to help us make significant cost cuts, make better use of ATCOs and improve employee satisfaction. It should be possible to eliminate much of the hassle, drastically cut the time taken planning and scheduling and offer real benefits to the controllers by being able to respond better to their preferences, improving their work/life balance, and by keeping them more informed.” The potential benefits for ATCOs proved to be an interesting aspect of Bartłomiej’s research. During heavy summer seasons, controllers had to work very long hours and had complained of fatigue. At times, the problem has been so acute that a number had chosen to be transferred to back-office functions. “What I learned,” says Bartłomiej, “is that it’s not just a matter of how long controllers are on position, it’s also one of smoothing out the stress, which is more related to the traffic they are serving. It was possible for those spending the shortest time on position to be serving the lowest volumes of traffic.”

The Quintiq Solution The Quintiq solution was chosen under the public procurement law. Acquisition was carried out by the Tender Committee. The contract was signed on 15th September 2010. Services will include: supply of equipment and installation of pre-implementation, implementation and configuration of the electronic system and training for system administrators, support system in accordance with SLA for 12 months from the date of signing the post-deployment testing protocol. PANSA went through the full EU tendering process and after reviewing available options, they selected Quintiq’s ANSP employee scheduling system. “After all,” says Bartłomiej, “more than 30% of the world’s airspace is managed by ANSPs using Quintiq solutions.” During the evaluation, he visited a Quintiq user, Germany’s Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), in Bremen. “It ticked all the boxes. Rather than a generic workforce planning tool, it was developed especially for the air traffic environment’. An ‘out of the box’ solution that is configurable to match any ANSP’s particular mode of working”. “The system can also cover the full scheduling horizon, from long term strategic planning, such as ‘what-if’ scenarios, to mid-term tactical roster and shift scheduling, to realtime event management and task allocation. When we were reviewing the system, we could appreciate how ‘what-if’ scenarios could improve our long term workforce plan-

ning. Key performance indicators can also be built in. Suppose, for example, we decide to keep a sector open one hour longer, which means we need two more controllers for the shift. We can instantly see the implications in terms of the effects on hours worked, staff utilization, overtime etc. It’s all about experimenting with resource allocation and making more informed decisions – optimizing staffing levels while maintaining safe and efficient operations. And, of course, the system will be able to alert planners to such things as expiry dates of aero-medical certificates, confirmation of knowledge of English, expiry of radio operator’s certificate – and make suggestions to plan-around. It will also provide alerts regarding working hours and breaks, such as maximum working time between breaks.”

david.hillis@quintiq.com

Using the system to plan rosters means they can be published further ahead, so that ATCOs can see well in advance when they will be working and plan their own affairs accordingly. It also becomes much easier to plan other targets, such as keeping trainer and trainee on the same shift and ensuring that ATCOs are able to have days off to meet their social calendars. Having been an ATCO himself (he still holds a license and sometimes steps into the breach), Bartłomiej can appreciate the values to ATCOs of the self-serve portal. All employees will be able to see their calendar, working days and holidays, shifts assigned, tasks planned and so on. They will be able to feed the system with their own preferences as regards time of work and breaks. Preferences include start of work earlier than a given hour, selection of specific shift types and willingness to have a break within a given hour. Swapping shifts with colleagues and requesting leave, becomes so much easier by helping managers evaluate the feasibility and implications of each request. Bartłomiej sums up: “It has been an exciting project and it has been especially good working with Quintiq’s specialists. They really do know the industry at grass roots level and can make a valuable contribution in terms of best practice. Our largest unit is due to go live in the third quarter of this year, with full roll out to all units in the first quarter 2012. The jury will have to remain out until then, but I can confidently predict a very smooth transition and a real step-change in productivity – not to mention employee satisfaction.” ^

For more information visit: www.quintiq.com/atc or contact David Hillis at

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4 Training

IDTI SCHOLARSHIP SAFETY MANAGEMENT IN CIVIL AVIATION David Guerin, ^ by Air Traffic Controller, Dublin In 2006, the ITDI (the training branch of IATA – the International Air Transport Association) kindly offered IFATCA two scholarships to complete an IATA Diploma in ANS Management. The diplomas were available to individuals as nominated by IFATCA and were made up of one mandatory course and three elective courses over a three year period; and were available at the regional training centres: Miami, Geneva, Singapore or Montreal. A similar offer was made to IFATCA by IATA in 2010. The ITDI is a leader in global aviation training solutions and professional development programs and trains 35,000 students annually worldwide. Over 250 courses are available, although not all of these will be conducted in your region every year. ATC related courses range from: Team Resource Management & Safety (TRM); Train the Trainer for TEM (Threat and Error Management); Unusual/Emergency Situations; Refresher Training; Phraseology and Safety Training for Air Traffic Controllers and Pilots; ACAS training;

4 Mr. Raul Sosa brought 46 years of aviation experience to life Photo: DG

Project Management; Safety Management Systems; and Collaborative Decision Making. Classroom courses run for five or ten days and normally cost between 2000 and 3000USD. Candidates must achieve a pass mark of 70% on any assignment or exam. Human Factors in Civil Aviation is a personal favourite. Nearly forty Diploma Programs are on offer, including: Aviation Studies; Safety Management in Civil Aviation; and Air Navigation Services Management. Generally, career opportunities for ATCO’s are quite limited. This can lead to boredom, resignations and early retirement amongst highly skilled, intelligent staff. It can mean a massive loss of expertise and experience. Diversifying our careers beyond operational positions is one option. ITDI provide onsite courses for some service providers to their (abinitio) trainees. Instructors come to you with tailored content, which suits the specific needs. It offers a cost-effective solution as downtime and travel expenses are reduced. Self-study courses are another option; allowing students to benefit from instruction at their own pace utilising textbooks, industry reference manuals, CDROMs and e-learning access.

My own Experience I was very pleased to be one of the successful applicants for the 2006 scholarship offer. Obtaining leave for suitable courses in Singapore was difficult and a six month sabbatical in Europe in 2007 followed by a three year contract as an ATCO in Dublin with the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) led to more postponements. ITDI agreed to change my course to a diploma in ‘Safety Management in Civil Aviation’ in Geneva. Unfortunately by 2010, the scholarship had expired. Geneva ITDI kindly offered me a discounted rate on course fees and I recently attained a high distinction in ‘Human Factors in Civil Aviation’ and a distinction in ‘Management of Aviation Quality and Service’.

4 Author receives his high distinction. Photo: DG

a deity when it came to human factors and safety. Raul brought 46 years of aviation experience to life in the classroom and his CV would fill another page! Attendees included ANSP managers, regulators, airport operators and owners. This meant the course content was less focussed on ATC, yet Raul made the necessary adjustments to involve me at every step. You must decide what your future study needs are and the ITDI Product Manager will help with this. Karen Stephenson was product manager on my diploma and has been extremely helpful. He also has an ATC background (coincidentally, we worked together as controllers in Sydney in the ‘90s). Clarifying exactly what sponsorship your employer will provide is essential unless you plan to self fund course costs, travel and accommodation. For example, my normal employer, AirServices Australia, sponsors these relevant courses but not while on leave without pay. The Irish Aviation Authority provides all employees with study leave and reimbursement of costs under its post-entry education policy. I applied for five days study leave as my passion is safety and I am the most pro-active member of the Dublin Unit Safety Team. Sadly though, as the IAA rolled out its ‘Action Plan to Improve its Culture of Safety’, its HR division denied my application. As I believe the diploma is so valuable, I am using 20 days of my annual leave and personally covering all costs. If you have two experiences outside of the tower or control room, make one of them a ‘Human Factors in Aviation’ course with the ITDI. (And the other? Read the ICAO Safety Management Manual. Yes, really!). ^

ozygurus@gmail.com

The instructor on both courses was Mr. Raul Sosa, an erudite gentleman and no less than

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Charlie

CHARLIE’S COLUMN Monty Python still alive and well in the United Kingdom.

ATC: Are you closed? BAA: No, we’re open.

night, a DC8 from Loftleidir (the forefather of Icelandair) on a flight from Reykjavik to Luxemburg asked for the latest weather. The controller read what the AFTN METAR said: wind calm, visibility more than 10Km, 8 octas at 6000ft, QNH 1002, temp 0 degr. Then on short final the aircraft performed a go-around, with the pilot shouting on the frequency: the runway, including most of the runway lights, was covered with 30cm of fresh snow! The designers of the automatic station had overlooked that dry snow would not show up on the precipitation meter! The meteorologists were soon back on night duties…

ATC: So the runway is available? BAA: No, it’s not been cleared yet.

Winds

Due to snow storms last December all over England, London Heathrow and Gatwick were closed. But the Airport Operator didn’t not want the airport to be declared “closed“ for economic reasons. So the following exchange took place between The Airport Manager of a large a UK airport (BAA) and the Supervisor of a large UK Air Traffic Control Centre:

ATC: So you’re closed then? BAA: No, it’s just that nothing can land or depart. But we’re still open.

More Snow Stories Then, there’s this nice R/T exchange in London ACC American pilot: Hey London it looks like the whole country is covered in snow this morning. Where did all that come from? British controller: From the sky…

First Automatic Weather Station In Luxemburg many years ago (1980’s) local management wanted to save money (this was a new concept back then). They decided that at night, they could replace the meteorologists on duty by a brand new automatic reporting weather station. The hardware consisted of the standard anemometer, temperature, barometer, sensors to measure visibility in 4 different directions, vertical light beams to calculate cloud base and coverage and a precipitation/rain collector. All the results were digitalized and automatically transmitted on the AFTN by a small computer. All this was very advanced for its time. So a few weeks later, in the middle of the

Flying Human This photo apparently taken in the 1930s was used to advertise a photographic exhibition in an Aviation Museum near Munich (Germany). I understand that the guy was actually diving from a rock into the sea, but that the position of his arms and his posture were deemed close to aerodynamic flying perfection. Pity they did not use retractable landing gear at the time (or maybe you understand why they invented it later…)

This was the TAF (forecast) for Cairns Airport on the 2nd February 2011: TAF: YBCS 020505Z 0206/0306 22020G40KT 9999 -SHRA BKN025 FM020800 26050G70KT 6000 RA BKN015 FM021100 30080G130KT So winds gusting up to 130 Kts, which is rather unusual. But as I always say: no problem as long as you have a fast aircraft and the wind is in the axis of the runway. The real problems would only be after landing, I guess. The problems are always on the ground: this is what happens when everyone rushes to enter the aircraft by the rear door (see photo) You notice that the only one with brains that wanted to enter via the front door is a lady. In fact the only lady in the picture. Yeah, some are born more equal than others.

Delays Overheard on the airport public address system in Amman Airport last December: “XX Airlines regrets to announce a delay on its Flight 123 to Sharjah. The new Departure time will be announced on Friday at 1 pm.” This was Thursday at 9 am and everyone at the respective Boarding gate just walked away peacefully. It gives a complete new perspective on what constitute an acceptable delay in different parts of the world.

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IFATCA

50th Anniversary edition

To mark and celebrate IFATCA’s 50th birthday, a special anniversary edition of The Controller will be published and distributed to an exclusive readership including all IFATCA members plus key professionals associated with the ATM industry. This special edition will be published and distributed in October 2011.

Photo courtesy of EUROCONTROL

Promotional Opportunities Promote your company, products and services by advertising in the IFATCA 50th Anniversary edition and benefit from: • Connection to more than 50,000 air traffic controllers worldwide • Distribution to key ATM events in 2011 & 2012 • Special circulation to key influences across the industry • Penetration into developing country markets

The current global expenditure of ATC equipment is estimated at $5 billion a year.

TO FIND OUT MORE, CALL +44 (0)1293 854407 IFATCA 50th Anniversary edition, c/o McCullough Moore Ltd, Faygate Lane, Faygate, West Sussex RH12 4SJ, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1293 854407 Fax: +44 (0)1293 852375 Email: colin.martin@mcculloughmoore.co.uk