Discover air travel

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24 The D i s c o v e r Collection

Discover

Air Tr a v e l

Air Tr a v e l J o rge Ontiveros

Discover

Air Travel

Jorge Ontiveros

Jorge Ontiveros

Discover

With this collection, Aena, the public

J o rge Ontivero s

organisation that manages airports and air navigation in Spain, hopes to bring the exciting Other books in English:

Airports Airline Companies Air Sports Airport Operations Other books in Spanish:

El transporte aéreo Las aeronaves El control aéreo Las profesiones en la aeronáutica La aviación general La carga aérea La navegación aérea La navegación por satélite Los pioneros de la aviación La industria aeronáutica El handling aeroportuario La aerostación Los cohetes Los helicópteros Los motores de aviación El derecho aeronáutico Las mujeres en la aeronáutica La meteorología en la aviación

world of aeronautics closer to society as a whole.

The main goal of the collection is to provide information on all aspects of airports, air navigation, and air transport in general in a lively and accessible manner.

T h e D i s c o v e r C o l l e c t i o n is designed to appeal to all kinds of readers, and requires no prior knowledge of aeronautical subjects.

The clarity of the language and explanations contained in these books will help anyone using Aena facilities to better understand the activities underlying their day-to-day operation.

The Discover Collection could open up a fascinating, constantly evolving world to pre-university students, and even help orient their future careers.

After several years in the Spanish Army, in 1989 he became a civilian air traffic controller.

Between 1999 and 2005, he developed his professional activity in management at Aena.

He has published many articles and essays on air transport and air traffic control in numerous magazines, amongst which are: Aviador, Mach.82, Avion Revue, Empuje, and Revista de aeronáutica y astronáutica. He was part of the professional team that developed Título Propio en Gestión Aeronáutica -the Course in Aviation Management of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, where he has been a lecturer. He has collaborated with the Universidad Carlos III in courses in air traffic management, which have been sponsored by the European Union. He occasionally participates as an aviation expert and consultant on issues related to air traffic control. He is cofounder of ATC magazine, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association of Spain (APCAE), founder and editor of ATC today magazine and webmaster of “ATCweb”, a blog where you can find most of his works, amongst them: “¡Aeropuerto congestionado!, ¿ampliar o trasladar?”

(Congested airport!, Expand or relocate?), “El binomio piloto-controlador, ¿un equipo?”

(The pilot-controller association, a team?), or “El control aéreo y la seguridad en vuelo” (Air traffic control and flight safety), a work which won an award from the Aena Foundation, where he has been a lecturer.

He is also author of the book in this collection “Discover Air Traffic Control”, which is now in its third edition.

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Discover Air Travel

21. ...And couldn’t get up in the morning!

22. Thunder and lightning!

23. Fasten your seatbelt; we are encountering an area of turbulence...

CONTENTS Foreword

6

Introduction

9

Preliminary note

10

I.

Discover Air Travel

12

1. From the age of pioneers till today 2. Commercial aviation in Spain 3. If this is your first time

12 16 22

Flying, trick or magic?

28

4. Why does an aeroplane fly?

5. How does an aeroplane fly?

28 34

II.

III. The aeroplane: design, manufacture and maintenance 6. Manufacturing reliable planes 7. From manufacture to line flying 8. We take care of your plane; we take care of you

IV. Air routes and air traffic control

V.

40 47 53

58 58 61

At the airport

66

11.

12.

13.

14.

66 75 83 86

VI. On the plane 15.

16.

17.

18.

92

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome on board!

92 Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking 98 Entering the runway for take-off 104 In case of an emergency landing 110

VII. Meteorology 19. It’s raining, it’s pouring. The old man is snoring…

20. ...He bumped his head and went to bed...

24. Risk and safety; travelling by plane or by car?

25. Car safety 26. “I am scared of planes, I am scared of boats too...”

IX.

40

9. Where do aeroplanes fly?

10. Air traffic control The airport The best protection is invisible Come on, hurry up!

A bird in the hand is worth...

VIII. Travelling by plane or by car, which is safer?

116 116 120

X.

5

124 126 130

136 136 144 150

Flying healthily

156

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

156 160 161 164 167

Breathing at 10.000 metres I can’t feel my legs!

Jet lag, what it is and how to alleviate it I am expecting, can I fly?

When I fly I get earache

Clarifying doubts 32. I have a young child; will travelling by plane be complicated?

33. Would it be complicated to fly with reduced mobility?

34. Everything you always wanted to know...

35. And just before we finish...some advice relating to...

Appendix Passenger rights Web pages Items prohibited in hand luggage Items prohibited in checked luggage Courses to lose your fear of flying Movies about air travel Different in-flight magazines Travel magazines Books to help you lose your fear of flying Bibliography and recommended reading End note

170 170 175 178 180

187 189 190 193 197 198 199 200 201 202 204 206

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Jorge Ontiveros

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Discover Air Travel

21. ...And couldn’t get up in the morning!

22. Thunder and lightning!

23. Fasten your seatbelt; we are encountering an area of turbulence...

CONTENTS Foreword

6

Introduction

9

Preliminary note

10

I.

Discover Air Travel

12

1. From the age of pioneers till today 2. Commercial aviation in Spain 3. If this is your first time

12 16 22

Flying, trick or magic?

28

4. Why does an aeroplane fly?

5. How does an aeroplane fly?

28 34

II.

III. The aeroplane: design, manufacture and maintenance 6. Manufacturing reliable planes 7. From manufacture to line flying 8. We take care of your plane; we take care of you

IV. Air routes and air traffic control

V.

40 47 53

58 58 61

At the airport

66

11.

12.

13.

14.

66 75 83 86

VI. On the plane 15.

16.

17.

18.

92

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome on board!

92 Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking 98 Entering the runway for take-off 104 In case of an emergency landing 110

VII. Meteorology 19. It’s raining, it’s pouring. The old man is snoring…

20. ...He bumped his head and went to bed...

24. Risk and safety; travelling by plane or by car?

25. Car safety 26. “I am scared of planes, I am scared of boats too...”

IX.

40

9. Where do aeroplanes fly?

10. Air traffic control The airport The best protection is invisible Come on, hurry up!

A bird in the hand is worth...

VIII. Travelling by plane or by car, which is safer?

116 116 120

X.

5

124 126 130

136 136 144 150

Flying healthily

156

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

156 160 161 164 167

Breathing at 10.000 metres I can’t feel my legs!

Jet lag, what it is and how to alleviate it I am expecting, can I fly?

When I fly I get earache

Clarifying doubts 32. I have a young child; will travelling by plane be complicated?

33. Would it be complicated to fly with reduced mobility?

34. Everything you always wanted to know...

35. And just before we finish...some advice relating to...

Appendix Passenger rights Web pages Items prohibited in hand luggage Items prohibited in checked luggage Courses to lose your fear of flying Movies about air travel Different in-flight magazines Travel magazines Books to help you lose your fear of flying Bibliography and recommended reading End note

170 170 175 178 180

187 189 190 193 197 198 199 200 201 202 204 206

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Jorge Ontiveros

8

Introduction

This book has been written thinking about you, THE PASSENGER. Its objective: that you know how the lattice that surrounds the flight works, and also to provide you with answers to many questions that you may have had for years. We are also going to talk about safety, both on land and in flight, as well as give you some advice to make your flight more comfortable.

I would like to point out here that, regarding the chapters dealing with air travel safety, I have taken into account the maturity of the reader, and also the fact that you are aware of the dangers and hazards of everyday life; how going to the cinema, to the corner shop, for a walk in the park, a bike ride or any type of travel presents risks. So does flying.

What makes air travel different from all the rest is that it has become the safest means of transport there is. This badge has been merited not just because of the “natural” advances in technology, but also because of “forced” advances as we learn from accidents that have happened through the years, and the commitment of all the professionals that surround you.

However, this work does not intend to be a handbook to help you lose your fear of flying, although there is a chapter dedicated to that. There are many publications on this subject already in the market, the internet has scores of pages dealing with it and there are very good professional psychologists and courses to help you lose this fear, some of them organized by airlines themselves or by pilot associations.

It may be impossible for you not to suspect that this writer intends to convince you to continue flying or to start doing it, and to make you trust blindly in the whole network that surrounds you from the moment you enter the premises of your departure airport until you arrive at your destination. Or, if you are not an aeroplane user - or if you are undecided about it, it is quite possible that you think the strategy behind these pages is to convince you not to fear flying.

Actually, yours truly understands that you may have that feeling. Particularly, when during the conception of this book there was enough news that made me consider not going ahead with this project, in case I made a fool of myself. One can be sensitive too!

Therefore, a necessary requisite to approach this work is your awareness that sadly, accidents can happen. Be it on aeroplanes, cars, bicycles, scooters, buses,

Discover Air Travel

9

trains or skiing. However, they are progressively less frequent due to the safety measures set in place both proactively and reactively.

According to Daniel Mauriño, Safety coordinator for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), “there is not another production system that has invested and keeps investing as many millions and millions of dollars as aviation invests in safety. Nevertheless, we keep doing it because there is a social demand for safety that comes behind the first social demand, which is cheap travel”.

Let me ask you first to consider this statement for a moment, because behind it lies the safety network that will watch over you for the duration of your trip.

As you proceed with the reading I am proposing, you’ll discover, as they say, a new world. Between the pages of this volume, you will find quite interesting things like, for example, what the iconic naturalist Félix Rodriguez de la Fuente has to do with air safety, where the ABS (anti-block braking system) that operates on our vehicles nowadays comes from, or how aeroplanes are protected from lightning.

And when you read on, it is possible that you may see planes in a different light, paying more attention to them and all that surrounds them, observing things that you have never noticed before, and being amazed at the lengths to which human ingenuity will go. It is even possible, that the whole flying experience of flying will start to seem different, more pleasurable. If that happens, we will have met the objective we had set for ourselves, both Aena as publisher, and yours truly as author.

In conclusion, the objective of this work is that you know the activities going on around you while you are in the premises of an airport or during your flight, to make sure everything happens normally in every respect, as well as giving you some tips and answering questions that you may have had for some time. As usual, we have tried to do this in an enjoyable way, so that reading this volume of The Discover collection may be, from the first page to the last, a pleasant voyage of discovery.

I do not wish to conclude without advising you, before you begin this journey, to fasten your seatbelt, and pay attention to the safety demonstration performed by the crew, because you are about to enter the runway for take-off...

Have a pleasant journey!

Jorge Ontiveros Madrid, May 2010

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Página 8

Jorge Ontiveros

8

Introduction

This book has been written thinking about you, THE PASSENGER. Its objective: that you know how the lattice that surrounds the flight works, and also to provide you with answers to many questions that you may have had for years. We are also going to talk about safety, both on land and in flight, as well as give you some advice to make your flight more comfortable.

I would like to point out here that, regarding the chapters dealing with air travel safety, I have taken into account the maturity of the reader, and also the fact that you are aware of the dangers and hazards of everyday life; how going to the cinema, to the corner shop, for a walk in the park, a bike ride or any type of travel presents risks. So does flying.

What makes air travel different from all the rest is that it has become the safest means of transport there is. This badge has been merited not just because of the “natural” advances in technology, but also because of “forced” advances as we learn from accidents that have happened through the years, and the commitment of all the professionals that surround you.

However, this work does not intend to be a handbook to help you lose your fear of flying, although there is a chapter dedicated to that. There are many publications on this subject already in the market, the internet has scores of pages dealing with it and there are very good professional psychologists and courses to help you lose this fear, some of them organized by airlines themselves or by pilot associations.

It may be impossible for you not to suspect that this writer intends to convince you to continue flying or to start doing it, and to make you trust blindly in the whole network that surrounds you from the moment you enter the premises of your departure airport until you arrive at your destination. Or, if you are not an aeroplane user - or if you are undecided about it, it is quite possible that you think the strategy behind these pages is to convince you not to fear flying.

Actually, yours truly understands that you may have that feeling. Particularly, when during the conception of this book there was enough news that made me consider not going ahead with this project, in case I made a fool of myself. One can be sensitive too!

Therefore, a necessary requisite to approach this work is your awareness that sadly, accidents can happen. Be it on aeroplanes, cars, bicycles, scooters, buses,

Discover Air Travel

9

trains or skiing. However, they are progressively less frequent due to the safety measures set in place both proactively and reactively.

According to Daniel Mauriño, Safety coordinator for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), “there is not another production system that has invested and keeps investing as many millions and millions of dollars as aviation invests in safety. Nevertheless, we keep doing it because there is a social demand for safety that comes behind the first social demand, which is cheap travel”.

Let me ask you first to consider this statement for a moment, because behind it lies the safety network that will watch over you for the duration of your trip.

As you proceed with the reading I am proposing, you’ll discover, as they say, a new world. Between the pages of this volume, you will find quite interesting things like, for example, what the iconic naturalist Félix Rodriguez de la Fuente has to do with air safety, where the ABS (anti-block braking system) that operates on our vehicles nowadays comes from, or how aeroplanes are protected from lightning.

And when you read on, it is possible that you may see planes in a different light, paying more attention to them and all that surrounds them, observing things that you have never noticed before, and being amazed at the lengths to which human ingenuity will go. It is even possible, that the whole flying experience of flying will start to seem different, more pleasurable. If that happens, we will have met the objective we had set for ourselves, both Aena as publisher, and yours truly as author.

In conclusion, the objective of this work is that you know the activities going on around you while you are in the premises of an airport or during your flight, to make sure everything happens normally in every respect, as well as giving you some tips and answering questions that you may have had for some time. As usual, we have tried to do this in an enjoyable way, so that reading this volume of The Discover collection may be, from the first page to the last, a pleasant voyage of discovery.

I do not wish to conclude without advising you, before you begin this journey, to fasten your seatbelt, and pay attention to the safety demonstration performed by the crew, because you are about to enter the runway for take-off...

Have a pleasant journey!

Jorge Ontiveros Madrid, May 2010

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10

Preliminary note

The images of plane trails in the sky and of passengers at airport terminals has become a regular sight, almost a necessity it could be said, in modern society.

Despite the fact that aviation has promoted the development of commerce and tourism (not to mention wars) to levels unthinkable years ago, the aeroplane has transformed our mentality and the way we appreciate distances due to shorter travel times. With that, it has somehow extended our lives inasmuch as we can live many more experiences, discover many more places, people and cultures than if it had not developed to the current stage. Furthermore, if the Concorde had been as successful commercially as it was forecast at the time, the possibilities would have been endless, although the future hasn’t had its last word yet.

That is one of the main advantages of air travel over other means of transport, for in a few hours, sometimes just in a few minutes, and for prices that are getting more and more “reasonable”, it lets us move to almost everywhere in the world and return home as if it were nothing after enjoying a pleasant holiday, doing business or visiting friends.

All of this, has caused air travel to stop being something strange, far flung and adventurous to become, in spite of what sometimes happens, a common activity in our lives.

Data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates close to 2,000 million passengers -almost a third of the world’s population- are flown annually; a number that is expected to increase around a 6% per annum in the next five years. All this travelling requires very strict regulations and very responsible, well qualified professionals.

Safety is a fundamental principle that is permanently present in any aeronautical activity. Be it designing, building or operating an aircraft, it constitutes one of the objectives set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in December 1944 at the Chicago Convention, where it mentions in article 44, the “safe development” of international civil aviation, “safe air transport” and “flight safety in international air navigation”.

Discover Air Travel

This philosophy has endorsed that, in the more than half a century that has gone by since these principles were established, the modern plane that carries you to your destination is a product of thorough design, technological advances and human ingenuity.

But, it must be said it is also a consequence of clumsiness, though not ours as individuals, but of human beings, for, after tripping over the same stone, we learn from our mistakes because analysing the reasons for those mistakes helps science, technology and regulation to develop and, at the same time, to improve air safety and many other areas for humankind.

I would not want you to start to discover air travel without knowing the people that have made their professional knowledge accessible to me reviewing different chapters. Their invaluable advice has been key in allowing this book to take off and fly into your hands. It is also fair and prudent to add that if you find any mistakes or errors, the author is exclusively responsible, for not having been able to adapt their advice to the contents of the chapters you are about to read.

Aníbal Isidoro Carmona (Aeronautical Engineer), Antonio Esteban Oñate (Aeronautical Technician), Fernando Maestro Aznar (Air Traffic Controller), Manuel Galo Romero (Airbus 320 Pilot), Begoña Ontiveros (Flight Attendant), David Ontiveros (Boeing 737 NG Pilot), Jaime Ontiveros (Flight Attendant), Jesús Orte Bermejo (Technical Flight Officer), Manuel Ortega (Airbus 320 Pilot), Mariano Pérez Criado (Psychologist), Francisco Sastre (Aeronautical Medicine Doctor), Mar Bueno Rubio (Flight Attendant), Luis Utrilla Navarro (Aeronautical Technician and Writer), Mariano Domingo Calvo (Aena’s Airport Security Manager) and Manuel Zugasti Enrique (Head of Aena’s Ecosystems Department).

I am not forgetting Ángel Luis Arias Serrano for believing in this project from the beginning, Carmen de Cima Suárez for her constant support, Esther Maseda and the team of Aena’s Documentation and Publishing Centre, nor Pilar Alonso or Javier Berguizas, for their availability and invaluable and efficient help during the complex process of publishing this book.

To all of them, thank you very much.

11

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Página 10

Jorge Ontiveros

10

Preliminary note

The images of plane trails in the sky and of passengers at airport terminals has become a regular sight, almost a necessity it could be said, in modern society.

Despite the fact that aviation has promoted the development of commerce and tourism (not to mention wars) to levels unthinkable years ago, the aeroplane has transformed our mentality and the way we appreciate distances due to shorter travel times. With that, it has somehow extended our lives inasmuch as we can live many more experiences, discover many more places, people and cultures than if it had not developed to the current stage. Furthermore, if the Concorde had been as successful commercially as it was forecast at the time, the possibilities would have been endless, although the future hasn’t had its last word yet.

That is one of the main advantages of air travel over other means of transport, for in a few hours, sometimes just in a few minutes, and for prices that are getting more and more “reasonable”, it lets us move to almost everywhere in the world and return home as if it were nothing after enjoying a pleasant holiday, doing business or visiting friends.

All of this, has caused air travel to stop being something strange, far flung and adventurous to become, in spite of what sometimes happens, a common activity in our lives.

Data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates close to 2,000 million passengers -almost a third of the world’s population- are flown annually; a number that is expected to increase around a 6% per annum in the next five years. All this travelling requires very strict regulations and very responsible, well qualified professionals.

Safety is a fundamental principle that is permanently present in any aeronautical activity. Be it designing, building or operating an aircraft, it constitutes one of the objectives set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in December 1944 at the Chicago Convention, where it mentions in article 44, the “safe development” of international civil aviation, “safe air transport” and “flight safety in international air navigation”.

Discover Air Travel

This philosophy has endorsed that, in the more than half a century that has gone by since these principles were established, the modern plane that carries you to your destination is a product of thorough design, technological advances and human ingenuity.

But, it must be said it is also a consequence of clumsiness, though not ours as individuals, but of human beings, for, after tripping over the same stone, we learn from our mistakes because analysing the reasons for those mistakes helps science, technology and regulation to develop and, at the same time, to improve air safety and many other areas for humankind.

I would not want you to start to discover air travel without knowing the people that have made their professional knowledge accessible to me reviewing different chapters. Their invaluable advice has been key in allowing this book to take off and fly into your hands. It is also fair and prudent to add that if you find any mistakes or errors, the author is exclusively responsible, for not having been able to adapt their advice to the contents of the chapters you are about to read.

Aníbal Isidoro Carmona (Aeronautical Engineer), Antonio Esteban Oñate (Aeronautical Technician), Fernando Maestro Aznar (Air Traffic Controller), Manuel Galo Romero (Airbus 320 Pilot), Begoña Ontiveros (Flight Attendant), David Ontiveros (Boeing 737 NG Pilot), Jaime Ontiveros (Flight Attendant), Jesús Orte Bermejo (Technical Flight Officer), Manuel Ortega (Airbus 320 Pilot), Mariano Pérez Criado (Psychologist), Francisco Sastre (Aeronautical Medicine Doctor), Mar Bueno Rubio (Flight Attendant), Luis Utrilla Navarro (Aeronautical Technician and Writer), Mariano Domingo Calvo (Aena’s Airport Security Manager) and Manuel Zugasti Enrique (Head of Aena’s Ecosystems Department).

I am not forgetting Ángel Luis Arias Serrano for believing in this project from the beginning, Carmen de Cima Suárez for her constant support, Esther Maseda and the team of Aena’s Documentation and Publishing Centre, nor Pilar Alonso or Javier Berguizas, for their availability and invaluable and efficient help during the complex process of publishing this book.

To all of them, thank you very much.

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Part IV

Air routes and air traffic control

Discover Air Travel

airport following the flight plan route. So do the air traffic controllers, but they cannot constantly indicate to each plane where to turn to follow their route.

Route? What route?

In the same way that there are roads, railways and maritime routes, the sky is organised into airways for aircraft circulation. These airways are invisible to everybody except to pilots and air traffic controllers. Cockpits are equipped with systems that allow them to interpret signals broadcast by radio transmitters or to fly following geographic coordinates aided by the global positioning system, (GPS) satellite network23. Air traffic controllers have these airways marked in their radar screens and can follow the flights and warn pilots if anything is out of order.

If pilots make use of these signals to navigate from A to B, they are said to fly under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), and this will allow them to fly as high as their aeroplanes are able to. If they use roads, railways and topography for guidance they are flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and they will have to fly lower to be able to see the terrain and avoid losing their way. Even though there are always exceptions to every rule, we could generalise saying that passenger planes always fly under IFR from the time they take off until landing, and that they are supervised by air traffic controllers using their radar screens to issue flight instructions and to keep them away from other planes.

If you look up at the sky on a clear day, what do you see? Leaving aside the clouds, it is likely that you will see trails left by aeroplanes. You may notice several trails going in the same direction in the sky, which cross other trails going in a different direction. If that is what you see, you are viewing the airways with your very own eyes. These airways are about 15 km. wide, and the trails left by the aeroplanes are not smoke; they are exhaust gases that become visible when they freeze at around -50° Celsius.

9. Where do aeroplanes fly?

This chapter describes what happens during a flight and answers a question that you may have asked yourself before: how is it possible that pilots know exactly where they are in the vast blue sky and which route to take to get to their destination?

Therefore, flying under Instrument Flight Rules involves directing a plane using electronic equipment on-board to interpret signals broadcast by land transmitters -radio navigation- with acronyms such as NDB, VOR, DME or ILS. It may also involve flying guided by geographic position information gathered by the

The most obvious answer is probably that this is what air traffic controllers are for. But that is not the case, well, not exactly.

Although air traffic control supervises the pilots and provides them with assistance during the flight, pilots know perfectly well how to fly their planes to the

23 The GPS constellation is formed by 24 satellites in six orbit planes around the earth at a height of 20,200 km.

These are the same satellites used by the navigation system in your car.

59

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Part IV

Air routes and air traffic control

Discover Air Travel

airport following the flight plan route. So do the air traffic controllers, but they cannot constantly indicate to each plane where to turn to follow their route.

Route? What route?

In the same way that there are roads, railways and maritime routes, the sky is organised into airways for aircraft circulation. These airways are invisible to everybody except to pilots and air traffic controllers. Cockpits are equipped with systems that allow them to interpret signals broadcast by radio transmitters or to fly following geographic coordinates aided by the global positioning system, (GPS) satellite network23. Air traffic controllers have these airways marked in their radar screens and can follow the flights and warn pilots if anything is out of order.

If pilots make use of these signals to navigate from A to B, they are said to fly under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), and this will allow them to fly as high as their aeroplanes are able to. If they use roads, railways and topography for guidance they are flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and they will have to fly lower to be able to see the terrain and avoid losing their way. Even though there are always exceptions to every rule, we could generalise saying that passenger planes always fly under IFR from the time they take off until landing, and that they are supervised by air traffic controllers using their radar screens to issue flight instructions and to keep them away from other planes.

If you look up at the sky on a clear day, what do you see? Leaving aside the clouds, it is likely that you will see trails left by aeroplanes. You may notice several trails going in the same direction in the sky, which cross other trails going in a different direction. If that is what you see, you are viewing the airways with your very own eyes. These airways are about 15 km. wide, and the trails left by the aeroplanes are not smoke; they are exhaust gases that become visible when they freeze at around -50° Celsius.

9. Where do aeroplanes fly?

This chapter describes what happens during a flight and answers a question that you may have asked yourself before: how is it possible that pilots know exactly where they are in the vast blue sky and which route to take to get to their destination?

Therefore, flying under Instrument Flight Rules involves directing a plane using electronic equipment on-board to interpret signals broadcast by land transmitters -radio navigation- with acronyms such as NDB, VOR, DME or ILS. It may also involve flying guided by geographic position information gathered by the

The most obvious answer is probably that this is what air traffic controllers are for. But that is not the case, well, not exactly.

Although air traffic control supervises the pilots and provides them with assistance during the flight, pilots know perfectly well how to fly their planes to the

23 The GPS constellation is formed by 24 satellites in six orbit planes around the earth at a height of 20,200 km.

These are the same satellites used by the navigation system in your car.

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same satellites that direct the navigation system in our car, or by any other aides that help navigation during the en route part of the flight as well as during approach and landing. It is that simple.

Airways as seen from the ground.

Airways as pilots see them.

Airways as air traffic controllers see them.

An important point is that all the systems that broadcast signals enabling aircraft to follow airways must be certified regularly. This is to ensure that the signals are adequate, because there can be misalignments and interference from other radio broadcasts such as frequency modulation (FM) for ILS approach and landing.

There are established programs of regular inspections to determine how these systems work, and to identify any possible anomalies that could affect flight procedures based on them if these irregularities went unnoticed. The reason for these inspections is not just to ease navigation for the pilots or air traffic management for the air traffic controller, but because of their vital importance in ensuring flight safety.

This verification is known as calibration and Aena has an aeroplane well equipped to analyse the broadcast data, and very capable professionals to perform these procedures so that the net of airways is available 24 hours a day.

Discover Air Travel

10. Air traffic control The mission of Air Traffic Control (ATC) is to provide safety, order and a smooth flow to air traffic in that order. It performs this mission at airports as well as during flight in what are known as “en-route control” and “approach control”.

At the airport we have the traffic control tower. Because of its position relative to the runways and taxiways and thanks to its height, it is a privileged location from which to organize aircraft movement, both on land and in the airspace surrounding the airport -generally within an eight kilometre radius from the runway.

Before the aeroplane starts moving from the parking area, air traffic control has already begun its mission; first, giving instructions to the crew about the flight plan route -clearance delivery. Then, indicating to the pilots the taxiways that they must follow to get from the parking area to the runway for take-off -ground control. For this the air traffic controller must take into account any other planes, bag or cargo carts, maintenance vehicles, passenger buses, catering vehicles or refuelers, all necessary for an airport to function smoothly.

Before entering the runway (after making sure that it is unoccupied), the air traffic controller informs the pilots of the wind speed and direction and authorises them to enter the runway for take-off.

It is not widely known that, as we have seen above, once an aeroplane leaves the airport, pilots do not fly wherever they want, but must follow an established path. After take-off, air traffic controllers will supervise the aircraft through its

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60

same satellites that direct the navigation system in our car, or by any other aides that help navigation during the en route part of the flight as well as during approach and landing. It is that simple.

Airways as seen from the ground.

Airways as pilots see them.

Airways as air traffic controllers see them.

An important point is that all the systems that broadcast signals enabling aircraft to follow airways must be certified regularly. This is to ensure that the signals are adequate, because there can be misalignments and interference from other radio broadcasts such as frequency modulation (FM) for ILS approach and landing.

There are established programs of regular inspections to determine how these systems work, and to identify any possible anomalies that could affect flight procedures based on them if these irregularities went unnoticed. The reason for these inspections is not just to ease navigation for the pilots or air traffic management for the air traffic controller, but because of their vital importance in ensuring flight safety.

This verification is known as calibration and Aena has an aeroplane well equipped to analyse the broadcast data, and very capable professionals to perform these procedures so that the net of airways is available 24 hours a day.

Discover Air Travel

10. Air traffic control The mission of Air Traffic Control (ATC) is to provide safety, order and a smooth flow to air traffic in that order. It performs this mission at airports as well as during flight in what are known as “en-route control” and “approach control”.

At the airport we have the traffic control tower. Because of its position relative to the runways and taxiways and thanks to its height, it is a privileged location from which to organize aircraft movement, both on land and in the airspace surrounding the airport -generally within an eight kilometre radius from the runway.

Before the aeroplane starts moving from the parking area, air traffic control has already begun its mission; first, giving instructions to the crew about the flight plan route -clearance delivery. Then, indicating to the pilots the taxiways that they must follow to get from the parking area to the runway for take-off -ground control. For this the air traffic controller must take into account any other planes, bag or cargo carts, maintenance vehicles, passenger buses, catering vehicles or refuelers, all necessary for an airport to function smoothly.

Before entering the runway (after making sure that it is unoccupied), the air traffic controller informs the pilots of the wind speed and direction and authorises them to enter the runway for take-off.

It is not widely known that, as we have seen above, once an aeroplane leaves the airport, pilots do not fly wherever they want, but must follow an established path. After take-off, air traffic controllers will supervise the aircraft through its

61

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PĂĄgina 62

Jorge Ontiveros

departure, its route and arrival from en-route and approach control centres, maintaining radio contact with the aeroplane until another air traffic control tower takes over to clear it for landing. This is performed after ensuring that the runway is empty of other aircraft or any kind of obstacles. The aeroplane will be continuously in touch with a team of air traffic controllers that will make sure the plane reaches its destination without any incidents24.

Discover Air Travel

63

Vertical separation Lateral separation

Longitudinal separation

Longitudinal separation

Lateral separation Vertical separation

Mobile parallelepiped to demonstrate the marginal safety zone allocated to each aircraft which should not be invaded by another.

The main mission of air traffic controllers is to keep aircraft apart. This means that air traffic controllers must ensure that those planes under their care do not move closer to each other more than a given minimum limit known as “separation minima�. To this end, a series of standards has been set that establishes the minimum separation distance necessary between two aircraft to achieve safe air navigation.

Separation can be horizontal or vertical. The former can be achieved either through longitudinal separation, keeping the aircraft apart one behind the other for a certain distance or for a certain time as specified in the standards, or through lateral separation, keeping them apart applying specific separation distances.

Vertical separation is achieved by defining the different altitude levels relative to the terrain or to mean sea level, separated by a distance of 300 metres (1,000 24 Spain has four en-route control centres: at Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and the Canary Islands, and three terminal

area control centres that direct incoming and outgoing traffic within their responsibility zone: Santiago, Valencia and Palma de Mallorca.

feet) in such a way that aircraft moving in a given direction will fly even levels -2,000, 4,000, 6,000 feet and so on- whilst those travelling in the opposite direction will fly odd levels -1,000, 3,000, 5,000 feet and so on. This way, two aeroplanes flying within their authorised levels will be separated by at least 1,000 feet (300 metres) at the time they cross each other. Of course, if two planes are at any point separated by a distance lesser than the vertical minimum established by the regulations, they should be separated in the horizontal plane.

Each aeroplane has its own volume of air space that should not be invaded by other aeroplanes.

If it is anticipated that this volume of protective air space is going to be intercepted by another aircraft, there are systems on board and on the ground that warn pilots and air traffic controllers that the separation distance is being excessively reduced. Pilots are warned through the TCAS -Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System- and air traffic controllers through a conflict warning, based on information gathered from radar screens and the flight plan of the aeroplanes.

The TCAS is a piece of equipment installed in the cockpit to provide the crew with information regarding the position of nearby aircraft, to warn of conflicting aeroplanes and to offer advice on solutions to resolve these issues and that must be followed by the pilot. All this is based on rules and equations with formulae integrated in its computer program. Warnings are issued when the measures taken by air traffic control do not manage to keep the aeroplanes apart the minimum separation distance established in the standards, or when a pilot has not followed the instructions of the air traffic controller. It could be said that it is similar to an additional safety net.

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Jorge Ontiveros

departure, its route and arrival from en-route and approach control centres, maintaining radio contact with the aeroplane until another air traffic control tower takes over to clear it for landing. This is performed after ensuring that the runway is empty of other aircraft or any kind of obstacles. The aeroplane will be continuously in touch with a team of air traffic controllers that will make sure the plane reaches its destination without any incidents24.

Discover Air Travel

63

Vertical separation Lateral separation

Longitudinal separation

Longitudinal separation

Lateral separation Vertical separation

Mobile parallelepiped to demonstrate the marginal safety zone allocated to each aircraft which should not be invaded by another.

The main mission of air traffic controllers is to keep aircraft apart. This means that air traffic controllers must ensure that those planes under their care do not move closer to each other more than a given minimum limit known as “separation minima�. To this end, a series of standards has been set that establishes the minimum separation distance necessary between two aircraft to achieve safe air navigation.

Separation can be horizontal or vertical. The former can be achieved either through longitudinal separation, keeping the aircraft apart one behind the other for a certain distance or for a certain time as specified in the standards, or through lateral separation, keeping them apart applying specific separation distances.

Vertical separation is achieved by defining the different altitude levels relative to the terrain or to mean sea level, separated by a distance of 300 metres (1,000 24 Spain has four en-route control centres: at Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and the Canary Islands, and three terminal

area control centres that direct incoming and outgoing traffic within their responsibility zone: Santiago, Valencia and Palma de Mallorca.

feet) in such a way that aircraft moving in a given direction will fly even levels -2,000, 4,000, 6,000 feet and so on- whilst those travelling in the opposite direction will fly odd levels -1,000, 3,000, 5,000 feet and so on. This way, two aeroplanes flying within their authorised levels will be separated by at least 1,000 feet (300 metres) at the time they cross each other. Of course, if two planes are at any point separated by a distance lesser than the vertical minimum established by the regulations, they should be separated in the horizontal plane.

Each aeroplane has its own volume of air space that should not be invaded by other aeroplanes.

If it is anticipated that this volume of protective air space is going to be intercepted by another aircraft, there are systems on board and on the ground that warn pilots and air traffic controllers that the separation distance is being excessively reduced. Pilots are warned through the TCAS -Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System- and air traffic controllers through a conflict warning, based on information gathered from radar screens and the flight plan of the aeroplanes.

The TCAS is a piece of equipment installed in the cockpit to provide the crew with information regarding the position of nearby aircraft, to warn of conflicting aeroplanes and to offer advice on solutions to resolve these issues and that must be followed by the pilot. All this is based on rules and equations with formulae integrated in its computer program. Warnings are issued when the measures taken by air traffic control do not manage to keep the aeroplanes apart the minimum separation distance established in the standards, or when a pilot has not followed the instructions of the air traffic controller. It could be said that it is similar to an additional safety net.

Par IV-DESC24 ING

10/5/10

08:56

Página 64

Jorge Ontiveros

64

The conflict warning alerts the pilot some time before the established minimum separation distance is reduced, giving time to take corrective measures before the TCAS comes into action.

If, in spite of all of this, an aircraft gets to within a shorter distance than that which is established in the standards (be it because an air traffic controller has wrongly applied the separation minima or because a pilot has not followed the air traffic controller’s instructions), an air traffic incident may take place. In that case, the pilots and controllers involved must send a report to the appropriate body. In Spain, this body is the Comisión de Estudio y Análisis de Incidentes de Tránsito Aéreo, under the Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea. This report will be analysed to draw pertinent conclusions and to propose measures to prevent a re-occurrence of the incident. The final report must be issued to pilots and air traffic controllers so that the parties involved may correct their mistakes and their colleagues may learn from them.

Discover Air Travel

The air traffic controller The air traffic controller is not an “air traffic officer”. This is a very specialised profession with a high concentration of responsibility for human lives resting on the shoulders of just one person. This circumstance means that the men and women that work in this field must have certain personal qualities, a profile that allows them to work under extreme psychological pressure.

If the profile is met, the future air traffic controllers require theoretical training and practical experience in simulators that enable them to gain the skills needed to carry out their job. After this stage, Aena will train the controllers for the specific jobs in the control tower or the centre they have been assigned to; this is known as “habilitation rating”. During their professional lives, air traffic controllers must follow ongoing training programs to keep up with new procedures and new technological tools.

Air traffic flow management

Pilots and controllers

It was created at the beginning of the seventies to complement air traffic control and to avoid exceeding its capacity. It deals with the regulation of the amount of aeroplanes that may take-off from a given airport, or that may enter certain airspace blocks within a certain timeframe. Its aim is to avoid congestion on the ground and in the air and therefore, to avoid overloading air traffic control.

This way the traffic flows smoothly, without unnecessary delays during flight that could mean a serious danger to air navigation. In other words, air traffic flow management ensures that each aircraft taking off from an airport will be able to reach its destination without having to wait in the air. This regulation of demand is applied through “time slots” or simply “slots”.

These are periods of time within which an aircraft has to take-off or go through a certain point in their route, and could involve a delay in the programmed departure time of some flights.

Piloting and controlling aircraft are possibly two of the most demanding professions in current society. Transporting human beings in a very expensive aircraft on the one hand, and managing to do it in an orderly, fluid and safe manner on the other are the reasons for this. It is evident that both of these activities represent a huge responsibility, particularly taking into account that many lives depend on them.

Fortunately, there is very advanced technology to help these professionals with this responsibility, as well as very strict regulations to be met. There is something else: a healthy dose of trust from those flying in the good judgement of the controllers. It is rare that the controller’s decisions are questioned. Even so, pilots have complete autonomy to direct their flights in the manner they deem safest.

If after evaluation of a situation they consider that an instruction given by the controller is not safe for the aircraft, regulations give them the right to disregard it, to ask for an alternative authorization or to take any action that they deem necessary to keep the aircraft safe. After all it is the crew’s safety as well as that of the aircraft and its passengers that is at stake.

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08:56

Página 64

Jorge Ontiveros

64

The conflict warning alerts the pilot some time before the established minimum separation distance is reduced, giving time to take corrective measures before the TCAS comes into action.

If, in spite of all of this, an aircraft gets to within a shorter distance than that which is established in the standards (be it because an air traffic controller has wrongly applied the separation minima or because a pilot has not followed the air traffic controller’s instructions), an air traffic incident may take place. In that case, the pilots and controllers involved must send a report to the appropriate body. In Spain, this body is the Comisión de Estudio y Análisis de Incidentes de Tránsito Aéreo, under the Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea. This report will be analysed to draw pertinent conclusions and to propose measures to prevent a re-occurrence of the incident. The final report must be issued to pilots and air traffic controllers so that the parties involved may correct their mistakes and their colleagues may learn from them.

Discover Air Travel

The air traffic controller The air traffic controller is not an “air traffic officer”. This is a very specialised profession with a high concentration of responsibility for human lives resting on the shoulders of just one person. This circumstance means that the men and women that work in this field must have certain personal qualities, a profile that allows them to work under extreme psychological pressure.

If the profile is met, the future air traffic controllers require theoretical training and practical experience in simulators that enable them to gain the skills needed to carry out their job. After this stage, Aena will train the controllers for the specific jobs in the control tower or the centre they have been assigned to; this is known as “habilitation rating”. During their professional lives, air traffic controllers must follow ongoing training programs to keep up with new procedures and new technological tools.

Air traffic flow management

Pilots and controllers

It was created at the beginning of the seventies to complement air traffic control and to avoid exceeding its capacity. It deals with the regulation of the amount of aeroplanes that may take-off from a given airport, or that may enter certain airspace blocks within a certain timeframe. Its aim is to avoid congestion on the ground and in the air and therefore, to avoid overloading air traffic control.

This way the traffic flows smoothly, without unnecessary delays during flight that could mean a serious danger to air navigation. In other words, air traffic flow management ensures that each aircraft taking off from an airport will be able to reach its destination without having to wait in the air. This regulation of demand is applied through “time slots” or simply “slots”.

These are periods of time within which an aircraft has to take-off or go through a certain point in their route, and could involve a delay in the programmed departure time of some flights.

Piloting and controlling aircraft are possibly two of the most demanding professions in current society. Transporting human beings in a very expensive aircraft on the one hand, and managing to do it in an orderly, fluid and safe manner on the other are the reasons for this. It is evident that both of these activities represent a huge responsibility, particularly taking into account that many lives depend on them.

Fortunately, there is very advanced technology to help these professionals with this responsibility, as well as very strict regulations to be met. There is something else: a healthy dose of trust from those flying in the good judgement of the controllers. It is rare that the controller’s decisions are questioned. Even so, pilots have complete autonomy to direct their flights in the manner they deem safest.

If after evaluation of a situation they consider that an instruction given by the controller is not safe for the aircraft, regulations give them the right to disregard it, to ask for an alternative authorization or to take any action that they deem necessary to keep the aircraft safe. After all it is the crew’s safety as well as that of the aircraft and its passengers that is at stake.

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Página 1

24 The D i s c o v e r Collection

Discover

Air Tr a v e l

Air Tr a v e l J o rge Ontiveros

Discover

Air Travel

Jorge Ontiveros

Jorge Ontiveros

Discover

With this collection, Aena, the public

J o rge Ontivero s

organisation that manages airports and air navigation in Spain, hopes to bring the exciting Other books in English:

Airports Airline Companies Air Sports Airport Operations Other books in Spanish:

El transporte aéreo Las aeronaves El control aéreo Las profesiones en la aeronáutica La aviación general La carga aérea La navegación aérea La navegación por satélite Los pioneros de la aviación La industria aeronáutica El handling aeroportuario La aerostación Los cohetes Los helicópteros Los motores de aviación El derecho aeronáutico Las mujeres en la aeronáutica La meteorología en la aviación

world of aeronautics closer to society as a whole.

The main goal of the collection is to provide information on all aspects of airports, air navigation, and air transport in general in a lively and accessible manner.

T h e D i s c o v e r C o l l e c t i o n is designed to appeal to all kinds of readers, and requires no prior knowledge of aeronautical subjects.

The clarity of the language and explanations contained in these books will help anyone using Aena facilities to better understand the activities underlying their day-to-day operation.

The Discover Collection could open up a fascinating, constantly evolving world to pre-university students, and even help orient their future careers.

After several years in the Spanish Army, in 1989 he became a civilian air traffic controller.

Between 1999 and 2005, he developed his professional activity in management at Aena.

He has published many articles and essays on air transport and air traffic control in numerous magazines, amongst which are: Aviador, Mach.82, Avion Revue, Empuje, and Revista de aeronáutica y astronáutica. He was part of the professional team that developed Título Propio en Gestión Aeronáutica -the Course in Aviation Management of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, where he has been a lecturer. He has collaborated with the Universidad Carlos III in courses in air traffic management, which have been sponsored by the European Union. He occasionally participates as an aviation expert and consultant on issues related to air traffic control. He is cofounder of ATC magazine, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Association of Spain (APCAE), founder and editor of ATC today magazine and webmaster of “ATCweb”, a blog where you can find most of his works, amongst them: “¡Aeropuerto congestionado!, ¿ampliar o trasladar?”

(Congested airport!, Expand or relocate?), “El binomio piloto-controlador, ¿un equipo?”

(The pilot-controller association, a team?), or “El control aéreo y la seguridad en vuelo” (Air traffic control and flight safety), a work which won an award from the Aena Foundation, where he has been a lecturer.

He is also author of the book in this collection “Discover Air Traffic Control”, which is now in its third edition.