ifatca the controller - december 1996

JOURNAL OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

United Kingdom, December 1996

PUBLISHER IFATCA. International Federatio n of Air Traffic Contro llers' Associations. See bollom of page 2 for contact address.

EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA Preben Lauridsen President and Chief Execut ive Officer Neil Vidler Deputy President Oliver Farirayi Executi ve Vice-President Africa/Middle East Samuel Lampkin Executi ve Vice-President Americas George Chao Pao Shu Executive Vice-President Asia/Pacific Gunter Melchert Executive Vice-President Europe J ohn Redmond Executive Vice-President Finance Sandy Oppenheim Executive Vice-President Professional Chris Stock Executive Vice-President Technical Edge Green Executi ve Secretary Terry Crowhurst Editor

EDITOR Terry Crowhurst 29 Heritage Lawn. Langsholl. Hurley. Surrey. Rl-16 9XH. United Kingdo m. Tel. +44 (0) 1293 7840-10 Fax +-1-1 (0) 1293 77 19-1-1 CompuServe: Terry Crowhurst. I 00743.3372 1 nternet:[email protected]

ADVERTISING AND SALES OFFICE Ron Mahendran 107 Drake Road, Rayners Lane. Harrow. Middlesex. HA2 9DZ. United Kingdo m. Te l & Fax +44 (0) 18 1 868 7399 -

ACCOUNTS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS Tim MacKay "Dunadry". Minshull Lane. Weucnhall. Winsford. C heshire. CW7 4DU. United Kingdom. Tel +-1-1 (0) 1270 528363 -Fax +44 (0) 1270 5284 78

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Patrick Schelling Ch. Sur le Moulin. 126 1 Le Vaud. Switzerland. Tel +4 1 (0) 22366 2684 Fax +4 1 (0) 22366 4305

Phil ippe Do mogala Merelstraat 5. NL 61 76 EZ Spaubeek. The Netherlands Tel +3 1 (0)46 4433564 Fax +3 1 (0)43 3661541

PRINTING Mercury Press Unit I. Baird Close. Crawley. West Sussex. RHI 02SY. United Kingdom. Tel +44 (0) 1293 523000 1-ax +44 (0) 1293 529000

THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1996

Volume 35 N° 4

IN THIS ISSUE

F OREWORD

Executive Vice President Africa/Midd le East Oliver Farirayi

AMERICAS REGIONAL M EETI NG Terry Crowhurst Reports from Guyana E UROPEAN REGIONAL MEETING

Philippe Domogala Reports from Vienna IS THE R EGION R EALLY UNFLYABLE Arthur Kitao Reports from Africa GREPECAS Rosanna Baru gives an Update CNS/ATM IFATCA S YMPOSIUM Neil Vidler Reports from Panama ATCA 96 A Report from Nashville ATC 97 - M AASTR ICHT A Pre-show Report T AAM U SERS M EET IN M EMPHIS Patrick Schel ling Reports CHAR LI ES

Humour and End of Year Quiz Letters

Advertisers in this issue

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5

7

10

11

13

16

18

21

28

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A lenia, A ndropa. C hina Air Li nes. C rimp. EGATS . Eva A ir. Hughe!>. Mandarin Airlines. Miller Freeman Exhi bi tions. Omni li fe . Schmid T elecom . Wavionix.

Photographs T. Crowhurst. P . Domogala. P. Schell ing. ATCAI. Cover An example of TAAM Fast Time Simulation - see art icle o n page 21. Char lie Cartoon Ken Tully Copy Typing Do na Crowhurs t Proof Readers Lucy Lcveson. Harry Cole

ISSUES APPEAR END OF M ARCH, J UNE, S EPTEMBER, DECEMBER. C ONTRIBUTORS ARE E XPRESSING THEIR PERSONAL POINTS OF VIEW AND O PINIONS, WHICH M AY N OT NECESSARIL'." COINCIDE WITH THOSE OF T HE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AIR TRAFFIC C ONTROLLERS ASSOCIATIONS. IFATCA. IFATCA D oEs Nor AssuME R ESPONSIBILITY F oR STATEMENTS M ADE AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED, IT A CCEPTS R ESPONSIBILITY FOR P UBLISHING T HESE CONTRIBUTIONS. CONTRIBUTIONS ARE WELCOME AS ARE COMMENTS AND CRITICISM. N o PAYMENT CAN BE M ADE FOR M ANUSCRIPTS SUBMITIED FOR PUBLICATION IN THE C ONTROLLER. T HE E DITOR RESERVES T HE RIGHT TO MAKE A NY E DITORIAL CHANGES IN M ANUSCRIPTS, WHICH HE BELIEVES W ILL IMPROVE THE M ATERIAL WITHOUT ALTERING THE INTENDED MEANING. WRITIEN PERMISSION BY THE EDITOR IS NECESSARY FOR REPRINTING ANY PART OF THIS J OURNAL.

CORPORATE MEMBERS OF IFATCA

ADACELPTYLTD. Canberra, Australia

AIR TRAFFIC AND NAVIGATIONAL SERVICES Co. Ltd. Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa

AIRWAYS CONSULTING SERVICES Wellington, New Zealand

ALCA TEL AIR NAVIGATION SYSTEMS Stuttgart, Gennany

ALEXANDER HOWDEN AVIATION London, UK

AMBIDil GROUP PTY LTD Melbourne, Australia

ARINC INCORPORATED Annapolis, MA, USA

ASCOM TIMEPLEX GmbH Frankfurt am Main, Gennany

ATS AEROSPACE St. Bruno, Canada

CAE ELECTRONICS Ltd. Saint-Laurant, Canada

CESELSA Madrid, Spain

CELSIUSTECH SYSTEMS Jarfalla, Sweden

COMPUTER RESOURCES INTERNATIONAL A/S Birkerod, Denmark

CRIMP A/S Allero, Denmark

CORIS Le Plessis Robinson, France

DENRO Gaithersburg, MD, USA

DAIMLER - BENZ AEROSPACE AG Ulm/Donau, Germany

DICTAPHONE CORPORATION Stratford, CT, USA

DIVERSIFIED INT'L SCIENCES CORP. Lanham, MD, USA

GAREXAS Oslo, Norway

HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY Richmond B.C., Canada

HUGHES ATC SIMULATION TRAINING Burgess Hill, UK

IAI - MLM DIVISION Beer Yaakov, Israel

IBM(UK) Feltham, UK

JEPPESEN & Co. GmbH Frankfurt am Main, Germany

JERRY THOMPSON & ASSOCIATES Inc. Kensington, MD, USA

KONGSBERG NORCONTROL SYSTEMS Horten, Norway

MILLER FREEMAN EXHIBITIONS Sidcup, UK

NORTELDASA Friedrichshafen, Germany

NORTHROP GRUMMAN Baltimore, MD, USA

OMNILIFE OVERSEAS INSURANCE Co. Ltd. London, UK

RAYTHEON Co. Marlborough, MA, USA

SCHMID TELECOMMUNICATION Zilrich, Switzerland

SERCO-IAL Bath, UK

SIEMENS PLESSEY SYSTEMS Chessington, UK

SOCIETE D'ETUDES ET D'ENTREPRISES ELECTRIQUES Malakoff, France

SONY COMPUTER Weybridge, UK

SWEDAVIAAB Norrkoping, Sweden

TELUBAB Solna, Sweden

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

VITROCISET S.p.A. Rome, Italy

WA VIONIX SOFfW ARE LTD Lausanne, Switzerland

Please note below new address and telephone number for the Executive Secretary and new address and telephone number of the Advertising and Sales Office on page one. The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations would like to invite all corporations, organisations, and institutions interested in and concerned with the maintenance and promotion of safety in air traffic to join their organisation as Corporate Members. Corporate Members support the aims of the Federation by supplying the Federation with technical information and by means of an annual subscription. The Federations' international journal The Controller is offered as a platform for the discussion of technical and procedural developments in the field of air traffic control. For further information concerning Corporate Membership, or general IF A TCA matters, please contact the IFATCA Executive Secretary: E.G.H. Green O.B.E., 4 The Rookery, Peasemore, RG20 7JY, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0) 1635 247890 Fax: +44 (0) 1635 247891

Foreword 0 Oliver Farirayi- Executive Vice President Africa and Middle East

T he Africa and Middle East Region of IF A TCA has s een ph e nomenal growth in air traffic. Thi s growth is

the result of many factors. One of these is the result of the emergence of South Africa from its is o lation b e for e 1994. Man y airlines have started services on more routes to South Africa and beyond. This increase in traffic has been sudden and unexpected. The introduction of economic market reform s has seen Afric a n economies expanding rapidly. Touri sm has also had its fair share of expansion. As a result, air traffic in the region is increasing rapidly to cater for the increased number of passengers and freight in the region. It is estimated that over the past two ears air traffi c over Africa has increased by about 200%.

However, the question is whether or not the African A TC systems were ready for such a rapid growth. Seasonal traffic that is normally witnessed during the Haj period further overloads the inadequate A TC systems in the region . This traffic is normally west to east and vice-versa. This creates new conflictions with the normal north to south traffic . Although contingent routes are created by ICAO, IAT A and States a ffected, the real question is whether our limited a ir traffic control sys tems can handl e such tasks adequately. Like everywhere e lse in the world, in Africa and the Middle East we have acknowledged that the existing fac iliti es and A TC systems can no longer cope with the phenomenal growth in air traffi c, he nce the evolution of the ICAO CNS/ ATM concept. The implementation of the CNS/ATM concept will be evoluti onary and implemented on an ICAO regional basis.

Thi s sys tem wi ll require hi gh level s of in ves tment in equipme nt fro m both the airlines and air traffic services providers, as well as training for ATC staff be fore it will be operational. Most governments, aviation authorities a nd airlines in the region are short of cash and are unlikely to be able to afford the high co sts re quire d fo r the required in ves tme n t. Wh a t op ti ons do governments in the region have to raise the required capita l? Is pr ivati sation and/or

creation of more autonomous aviation authorities part of the solution? Practically, the Africa/Middle East Region cannot afford only to talk about the future . The region should focus on the present proble ms and co me up with short term sol utions which will compliment long-term solutions. It is with this background that the the me of th e Fourth IFATCA ATC Symposium will be based. The Symposium will be held in Harare between the 4th and 5th of June 1997. It will focus on the aforementioned topics including the thorny pro bl e ms of the inhuma n working co ndit ions and poor remuneration that the Region's controllers have endured for a long time. These problems cannot be solved by IFATCA or indi vidu a l Membe r Ass ociati o ns a lone. C ivi l Aviation Authorities and governments are also key players in this issue. Th a t is why t hey have to a ttend thi s Sympo s ium. Furthermore, it is the duty of as many controllers as possible in the region, not only to attend this important event. but also to e ndeavour to bri ng along ke y players from thei r own o rga ni sa ti o ns . I look forwa rd to yo ur a ttendan ce and participati on in this event. +

. ~ THE CONTROLLER - REGIONAL SUB-EDITORS AFRICA MIDDLE EAST Mr Albert Aidoo Taylor Telephone: P.O. Box 9181 Fax: Kotake International Airport Accra GHANA

and

Mr Khaled Kooli Telephone: Aeroport lnt. de Tunis-Carthage Fax: CNA-2035 TUNISIA

ASIA PACIFIC Mr John Wagstaff Telephone: ATMD,CAD Fax: Hong Kong International Airport Kowloon Hong Kong


AMERICAS +233 2 1 773283 Rosanna Baru +2332 1773293 (ATCAU)

P.O. Box 6554 Montevideo URUGUAY

Neil Martin 67 Castle Rock Ori ve

+2 16 1755 OOO Richmond Hill, Ontario +216 l 782 106 CANADA, L4C 5W3

EUROPE Mr Philippe Domogala Merelstraat 5

+852 255 10081 NL - 6 176 EZ Spaubeek +852 23628101 THE NETHERLANDS

Telephone: +598 2770299 Fax: +598 2770299

Telephone: + l 905 508 477 1 (H) + 1 905 676 5228 (W)

Fax: + l 905 676 3121 (W)

Telephone: +3 1 46 4433564 Fax: +31 43 366 1541

3

Editorial 0 Terry Crowhurst - Editor

Over recent months, much concern has been expressed by IATA and IFALPA over the lack of ATC facilities in large areas of Africa and South America. The notification of large areas of African airspace as "Critically Deficient" and the introduction of 'Traffic Information Broadcast

Terry Cro11-fnirsi Alert' (TIBA) procedures in the area has done little to enhance

relationships between air traffic controllers and pilots. Similarly, at the recent IFATCA-run symposium in Panama, the audience were treated to a statement, by a pilot from a well known American airline, that TCAS was a pre-requi site piece of equipment and listed as a ' no go' item if the equipment was unserviceable prior to a flight into South America. The pilot then further endeared himself to the audience by stating that this was because he could see a ll traffic on his TCAS display. Despite this somewhat frightening lack of knowledge concerning TCAS capabilities, none of these actions necessarily reflect the true status within the regions and there is a great danger in these type of statements by allowing emotion to override fact. Yes. there are

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CONTACT THE ADVERTISING MANAGER,

RON MAHENDRAN.

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4

significant areas where ATC facilities are inadequate for the modem need. There are also States that have taken a responsible position in re-equipment and training of controllers to overcome the problems. Indeed, there are some countries in both the notified areas of Africa and South America that enjoy modern ATC equipment that would be the envy of some controllers in both North America and Europe. One of the problems is not to let emotion overtake reality. There are many areas where the conditions of employment, equipment and training require urgent attention. IFATCA urges those countries that are deficient in ATC conditions of service and inadequate equipment etc., to address the issues urgently ; particularly if they wish to receive the revenue. associated with high airline usage, generally brought by increased tourism. IFATCA continues to meet the Principal Officers from IFALPA and the critical subjects of ATC facilities and related issues form part of the meeting agenda. In the meantime, controllers world-wide continue to strive to produce the best service possible. If the airline operators and associations believe strongly that some areas are unsafe to fly in should they not be considering whether they should be there in the first place? For the price of a couple of Boeing 747 airframes many of the problems cou ld be solved!+

THEIFATCA EXECUTIVE BOARD AND

THE STAFF OF THE CONTROLLER MAGAZINE

EXTEND THEIR BEST WISHES FOR THE SEASON TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS AND READERS OF THIS

JOURNAL


REGIONAL MEETING

AMERICAS REGIONAL MEETING

Th e Seve nth Ame ri cas Reg io nal M ee tin g was he ld in G eo rge tow n , Guyana, on 22 and 23 November 1996. De spite the excell e n t a rrange ments provided by the Guyana Association of A ir Tra ffi c C o ntro l Offi cers ( G AA TCO ) , o nl y e ig ht o ut o f the reg io n 's fo rty -seve n M e mb er Assoc ia ti o ns ( M A) m ade it fo r the Ope ning Cere mo ny. Severa l o f those attending had experienced considerable di fficulties with travel to Guyana and the Canadi an delegates were held up for two days enroute before managi ng to arrive for the second day proceedings -thu s b r in g in g th e M A att e nd a nc e numbers to nine. Those MAs a ttending were made up of delegates from Aruba, Barbados, Canada. Guyana. Netherlands Antilles . T rinidad and Tobago. Uni ted S ta tes o f A m e ri ca , Uru g uay a nd S urin a me . T oge th e r th e d e legates to ta ll e d a so me w ha t d is ap po intin g fi gure of twenty- fi ve . Th e E xec utive Vice President (EVP) for the Americas - Sa mu e l La mpkin . EV P Technica l -C hri s S toc k a nd T he Edit o r of The Co ntrol !e r T e rry C ro w hurs t

~ re p resent ed the IFATCA Exe cuti ve \. 11 Board.

Th e m ee tin g ve nu e was a t the Pegas us Ho te l in the capit al c ity o f Geo rgetow n w hic h is an ' interestin g ' o ne ho ur d ri ve fro m the main airpo rt. T he event commenced with a breakfast meeting o r the de legates together with th e pre se nce o f th e M ini s te r fo r Reg io na l Deve lop m e nt a nd Loca l Go ve rnm e nt , th e Ho no urab le Harri persand Nokta and Mr Lawrence Moore, the Director o f Civil Avia tion. Afte r b rea k fa s t. the de lega te s we re greeted by the President of GAA TCO. Co urtn e y Fra n k. w ho th a n ked the o rga nis ing committee . led by Adr ian Bass ier (V ice President of GA ATCO ) for a ll the hard work that they had put in to the o rgani sation o f the event. He the n in trod uced th e Di rec to r o f C iv il


O Terry Crowhurst

Av iat io n w ho gav e a n overv iew of developments within the country' s A TC system. EVP Americas fo llowed and in his presentation stressed the importance o f the human being and, in particular, th e co nt ro ll e rs , within t he AT C infras tructure. Fin a ll y , the M in iste r spoke on the imminent formation of a C ivil A via tio n A uth o rity a nd how it should help in the development o f the future AT C stru c ture. Th e M ini ster f ini s hed hi s a d d re ss by fo rm a ll y declari ng the func tion open.

The delegates then assembled for the meeting and following the appointment of Mrs Artie Heerala ll as Secretary, the business of the day began. The Edi tor gave the report of the Executive Board · s ac tivities since Conference and a copy of th at re po rt w ill ap pea r in th e IF ATCA Circula r. In his report as EVP, Sam Lampkin stressed the importance of GREPECAS and its meetings dealing w ith CNS/ AT M a s pe c ts w ith in the region. He expressed his concern at the poor commun icat io ns w ithin the area and the reluctance of MAs to attempt to help themselves. In a graphic example of one MA. he used the s imilarity of a child learning to walk . He poin ted out that IFATCA can ho ld the hand of the child (MA) that is learn ing to walk and guide it on its way. but the ind ividual must fi rst have the des ire to carry out the ac tion. Th is theme was retu rned to severa l ti mes during the meeting where MA s we re e nco urag e d to he lp th emselves in the first ins tance. The NATCA President a lso suppo rted the issue by stating that "'We tend to go to conferences to get rather than to give.·· a nd acco rdin g ly " pe rhaps we s ho uld reco ns ide r o ur co m m it me n t to IFATCA'".

Sam Lampkin quoted an example of good com mu nicatio n as e mployed by the Ic e la ndi c Asso c iat io n in the ir d ispute w ith the ir authori ties to wards the e nd o f la st year. T hey had kept

IF A TCA involved in their di scussions and had used the E xecutive Board to good effect in the successful outcome of thei r conc lu s io ns . In c o n t ra s t EVP A m e ri cas e xp re ssed di s m ay in th e receipt of news from Panama that they had instigated stri ke action. The whole Executive Board had been in Panama only so me th ree or fo ur weeks before. for the reg ional semjnar (see article on pag e 13 o f t h is m aga zin e ) , yet no concerns had bee n raised from which !FA TCA representation may have been o f ass istance. Sam Lampki n cont inued by encouragi ng MA s to make brie f periodic reports to him o r other Board members on situations that are causing them concern - particularly if it is likely that the assistance of IFATCA will be sought at some time in the fu ture.

In a ve rbal repo rt of the Regional Sub Group (RSG) co ncern was reported o ve r the d i fferen ce in techno logica l advance be tween the North Americas Region (NAR) and the Caribbean/South Ame ri c an Re gi o n (CA R/SAM). A re que s t was m ade fo r a ny fo rm of as s is ta nce from the N AR to less fortunate MAs in the other areas. The US representative requested IF A TCA to address the socio-economic factors that were e ffecting co ntrol lers world-wide. EVP Technical re ferred to the Panama S ym pos ium a nd the di sc ussion co ncerning the overa ll situa tion in South America: also. he circulated an artic le fro m the W a l l S tree t Journal. w hich h igh l ig hted the numerous proble ms ex pe ri e nc ed w it h in the reg io n. He suggested that the de tail s contained in the arti c le we re we ll know n wi th in !FA TCA and that the meet ing s ho ul d consider the vari ous optio ns to improve matters. It was agreed that the matter would be further d iscussed o uts ide of t he meet ing wi th a view to coo rdinating an appropri ate plan of action to address the issues. Ill-- Ill--

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-lbQsblclllll!ltlllll!Gnm!CDtOaSCl!IMl~ITllt~ 15. 16. 21. FEb\ay 1991

CONTROLLERS -PILOTS

EGATS FORUM 251h February 1997

- A magic tool for more capacity ?

GAT-BJROCONTROL GIJU.D OF AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES

- or just another toy of avionic engineering ? - Controllers interfering in Cockpit functions ?

- Pilots interfering in ATC functions ? - PETAL trials - the right way into a better future ?

EGATS, the Eurocontrol Guild of Air Traffic Services, is organizing a one day Forum during the ATC 97 Exhibition and Conference in February 1997

Invited are: Air Traffic Controllers, Pilots, ATC Management, Manufacturers, Aviation Industry Representatives. Since you are invited, there will be no costs. Just obtain a slot, first come - first served, by returning

the slip to the indicated address.

Organization: As a typical EGATS forum, there will be extensive discussion and exchange of views between

the forum and its participants.

EGATS FORUM: 2Sth FEBRUARY 1997 MAASTRICHT MECC; ATC 97 Conference and Exhibition

NOTE: EGATS is a non-profit multinational professional Air Traffic Controllers association, organizing this Forum on behalf of and for its members and other interested parties.

It is supported by Miller Freeman Exhibition Ltd., Jane's Airport Review, DENRO/FERNAU and Eurocontrol

Registration only in writing, either by mail or Fax to:

EGATSATC97 Forum Coordinator PIO box 47 NL-6190 AA Beek The Netherlands Fax: ++31-(0)43-3661541

E-mail: [email protected]

Name ............................................................................................................. .

Job, Title ..................................................................................................... .

Address ....................................................................................................... .

City ................................................................................................................ .

Postcode .................................. Col.llltry ................................................... · ..

Tel./Fax.: ..................................................................................................... .

Individual MAs then presented their reports. Of particular note Aruba drew attention to an inte nt to increase the limits of their airspace. both vertically and laterally. EVP Americas expressed satisfaction at seeing that Barbados had s uccessfull y reo rga ni se d th e ir Associa ti on a nd seve ra l MA s drew attention to the fact th at they were in receipt of new equipment where the use and ergonomic layout of the equipment had no t been discussed with controllers before insta ll ati on. EVP Tec hni cal ex p ressed co nce rn a t thi s lack of involvement and, in later discussion on technical issues, agreed to take an action to Standing Committee I for them to develop guideli nes to e ncourage civil aviat ion au th orit ies to invo lve controllers from the early stages of new equipment development plans. The US reported that they had been successful in obta ining rights for NATCA to be represented in negotiations for salaries and terms of service issues . They also made some interesting comments about the deve lo pme nt o f the ' Freeflight ' concept within the US; particularly at the lack of equipment to support its o pera tion . O ne o f th e NATCA representati ves said "you can not expect the human to fit the equipment when it is to late··. This is a factor that appears to have been neglec ted. The US also reported that as a res ult o f the e mploy me nt o r ma ny tho usands of cont ro llers in the post-PATCO strike. some 20 years ago. the large majority of the ir co ntro ll e rs wi ll be e li g ibl e for retirement withi n the fi rst few years of the next century. T hi s exodus is likely to h ave a s ig nifi ca nt effec t on the c urre nt a nd future shortage of cont ro llers. both in the US and worldwide.

The latest in formation concerning the IFATCA 97 Conference. scheduled to be he ld in T a ipei was g ive n and co nce rn was ex pressed a t th e prearranged cost of travel to the venue by the national carriers. At the moment it appears that the fare structure offered is to be 25 % of the full economy fare whe re tradi ti o na ll y nati onal carri ers offer 25% of the cheapest fare avai lable. Thi s conce rn has been passed to the o rga ni s in g co mmittee a nd hopefull y wi ll be addressed. In the mea ntime


REGIONAL MEETING

many MAs are considering alternative travel optio ns to atte mpt to get to Conference.

Two offers had been made to host the Americas 1997 Regional Meeting; one from Trinidad and Tobago and the othe r from the United S tates of America. Th e US de lega te made a magnanimous gesture in withdrawing the US offer in favour of Trinidad and Tobago. He acknowledged the work of TTATCA within the region and their prepllrn li on in pursuin g th e eve nt. Trinidad and Tobago was selected as the venue for the next Regional Meeting and the US agreed to consider hosting the 1998 event. TT A TCA also proposed to hold a one day workshop adjacent to the 1997 Regional M ee ting w ithin which technical and professional issues, s pec ific to the reg io n. coul d be addressed. T hey a lso req ues ted the

Tlte Mi11is1er addresse.1· delegares

Tlte Orga11isi11g C11111111 i11ee

Executi ve Board to consider holding a Board meeting. to coincide wi th the Event.

Fo llowing the selection of the venue for next year the meeting was brought to

a close by the EVP for the Americas. Samuel Lampki n. Again he stressed the importance of in volvement by all in so lvi ng the proble ms pertinent to the reaion a nd th e CA R/SAM area in

"" particular. He also thanked the secretary and the organ isin g comm ittee for a ll their ha rd work associated w ith the meeting.

Regrettably. due to the low numbers of those present and connecting flight schedules. proposed post-meeting tours were cancel led. That said 'the hosting a rra ngements and social activities provided by GAA TCO during the two days were excellent and they are to be congratulated on their hosting of a first class event. +

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------------- ----REGIONAL M EETING ___ _______ _ _ ____ _

EUROPEAN REGIONAL MEETING

VIENNA, 9 -10 NOVEMBER 1996

T hi s yea r· s E uro pean Reg io na l Meeting was held in V ienna and was o rga ni sed by the A us trian

Association. Some 120 Controlle rs fro m abou t 40 Controllers Associa tio ns in Euro pe pa rt ic ipa te d in thi s two day event in a re lax ing a tmosphere. Gunter Me lc he rt . IFA T CA Exec ut ive V ice Pres ide nt fo r E uro pe. c ha ired the mee ting with th e he lp o f Sa nd y Oppenheim . IFATCA Exec ut ive Vice Pre ident Professional. During the fi rst day. p resenta ti on s we re g ive n by various speakers invited LO the meeting.

Mr C . Eig l, Di rector of the ICAO European & North Atlantic office, who wa present du ring the w hole e ve nt, gave the latest information on Reduced Vertical Separatio n above FL290 . The reduced separatio n wil l be tested fi rst o ve r the North A tla n ti c, s ta rti ng 27 March 1997, and in European A irspace by November 200 1. The main point of d iscussio n w ill be to agree o n the so called Single or Do uble alte rnate for the direct io n of the fl ig ht le ve ls a bove Fl ig ht Level 290. T he logic would be to continue one aircraft eastbound and one westbound. However. some flig ht levels then become o pposite d irection to the

\liew of the Delegates during the Regional Meeting

present syste m and th is wi ll certain ly cause problems at the in te rface a rea. T hi s opti o n is ca lled sing le a lte rnate . T he other opt ion would be to continue

8

0 Philippe Domogala

the levels by pai rs. A first s imul ation has been held in Hungary and the results were in favour o f the double a lte rna te option and against the single alte rnate.

Switzerla nd is pl a nni ng another s imula tion , a t the beginning of 1997 . Basically , both admini strat ion and the Sw iss controlle rs are in favo ur of the reduced separati o n , bu t th e French controlle rs still have rese rvations.

There is a belief that level allocation (and tha t some, if no t a ll, new levels) s ho u ld in iti all y be le ft fo r tact ica l contro l and no t availab le to be fli ght planned. T hen based on the results o f the s im ul a ti o ns, and the ex per ience gained in the No rth At lantic , it could be dec ided w h ich o pt io n i s pre fe rred . ICAO is awaiting our input.

Another presentat io n was given by Mr Depouillon fro m T he Eurocontrol Age ncy o n A d viso ry Serv ices (EAS) and the last presentatio n was from M r Yernhes, Deputy Directo r of the French C A A w ho ex p lain ed th e fut ure French-Swiss Control Centre - ZOE.

The meeting was a lso in formed of the immin ent dec isions tha t could be taken by the European Union regarding air traffic control. It was decided that all the A ssoc iations belo ng ing to the EU should meet to discuss th is topic. It was a lso stated that a lmost every Controller Association in Europe is now declaring a staff shortage.

A n inc red ib ly bad s itu a ti o n wa s reported in RULGA RIA . T hi rty-five contro lle rs have been d ismi ssed and a ll the assets o f the Assoc ia tio n, s uch as mo ney. te lepho ne. fax e tc. have been removed . (See follow up an ic le afte r this report. ). The Bulgarians requested some public ity for their cause and some f in a nc ia l s upp ort. T he EGATS Executi ve Board generously decided to d o nate the remainder o f the ir unused mo ne y. a ll oca te d to th e Reg ion a l

Mr C. Eigl. Director of /CAO European and North Atlantic Office addressing the Meeting

Meeting (approx. 1 OOO Dfl). It was reported that two hour strikes

had been held in Ita ly duri ng November. The strikes were a protes t against the pri vati s a ti o n of th e ir A T S . I t wa s expec ted that 49 % o f the shares o f the new company wi ll be so ld to pri vate o w ners . L ice ns ing an d pe ns ion discussions held be tween the unio ns and th e new co mpa ny fai le d. They al so re po rted a lac k o f s taff a nd bad equi pment.

•

A press confere nce was he ld ( in German) o n Sunday Morn ing w ith M r

Eig l of !CAO present. The theme o f the • press conference was " Is it safe to fly ? " and was for the be ne fit o f the loca l Austrian Press.

All in a ll, it was a very in terest ing meeting. O n the soc ia l s ide . A us troCon t ro l ( the new ly p r iva t ised A T S company, provid ing AT C in A ustria ) s po nsored som e lun ches. T homso nCSF. us always. gave gouu :-i upport anu Frequent is provided a d inner in an o ld pub in the c ity. Austrian Airlines hosted a "ga la" d in ne r o n the S unday . thu s e nabli ng the meet ing parti c ipan ts to di sc uss "off the reco rd " topics . O ne thi ng for s ure . in Euro pe. is tha t the controllers are becoming more and more un it ed a nd a ll s ta rti ng to think in ro ug h ly the sa me d irec t io n. A ve ry encouraging thought for the fu ture. +


-----------------REGIONAL MEETING ________________ _

THE

BULGARIAN SITUATION

0 Philippe Domogala

T he fo llowi ng informa ti on was

rece ived from the Bulgarian ATC As soc iation BULATCA

during the IFATCA Regional Meeting in Vienna:

Foll owing a series o f de mands for

be tte r work ing conditions that were,

according to BULATCA, ig nored by the ir ma nage me nt , th e Bulgari a n

co ntroll ers decided to go on s trike. According to the controllers, the strike

warning declaration was signed by 99% o f th e m . The controllers sa id they

followed th e Bulgari an law on strike action by sending the warning and a li st

of eight " dema nd s " th at inc lude d

re qu es ts fo r fam ili a ri sati o n fli ghts, insurance against loss of licence, English

language tra ining cou rses and so me s ta tute c ha nges in th ei r e mployers contract (involving a demand that 15.8%

of the to ta l inco me recei ved by their

employer in routes charges, be reserved

for the salari es of the controllers.) The

con troll ers agreed th a t disc us s io ns 1 s ho uld take p lace o n wha t k ind of

" minimal service" they should provide

durin g the s tri ke. During th ose

discussions their employers apparently threate ned the contro lle rs, shoul d they decide to go on strike.

In November 1995. The Ministry of Transport decided to transfer $ 1 Mi llion from the route charges already collected.

int en ded fo r the improve men t of the

A TC system and to pay the controllers

salaries, to Balkan Airlines. The transfer

of funds was made to recover the two Airbus A320s that Balkan had on lease

a nd th a t we re c urre nt ly im pou nded .

(Cop ies of le t te rs provi ded by

BULATCA confi rmed this act ion). +


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9

r

L

AFRICAN CONCERNS

Is THE REGION REALLY UNFLYABLE?

A t its 51 st Annual Conference in Dublin, IFALPA declared the vast majority of the African

Aight Information Regions as unsafe to fly in. This same message was brought to the IF A TCA Conference in Tunis, 1996, by an IFALPA representative. The critically deficient area was defined by IFALPA as having inadequate, or inappropriate, A TC systems. Interestingly, the area designated by IF ALP A is similar to the one IA TA designated for the use of In Flight Broadcast Procedures (IFBP).

IF ALPA, in its contentious report, was highly critical of the African ATC system and states that the inadequacies have led to the use of the Traffic Information Broadcast Alert (TIBA) within notified African FIRs. Although IFALPA had problems in identifying precisely which States were deficient, they were in agreement that safety levels had reached such a dangerous degree that they had to take a position to categorise much of the region as "critically deficient".

During the discussion that followed the report in Tunis, the African delegates tried to obtain from the IFALPA representative a verification of the report accuracy. The pertinent questions were

D Arthur Kitao

not answered by IFALP A. The African delegates did not disagree with the IFALPA representative who was quick to say that IFALPA's decision in no way reflected criticism of the professional standards of African controllers, but was more of a positive effort to help improve the position of controllers throughout Africa. Whilst agreeing with this, one has to ask whether IFALPA has just woken up to the ATC problems of Africa? It is acknowledged that problems do exist in Africa. Most of these problems are in areas of insurgent activities or those prone to vandalism of ATC sites. Despite recycling of user charges, there are many areas of low traffic density where quality service is hard to maintain by the provider without additional heavy financial burden.

There are signs that some States are taking a positive action toward fulfilling their obligations as required by the Regional Air Navigation Plan. What is surprising is that some of the 'blacklisted' FIRs have no deficiencies or inadequacies, as alleged by the report. Investigations show that some reports filed by pilots do not depict the correct scenario on the ground and there have been cases where reports have been filed against items previously subject to

NOTAM action! IFALPA and IFATCA have an

observer status in the supreme civil aviation organisation in Africa, APIRG. Together, they are also members of the A TS and CNS/ A TM sub-groups - the expert groups of APIRG. It is in these sub-groups that deficiencies and inadequacies are discussed and member States advised on what action to be taken through APIRG. If IFALPA wants to assist and encourage States, it is these fora that it can make the input and stand be known.

Further research has shown that no airline uses TIBA and in fact uses IFBP -unless of course IFALPA equates IFBP to TIBA. Its use needs to be carefullyexamined with its originator, IATA. There are also cases of its use within areas under which good coverage of VHF and radar are available.

A number of States have improved their communications facilities by providing E-VHF through SATCOM. Therefore, what is needed is not condemnation but encouragement and we in the Federation can work together with the African IFALPA representative to give an added impetus towards the improvement of services within the African region. +

11 TH JOINT AFRICA MIDDLE EAST SUPPORT AND TASK FORCE MEETING (STTF)

The African/Middle East Support Team and Task Force (STFF) held its meeting in Harare, from 26 - 27

August, 1996. After warm words of welcome from the regional Executive Vice President, the meeting reviewed the various tasks assigned to the STTF members in accordance with the work plan set at the conclusion of the last regional meeting. A review of the Africa Middle East (AFM) meeting held on the last day of the Tunis Conference was also given.

The meeting expressed its disappointment as it continues to receive only a handful of responses to questionnaires from Member Associations ( MAs). It was agreed that a working paper concerning the importance of providing information and data be prepared for presentation at the next regional meeting. There was a marked improvement in the attendance and participation in conference activities

D Arthur Kitao

from the AFM MAs. This was assisted by the gesture of the Tunisian A TCA in granting a low conference registration fee to regional delegates.

Most of the remainder of the meeting was devoted to the preparatory work for the 7th Regional Meeting scheduled to be held in Dakar on 18 and 19 November 1996. This will be the first meeting run under the new format as requested by delegates at the last meeting in Nairobi. The programme will provide presentations during the morning sessions and working sessions in the afternoons. Working papers will be presented during the working sessions and any conclusions, decisions or recommendations reached will be presented as working papers to the next annual Conference. The following organisations have been invited to speak on these topics at the Regional Meeting:

/LO - /LO Recommendations 011

Controllers and its Application by States. ,,

/CAO - Training vis a vis CNSIATM.

AFCAC - Privatisation of ATC.

Eurocontrol - Flow Management.

GATCO - Sources of Funding for MAs.

IF ALP A, IA TA and the Federation Deputy President will also be speaking on subjects to be chosen by them.

An IFATCA CNS/ATM Symposium, whose theme will be "CNS/ATM Evolution in the Africa Middle East Region" is now scheduled to be held in Zimbabwe on 4 and 5 June 1997. The symposium will be followed by a meeting of the IFATCA Executive Board.+

-- ··---~- -----~----------------------------·------------

10 THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1996

ICAO

ICAO GREPECAS

D o you know th e mea ning of GREPECAS. It is the Caribbean and South American Regional

(CAR/SA M ) Planning Group . (In Spanish - Groupo Regional Planificacion y Emplanacion de Caribe y Centro y Sudamerica). It was se t up by the Counci l of ICAO in 1990 with the following objectives:

Ensure the continuous and coherent development of the CAR/SAM Regional Plans as a whole and in relation to those of the adjacent regions, and

Identify specific problems in the air navigation field and propose, in appropriate form, action aimed at solving these problems.

The 6th Communications Sub-group Meeting of GREPECAS took place in Lima, Peru, from 17 to 2 1 June 1996. The meetin g was spo nsored by the Reg ional So uth American Office of !CAO.

Mr Jose Mi g ue l Ceppi , Vice Chairman of the ICAO Reoional Office 0 ,

welcomed those attending the meeting

1 from ~rge ntin a, Bo li v ia, Brazi l, Colo mbia. Chil e, C uba. Peru, Spain, Trinidad and Tobaoo Uruouay and the

0' 0 '

Unit ed S tates, toge th e r with representati ves from the international

T he Air Traffic Comrollers· Association of Israe l <ATCAI) is proud to advise o ur co l leagues a ll over the world.

about a very impress ive event in Je rusalem. On September 19. 1996 the President of the Stale of Israel - Mr. Ezer Weizman. welcomed the direc tors of AT CA I in his office. in Je rusalem. for a small ceremony. in which Mr. Avi Hacohe n gave Mr. Weizman the nomination of an Honorary C hairman of ATCAI.

IFATCA me mbers w ho a tt e nded IFATCA 95. in Jerus ale m. wi ll remember the im press ive opening by Mr. Ezer Weizman at the Opening Plenary.

0 Rosanna Baru, ATCAU

organisations of IATA, IFALPA, SAIC, COCESNA, SITA, ARINC and of course IFATCA, ve ry proudl y represented by Rosanna Barn. During the meeting there was good cooperation between IF A TCA and the IFALPA represe ntat ive , Captain Artidoro Leal.

The meeting covered several topics but the mo st interes ting was the prec ursor to the CNS/ATM system being developed for deployment in the 2 1 s t Century. T he Aeronautica l Telecommunications Network (A TN) is a world-wide data ne twork that w ill pro vide data co mmunications, connectivity amongst mobile platforms (i.e. aircraft) and ground organisations, including airlines and air traffic service providers. The ATN will support:

Air Traffic Control Communications Flight Information Service Communications Aeronautical Operational Control Communications Aeronautical Administrative Communications Aeronautical Passenger Communications

T he A TN wi II enable world-wide. sea ml ess. rapid , re li ab le and cost

The Isr..ieli President is an aviator himself. carry ing a pi lot"s li cence s ince the year 1942. a fighter pilot in the RAF during the Second World War and late r on in the I;raeli Air Force as its General Commander. During his public career he has always s upported ATCAI actions. and he is well informed in a ll that is happening in the complex airspace of Israe l.

" It is always good to have a friend in the President· s home - It is a great honour for us to have such a respected persona lity like the Pres id e nt o f the State of Is rae l as an Honorary C ha irman of o ur Associ ation:· said an ATCAI member. +


effective aviatio n industry data communications , well into the next century. Preparing for future systems will be more difficult for some regions, such as South America, that still fight for basic air traffic control needs. In many countries, the working conditions of air traffic control officers (ATCOs) remain deplorable. A high percentage of A TCOs are forced to seek additional emp loyment to their ATC duties in order to supplement their income to an acceptable or bas ic leve l. However, ATCOs endeavour to give of their best as illustrated in the following example:

A representative from Chile presented an information paper concerning Pre-Departure Clearances (PDC) using VHF Digital Link (VDL) for the Internat ional Artu ro Merino Benitez Airport, at Santiago de Chile. The procedure has been developed with American Airlines, United Airlines, Air France , British Airways, KLM , and Lufthansa. T he sys te m provides the benefi t of reduced air terminal voice traffic, more accurate and secure printed clearances a nd reduced language problems. Additionally, the system can also integrate with the ATIS system for the automatic reception of OPMET and NOT AM information. thus providing an enhanced service for all users.

In view of the evo lu tiona ry development of a future air navigat ion system. th ese efforts should be applauded. However. there is sti ll a strong need to focus on the human aspects of existing ATC systems and we should all continue to concentrate our efforts towards resolving some of them fi rst. +

The Presidem of Israel affep1~ the 110111i11a1io11 as Ho11ararl' Cl1<1imu111 of ATCAI

11

EVA Air's "tag inspection system"

is a unique example of our attention to total flight safety.

EVA Air's fundamental commitment to its passengers is

to provide comfort, effi c iency and the fin est service

available, in the air and on the ground . This begins with ,

o ur engineers , who have d eveloped , as part of their

ro utin e maintenance procedures, a unique system o f

"tagging" each maintenance point with the results o f

their inspections. just o ne more safeguard tha t EVA Air

has bu ilt into its meticulo us maintenance prog ram, it is

another exam ple of our quest for excell ence in a ll areas of

o pe ration , from equipment maintena nce and software

training, LO Oight management.

EVA Air -The Wings of Taiwan - continues to innovate

and LO set new enhanced standards of airline service. Fly

EVA Air. We thin k you 'll agree.

THE WINGS OF TAIWAN t!ll EVAAIA . EVERnREEN

llRDUP

I,

CNS/ ATM SYMPOSIUM PANAMA

Thi s th ird IFATCA s ympos iu m co mm enced in ve ry impress ive fashion wi th the atte ndance a nd an

open ing s peec h from th e P res id e n t of Panama. The presence of his Excelle ncy the Pres ident u ndoubted ly len t cons iderable pres t ige to th i s eve n t an d no dou b t considerably ra ised lhe profi le of ATC in Panama. T he value of such exposure cannot be underes timated and by some measure probab ly e ns ured the s uccess of t he symposium before it even commenced .

. T he aclual working sessions commenced with the Deputy President who provided IFATCA 's view of the objec ti ves of the symposium which included the topics: ' Why we are in Panama?' and ' What we hope the symposium will achieve'.

The firs t presen ter was Sam Lampkin. Executive Vice President Americas (AMA). Sam provided an overview of the state of Air Traffic Services (ATS) in the AMA region. He . detai led the contents of a recenl survey which IFATCA conducled and it has to be said thal al limes il painled a b leak picture. Bul it is lhis very condi tion that, at least in pa rt , promple d t he pre sen ta ti on of the symposium.

Nexl came Sr. Gregorio Molllecer who gave us the local view. His overview of the AT S picture in Panama was educalional. particularly fo r those of us from outside the sub-_region. and provided a li ttle hislory and a bne f summary o r conditions and facilities. A fl er _Sa m Lampki n 's s peech. it was reassuring to learn of the plans of our hosl co unt ry fo r the impl e me nt ati o n of Communicalions. Navigation. Surveillance/ Air Traffic Management (CNS/ ATM).

~he fi na l speake r in lhe opening work • ~ess 1on .w a s Capta in Ri c k Valdez.

17 1eprese n1111g US A LPA . Captain Valdez h1 g hli g h1 e d so m e o f th e difficul ti es encounte red in n yi ng and re fe renced lhem to sa:ety aspecls. One of his main points, and lh1 s was borne oul by the queslions lacer. was lhc language problem. ll is common in o~her ~arls o r lhe world (00 bul he espec ial ly h1 gh li g h1 c d the diffi c u ll ie s lhal can be e~1 countered by having English speaking pdols losing s i1ua1ional aware ness throuoh co1~1rollers a nd 01he r pilols speaking th: ir nau ve longue.

T.he third working session was of a technical nalure and comme nced with a dual presemalion by Chris Stock IFATCA' s EYP T echnical. a nd Ph i l ippe Dom ogala. a cunlroller from Eurocuntrol. This deal! with Civil/M il ila ry co-ord inalion and we were c learly shown lhe need for rea l co-ordination and co-opermion be1ween lhe authorities. A furthe r poin l made. cove red the need for proper and adequate di ssemination of plans and amendmems lo procedures lo be made lo conlrollers and pi lots alike.

Following on. Philippe then delivered a prese nt at io n of A ir Traffic Fl ow Managem e nt (A T F M ) in Europe a nd

0 Neil Vidler-DEPUTY PRESIDENT

IUM THE AMERICAS

The President of Panama meets members of the IFATCA Exec111ive Board

showed us some lessons to be learnt. We heard how A TFM came aboul in Europe and the effect it is having today (not always what is desired). where it is going wrong and the pressures il is placing.

We finished the first day with sess ion 4. Be ing fl ex ible. as conlro llers a ll are. the prog ramme was varied a little in that EYPT. C hri s S to c k. did not proceed wi th th e adverti sed Pane l di sc uss io n bu t ins tead presented an overview of developments in various aspec ts o f CNS/ATM: Data Link. ADS . ATN. Reduced Separati o ns and Airborne Separation Assurance.

Continu ing on with thi s them e . IFATCA's Editor. Terry Crowhurst spoke at length about Airborne Coll is ion A voidance Sys1ems and. speci ficall y. TCAS. Finally. the Panel di scuss ion got unde r way and. wh ilst br ief. proved to be a very lively affair. Several interes ting topics were rai sed and amo ngst 1hese were TCA S o rde rs versu ATC insl ru c lion s and lh e mi s use of air navigation charges .

The second day was introduced by Mr. Frank Sweeney from the FAA. Frank gave us 1wo prese nl ati o ns o n Automalic Depe nd e nl S urvei ll a nce (ADS ) and Conlroller Pi lol Data Link Communication (C PDLC). He s howed how A DS will provide earl y benefi l in supponing 30/30 separa1ions (30 naulica l mi les long itudinal and laieral). how it has lhe abili ly to reduce workload and allow inc reases in capacity. Ano1he r perceived be111:: fit is that il wi ll fac ili1a1e trans ilion to CNS/AT M. Frank comple men1ed lhe ADS presentation wilh details on how lhe FAA inlroduced !raining for !he ir cont rollers in lhe use of CPDLC and how lhey have reac1ed w it.

IFATCA ·s Human Faclo rs expert. Ben Ru i1e nbe rg. foll owed wi 1h a caul ionary preselllation exhorti ng care with C NS/ATM introduc tion and ful l cons ide ration of 1he Hum a n Fac lors as pec t' of 1he implemenlati on of lhis new way of do ing things.

Session 5 was concluded by a famil iar face. Philippe Domogala. Thi ' lime. Ph il ippe

concen1ra1ed o n managing c han ge and m a intaining the ATC service whi lst transitioning- to CNS/ATM . This c hange is nol ex pected 10 be easy. but it w ill be a challenge.

Se ss io n 6 was si ngu lar ly oriented 1owards privatisation/commerc ialisation of ATC se rvices. Professor J oh n Strong provided a mosl inte rest ing v iew of the reasons for privatisalion and noted thal in Celll ral America 1he mot ivation is mostly to raise revenues ralher lhan lO improve the service. Professor S1rong used lo1s of nonA TC terminology and encouraged us to learn these to go wi1h our plethora of A TC acronyms. He clearly illuslrated the pitfall~ associated wilh lhe practice and particularly h ig hli gh1ed lhe Canadian and Russian experience~.

To round off thi~ di,cu,,ion . EVP Professional Sandy Oppenheim gave a brief p resentali on o n IFATCA ·, policy o n privmisation.

A fler lunc h. Terry Crowhu rst (Editor. T he Conlro ller) spoke on Safety-The Need for Regulaiion . Unavoidably a dry subjecl. Terry's presenialion c I early -; ho wed the relevance and imponance of safety in our day to day working lives. Sandy Oppenheim again obl iged wil h the IFATCA pol icy on accide nl and incide nl in' e~tiga1 ion · pri marily that ATC-. should he pro' idcd with proleclion wilhin the framework and lhat lhe prime purpose of invesligation should be lO

improve 1he ,afcly of the sy,lem. The symposium concluded with anolher

interesl ing queslion and answer period 111 an

open forum formal. In conclusion. I wou ld like to expres'

our appreciation to APACTA. lhe ATC Associalion of Panama. I believe lhC) provided us '' ith an excellent 'cnuc a nd organisal ion which facililaled a \\:r) good -;ymposium. ll was abo IFATCA'-, plea-;ure

10 presenl ''hat lurncd out tn he an OUlstanding C\ cnl +

THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1996 13

BOOK REVIEW ----------------

THE PROFESSIONAL BOOKSHELF

Human Factors in the Design and Evaluation of Air Traffic Control Systems.

''Down-to-earth"

Patrick Schelling, Contributing Edieor

In face this review is not aboue a book since the document is called a Final Report by its authors. Nevertheless,

it has definitely the form of a book since it contains 760 pages -in paperback! Published in 1995, the document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the interest of information exchange, as it says on the first page.

This book addresses the "down-toearth" human factors issues that should be considered in the des ig n and evaluation of air traffic control systems and sub-systems. The "down-to-earth" expression is used here in two ways: firstly. to illustrate that it focuses on a ground-based (ATC) system; a nd secondly, it addresses the real problems one needs eo consider when designing such a system. Noe at all outdated, since the "ground" will (s till ) be a major player in the future.

The abstract reads : "le provides background material on the capabilieies and limitations of humans as information processors and discusses issues in : ATC automaeion. computerhuman inee rface, (co ntroll e r ) wo rks tation de s ig n, wo rkl oad a nd performance meas uremene , hum a n factors testing and evaluation. The goal of the material is to help ai r traffic controllers and o eh e r operations specialists identify potential problems by alerting them to known design flaws and providing them with information as to why so me design options may be undesirable or operationally unsuitable. This document presenes des ign goals based on human factors princip les. standards and guidelines. Some of these design goals are idealistic in an ATC operational setting. They are presented so that the operatio ns specialists can icle nti fy key human factors issues and understand the im plicaeions of

14

0 Reviewed by Patrick Schilling

DOH AA.~'1

COT.\'t.'f.:.rA.AttJ

C*r;,.ct"-"--"' ~OCX.t

Human Factors In the Design and Evaluation of Air Traffic Control Systems

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compromises, and where they inust be made".

le is of course impossible to review the whole document here; however, the chapters reviewed gave the impression that the researchers fully understand the controller profession and that the right ques tions are posed. These questions find the ir answers as we go along or point out important factors to consider when de s ig nin g ATC systems. Questions like: "How wi ll increas ing automation affect the controller's role a nd way of do in g business?" or principles li ke the one iss ued by the FAA in 1990: "Although controllers need ass is tance in de a lin g with increased air traffic , the form of this ass istance must be carefully designed so that the controller's job remains one that human beings can perform successfully and wi th satisfaction," provide a sound starting point for systems design.

Most of the chapters conclude with a comprehensive list of references and a check-list to consider for each subject. The latter is also avai lable in electronic form and is part of the shipment when ordering the report. A CD version will also be available shortly.

A publication , wo rth whil e cons idering when engaged in designing

ATC systems - spec ially for the next generation, where the human wil l continue to play a major role in a complex human-machine environment. Report Title: Human Factors in the Design and Evaluation of A ir Traffic Control Syste ms Final Re po rt , Apri l 1995 . Edited by Kim M. Cardosi and Elizabeth D. Murphy

The report is available free of charge while supplies last and can be requested by e-mail ([email protected]) or at the following address:

Kim Cardosi DTS-45 DOTNolpe Center Kendall Square Cambridge, MA 02142 USA +

Human Factors Checklist for the Design and Evaluation or Air Trame Control Systems

UI "-'-"''---.__ ........ ...,.._ ...__ =:.::.'=:.--..-.c-,_.,ic.w c--a-o......,.

---·-n.-........... ........... _,_.,__ ........................ 71111

User's Manual for ATC Human Factors Checkllst

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J.1l 1v.•.u1J ACT C'lR"", PJ>OCPAI..'


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ATCA '96

ATCA '96 IN NASHVILLE

T his year, the ATCA Conference was held in one of the mos t incredib le hotel s in the world:

The Opryland Hotel, in Nash vi ll e Tennessee (home of cou ntry and western music and Gibson Guitars.) The Hotel is a small city of nearly I 0 ,000 people and includes parks. rivers with boats and b ridges, waterfall s, and an is land with shops and a church. All of this is covered by a glass dome in order to keep the climate perfectly controlled at 2 1 degrees C. with lamps providing sunshi ne the w hol e year long. A idealistic view of America perhaps. One of the big disadvantages of all this, is that everyone (even the staff) gets lost at least once a day. On the other hand, the main advantage is the superb conference facilit ies. as one quarter of the hotel is in fact a huge convention centre . As usual ATCA 96 was di v ided in two parts: an Exhibitio n and a Conference with technical presentations.

THE PRESE'.'JTATIO'.\S

D\T\Ll'\K

A mo ng the peec hes presen te d during ATCA 96. se veral are wo rth me nti o ning. Firstly. the o ne by C.A. Shingledecker of NTI reporting on an ex periment on Datalink , made in the Atlanta Ai r Traffic Control Centre last year. Two very busy en-route sectors were simulated using active controlle rs und e r var ious co nfigurat ion s . The c on c ept of a "Control Team "of 3 co ntro ll e rs pe r sec tor (rathe r th an a radar plus one assistant) was used. The aim was to share the vario us inputs, even if' onl y o ne control le r remained re!> pons ib le for the dec is ion s . The pa rti c ipa nt s seemed to have unanim o us ly ag reed that Datalink would improve ATC operations . The m a in ad vanta ge was to be ab le to tran smit mo re information during the <; am e pe ri od o f tim e . and a better di stribution of the workload among all the contro ll e rs. In on e sess io n they claimed that R/T exchanges needing 16 minutes of' channel occupancy could be performed by this concept with only 3

16

0 A subjective report by Philippe Domogala

Traffic i "'' Control Auoc/ol/on, Inc.

View of the Speakers during the presentations

minutes of channel time (but the total time needed to perform the tasks was not g iven). However, it is true that in the USA, as e lsewhere, in busy sectors, the main prob le m is R/T congestion, with the radar contro ller spending most of th e t ime talki ng. Thi s experience tends to show that reduc ing th e t ime s pe nt ta lking e nables more time fo r decis io n m aki ng by th e rad ar co ntrol lers. wh ic h in fac t h as the '·Team .. do ing the communicati o n exchanges with the pilots.

CLSTO\IERS

Another interesting presentation was fro m Ed Quig ley, ATC Supervisor in Pittsburgh, who tried to co nvince us that co ntro ll e rs s ho uld m ake a ll th e ir customers happy by satisfy ing a ll their needs, otherwise we will face the fate of the dino sa urs . He id e nt ifie d the c us tome rs in o rder of importance: F ly in g pub l ic,Airli nes ( in cl udin g Commuters), Tax-payers, Genera l and Military Av ia ti on, Governm e_n t , Ne ig hbo urs. Adjacent ATC Units . Headquarters and Unions. I leave it to the reader to meditate on this list.

The last presentation which I choose to report on was that of G . Chachis, a US software eng in ee r on Free fli ght ATC/Crew communicati ons. He was the only speaker (amo ng the 23 registered) to address the issue o f Free fli ght. On fact in the exhibitio n hall. among the 106 exhibitors only one had a brochure

on the subject and it was the same one which was available during last year's ATCA, indicating the a p pare nt difficult ies in defi ni ng techn olog ies needed for this concept.). Mr Chachis argued that Human Factors problems in Freeflight will be tremendous and will need a much more se rious ap proac h than that which has been the norm until now. He found o ut that the data li nks and related d ig ital technologies needed to make Freeflight possible will present

f)

"a formidabl e information processing challenge" and that " new capabilit ies will have to be found''. He also said that "How the informat ion (will get) to its destination is the (current) concern of -computer scientists and telecommunications specialists''. He added that "How the informati o n IS OR IS NOT di splayed (to pi lots and controlle rs) is a human fac tor des ig n iss ue that is far more complex that what is now known as the "G lass cockpit" concept''. He added that "Engineers do no t a lways see the full context on how auto mation is be ing used'". To illustrate this he mentioned some cu rre nt PC software programs w hi c h put Ico ns everyw here or exaggerate the sub-menus possibilities and said : " In computer technologies a p ict ure is not a lways wo rth a I OOO words ." To conclude on Freeflight let me quote o ne senio r d irector of a US firm prese nt in Nashville (who asked not to be identified) : For him 'The Free Flight concept was primari ly designed IJJI. IJJI.


1Ji. 1Ji. in order to secure money from the (US) Cong re ss in order for the FAA to continue in its present form."

THE EXHIBITION

ATCA '96

As usual there were over I 00 stands, some of the large companies (Lockheed Martin, Harris, Raytheon, etc.) but also a lot of smaller ones showing the latest available technology. One of the very few non - US s tand s was that of Eurocontrol with a small but very well des igned di spl ay demo nstrating the European systems led by Eurocontrol with emph as is o n the ne w sys te m (ODS) for the Maastricht Centre. A lot of (mostly American) people vi sitin g the stand shook their heads in disbelief as they were until now under the (false)

The incredible OPRYIAND HOTEL, with its glass domes ll'here the ATCA Co11ve111io11 ll'GS held

Althou gh th e tec hn o logy is s till a large number of participants coming

~mpression that US technology in A TC ~as the most advanced ..

experimental , the possibilities are quite from all sides of the aviation industry. phenomena l, but it require s a large This enabled a very posit ive exchange futuri s tic ope n mind to env isage its of informati on and the opportunity to

Another innovati ve stand was the NEOS project being demonstrated by the US Naval Research who developed a laser 3 Dime ns ion a l vo lum etric di spl ay for air traffi c contro l applications. Traffic can be observed in three colours and in three dimensions.

utili sat ion in our a ir traffic control view the latest US technology available. centres. as we ll a s to see th e la test FAA

CONCLUSJO;-.;

As every year, this was an extremely we ll organi sed and very in te restin g A TCA Convention. As usual there were

inventions. Next year. A TCA 97 wi ll be back in Washington DC (26 September to 3 October 97) this time in the more so ber sur ro undi ng s of a Sheraton Hotel. +

See the world's leading suppliers of ATC products, equipment and systems. The exhibition for buyers and specifiers in air traffic management. Get your free tickets for the exhibition NOW by ringing:

TICKET HOTLINE +44 (0)181 302 7215

or complete and return the coupon below

Please send me FREE tickets for ATC '97 Exhibition (state number required) Please send information on the ATC ·97 Jane's Conference Programme I am interested in exhibiting at ATC ·97 Please send me information

D D D

4 Name: -------------- --

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Tel : Fax:--------Miller Freeman Exhibitions Ltd, Marlowe House, 109 Station Road, Sldcup, Kent DA15 7ET, England. Tel: +44 (0)181 302 8585 Fax: +44 (0)181 302 7205

1n Miller Freeman - - Ut1oltil SN' & Medi• CoatW')

JANE'S

supported by AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL EXHIBITION & CONFERENCE Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre

Maastricht • The Netherlands

25 • 26 • 27 February 1997

------------------PREVIEW ________________ _

ATC' 97- MAASTRICHT PREVIEW

A ir Traffic Control Exhibition & Conference (A TC Maastricht 97), the seventh international forum for the

global air traffic control industry, takes place at the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre in The Netherlands on 25th, 26th and 27th February 1997.

Europe's leading dedicated air traffic control exhibition, A TC Maastricht provides the most focused platform for the exchange of ideas and technologies in the global A TC industry. A total spectrum of air traffic management equipment, products and services will be represented from over 90 international companies - making it the largest A TC Maastricht event yet.

More than 1,900 visitors attended the previous event which included top buyers and specifiers from 47 countries world-wide. As well as the unparalleled opportunity to see the industry's leading suppliers. A TC Maastricht will once again allow visitors to take advantage of a valuable conference programme.

This year's ATC Conference entitled ''Making Free Flight Work" will be held on 26th and 27th February. It will examine what is probably the most revolutionary change to air traffic management procedures since the advent of the airway system.

Over the next few years major institutional, operational and technical changes will be introduced to create enough airspace capacity to cater for air traffic growth, and these changes will redefine the way airspace is organised and controlled, perhaps changing forever the way national authorities manage traffic in their sectors. The Conference will bring together A TC and aviation communities to discuss these issues and propose solutions to the current institutional and technical problems which threaten to restrict expansion and increase delays.

The theme of the EGA TS Forum, which takes place on 25th February, is "Air Ground Datalink". The 'open' discussion will examine whether the idea is a magic tool for more capacity. or just another toy of avionic engineering. The debate will widen by tackling the issue of controllers interfering in cockpit functions. and the converse - pilots interfering in A TC functions. Speakers include Phillipe Domogala. former EGA TS President; Philip Marien. President of EGATS; Steve Zerkowitz. IA TA: Captain Terry Hanson OFALPA); and Patrice Behier, Eurocontrol. Further details are available from the Forum Coordinator. EGATS ATC 97. PO Box 47. NL6 I 90 M Beek. The Netherlands - fax +31 ({))433 661 541.

The cheme is one that is also strongly reflected by many of the exhibitors. For example lntelect. the provider of advanced multimedia communications systems. will be showing its S4 JM Special Services Switching

System which recently commenced full operation at the North Atlantic A TC Centre to provide voice and data communications between pilots and 42 controller positions. The S4 l M represents a new generation of digital switches for private or public networks, the company says. It interfaces with other telephone switches or any type of radio or telephone circuit, while its advanced design allows hundreds of outside parties, including radio circuits, to be conferenced together simultaneously with the push of a button.

Frequentis will be showing its innovative Line Management System, an advanced remote control system for circuit management. Connecting a voice communication system with remote receiver and transmitter sites, the system allows multiple use of digital lines by using a l 6kBit voice compression algorithm which provides 'superb' speech quality ,the company says. Not only that, because of the fact that it can use 64kBit channels for three voice and one data channel, the cost of leased lines will be dramatically reduced.

Ferranti Air Systems is highlighting the 'open· nature of its core products. On show will be its AFTN Switch, a flexible, multi-message format and multi-protocol handling system; its NOTAM Database, designed to assist NOTAM production, automate distribution and provide local and remote retrieval in compliance with ICAO standards; and its MET Database System which receives, stores, distributes and generates various types of meteorological reports and bulletins.

The application software is platform independent and can be installed under appropriate UNIX operating systems on a number of different hardware platforms. The user can choose cost-effective PCs, well known UNIX servers, or highly reliable, fault tolerant equipment. Any combination of the AFT, NOT AM and MET software packages can be combined together on one platform if required, Ferranti says.

The show will also give visitors the chance to learn more about Copperchase' s latest Flight Briefing application, currently being prototyped. The system, which will allow pilots and aircrew to generate up-to-date route specific Meteorological and NOTAM information, is officially launched on Stand 625.

Digital voice recording company Nice Systems has announced that its NiceLog system has been selected by the FM for the DVRS program. Hong Kong for Chek Lap Kok, DFS Germany for Langen ACC and by other A TC authorities world-wide. The company will be featuring NiceLog at the show along with two new products.

Aimed at small airports. NiceCall is a compact digital Jogger offering recording and playback of 4 to 24 channels in a desk top unit

and front panel operation. NiceSoft, the other new offering, is a multichannel digital recording system that records and replays in full synchronisation, radar data and voice communication. It can be interfaced with all types of radars and protocols and all types of voice communications, the company says.

Meanwhile, Denro has announced that it recently won two contracts from Siemens AG for ATC Voice Communication Control Systems. In 1994 the two companies equipped Vilnius ACC with the Model 4000. The latest order for Lithuania will equip the ATC Tower at Kaunas and is designed to integrate with the Vilnius ACC and other domestic airports.

In similar fashion the two companies equipped the Almaty ACC and have now won a second order from Kazakstan to equip the ACC at Aktjubinsk with a 4000. As part of the contract, Siemens and Denro are developing --) technical solution for the networking and integration of 18 towers and sites that surround all three of the country's ACCs.

With so many exhibitors there will, of course, be many more new launches and contract announcements of interest to visitors. The full line up of companies at A TC is: AD OPT/Carmen Group, AEA Technology, Airliner Ai, Air Traffic Management, Airports International, Alenia, ALES, A TC Market Report, ATS Aerospace, Aviation Hazard Analysis, Barco NV, Becker, CM Finland, CAE Electronics, Clement Clarke, Comsoft, Copperchase, CRI, Crimp, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, Data Systems Analysts (DSA). Denro, DFS German Air Navigation Services, Digital Radio Technology, Eldis, Enator Telub, Essco Collins, Eurocontrol, Fernau, Ferranti Air Systems, Flight Refuelling, Frequentis. Galium Software, Garex, GEC Marconi, H.A.N.D., Holland Institute of Traffic Technology, Honeywell Hughew Aircraft Company, Intelect, ISA/Orthogon!" Jane's Airport Group, Jotron Electronics, Kongsberg Norcontrol, Lockheed Martin. Logica UK, MacDonald Dettwiler, Metheus Corporation, Nice Systems, Northrop Grumman, Oracle/Formation, Palomar Products, Pan Am International, Park Air Electronics, Racal Recorders, Radas, Raytheon. Rockwell Communications Systems, Rohde & Schwarz. Schmid Telecommunication. Serco Aviation Services, Siemens Plessey Systems. SITA, Sofreavia, Sony UK. SYSECA, Systemintergrering. Tech-Source, The Preston Group. Thomson-C SF Airsys, Vaisala, W&J Tod. and Wavionix.

For free tickets and further in.formation about ATC Macutricht and A TC Asia Pacific 97, which takes place at the Bali International Convention Centre on /Oth & /Ith December.1997, please contact the ticker Hotline +44 (0)/81 302 7215 or byfax on +44 (0) 181 302 7205. +

- ·----····--- - -------~--------- -----------

18 THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1996

•

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TAAM u SERS MEET IN MEMPHIS

Fo r the third tim e , the u sers of T AAM (Total Airspace & Airport Modeller), Fast Time Simulation

software ga thered fo r the ir Worldwide meeting . After Geneva and Frankfurt , it was logical to host the venue in the USA, speciall y s ince the number of users has grown substantially in this country during the pas t year. The firs t to use TAAM w ithin th e USA wa s FedEx , based a t Memphis. Tennessee. The package carrier o pe rates a maj o r hub at the Memphi s Inte rnational A irport (see Box), and uses T AAM to optimise the use of the runways

.nd taxiways ava ilable. FedEx was a lso the host and organiser for this meet ing.

Fast Time Modelling tools are ideal to conduct feas ibility studies before spending large a mounts o f money in co nducting Rea l Time S imul a tion s o r a c tu a ll y impl ementing a projec t o n subj ecti ve judge me nt o nl y . TA AM is a t yp ica l "what-if' tool to verify poss ible scenarios in a n e n- route. te rmin a l a nd a i rport environme nt.

What had been a sma ll g ro up th ree years ago. has now grown to nearly 60 de legates fro m several contine nts . T he group is ma inl y co mp ose d of T AA M users and managers, simul ation experts . sc ientists, as well as representati ves of the softwa re sup pli er, The Pre s to n G rou p (TPG) o f Melbourne , Aus t ra lia. Some obse rvers also attend before deciding to become future users. This was the case for a representat ive from Aeroports de Pari s

TH E CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1996

0 Patrick Shelling-Contributing Editor

(ADP). Although absent at some working sessions , TPG was present most of the time during the meeting . This he lps to obtain a direct feedback which works both ways.

When TAAM was commerci a li sed some fi ve years ago, the programme was s till "young" and lac ked "operationa l" (ATC) experience. As with any software, the requests of the users makes a product grow. Also, the users find more and more a pplic ation s and the re fore n eed an increasing number of functions to conduct the ir s tudies. The T AAM Users Group (TUG) has thus been created to co-ordinate these require me nts and to exc h a nge experiences made wi th the software.

USERS REQUIREl\lENTS

As in previous meetings, the li s t of user require ment s was aga in rath er lengthy. They ranged from a wish-list of essential modelling features to " nice-tohave" items. Some of the requests were presented in a consolidated requirement list by the European Technical Sub-group, form ed speci fi cally to di scuss detai led mode lling aspects.

Although the supplier is, and has been. very receptive to c hanges, they stated that it will be difficult to sustain such a high rate of e nhance me nts to T AA M 2 .9 as before, s ince a lmost a ll the resources (at TPG) a re direc ted towa rd the new ge ne ra ti o n T AAM 3 d eve lopm e nt. However, a compre he ns i ve li s t of improveme nts made during the las t 12 months was presented to the users. Some of these changes were requests from the Frankfurt meeting and others were direct requests from the users to the suppl ier.

Loo kin g a t the vari ed users requireme nts revea ls the di ve rs ity in which T AAM is used, or would like to be used. Indeed, as this software evolves in capability (more and better func tions) , users find new applications.

USER PROJECTS

Another main acti vity during the T UG is the presentation of some users projects. These sess ions permit the exchange of

experiences in model lin g spec ifi c situations.

FedEx presented its use of T AAM to optimise taxi times in choos ing run ways and tax iways in relation to type of aircraft and gate location. T he ramp being located north of the runway system, the carrie r prefers RWY 18 and RWY27 departures . With th e implementation o f t he U2 7 Project. average savings are 124 minutes per night. Actual taxi times vary between 12.1 and 13.7 minutes. Whe n forced to use RW36 (L+R). taxi time soars to over 20 minutes!

Continental Airlines studied the effect of the introduction of the new (increased) radru· separation m inima . wh ic h had been implemented by th FAA on Aug I 7th by moving mo t of the cu1Tent airl ine commuter fleet from the "large .. (Wake Turbule nce) category to " smal l ... Thi s re qui re s a n increase in in-trail distance on final approach and at the same time increases the delays. Continental Airlines compared the "before .. and "after .. criteria with traffic at Newark International Airport. The results showed an increase of I 9.5% on arrival delays and 9% on deprutures based on

21

---------- ------- S PECIAL FEATURE---------------- -

~ ~ 1284 movements (all airlines). The D irec to rate of Airspace Pol icy

(UK) presented an en-Route Comparison Study to assess the implications of the introductio n of d irect ro ut ings fro m continental Europe to the North Atlantic Oceanic Area. bas ical ly co mpa rin g Airways with d irect Great C ircle routes. Pseudo ectors were c reated to co mpare both sce na ri os. The res u lts sh ow ed significant savings in fl ight times a nd a pote ntial inc rease of the sector capacity .

NASA/Sve rdrup T ec hn o logy Inc. evaluated TAAM ·s capability to be used for Free Fligh t Modelling. For this kind of study. large number of flights have to be proce sed. T he fi nd ings were t ha t the T AAM vers ion used had its limits when asked to run large traffic samples. A lso, si mulatio n ru nn i ng t i m es increase dramatically after about 8000 s imula ted flights. However. the study concluded that TAAM res ults appear to be s im il ar to FAA s tudy results us ing othe r tools and that an improved T AAM (performance) coupled with othe r mode ls can be used to evaluate Free Flight concepts/tools.

Embry-Riddle Aerona utical Uni versity (USA) also presented a s tudy made on Free Flight. T he Na t ional Ai r space Syqem (NAS) was di vided in IOONM grid squ a res 10 cap1ure conni c1s s ince ADS-B (:-.cparation assurance) equi pment on board aircraft mi g ht have SONM radiui... A tota l of 384Mb of RAM were needed to co mpl e te the s im ul a ti on containing 41.000 nights!

The N LR ( atio n al Aerosp ace Laboratory of the Netherlands) presented two st udi es conducted for Ams terdam Schipho l Airport. One is looking at the effect at the capaci ty for the year 20 15, with lhese assumpt ions: that 5 ru nways will be available. that 1460 movements wi ll occur per day us ing a 6-block system. tha1 a ll ai rcraft will operate under C ATlll and that minimum separat ions of 2.SNM can be used under certai n circumstances.

The second sllldy assesses the delay that may occur when aircraft have to cross active Run way 19 on thei r way to and from RWYl9L/O IR (the new Sth runway projected) to the mai n terminal.

The Boeing Ai rc raft Company is using TAAM to look at the imp lications o n ai rport).. when introducing the B-747-500 and 600 series. The -600 is projected to be 85m (279 ft) lo ng and the w ings wil l ... pread 76.6 m (25 1 ft)! The -400. as a co mparison. is 70.7m (23 1ft ) long and 64.4m ( 2 I I rt) widt:. Ex pected to enter s ervice by the e nd o f 2 000. it was net:ci..sa ry to determine t he operating t:o n s traint s at ai rports in relation to

22

tax iing, weight and parking the a ircraft. For instance, an aircraft of this size, would pe ne tra te Obs tac le Free Z o nes (OFZ) cons ide rin g tod ay 's F A A a nd !C A O s tandards. A numbe r o f tax iways at US a irports have al ready been identified with inadequate runway-to-taxiway separation di stance. By setting tax i speeds for this partic ular aircraft, the e ffect o n a mixed aircraft type environment can be measured during the s imulation.

A ir S e r v ices A us t ra li a , v ia its C o ns u lta nt fro m J PCS , pre se nted the Australian Airspace Classification System (AA CS) Proj ec t. Thi s in volved assess me nt o f the c ha nge i n ri s k associated wilh the reclassification of nonR A D A R co nt ro l zones a nd thei r assoc iated control area, from Class C to Cl ass D, i .e re mova l o f the AT C separation services between IFR and VFR a irc ra ft. TAAM mode lling was used to identify conflict pair data for input to the risk analysis programme.

Swisscontro l glanced back to basics in presenting the ir method on a Structured Approach to Fas t T ime Simulation and lessons learned d uri ng the operation o f TAA M . Indeed. a syste matic approach, va lid data and ag reed specifications. are some of !he ingredie nts 10 successfull y conduc t FTS-studies.

O ther presentations were g iven by the DFS o n Data Conversion and by MCA Research Corporation on Termi nal Datalink benefits us ing TAAM .

THE Fl"fllRE OF TAAM The curre nt vers io n o f T AAM is

labelled 2.9.2. The Preston Group is in the proces s o f c rea t ing a n e nti re ly new gene ra tion of this software starting with Vers ion 3.0. Accord ing to Dr. Alexander Kle in . Manager S imul ation Technology, T AAM 3 will not be just an upgrade, but a complete rewrite of the programme.

The prom ises a re for su perio r algorithms for conflict detection, ground move me nt , a ircra ft nav iga ti o n , fl ow conlrol. sector and centre capac ity and int rai I separa ti o n, e tc. A mo ng o ther features, TAAM 3 wi ll not be limited to Su n Wo rks tatio ns b u t w i l l a lso be available on Hew le tt Packard , S ilicon Graphics and DEC Alfa Works tat ions, although there a re st ill some proble ms with the latter, according to Greg Banks, System Architect for T AAM 3.

The new TAAM will have virtually no software limitat ions o n the numbe r of aircraft , a irports, navaids and other objects and will be able to run 60,000+ flights per day - twice as fast as real time. First tests at TPG confi rm these numbers. says Greg

Banks. Other goodies like a state-of-t heart graphical user interface and improved. more realistic 30 Graphics are also on the me nu . A s ho rt demo ns tra t ion of the T AAM 3 i nte r face a nd it s graph ica l capabi lities was given to the audience.

Two preliminary releases of TAAM 3 are planned. The fi rst will be delivered by April 1997 to a limited set o f se lected customers for review and testing. A Beta re lease is due for completion in June 1997 and may be avai lable to a wide r c ustomer audience. The o ffici al T AA M 3 re lease will be available for shipping to customers s ta rt ing A ug us t 1997, accordin g to A lexander Klein. He also said that T AAM 3 will need to be re -valida ted a nd re calibrated. In addi tion, he expec ts the transi tion to be "as smooth as possible" confirming that the new T AAM software will read all TAAM 2.x data.

It _is no sec re t t ha t TPG had t~ l exte nsively rev iew the TAAM 3 project in terms of timing, staffing a nd cost. This review inc luded an ex haus tive technical risk analysis, the completion o f the syste m arc hi tecture des ign, and the ac hie vement of the TAAM 3 projec t schedu le. Thi s prompted Malco lm Toohill, TPG ' s new CEO to anno un ce t ha t t he price fo r TAAM 3 upg rad es wi ll be somewha t h ig he r lhan prev io u s ly an nounced. However, some users fe lt that, a lthough the va lue o f the product is recogni sed , TAAM 3 will have to deliver a substant ia l increase in productiv ity. compared to the earli e r ve rsio n. to j us ti fy the expense. Also, the pioneering e fforts of the in itial T AAM users is a fac tor to be considered when sell ing the future price struc ture.

O PEN SYSTEI\IS A RClllTECT u 1m ,... One strong plea fro m the Simulation

User Community is for an Open System Architec ture, not j ust for T AAM. but for al l simi la r Fas t T ime S imula tion (FTS) too ls. T hi s c ry comes al a ti me w hen des ign tea ms for S IMMOD, T AA M and A irpo rt Mac hine are co ns idering the review on thei r des ign philosophy.

Thi s wou ld requ ire a modu lar approach to the design of a irspace/airport s im ulation sys te ms . toge ther w it h an inte rnatio nal ly agreed s t a ndard in terobject protocol. Gi ven the d iversity of the mode ll ing tasks. the user requireme nts ca nno t be me t fro m a s ingle software so urce. Howeve r. m a n y as pects are common to all model s. for example. the a ircra ft pe rforma nce c harac te r istics. Greater database integrity is among the benefits whit:h could be expected if such data were shared across all models.


11iJ. 11iJ. A stron g p romoter of an Open of 55 in Melbourne and 5 overseas. From the start in 1987, the company specialised in trans p ort s imulation technolog y , principally in the Av ia tion a nd Rai l industry. However, some of the activities did not produce the expected results. In 1995 th e co mpany went throu g h re structuring and the int roduction of sound co mme rcial prac ti ces to t he stro ng technical base. During this process, most of the Management team were replaced while key sc ie ntist s and programme rs have been retained. according to Malcolm Toohill.

would designate a person to be part of a Management Board. The chairmanship would " trave l" a lte rn at ively between continents. Each region would also have a Technical Sub-group (TSG).

Archi tecture Standard for Inte rnational Ai rport /A irspace Simul ation Syste ms (OAS ISS) is S teve n Mathew so n , re prese ntin g ECAC/APATS I as th e C hairman of the Simulation Technology Sub-group. Eurocontrol has coord inated the establishment of a Users Requirements Docume n t (UR D) fo r a Transport Modelling System. It co nta in s requi rements already available in existing models as well as new users requirements.

For the Management Board. the following persons agreed to collaborate:

S te p hane L y (SC T A) for Europe: Diana Carl (JOA) for USA and Rick Scott (Air Services Australia) for Asia/Pacific. Stephane Ly is a lso the first Chairman of the WWTUG.

Acco rd in g to the T AAM 3 specification. it wi ll be built as an "open system" architecture, utilis ing the objectoriented software design. T AAM 3 objects in c lud e Airline , F li g ht C rew, FMS, Contro ll ers, e tc., approx ima te ly 170 sce na rios , s uch as "a ll ocate ga te fo r departing a ircra ft ", " req ues t take -off c learan ce" or int roduce grou nd delay

TPG now focuses o n the m os t promising (Aviation) products, namely the (Airport) Terminal Management Systems (TMS), AutoCrew for Air lines, a crew scheduling software, and TAAM.

The Technical Sub-group is chaired by Alexancier Schanz (DFS) for Europe: Gary Fairman (Em bry- Ri dd le ) for the USA and Ri ck Scott again for As ia/Pacific. It was agreed at Memphi s that th is organisation will be "tested'. up to the next World Wide TUG Meeting and revised if needed. The importance is that a focal point does now exi s t. The new Management Board wil l be responsible for the "content"' of the next TUG. while the host wi ll be able to concentrate on the logistics.

THE USERS GROUP ORGANISATIONAL ASPECTS:

.rogramme". The se sce na rios will be available as customisable scripts, open to the user's changes allowing for customerde s ig n ed modules to be added and integrated into TAAM 3.

This meeting revealed that to cater for growth, to co-ord in a te requireme nts. activ iti es and in forma t ion, as we ll as avoid duplication and to create synergies. a permanent organisation would need to be c reated. Fo r thi s , it was proposed te nta tive ly to split th e (TAAM User) world in three region s: Europe (EUR). USA and Asia/Pacific (APA). Each region

The nex t World Wide TAAM User Group Mee t in g wil l be hosted by the Directorate of Airspace Policy (U K) and will take place in London in early October 1997. +

THE PRESTON GROUP

The Preston Group is an Australian Software Company which employs a total

THE FEDEX M EMPHIS O PERATION

• M emphis is the SuperHub for FedEx and therefore is one of

the major industries in this c ity. The whole town seems to live and breathe FedEx. This company has grown to the world 's largest express transportation enterprise. Operations began in 1973 and it has its headquarters at the International Airport.

The WW T AAM User Group enjoyed an "insider" tour led by Tina Visconti, TAAM 's F irst Lady and Carl Zuck, Senior Engineer Operations. FedEx really comes alive at night. It's like a huge ballet of human beings, trucks and airplanes, conveyor belts, TV screens and cameras that come al ive for a few hours (only the sounds of Beale Street are missing).

About 8000 employees s ign in for duty during the evening to unload, sort and re load around a mi ll ion packages each night! After unloading, streams of packages of all s izes and shapes come dow n huge s li des before dispatched on the conveyor be lts. Although some of the sorting is automated, manual work is sti ll a substantial part of the hand ling. All this is done between 11 P.M. and 2:30 A.M!

The aircraft operation is particularly interesti ng from a Air Traffic Management point of view since about 130 aircraft arrive almost simultaneously (at average rate of 75 aircraft/hour) and the same number depart a few hours later. The FAA contro lle rs handle the arriving and de parting aircraft, but FedEx ground controllers handle their aircraft to and from the company's own ramp into the gates. The FedEx ramp a lone covers 294 acres ! Ramp contro llers use advanced computer systems to direct the parki ng and tax iing of ai rcraft.

The FedEx Tower cab s its l 30ft above the ground and sti II, the controller cannot see all the a ircraft parked due to some obstructions from bui ldings. Strategically located cameras help the controll ers to ease their task. The ramp is spli t into fo ur


sectors and a supervisor oversees the operation . With all the lights and vehicles moving, it is sometimes hard for the controllers to see the aircraft . What seems to be chaos from a distance turns out to be a well orchestrated operation. Things can become very interesting when "weather" moves in or icing conditions exist.

To get an overview of the (FedEx) fleet's pos itio n, the Ai rcraft Activity Di splay System (AADS) is used. The latter extracts selected data from the FAA host computer. This permits FedEx o pe rations to visua li se and track thei r arri ving and departing ai rcraft whi le s till in the ai r. An essential decis ion making-tool for dispatchers and ramp controllers alike! One screen is avai lable in the tower cab, whi le the others are stationed in the Global Operations Control Centre (GOCC). AADS is also produced by TPG and uses some of the simulation logic found in TAAM. The simulation function permits a projected profile (e.g. ET A) and other pertinent information on a particular aircraft to be obtained.

The final Gate assignement is done about 30 minutes prior to a rr iva l, e ithe r usin g VHF voice link or ACARS (Ai rcra ft Communication Address ing & Reporting System). About 30 to 40 aircraft are equipped with this data-l ink capabil ity. Operations during the day are less hectic. A "day- launch" can comprise between 30 and 55 aircraft. according to Mike Binder, Ramp Controller at Memphis.

FedEx curre ntly has a fleet of more than 560 aircraft with an additiona l 15 MD-I ls, 19 A300-600s and 12 A3 10-200s already scheduled for delivery in the next few years. Recently FedEx announced the acqui sition of 36 used DC- I 0-10 ai rcraft from United Airlines. These aircraft will be modified to be flown by a two-pi lot crew and wi ll feature advanced digital cockpits. Talk about traffic growth .... ! +

23

RO:\IAMA The Republic of Romania became the twe nt y-second Member S ta te of Eurocontrol. on I September 1996. Technical integration into the Route Charges System will be effective as from 1 January 1997. In preparation for its pending accession. Eurocomrol has been assisting Romania in the progressive upgrading of its Air Traffic Management System. CSA More visitors allended the 5th inter-airport exhibition in Atlanta than any previous show in the USA series. The fina l number of allendees was 3, 180. with 74 nat ions rep resented a t the exh ibition which took place at the Georgia lmemational Convention Center from 15 lo 17 October 1996. Hughes Aircraft Company has received a FAA contract in excess of $483 million for work on the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). The WAAS is designed to enhance the capabi lities of the US developed Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation satellite. Initial operationa l capabil ity. defined as ··pulling a signal in place ... is scheduled for 1998.

C..\ :-\.\0:\ Hughes Aircraft of Canada Limited successfully completed negotiations recently with the Government of Canada and Nav Canada for the transfer of the $485 million Canadian Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS) contract to Nav Canada. CAA TS is expected to reduce the time controllers spend co-ordinating changes to night profiles and make it easier for controllers to manage existing and increasing traffic volumes safely. An important mi lestone in the programme was met on 30 October. 1996. with the release of a scheduled software package with wh ich contro lle rs will begi n ea rly syste m fam ili a ri sa t ion and demonstrations of the CAA TS flight management capability, prior to fi nal installation of the operational software. l'.'\DO:\ESIA Sofreavia has completed the detailed design of the new Pandang International Airport. in Indonesia. The plan provides for a new runway and tem1inal area lO

include a new passenger terminal. a new A TC complex. including the control tower and airport operation services. a cargo terminal and other related bui ldings and equipment. The construction is expected to take two or three years.

s T 0 p p R E s Philippe Domogala

THE NEW DELHI COLLISION: THE CONTROLLER SEEMS TO BECLEAROFANYBLAME

s

On 12 November I 996 a Kazakhstan lly ushin 76 collided wi lh a Saudia Boeing 747 a few miles from DPN VOR near New Delhi. I have been shown a transcript of the ATC communications between the contro ller and the two aircraft and should the transcript correct. the controller apparently did nothing wrong. For legal reasons, I cannot unfortunately reproduce the transcript here. Also it does not include times of transmissions and appears edited for possibly a better understanding by non-specialists. Nevertheless, the transcript shows that the controller did clear the inbound Kazakhstan ( KZA 1907) to descend to FL 1 SO and thi s was confirmed by the crew. The controller also cleared the departing Saudia (SVA 763) to cl imb to FL 140, also confirmed by pi lot. The Saudia called ATC, repor ting approaching FLI 40 "for higher" to which the controllers reply: "Maintain FL 140, stand by fo r higher", but this transmission is apparently not acknowledged back by the SY A pilot on the transcript. The next exchange is to warn the KZA that there is traffic preventing h is further descent, again repeati ng to KZA to maintain FLISO. "Maintain FLISO. Identified traffic 12 o'clock, reciprocal, Saudi 747. 14 miles, report in sight " The KZA replied " Roger 1907" and the KZA followed with "Report how many miles ?" The controller replies again " 14 miles" . Then a second traffic information is passed to the KZA "Traffic is 13 miles level 140" to which the KZA replies only by "I 907". There is apparently no further R/T exchange before the collision. From this of course no firm clue can be deduced as to what caused the collision, but should this transcript be correct, it clears a few hypotheses that were printed in the media.

24

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SEE YOU AT I FATCA '97


INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AIR TRAFFIC

CONTROLLERS' ASSOCIATION 36TH ANNUAL

CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION March 17-21, 1997 TAIPEI

--~~~~ U$e 1Qrtly;_ Reg. No. ___ _

REGISTRATION FORM

*Please use block letters or print to complete this form.

PARTICIPANT

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

Postal Address: ....................................................................................................................................................... .

........................................................................................ AFfN: ......................................................................... .

Tel: ................................................................................. Fax: ............................................................................. .

Preferred Name on Name Badge: ......................................................................................................................... ..

Association/Organisation/Company: ...................................................................................................................... .

FUNCTION AT CONFERENCE D Directors

D Deputy Directors

D Officer ofIFATCA

D Corporate Member

D Delegate Member

Full Members of Member Associations Must Register as One of the Above.

D Observer D Panel Speaker

An Observer/Speaker is a person attending conference by invitation or approval of the Executive Board.

ACCOMPANYING PERSON

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

REGISTRATION FEES D Officer of IFATCA (US$ 80)

D Director (US$ 70) D Accompanying Person (US$ 80)

D Deputy Director (US$ 70) D Corporate Member (US$ 80)

D Delegate Member (US$ 80) D Observer (US$ 120) SUB TOTAL (A): US$ .......................................................................................................................................... .

ACCOMPANYING PERSONS' PROGRAMME TOUR DATE

0 AP-1 Window on China

0 AP-2 Taipei City Tour

D AP-3 Hualien Taroko Gorge Tour

Mar. 18

Mar 19.

Mar. 20

FEE (ADULT/CHILD*)

US$ 30115

free

US$ 80/40 *Children under 12 years old may have 50% discount to participate in the Accompanying Persons' programme

AMOUNT

SUB-TOTAL (B): US$ .......................................................................................................................................... .

GRAND TOTAL (A+B)=US$ .............................................................................................................................. .

METHOD OF PAYMENT Credit Card: D Visa D Mastercard D American Express

Card No: ........................................................................ Expiry Date: .......................... (M) .......................... (Y)

Card Member (in block letters): ............................................................................................................................. .

Card Member Signature (same as on your card): .................................................................................................. ..

Further il~formatimz. please .<tee reverse side

THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1996 25

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AIR TRAFFIC

CONTROLLERS' ASSOCIATION 36TH ANNUAL

CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION March 17-21, 1997 TAIPEI

-- .... - -- ',·.j --~~r~~~~yse Oi11yi J

26

HOTEL RESERVATION FORM

*Please use block letters or print to complete this form.

PARTICIPANT

Reg. No.----

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

Postal Address: ....................................................................................................................................................... .

AFfN: ........................................................................ ..

Tel: ................................................................................. Fax: ............................................................................. .

HOTELS 1. ASIA WORLD PLAZA HOTEL TAIPEI

2. MAGNOLIA HOTEL

3. LEO FOO HOTEL

(US$ 110/ per night/single or twin)

(US$ 90/ per night/single or twin)

(US$ 70/ per night/ single or twin)

*Please indicate hotel preferences (hotel numbers only): __

*Room Type: D Single D Twin - Sharing with -----------------* Flight details: Check In : Mar. , 1997 Flight No. ____ _ Time: _____ _

Check Out : Mar. __ , 1997 Flight No. ____ _ Time: _____ _

ONE NIGHT DEPOSIT: US$ ____ x ___ Room(s)=US$ _______ _

METHOD OF PAYMENT

Credit Card: D Visa D Mastercard D American Express

Card No: ........................ .... . ............... ............... ............. Expiry Date: .......................... (M) .......................... (Y)

Card Member (in block letters): ............................................................................................................................. .

Card Member Signature (same as on your card): ................................................................................................... .

PLEASE NOTE: 1. All the prices are inclusive of 5% VAT government tax and 10% service charge. Breakfast is not included.

2. Shuttle buses are arranged for all participants to and from the hotels and conference & exhibition venue -Taipei International Convention Centre. It is 15 - 20 minutes by car to reach the destination.

3. In the event of no show, you will be subject to one night's room charge.

4. The above special rates will not be guaranteed after February 1, 1997.

5. In case of hotel cancellation, written notification should be sent directly to the Secretariat. Until February I, 1997, the deposit for one night's room charge will be refunded. There will be no refund hereafter.

Please return this form to the Conference Secretariat by fax. Thank you for you co-operation.

Conference Secretariat:

GENERAL INNOVATION SERVICE (GIS) 6Fl ., 400, Sec. 1, Kee Lung Rd., Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Tel: +886-2-722-1227 Fax: +886-2-723-4187

~~


IFATCA '97 ADVANCE CONFERENCE INFORMATION COWERE:\CE \'E:\UE Taipei International Convention Center (TTCC) I. Hsin Yi Road Sec. 5, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. Tel: +886-2-723-2535

CO:\FERE:\CE DATE March 17-21 , 1997

CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT General Innovation Service (GIS) 6F, 400, Kee Lung Road Sec. I, Taipei , Taiwan, R.0.C. Tel: +886-2-722-1227 Fax: +886-2-723-4187

OFFICIA L LANGUAGE English

IN\'ITA TION LETTERS An official invitation letter from the conference organizing committee will be provided upon request. This invi tation does not imply commitment to the payment of any expenses. Requests should be sent to the conference secretariat.

E:XHIBITIO:'I: - commercial exhibition will be held in

conjunction with the conference at the conference site, Taipei International Convention Center (TICC). Interested firms are advised to contact the conference secretariat fo r booth reservation as early as possible.

OFFICIAL C..\IUUERS China Airlines. Eva Air and Mandarin are the conference official carriers. Please contact your Member Association or the Conference Secretariat (GIS) to obtain authorisation forms for the ID75 discount and visa application information. Please note that, to qualify for the discounts and obtain visas, the completed forms need to be returned to the GIS Secretariat no later than 60 days prior to conference.

llE.\DQL'.\RTERS HOTEL Asiaworld Plaza Hotel. Taipei 100, Tun Hwa North Road. Taipei. Taiwan. R.O.C. Tel: +886-2-7 15-0077 Fax: +886-2-713-4148 A sufficient number of rooms have been reserved at Asiaworld Plaza Hotel Taipei - the conference

. adquarters hotel. A special rate wi ll be offered • ,o conference participants who reserve through the

secretariat by Feb. I, 1997.

REG ISTRATIO:'\ FEES FUNCTION AT CONFERENCE RATES US$ Officer of lF A TCA 80 Directors 70 Deputy Directors 70 Delegate Member 80 Corporate Member 80 Observer 120 Accompanying Person 80 Full members of Member Associations must register as one of above. An observer is a person attending the conference by invitation or approval of the Executive Board.

THE REGISTR..\TIO~ FEE l~CLlDES : • Attendance of conference meetings • Opening ceremony & welcome reception • Lunches and dinners • Coffee breaks • Transportation to and from the airport to the hotel

..\CCO:'l l P..\NYl~G PERSO:\'S REGISTR.\TIO~ FEE l:\CLtDES: • Opening ceremony & welcome reception • Lunches and dinners • Transportation to and from the airport to the

hotel • Taipei City Tour

,\PPLICATION Those who wish to attend the conference shou ld fill out the registration form and return it with full payment to the secretariat.

:\IETllOD OF PA Y\IE~T Payment of registration and other fees can be paid by credit cards. Acceptable credit cards include Vi a. MasterCard and American Express.

CO:\Fllnl \TIO\ Application for registration will only become valid upon receipt of a confirmation letter from the conference secretariat:

C \ \ CELL.\TIO\ Cancellations should be made in writing to the secretariat. The amount of refund will depend on the date of cancellation. as fo llows:

It pays to advertise in

The Controller is read by over 60,000 Controllers & Aviation Related Personnel in 170 countries all over the world.


1. Written notifi cation r eceived before February 1, 1997: 50% refund

2. Written notification received after February 2, 1997: no refund

HOTEL ACC0:\1\100..\ TIO:\ Reservations should be made by completing and returning the application form. indicating the name of the hote l and the nu mber of rooms desired to the secretariat no later than February I. 1997. Special rates will not be guaranteed after February I. 1997. No reservation will be confirmed in the absence of a deposit. Hotel assignment will be made on a fi rst-come. fi rstserved basis.

HOTELS ROOM RA. TES (Single or Twi11J

Asiaworld Plaza Hotel Taipei l IOUSS Magnolia Hotel 90 USS Lee Foo Hotel 70 USS

• All the prices are inclusive of 5% VAT government tax and I 0%: service charge.

• Room rates do not include brealfast. • In the event of no show. you will be subject to

one night's room charge. • In case of hotel cancellation. written notification

should be sent directly to the secretariat. Until February I. 1997. the deposit for one night's room charge will be refunded. There will be no refund thereafter.

.\PPLI<..: \ TIO\ \ \ D CO\FIR\I \TIO\ For hotel reservations. please complete the hotel reservation form and return it with one night's deposit to the secretariat no later than February I. 1997. The reservation will be valid upon receipt of a confirmation letter from the hotel.

\I ETH OD or p \' \II YI Deposit can be paid by credit cards. Acceptable credit cards include Visa. MasterCard and American Express.

E\lH\\(;~ R\H. As at mid-1996. the reference exchange rate i ~ :

New Taiwan Dollar (NTD): United States Dollar (USD) = 27: I l

27

AGENDA 1997

JANUARY 31 - 3 Feb IFATCA Executive Board Meeting, Hong Kong Contact - Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone +44 1628 23699 Fax +44 1628 78 1941

FEBRUARY 25 - 27 ATC'97 Maastricht, The Netherlands Contact - Donna Bushell, Miller Freeman Phone +44 181 302 8585 Fax +44 181 302 7205

MARCH 14 - 15 IFATCA Executive Board Meeting, Taipei, Taiwan Contact - Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone +44 1628 23699 Fax +44 1628 78 1941

17 - 21 36th IFATCA Conference, Taipei, Taiwan Contact - Conference Secretariat GIS. Phone +886 2 722 1227 Fax +886 2 723 4187

22 IFATCA Executive Board Meeting, Taipei, Taiwan Contact - Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone +44 1628 23699 Fax +44 1628 781941

28

Gx.. OtPTlttll/ - r~u IOI~ "(NRf"flfAcn~ -f'lA(; ..,,.AT

"f'O WG D Uf OU'T Tl> f')I( "flfCl ·OFF f'ot- tr - - - - - ? ?

FIRST DIRECT FANS FLIGHT United Airlines is proud to announce their fi rst successful FANS- I Flight between Chicago and Hong Kong using a

8747-100 on 16 July 1996. The flight was IShJS and the Press was there and told how wonderful these flights arc

and how the future looks promising. What the mass media was not told howcl'cr was the "little things" beliind the flight:

Because on those flights fuel is of concern, United decided to hal'e the aircraft towed to the runway. The pilots dinol like this much since the captain had ''to sit and not touch anything" while the aircraft full of fuel and passenger, -' was piloted "by a truck drh·er, even ha,·ing to ask clearances to cross runways himself. The truck drh·er dclircred

the aircraft on the runway and there the "real" captain could start the engines, but had to wail a further 6 minutes with engines idle to get the A TC take olT clearance. ... (in fact inhibiting the whole previous procedure .... )

On the return leg which took "only" 14h30 because of favourable winds, a "minor" software problem prevented the crew using ADS data link transmissions as planned ...

It also says here that because of the exceptional long flight(s) United had to use 2 complete flight crews. I am

wondering if all this is really fi nancially advantageous. Anyway, this test of what FANS-I flights might be in the

future look very interesting. If all flights ha\·c to be towed to the runway I 11ondcr what kind of runway capacity we wiJI finally have in 2010?

YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING J " We lcome o n boa rd lad ie s an d gentlemen. We are now cruising at an altitude of 37 ,OOO feet . The outside air temperatu re is minus 52 degrees and our s pe e d is 850 Km pe r hour.

Unfortunately, we do not know exactly

how lo ng o ur fly ing ti me will be to

New York today as we still have a big

discrepancy between our own estimate here in the cockpit and what our Flight Management System te lls us. We will let you know as soon as possible ... "

YOt;R CAPTAIN SPEAKING 2

OVERHEARD ON THE FREQUENCY From our British colleagues' magazine ''Transmit": Pilot: " London, Shuttle 123 with you approaching .. " (sounds of coughing and spluttering .. ) .. errr .. Bovingdon, Sorry about that, 1 had a mouthful I ,

of muesli. What are the delays in London this morning?" Controller : "About 15 minutes, Shuttle 123, time for another bowl of muesli."

NICE CONTROLLER From o ur Germa n co ll eag ue s Controllers can be nice as well: On the

magazine "Der Flug leite r" :

After a (rather) hard landing:

"Ladies and gentlemen, we apologise for the landing which was performed automatically by our auto-pilot .. But remember auto

pilots are human too!!!"

ground of a major European airport -

lots of aircraft taxying - quite busy o n the frequency - a 8747 just called in: Pilot: "Ground, this is Northwest 123, could you tell me the way to reach Stand C23?" (busy) Controller : "Northwest 123, study your maps, Sir."


/) J - AJ,~,' -- --~~OLUMN--------

After a few minutes the whole parallel taxi way comes to a standstill and the ground frequency becomes chaotic. Controller: "Northwest 123 What are you doing? Why did you stop?" Pilot: "Studying my maps, Madam"

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES You know how the North Americans

can get particularly concerned about

turbulence. As soon as one pilot starts

reporting the slightest bump, they a ll

want to know where it is and to avoid

it at all costs. Someone told me that

thi s i s due to passenge rs a nnu a ll y

claiming from the airlines for millions .f dollars of damage caused by spilt co ffe e: Thi s i s a ( t rue) exc han ge

o ve rh eard o n a fre qu e nc y whil e

c rossing the Atlantic recently:

Pilot with terrible Texan accent: "Hey!, what's the craft at 37 or 39 crossing SS North 30 West? Controller: It must be Zevgonistan 100 an Airbus 310 to New York at Flight Level 370." Texan pilot: "Thanks, Hey ! ZevZICKZistOK. You, the 100 at 370, how is the ride up there?" Silence. Texan pilot: "Zev 100 do you read?" Pilot with heavy Russian accent: "Are you calling Uniform Zulu Golf 100?"

~exan pilot: "Whatever you call ~ourself is fine with me. Hey, is it

smooth at 37?" Silence. Texan pilot not giving up: "Hey! UZGlOO how is it up there?" Russian pilot, now with very suspicious voice: "We are an A310, Sir." Texan pilot: ''Yeah! Fine. Do you have any turbulence at 370? " Russian, pilot now getting annoyed: "We are a new Airbus 310 and it does not have turbulence at all!" Cultural differences between East and West, but later on the crossing the following conversation took place: Pilot with American cowboy type accent transmitted after a Delta Airlines aircraft called in: "Hey, Delta 120 are you Eastbound? If yes how did the Braves do last night?" Delta Pilot: "They beat the ***~'** out of those damn Yankees! You missed something pal." A typical British upper class voice then came on: ' 'Errr while you are on the subject of sports, would any of you gentlemen happen to be aware of the result of the cricket test match yesterday afternoon? Silence. American voice number 1: "Can you say that again in English?" American voice number 2: "Cr icket! I think the score was two nil! !!!!!"

A NEW FEATURE: CHARLIE'S AVIATION PHILOSOPHY

From now on, with every edition you will receive one or two of Charl ie ' s famous sayings that you will be able to use in socia l conversations, inc luding the bars ... To start this feature, I offer the fo llowing:

Rule #1: Passengers (and controllers ) prefer old captains and young flight attendants. (In recent years the opposite seems to apply in most airlines.)

Rule #2: The problem with being a retired controller is that you never get a day off anymore.

WORLD EXCLUSI\ E CHARLIE'S OWN SCOOP: RADAR IN GREECE I

The Greek Civil aviation authori ty has announced offic ially, I quote:

~~ page32


AGENDA 1997

APRIL 23 - 25 Inter Airport Singapore Contact - Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd Phone +44 1707 275641 Fax +44 1707 275544

JUNE 4 - 5 IFATCA Symposium Harare Contact - EVP Africa Middle East, Oliver Farirayi. Phone +263 4 575187 Fax +263 4 575163

6 - 9 IFATCA Executive Board Meeting, Harare Contact - Executive Secretary, Edge Green. Phone +44 1628 23699 Fax +44 1628 781 941

AUGUST 27 - 29 International Aviation Safety Conference, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Contact - Mr Hans M Soekkha Phone + 31 182 572046 Fax +31 182 572046

SEPTEMBER 23 - 26 Inter Airport Frankfurt Contact - Mack Brooks Exhibitions Ltd Phone +44 1707 275641 Fax +44 1707 275544

DECEMBER 10 - 11 ATC'97 Asia Pacific, Bali, Indonesia Contact - Donna Bushell, Miller Freeman Phone +44 181 302 8585

29

30

"The lst of April, 1997 bas been defined as the target date for the operation of a radar environment within the Athens FIR " . (From a report to ICAO dated 28 October 96.) Since they have promised a radar since 1979, this announcement is quite a scoop. However, the judicious choice of the lst of April (April Fools day in most of Europe) still casts some doubts . In the meantime Thomson-CSF has released photographs of the radar and of the control room with people at the control positions. (See officia l Thomson photograph alongside). So maybe after a ll there will be Radar Control in the whole of Greece in 1997!

YEARLY QUIZ 1996 As in previous years, the winner of the 1996 Quiz will be offered a free registration fee to attend the 1997 Conference in Taipei (paid by The Controller to the Organising Committee) and a one year free subscription to The Controller. The second and third prize winners will receive a one year free subscr iption to the magazine. Please reply using (or photocopying) the attached coupon to reach The Controller not later than 28 February 1997. Results of the competition will be published in the next edition.

Question 1: How many Member Associations joined

IF A TCA in 1996? Question 2: How many of the new Member Associations were

from the Africa/Middle East Region? Question 3: Who was President of IF A TCA before Preben

Lauridsen and from which country did he come ? Question 4: What is this type of aircraf t and from which

airline?

Question 5: Name the 3 types of a ircraft in this photo.

(Attention, the four th aircraft down the line is

the tricky one)

Question 6: What type of aircraft ar e these?

Question 7: Complete the following crossword:

Clues Across: 1: Airline of Slovenia

(previously called INEX) (5) 5: CSA Airlines of USA

6:

8:

10:

11:

12:

(pronounced like a famous Japanese Emperor)

Initials of a most prestigious British aircraft engine manufacturer. (2) First name of a famous older female US movie star. (6) Number one aircraft manufacturer in the world. (6) 11 in Spanish pronounced the Italian way. (1) Most famous Austrian Princess. ( filmed many times) (4)

Clues Down: 1. The other aircraft manufacturer wanting to

be number one. (6) 2 : Michigan Airlines of USA plus an "O'' . ( 4) 3. Plural of Juliet' s mate in ICAO. (6) 4 : Small British car (friend of Mr Cooper). (4) 7: US Standard for FANS-1 transmissions . (5) 9: What is missing in the Belgian Civil Aviation

Authority when one speaks about: " ... .... des Voles Aeriennes" (5)

THE CONTROLLER/DECEMBER 1.996

Send your replies on the coupon below - it can of course be copied. GOOD LUCK AND ALL THE BEST FOR 1997

Title of contestant .................. .... First name ................................. . 2 3

Last name ........................... ................. ..................................... .. ...... . 5

Working at .................................. ATC Unit 8

Address for notification: ................ ....... ........... ............................... .

10

11

Country ... ....................... .. ............................................................... .

e ANSWERS !. _________________ ~

COMPLETED ENTRIES SHOULD BE RETURNED TO:

2. _________________ ~

3. _________________ _

4. ______ ___________ ~

5. ____ _ _ _ __________ _

6.-----------------~

THE EDITOR 29 HERITAGE LAWN, LONGSHOTI,

HORLEY, SURRY RH6 9XH UNITED KINGDOM

Please note the deadline for RECEIPT of entries IS 28 February 1997

LETTERS To THE EDITOR ARE ENCOURAGED AND APPRECIATED

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31

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

T hanks to the Ethiopian Air Traffic Controllers' Associat ion (EA TCA),

wh ich is me mbe r of IFATCA. I now read The Controller. As an African a ir traffic controll er I love to read Mr . Albert Taylor's art ic les which mostly deal w ith A FM a i r traffi c ser v ice management. political. social. economic problems the region has suffered and the probable solutions he suggests.

But Mr. Mike Freeman's (IFALPA) di respectful comment on the African air traffic service (The Controller September 1996 V-35) made me furious. I totally object to his s tatement, "We know where we are. You can fly up to four hours in African ai rspace wi thout speaking to anybody on the ground, not through lack of try ing; we try but there is no reply. there is nobody in."

I would like to remjnd Mr. Freeman that we have a very famo us airline in Africa - Ethiopian Airlines. Apart from being a national carrier. the airline also has sc hool s for technician and p il ot t raining. The a irline al o pro vides a maintenance service for many other African and A ian airlines. So. one can imagi ne the traffic volume we handle: had it not been for our effective and successful ai r traffic controlling service. the fame of Ethiopian Airlines wo uld have been much less.

Mr. Free man. as a pi lot for many years, mi g ht be aware of the traffic vol um cl. we Afric a n , in part icu la r E thi o pian. air t raff ic controll e rs managed during Is rae l 's Opera tion So lo mo n flight in 199 1, or the UN's Operation Restore Hope for Somalia in 1992. in which our air space was heavil y u~cd. But dc~pite the fact that we used

obsole te equipment, we showed to the wor ld h ow sk ill ed a nd re li able ou r controllers are.

Unlike Mr. Freeman's comment, it is because we 'are in' that we always help every a irli ne in re lay ing messages, es pec ia ll y to those flying on E as t African rou tes.

As an African controller I also didn't li ke hi s s tate me nt that he a nd hi s colleagues, who don't have confidence in th e Africa n a ir traffi c serv ice, broadcast blind using lA TA procedures 1269 and fl y with the TCAS switched on to make their own air traffic contro l.

I would like to remind Mr. Freeman again that IAT A's procedure 1269 and flying with the TCAS switched on is not meant only to be applied in Africa; and this can' t be a re ference to di sregard to tal ly A fri cans' ro le towards safe air traffic manageme nt. So, let's not be so biased in making such comments.

Ayalkibet Fantaye, Aerodrome air Traffic Controller, Addis Ababa/Bole International Airport.

I re fer to the Foreword o'. the June 1996 issue of the IFATCA Circular.

I agree w ho lehearted ly with th e co mm e nt s of th e EVP Professional regarding the presentation of working pape rs at Co nfe re nce. I be li eve thi s wou ld no t o nl y improve the level of debate at Conference. but would go a lo ng way towa rd ass is tin g MA s in im pl e menti ng the adopted policies in their respecti ve countries.

Another way that the level of debate may be increased would be if, prior to

Conference, MAs had an idea of the wide r iss ues deba ted on in th e development of the working papers. This ca n be ac h ieved if the 3 rd a nd 4th quarter issues of The Controller devoted a secti on to the Standing Committees which would submit articles on the ir work programmes. (£ ca n here th e groans of o ur overworked Standin o

0

Committee Chairmen all the way from here in sunny Trin idad and Tobago.)

I also w ish to commend the new EVPP for his work so far. In 1995, when I learnt that Bert Ruitenbero was leavino

0 0

the Executi ve Board I expressed my regrets; but Bert's view was that ther shouldn' t be cause fo r co ncern s ince someone would come along with new ideas and a different approach and take the professio nal portfo lio to the next level. I dare say that in Sandy he has been immediately proven correct.Thank you Bert! Thank you Sandy!

Finally, I congratu late the Edi tor for being able to produce an excellent issue of The Controller each quarter. I know it isn't an easy job. As you know, I have promised more than once to make your job a bit easier by providing an article o r two. I have so far not been able to keep this promi se more than once. Having now made it openly. I expect it wi ll be that mu ch harder no t to fulfi l!. So I g uess yo u w ill be hea rin g fro m m• • again.

Alexis Braithwaite, Chairman, TTATCA

Thank you for the kind words - I shall hold you to your promise - Ed +

It pays to advert ise

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ifatca the controller - december 1996

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