MODULE 1

NAVIGATION GENERAL

DEFINING OUR POSITION GLOBALLY

WHERE ARE WE?

AND HOW DO WE DEFINE WHERE WE ARE?

OBVIOUSLY IN BAKUBUT THAT IS JUST A SMALL PART OF THE BIG PICTURE!

BUT WE ARE PART OF A BIGGER PICTURE STILL!

IN AVIATION WE NEED TO CONSIDER WHERE WE

ARE…….AND WHERE WE ARE GOING ON A GLOBAL SCALE.

DEFINING OUR POSITION USING LATITUDE, LONGITUDE AND TIME.

LATERAL………LATITUDE DIMENSIONS.

IN AERIAL NAVIGATION ANY POINT ON THE EARTH’S SURFACE MAYBE PRECISELY DEFINED IN TERMS OF A LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE COMBINATION.

PARALLELS OF LATITUDE ARE SMALL CIRCLES DRAWN AROUND THE EARTH STARTING FROM THE EQUATORIAL PLANE, NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR AND PARALLEL WITH IT AND REDUCING IN CIRCUMFERENCE TOWARD THE POLES.THESE LINES ARE MEASURED IN DEGREES, MINUTES AND SECONDS REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY LIE NORTH OR SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR.

•THE NORTH POLE HAS A LATITUDE OF 90 DEGREES NORTH.

•THE SOUTH POLE HAS A LATITUDE OF 90 DEGREES SOUTH.

•THE EQUATOR HAS A LATITUDE OF 0 DEGREES.

MERIDIANS OF LONGITUDE.

THESE ARE HALF GREAT CIRCLES, PERPINDICULAR TO THE EQUATOR, THAT EXTEND FROM THE NORTH TO THE SOUTH POLE.WHERE A GREAT CIRCLE IS A LINE WHICH PASSES THROUGH THE TWO POLES FROM ANYWHERE ON THE GLOBE BUT ALWAYS HAS THE SAME LENGTH, REGARDLESS.

THE INTERNATIONAL REFERENCE MERIDIEN – OR 0 DEGREES LONGITUDE, ALSO KNOWN AS THE PRIME MERIDIEN IS DEFINED AS THE GRENWICH MERIDIEN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

SUBSEQUENT MERIDIENS ARE DEFINED AS DEGREES EAST OR WEST AROUND TO 180 DEGREES.

THERE ARE 60 MINUTES OF ARC IN A DEGREE AND 60 SECONDS OF ARC IN A MINUTE. ONE MINUTE OF ARC IS THE BASIS FOR ONE NAUTICAL MILE.

SO WITH 180 DEGREES FROM THE PRIME MERIDIEN TO THE EASTERN MOST POINT........AND ANOTHER 180 DEGREES BACK TO THE PRIME MERIDIEN.

A TOTAL OF 360 DEGREES……THEN WE CAN CALCULATE THE LENGTH OF THESE ‘GLOBAL’ GREAT CIRCLES.

360 DEGREES x 60 ‘MINUTES’ OF ARC = 21,600 NAUTICAL MILES…..

…..WHICH IS THE LENGTH OF ALL THE ‘GLOBAL’ MERIDIENS OF LONGITUDE AND ALSO THE EQUATOR.

DISTANCE.

ONE NAUTICAL MILE IS THE LENGTH, AT THE EARTH’S SURFACE OF ONE MINUTE OF ARC OF A GREAT CIRCL, AS WE HAVE SEEN.

THE INTERNATIONAL NAUTICAL MILE IS 1852 METRES OR 6076 FEET.

CONSEQUENTLY ONE DEGREE OF LATITUDE (MEASURED ALONG THE EQUATOR – THE ONLY MERIDIEN IN LATITUDES) HAS AN EQUIVALENT SURFACE DISTANCE OF 60 NAUTICAL MILES.

ALL LONGITUDES, WHEN DIVIDED INTO DEGREES IS 60 NAUTICAL MILES IN LENGTH.

IT IS LOGICAL TO EXPRESS LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE CO-ORDINATES WITH THE DIRECTION FROM THE EQUATOR / PRIME MERIDIEN FIRST.

E.G. NORTH…SOUTH…EAST…WEST

THEN A NUMERAL GROUP REPRESENTING THE DEGREES FOLLOWED BY A GROUP FOR THE MINUTES.

THE SYMBOLS FOR DEGREES AND MINUTES ARE OMITTED IN AVIATION.

FOR EXAMPLE S36 44.1 E147 10.2

THIS IS THE STANDARD FORMAT WHICH WE USE IN AVIATION, AND THIS FORMAT CAN BE FOUND ON SILKWAYS PILOT’S OPERATIONAL FLIGHT PLANS AND JEPPESEN CHARTS TO DEFINE POSITIONS, GEOGRAPHICALLY.

FOR EXAMPLE IF WE LOOK AT THE BAKU AIRPORT JEPPESEN CHART IN YOUR HANDOUT.

TIME : AS REFERENCED IN AVIATION.

TIME IS A MOST IMPORTANT DIMENSION IN AERIAL NAVIGATION; THE REFERENCE TIME IS UNIVERSAL CO-ORDINATED TIME (SYMBOL UTC – A COMPROMISE BETWEEN THE INITIALISMS OF THE PREFERRED FRENCH AND ENGLISH NAMES!)

THIS UTC TIME IS USED INSTEAD OF LOCAL TIMES.

UTC IS THE TIME MEASURED AT THE INTERNATIONAL REFERENCE MERIDEIEN (WHICH WE SAW IS LOCATED IN GRENWICH ENGLAND)

THE SUFFIX ‘Z’ IS USED TO IDENTIFY TIMES AS UTC, SO IT MAY BE REFERRED TO AS ZULU TIME – THE PHONETIC LETTER FOR ‘Z’.

THE WORLD IS SPLIT UP INTO 24 HOURLY TIME ZONES OF APPROXIMATELY EQUAL DISTANCE, BASED ON DEGREES OF LONGITUDE.

WITH TIME REFERENCED TO ONE SPECIFIC TIME ZONE……AT GRENWICH, THEN LOCAL TIME DOES NOT NEED TO BE CONSIDERED.

WHEREVER YOU ARE IN THE WORLD……TIME DOES NOT CHANGE IN THEORY UNDER THESE RULES, RELATIVE TO UTC AND WHERE YOU ARE.

THERE IS ALWAYS A COMMON REFERENCE.

MEASUREMENT OF SPEED IN AVIATION.

AIRCRAFT FLYING SPEED IS MEASURED WITH THE PITOT-STATIC SYSTEM, BASICALLY A TUBE THAT POINTS OUT THE FRONT OF AN AIRCRAFT INTO THE AIR WHICH IT IS FLYING THROUGH.THE AIRCRAFT’S FORWARD MOTION RAMS AIR INTO THE TUBE, CREATING A PRESSURE.THIS PRESSURE IS THEN REFINED BY ONBOARD COMPUTERS AND READ ON AN AIRSPEED INDICATOR OR MACH INDICATOR, SHOWING INDICATED AIRSPEED (IAS) OR MACH NUMBER.

PILOTS ARE CONCERNED PRIMARILY WITH INDICATE AIRSPEED, MACH NUMBER AND GROUNDSPEED.

GROUNDSPEED IS THE TRUE AIRSPEED CORRECTED FOR WIND EFFECTS.

IAS AND MACH NUMBER PRESENTATION ON A BOEING 747-400.

AS DISPATCHERS YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE OPERATIONAL FLIGHT PLANS USE BOTH TRUE AIRSPEED GROUNDSPEED AND MACH NUMBER.

• TRUE AIRSPEED IS USED ON THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL FLIGHT PLAN ALONG WITH MACH NUMBER SO THAT ATC KNOW HOW FAST OUR AIRCRAFT WILL FLY AND SO PLAN ITS ROUTE AND ALSO BE ABLE TO TRACK ITS PROGRESS IN RELATION TO OTHER AIRCRAFT.

• GROUNDSPEED IS IMPORTANT AS THIS WILL DETERMINE THE LENGTH OF TIME THAT THE AIRCRAFT WILL TAKE TO FLY FROM DEPARTURE AIRPORT TO IT’S DESTINATION.

• MACH NUMBER IS ALSO USED, MUCH LIKE A MOTORWAY SPEED LIMIT IN FLIGHT AREAS, SUCH AS THE NORTH ATLANTIC, WHERE THERE IS NO RADAR TO ASSIST ATC IN THEIR PLANNING, AND SEPERATING AIRCRAFT FROM EACH OTHER.

IF WE LOOK AT OUR OPERATIONAL FLIGHT PLAN, ONE OF WHICH IS PRODUCED FOR EVERY FLIGHT WE CAN SEE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:

• AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL FLIGHT PLAN SHOWING MACH NUMBER AND TRUE AIRSPEED.

• THE AVERAGE WIND COMPONENT……WHICH IS THE RESULT OF THE WIND EFFECT FOR THE ROUTE TO BE FLOWN AND SO DETERMINES THE LENGTH OF TIME THE FLIGHT WILL TAKE.

• THE CALCULATED GROUNDSPEED BETWEEN EACH POSITION TO BE FLOWN ON THE ROUTE.

SO UNDERSTANDING SPEED IS VERY IMPORTANT!

PRESSURE ALTIMETER.

IN AIRCRAFT AN ANEROID BAROMETER MEASURES THE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE FROM STATIC PORTS LOCATED ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE AIRCRAFT’S FUSELAGE.

ON OUR AIRCRAFT THIS INFORMATION IS FED THROUGH COMPUTERS TOO TO PROVIDE ACCURATE INFORMATION TO THE PILOT’S ELECTRONIC FLIGHT INFORMATION SCREENS.

AS THE AIRCRAFT FLIES HIGHER THE AIR PRESSURE DECREASES AND THE PRESSURE ALTIMETER IS DESIGNED TO CONVERT THIS INTO A HEIGHT READING.

THE PRESSURE ALTIMETER ON AIRCRAFT IS A BACK UP SYSTEM TO THE MORE ACCURATE READINGS CALCULATED BY THE AIRCRAFT’S COMPUTER SYSTEMS.

BOEING AIRCRAFT PRESSURE ALTIMETER.

BOEING AIRCRAFT ELECTRONIC ALTIMETER DISPLAY

THE ALTIMETER IS CALIBRATED TO SHOW THE PRESSURE DIRECTLY AS AN ALTITUDE ABOVE MEAN SEA LEVEL, IN ACCORDANCE WITH A MATHEMATICAL MODEL DEFINED BY THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ATMOSPHERE (ISA).

AS YOU CAN IMAGINE THE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE VARIES AROUND THE WORLD DEPENDING ON THE WEATHER PATTERNS. THEREFORE A SYSTEM HAD TO BE DEVELOPED WHERE THE ALTIMETER CAN BE SELECTED TO INDICATE ALTITUDE BASED ON A SET REFERENCE SETTING. (WE WILL LOOK AT THE ISA LATER)

THIS IS KNOWN AS THE ‘STANDARD’ ALTIMETER SETTING AND PILOTS USE THIS WHEN FLYING AWAY FROM AIRPORTS.

THE STANDARD ALTIMETER SETTING IS 1013.25 HECTOPASCALS OR 29.92 INCHES OF MERCURY. EITHER OF THESE STANDARD SETTINGS CAN BE SET ON OUR BOEING AIRCRAFT’S ALTIMETERS.

WITH THE STANDARD SETTING SET THEN THE AIRCRAFTS ALTITUDE IS NOW REDESIGNATED AS FLIGHT LEVELS. E.G. 29,000 FEET IS CALLED FL290.

AS ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE VARIES SO MUCH GLOBALLY, IF THERE WAS NOT THIS STANDARD SETTING, THEN AIRCRAFT WOULD BE FLYING AT HEIGHTS WHICH WOULD BE IN REALITY DIFFERENT TO WHAT THEY THOUGH THEY WOULD BE FLYING, SO INCREASING CHANCES OF MID AIR COLLISIONS.

AS WELL AS THIS ‘STANDARD’ REFERENCE DATUM THERE IS ALSO A DATUM USED WHEN APPROACHING AIRPORTS SO THAT THE PILOT’S KNOW EXACTLY HOW HIGH THEY ARE WITH REFERENCE TO THIS AIRPORT.

THIS DATUM IS BASED ON THE MEAN SEA LEVEL AT A PARTICULAR AIRPORT AND IS ABBREVIATED TO QNH.

THIS IS THE PRESSURE REDUCED TO MEAN SEA LEVEL. AN ALTIMETER SET TO THE AIRFIELD QNH READS THE ELEVATION OF THE AIRFIELD WHEN IT IS ON THE GROUND.

THE PRESSURE SETTINGS ARE PASSED TO PILOT’S PRIMARILY IN A MEASUREMENT CALLED HECTOPASCALS (OR MIILIBARS). THEN THIS SETTING CAN BE INDIVIDUALLY SET ON THE PILOT’S ALTIMETERS SO THAT IT NOW HAS AN ACCURATE DATUM POINT FROM WHICH IT CAN DISPLAY ACCURATE ALTITUDE INFORMATION.

NAVIGATION AND RADIO EQUIPMENT USED ONBOARD OUR BOEING

AIRCRAFT.

OBVIOUSLY OUR AIRCRAFT NEED A METHOD TO BE ABLE TO FLY ACCURATELY ALONG A ROUTE FROM THEIR DEPARTURE AIRPORT TO THEIR DESTINATION.

THEY NO LONGER HAVE TO LOOK OUT THE WINDOW AND FOLLOW ROADS OR RAILWAY LINES DRAWN ON A MAP.

THERE ARE SOPHISTICATED NAVIGATION DEVICES LOCATED ON THE GROUND AS WELL AS ADVANCED COMPUTERS ONBOARD THE AIRCRAFT AND SATELLITES ORBITING THE EARTH TO ASSIST IN PRECISE NAVIGATION.

WE WILL LOOK AT EACH OF THESE, BRIEFLY IN TURN.

GROUND BASED NAVIGATION AIDS

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE PRIMARY NAVIGATION BEACONS AND GUIDANCE SYSTEMS WHICH ARE LOCATED EITHER ALONG THE AIRCRAFT’S ROUTE OF FLIGHT OR AT THE AIRPORTS WHICH ARE OPERATED TO AND FROM.

1. NDB – NON DIRECTIONAL BEACON.

• A RADIO BEACON WHICH SENDS OUT AN ELECTRONIC SIGNAL WHICH WHEN TRANSFERRED TO THE AIRCRAFT’S NAVIGATION SYSTEM SHOWS A BEARING, USING A NEEDLE AND COMPASS CARD FROM THE AIRCRAFT TO THIS BEACON.

• THIS ALLOWS THE PILOT TO NAVIGATE HIS WAY TOWARDS THIS BEACON OR ON A SET BEARING AWAY FROM IT USING A PIECE OF AIRCRAFT EQUIPMENT CALLED AN ADF- AUTOMATIC DIRECTION FINDER.

• THIS IS NOT A VERY ACCURATE DEVICE AND SUBJECT TO MANY ERRORS.

ADF-AUTOMATIC DIRECTION FINDER ONBOARD DISPLAY.

EACH NDB OPERATES ON A SET FREQUENCY AND HAS IT’S OWN IDENTIFICATION CODE.

2. VOR – VHF (VERY HIGH FREQUENCY) OMNIDIRECTIONAL RANGE.

• THIS DEVICE HAS ITS OWN VHF FREQUENCY WHICH IT OPERATES ON AND ALSO AN IDENTIFICATION CODE.

• LOCATED ON THE GROUND FOR ROUTE NAVIGATION AND ALSO AS AN APPROACH AID AT AIRPORT’S TO ASSIST PILOTS IN NAVIGATING THEIR WAY TOWARDS THE RUNWAY IN POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS.

• THIS DEVICE ALSO USES BEARINGS TO AND FROM ITSELF, WHICH ARE CALLED RADIALS AND EACH VOR TRANSMITS INFORMATION TO TELL PILOTS WHICH RADIAL THEY ARE FLYING ON, FROM 1 DEGREE TO 360 DEGREES FROM OR TO THIS BEACON.

• THIS NAVIGATION SYSTEM IS MORE ACCURATE THAN THE NDB SYSTEM AS IT SUFFERS FROM LESS ERRORS AND A HIGHER LEVEL OF ACCURACY.

VOR – VHF OMNIDIRECTIONAL RANGE DISPLAY.

WE CAN SEE ON THIS DISPLAY A GREEN ARROW WHICH POINTS TOWARDS THE SELECTED VOR BEACON. BY SELECTING A SPECIFIC RADIAL THEN THE PILOT CAN UTILISE THIS ON HIS DISPLAY FOR A MORE ACCURATE MEANS OF NAVIGATING TO OR FROM THIS BEACON, THIS IS THEN KNOWN AS THE COURSE, WHICH WE CAN SEE SELECTED HERE.

3. DME – DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT.

• AIRCRAFT USE DME TO DETERMINE THEIR DISTANCE FROM A LAND BASED TRANSPONDER (BASICALLY RADAR) BY SENDING AND RECEIVING PULSE PAIRS- TWO PULSES OF FIXED DURATION AND SEPARATION.

• THE GROUND STATIONS ARE TYPICALLY ;OCATED WITH A VOR. • A LOW POWER DME CAN ALSO BE CO-LOCATED WITH AN ILS

(INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM) GLIDE SLOPE ANTENNA INSTALLATION WHERE IT PROVIDES AN ACCURATE DISTANCE TO TOUCHDOWN FUNCTION.

• MOST AIRCRAFT HAVE THE EQUIPMENT TO DISPLAY TWO INDEPENDENT DME FACILITIES WITH AN ADDITIONAL ABILITY TO SHOW A DME RELATING TO AN ILS FRQUENCY.

• AGAIN EACH DME HAS ITS OWN FREQUENCY, OFTEN THE SAME AS EITHER THE VOR OR ILS SYSTEM TO WHICH IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH. AS WE CAN SEE FROM THE FOLLOWING DISPLAY, ONCE AGAIN.

DME – DISTANCE MEASURING EQUIPMENT.

ON THIS DISPLAY WE CAN SEE THE DME RANGE FROM ITS IDENTIFICATION CODE ELN…..

4. ILS – INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM

• THIS IS A SYSTEM WHICH EMITS A RADAR BEAM BOTH IN THE HORIZONTAL, CALLED THE LOCALISER AND VERTICAL PLANE, CALLED THE GLIDESLOPE.

• THESE TWO BEAMS ALLOW THE AIRCRAFT’S ONBOARD EQUIPMENT TO ACCURATELY DISPLAY A MEANS FROM WHICH THE PILOT’S CAN ACCURATELY NAVIGATE ALONG A SPECIFIC COURSE AND SLOPE TOWARDS THE RUNWAY WHERE THE ILS IS LOCATED.

• THESE SYSTEMS CAN ALLOW THE PILOT’S TO LAND IN VERY POOR WEATHER CONDITIONS, AS THEY ARE EXTREMELY ACCURATE.

• SOME ILS SYSTEMS WILL ENABLE THE AIRCRAFT’S ONBOARD AUTOPILOTS TO FLY THE AIRCRAFT ONTO THE RUNWAY, KNOWN AS AN AUTOLAND, WHEN THE VISIBILITY IS SO POOR THAT THE PILOT’S HAVE ALMOST NO VISIBLE INFORMATION FROM LOOKING OUT OF THE WINDOW. THIS IS KNOWN AS A CATEGORY 2 OR 3 APPROACH.

ILS – INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM

THE ILS GLIDESLOPE AND LOCALISER SEND INFORMATION TO THE AIRCRAFT’S ONBOARD EQUIPMENT TO INDICATE WHETHER THE AIRCRAFT IS LEFT OR RIGHT OF THE RUNWAY CENTRELINE. OR ABOVE OR BELOW THE REQUIRED GLIDESLOPE.

HERE WE CAN SEE THE LOCALISER INDICATION AS WELL AS THE GLIDESLOPE INDICATION. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT PIECE OF EQUIPMENT FOR THE PILOTS!

5. INS/IRS – INERTIAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM/INERTIAL REFERENCE SYSTEM

• THESE TWO SYSTEMS ARE VERY SIMILAR AND FOR OUR PURPOSES WE WILL TREAT THEM AS SUCH. ALTHOUGH THE IRS SYSTEM IS THE MOST MODERN AND CAN BE FOUND ON BOTH OUR BOEING 767 AND BOEING 747 FLEETS.

• THE IRS PROVIDES BASIC HEADING AND ATTITUDE REFERENCE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH COMPUTATIONS BASED ON ACCELEROMETER AND LASER GYRO SENSED SIGNALS, WHICH FEEDS THE MAIN INFORMATION WHICH PILOTS AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL REQUIRE.

• THE IRS SYSTEM IS BASICALLY THE HEART OF OUR AIRCRAFT…..FEEDING THE BRAINS! NOT ONLY THE BRAINS OF THE PILOTS BUT ALSO OF THE FLIGHT MANAGEMENT AND INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS.

• HOWEVER, AS DISPATCHERS YOU NEED TO KNOW THE IMPORTANCE OF THEIR SERVICABILITY AND HOW IF PART OF THE SYSTEM IS NOT FUNCTIONING, THEN THEIR CAN BE SIGNIFICANT RESTRICTIONS TO FLIGHT OPERATIONS.

6. GPS – GLOBAL POSITIONING SATELLITES

• THE GPS SYSTEM IS THE MOST ACCURATE METHOD OF NAVIGATION.

• THIS SYSTEM UTILISES SATELLITES TO UPDATE THE AIRCRAFT’S ONBOARD NAVIGATION COMPUTERS TO GIVE THE MOST ACCURATE INFORMATION.

• THE BOEING 747 HAS TWO INDEPENDENT GPS SYSTEMS, HOWEVER, THEY HAVE THEIR OWN LIMITATIONS.

• THE GPS SYSTEM OF SATELLITES IS OWNED AND MANAGED BY THE USA DEFENCE DEPARTMENT. IN TIMES OF CONFLICT DELIBERATE ERRORS ARE PROGRAMMED INTO THIS SYSTEM TO HINDER POSSIBLE THREATS. ALSO THE USA HAS THE RIGHT TO SWITCH OFF THIS SYSTEM, IN THE WORST CASE SCENARIO….WAR.

• OUR AIRCRAFT THOUGH CAN UTILISE OTHER NAVIGATION OPTIONS SHOULD THR GPS SYSTEM NOT BE AVAILABLE, RESULTING IN LIMITED DISRUPTION TO OUR AIRCRAFT’S OVERALL NAVIGATION ACCURACY.

GLOBAL POSITIONING SATELLITE SYSTEM

THE INFORMATION FROM THESE SATELLITES PROVIDE THE MOST ACCURATE METHOD OF UPDATING OUR AIRCRAFT’S ONBOARD NAVIGATION EQUIPMENT.

SPECIAL AIRPORTS, CATEGORY AND QUALIFICATION.

AIRPORTS WHICH SILKWAYS AIRLINES FLY TO ARE SOME OF THE MOST DEMANDING IN THE WORLD. THIS CAN BE FOR MANY REASONS:

• THERE COULD BE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. (HONG KONG)• DIFFICULT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL PROCEDURES. (CHINA)• RISK OF THREAT FROM FOREIGN GROUND OPERATIONS.

(AFGHANISTAN)

BECAUSE OF THESE DIFFERENCES AIRPORTS HAVE DIFFERENT CATEGORISATIONS…FROM A-C. WITH ‘A’ BEING THE EASIEST AND ‘C’ BEING THE MOST DIFFICULT.

OUR PILOTS NEED TO BE SUITABLY TRAINED AND OUR DISPATCH STAFF HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED IN OPERATING TO THESE AIRPORTS.

WHICH AIRPORTS BELONG TO WHICH CATEGORY CAN BE FOUND IN SILKWAY’S OPERATIONS MANUAL PART ‘A’.

• CATEGORY ‘A’ AIRPORTS ARE NOT LISTED AS THEY POSE NO UNUSUAL FEATURES OR RISKS.

• CATEGORY ‘B’ AIRPORTS POSE RISKS WHICH THE PILOTS NEED TO BE AWARE OF. THESE PILOTS NEED TO READ ALL THE RELEVANT MATERIAL TO UPDATE THEMSELVES. FOR EXAMPLE HONG KONG.

• CATEGORY ‘C’ AIRPORTS POSE PARTICULAR DIFFICULTIES FOR PILOTS AND THESE PILOTS NEED TO BE SPECIALLY BRIEFED AND TRAINED. FOR EXAMPLE…ALL AFGHANISTAN AIRPORTS.

IF WE CONSULT OUR DOCUMENT FROM OUR OPERATIONS MANUAL PART ‘A’, THERE CAN BE FOUND ALL THE REQUIRED INFORMATION. THIS IS INCLUDED IN YOUR HANDOUT.

AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES RULES AND REGULATIONS.

THIS IS A SUBJECT WHICH NEEDS TO BE SELF BRIEFED. THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED PRIMARILY IN THE JEPPESEN ROUTE MANUAL.

IT IS A SUBJECT WHICH DOES NOT NECESSARILY IMPACT ON A DISPATCHER’S RESPONSIBILITY ON A DAY TO DAY BASIS.

HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION IS OF AN OBVIOUS BENEFIT.

THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION HAS ALREADY BEEN DISCUSSED…..OR WILL BE DISCUSSED IN THE FLIGHT PLANNING SECTION OF THIS COURSE.

RVSM – REDUCED VERTICAL SEPERATION MINIMA.

• REDUCED VERTICAL SEPARATION MINIMA (RVSM) IS THE REDUCTION OF THE STANDARD VERTICAL SEPARATION REQUIRED BETWEEN AIRCRAFT FLYING BETWEEN FL290 (29,000ft) AND FL410 (41,000FT) INCLUSIVE.

• THE SEPARATION MIMA IS REDUCED FROM 2,000FT TO 1,000FT. FOR AIRSPACE FROM FL290 TO FL410.

• THE REASON BEING, THAT IT ALLOWS AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF AIRCRAFT THAT CAN FLY IN A DEFINED AIRSPACE.

• ONLY AIRCRAFT WITH CERTIFIED ONBOARD EQUIPMENT MAY FLY IN RVSM AIRSPACE, WE WILL LOOK AT THIS WHEN WE DISCUSS THE COMPANY MEL….KNOWN AS THE MINIMUM EQUIPMENT LIST.

• AS A DISPATCHER YOU NEED TO BE AWARE THAT ATC NEED TO BE INFORMED THAT OUR COMPANY AIRCRAFT CAN COMPLY WITH RVSM REGULATIONS BY ENSURING THAT THE LETTER ‘X’ IS ADDED TO THE ATC FLIGHT PLAN…MORE OF THIS, AGAIN, LATER.

AS WE CAN SEE, IN RVSM AIRSPACE THE SEPARATION IS 1,000FT BETWEEN AIRCRAFT FLYING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS. OUR PROCEDURES NEED TO BE UNDERSTOOD AND THE AIRCRAFT EQUIPMENT NEEDS TO BE SERVICABLE….OTHERWISE………………..

AS A DISPATCHER YOU NEED TO BE AWARE THAT TO OPERATE IN RVSM AIRSPACE THE AIRCRAFT NEEDS TO HAVE THE FOLLOWING MANDATORY EQUIPMENT SERVICABLE.

IF THIS CRITERIA IS NOT MET, THEN THE FLIGHT NEEDS TO BE DISPATCHED OUTSIDE OF RVSM AIRSPACE. THIS WILL GENERALLY REQUIRE PLANNING THE FLIGHT TO FLY BELOW FL290.

IT HAS HAPPENED….AND IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN, WHICH IS WHY WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT OUR AIRCRAFT MUST BE PLANNED TO FLY AT THE CORRECT LEVELS…..MISTAKES CAN AND DO HAPPEN!

AIRSPACE CLASSIFICATION.

THE CLASSIFICATION OF AIRSPACE TENDS TO BE THE SAME WORLDWIDE….WITH JUST MINOR DIFFERENCES, DEPENDING ON THE COUNTRY.

THERE ARE PRIMARILY SEVEN DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF AIRSPACE, WHICH ARE DESIGNATED WITH THE LETTERS FROM ‘A’ TO ‘G’.

THESE SEVEN CATEGORIES ARE SPLIT INTO SIX CLASSES OF AIRSPACE UNDER ICAO STANDARDS.

THESE SIX CLASSES ARE ALLOCATED DEPENDING ON THE NEED TO ACTIVELY CONTROL ACCESS TO AIRSPACE AND THE NATURE OF ACTIVITY THAT TAKES PLACE WITHIN IT.

THE ABOVE DIAGRAM IS AN EXAMPLE OF AIRSPACE CLASSIFICATION IN THE USA.

THE CLASSES OF ICAO AIRSPACE ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

• CLASS A - IFR, INSTRUMENT FLIGHT RULES ONLY.• CLASS B - NOT USED.• CLASS C - IFR AND VFR (VISUAL FLIGHT RULES) BOTH ARE

PERMITTED.• CLASS D - IFR AND VFR (VISUAL FLIGHT RULES) BOTH ARE

PERMITTED.• CLASS E - IFR AND VFR (VISUAL FLIGHT RULES) BOTH ARE

PERMITTED.• CLASS F - UNCONTROLLED AIRSPACE.• CLASS G - UNCONTROLLED AIRSPACE.

JEPPESEN DOCUMENTATION.

• JEPPESEN IS THE NAME OF A GERMAN COMPANY WHICH SILKWAYS USE TO PROVIDE OUR PILOTS WITH THE AERONAUTICAL CHARTS FOR ALL THE AIRPORTS WE OPERATE TO, AS WELL AS THOSE AIRPORTS WHICH WE MAY NEED TO OPERATE TO.

• JEPPESEN ALSO PROVIDES US WITH ALL THE AERONAUTICAL CHARTS WHICH OUR PILOTS MAY NEED TO OPERATE ON OUR ROUTE NETWORK.

• JEPPESEN ALSO PROVIDES US WITH MANUALS WHICH INCLUDE ALL THE NECESSARY ROUTE INFORMATION AND IN THESE MANUALS WE CAN FIND THE INFORMATION ON EVERY COUNTRY’S ‘AIR TRAFFIC SERVICE RULES AND REGULATIONS’, A TOPIC WHICH WAS MENTIONED EARLIER.

• A SELECTION OF JEPPESEN CHARTS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS MODULE’S INFORMATION PACK.

• THE ENTIRE JEPPESEN ‘LIBRARY’ FORM PART OF SILKWAY’S OPERATIONS MANUAL PART C.

E

EXAMPLES OF JEPPESEN MAP AND AIRPORT CHART.

AS DISPATCHERS YOU NEED TO BE FAMILIAR WITH JEPPESEN CHARTS. NOT FOR THEIR CONTENT, BUT BECAUSE THERE WILL BE OCCASIONS WHERE THE PILOTS WILL ADVISE YOU THAT THEY REQUIRE CERTAIN MAPS OR AIRPORT CHARTS WHICH ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN THEIR MANUALS ONBOARD THE AIRCRAFT.

SO YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT EXACTLY THE PILOTS ARE REQUESTING, AND WHERE YOU CAN SOURCE THEM FOR THE PILOTS.

THE AIRPORT CHARTS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE ON THE JEPPESEN WEBSITE, THESE CAN BE DOWNLOADED AND PRINTED OFF, IF THERE ARE NO REPLACEMENT CHARTS IN STOCK.

LOGIN DETAILS FOR THIS WEBSITE WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU LATER IN THIS COURSE.

NAVIGATION AND ROUTE PLANNING.

CURRENTLY SILKWAY’S UTILISES THE SERVICES OF CARGOLUX FOR THE BOEING 747 AND AZAL FOR THE BOEING 767 TO PRODUCE THE NECESSARY OFP’S, WHICH ARE THE PILOT’S OPERATIONAL FLIGHT PLANS.

YOU HAVE AN EXAMPLE OF AN OFP IN THIS MODULE’S INFORMATION PACK.

YOU WILL NOT BE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE THESE YOURSELF. HOWEVER, YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO OBTAIN THESE FOR THE PILOT’S IF REQUESTED TO DO SO.

THESE OFP’S WILL OCCASIONALLY NEED TO BE UPDATED, DUE TO THE WEIGHT OF THE CARGO CHANGING, OR A NEW ROUTE NEEDS TO BE FLOWN.

OFP……..OPERATIONAL FLIGHT PLANS.

IN YOUR HAND OUTS YOU HAVE A COPY OF A FLIGHT PLAN PRODUCED BY CARGOLUX.

THIS IS FOR A FLIGHT FROM LUXEMBOURG TO NEW YORK’S JFK AIRPORT.

YOU ALSO HAVE A COPY OF AN EXTRACT FROM THE COMPANY OPERATIONS MANUAL PART A, WHICH EXPLAINS IN DETAIL THE ENTIRE BREAKDOWN OF THE OFP.

WE WILL NOW HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANT PARTS WHICH WILL BE NECESSARY FOR YOU TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND.

ATC SLOT, OVERFLIGHT CLEARANCES AND MOVEMENT REQUESTS.

THIS SUBJECT WILL BE COVERED BY Mr EMILE KHASANSHIN, OR ONE OF HIS COLLEAGUES.

THIS IS AN IMPORTANT SUBJECT TO UNDERSTAND, AS WE CANNOT AFFORD TO MAKE ANY MISTAKES.

IN YOUR HANDOUT ARE EXAMPLES OF OVERFLIGHT CLEARANCES AND THE MOVEMENT REQUEST FORM WHICH NEEDS TO BE COMPLETED FOR FLIGHTS TO AFGHANISTAN. BUT YOU WILL RECEIVE DETAILED INSTRUCTION ON THIS TOPIC.