Are Airspace Users Really the Centre of ANSP Attention?
On 22/01/2012, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
More than a decade ago I was in the thick of a war raging between airspace users and air navigation service providers. At stake was the forced implementation of Mode S Enhanced Surveillance (ES), something some ANSPs considered to be vital while the airspace users in general considered to be an expensive folly. The business case developed by EUROCONTROL was at best dodgy and the promised benefits were seen as of questionable value.
At the time, Mode S elementary surveillance looked like a done deal. In the end, after having held back the Mode S ES for two years or so, three big ANSPs banded together and went ahead anyway… costing the industry millions without having realized measurable benefits to this day!
But now, Mode S Elementary Surveillance is rising from the ashes, more specifically the problems associated with the SES Implementing Rule (IR) on Aircraft Identification for Surveillance (Regulation (EU) No 1206/2011).
Two Members of the European Parliament have submitted questions for written answer (ref. E-000312/2012). You will find the text of the questions, as published, below in full.
I wonder what the answers will be. The questions paint a sad story indeed….
Click here to read the full article
Old habits that refuse to die
On 29/11/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Things like the Single European Sky (SES), SESAR, even the FABs were supposed to bring a fresh air to European ATM, dispensing once and for all with bad habits and procedures that kept making life for airspace users unnecessarily hard and expensive.
Among those old habits, the persistent mismatch between mandates to equip aircraft and adding the capability concerned to ANSPs was one of the most striking and expensive. What did this mean? The industry, sometimes all on its own but more often after “gentle persuasion” by the service providers “agreed” that a new piece of kit had to be bolted on the airplanes and a date was set by which time the new kit had to be operational. There was never a mandate for the ground to also equip, this happened in a haphazard way if it happened at all and often aircraft flew around for years with totally useless boxes on board that had cost a fortune to install with no benefit at all (just think of Mode S enhanced surveillance if you want an example).
One would think that under SES and its Implementing Rules (IR) this kind of mismatch is a thing of the past. Fat chance.
A few days ago two new SES IRs were published in the EU Official Journal.
Regulation No 1206/2011 prescribes that air navigation service providers must make use of the aircraft identification down-linked via Mode S by the second of January of the year 2020. This is a cool 17 years after the corresponding airborne retrofit date which was in 2003. Oooops….
Click here to read the full article
Commission Report Puts the Lie to Claims that ATM is in Great Shape
On 26/11/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by cleo
Regular readers of Roger-Wilco know that we have been sounding alarm bells over the European ATM situation and the even brighter future that some reports would make us believe is just around the corner. We did not make many friends with this kind of reporting… of course. It is much nicer to believe that all is well even when the plane is crashing. But we were not reporting unfounded facts. Our sources are better than most…
And now a press release from the European Commission finally brings to light just how bad the situation really is.
The “traffic light” assessments published today by the Commission – based on two progress reports – highlight serious cause for concern in relation to two major elements which go to the heart of the Single European Sky project: the performance scheme and the functional airspace blocks.
Only 5 out of 27 Member States (Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) get a “green light” and are on track to meet both targets (for cost and capacity/delays) for the period 2012–14. The Commission has issued recommendations asking Member States to revise these targets. If necessary the Commission could adopt a binding decision requesting the Member State(s) concerned to implement specific corrective measures, although a short time remains available for the targets to be met without recourse to this action.
Existing plans by Member States would fail to meet the EU-wide capacity target of 0.5 minute delay per flight in 2014. If this target were achieved, some €920 million would be saved over 2012–14 due to fewer and shorter delays.
In addition, national performance plans would miss the EU-wide target for ATM cost efficiency by 2.4% in 2014. This would have a a major impact, both on airspace users and on the credibility of the Single European Sky. To meet the target, additional measures are needed to achieve a €250 million saving over the entire three-year reference period (2012–14).
Well, this is not exactly the bright picture that States and ANSPs would want the industry to see. Keep in mind also that all this is happening after the failure of EATCHIP and ATM2000+. I hope you are not going to say now that SESAR will be different. SESAR may be but the rest of the environment is not….
But there is more.
The great Functional Airspace Block fiasco.
Click here to read the full article
EU to invest 32 billion Euros to improve European transport – SESAR is one of the beneficiaries!
On 20/10/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
The European Commission has adopted a proposal to transform the existing patchwork of European roads, railways, airports and canals into a unified transport network (TEN-T). The new core network will remove bottlenecks, upgrade infrastructure and streamline cross border transport operations for passengers and businesses throughout the EU. It will improve connections between different modes of transport and contribute to the EU’s climate change objectives.
European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: “Transport is fundamental to an efficient EU economy, but vital connections are currently missing. Europe’s railways have to use 7 different gauge sizes and only 20 of our major airports and 35 of our major ports are directly connected to the rail network. Without good connections Europe will not grow or prosper.”
The new policy follows a two-year consultation process and establishes a core transport network to be established by 2030 to act as the backbone for transportation within the Single Market. The financing proposals published today (for the period 2014–2020) also tightly focus EU transport funding on this core transport network, filling in cross-border missing links, removing bottlenecks and making the network smarter.
The new core TEN-T network will be supported by a comprehensive network of routes, feeding into the core network at regional and national level. This will largely be financed by Member States, with some EU transport and regional funding possibilities, including with new innovative financing instruments. The aim is to ensure that progressively, and by 2050, the great majority of Europe’s citizens and businesses will be no more than 30 minutes’ travel time from this comprehensive network.
Taken as a whole, the new transport network will deliver:
• safer and less congested travel
• as well as smoother and quicker journeys.
The 31.7 billion euros allocated to transport under the Connecting Europe Facility of the MFF (Multi-Annual Financial Framework) will effectively act as “seed capital” to stimulate further investment by Member States to complete difficult cross-border connections and links which might not otherwise get built. Every 1 million euros spent at European level will generate 5 million from Member State governments and 20 million from the private sector.
Background:
The new policy sets out a much smaller and more tightly defined transport network for Europe. Its aim is to focus spending on a smaller number of projects where real EU added value can be realised. Member States will also face more rigorous requirements in terms of common specifications which will work cross-border, and legal obligations actually to complete the project.
Click here to read the full article
It is not easy to work with the airlines – Why the SJU should be careful
On 07/09/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Having airspace users on board in SESAR is an important development by anyone’s measure. Thinking that having individual airlines involved is the same as having the industry involved is a grave mistake that can cost dearly to all concerned.
The signs of trouble are already there. What do you think about there being a hard-won agreement from the airspace users at one or two pretty high level meetings and then the same users withdrawing their agreement just a few weeks later? The result is frustration on the part of the other partners (ANSPs in this case), confusion about where things were going and, worst of all, loss of credibility of the airlines.
It would be easy to wave this away by just saying that the airline people in the meeting were not up to speed with the subjects being discussed and so they agreed to something they did not fully understand. This would be a rather unfortunate situation and no excuse at all but the actual reality is even worse.
The problem is not new and it is called the industry voice, or rather, the lack of it.
Until about a decade ago, IATA had been recognized by its members as the industry voice on all technical aspects of air traffic management. One of the most important, and difficult, tasks of IATA’s experts had been to forge this common voice, bringing together the widely differing interests and business models of the member airlines so that to the outside world only consolidated, well defined requirements were communicated. This was vital because otherwise the ATM and avionics industries would have been totally confused and at a loss as to what they should develop to meet the airlines’ diverse requirements.
Click here to read the full article
SESAR Catch 22
On 29/08/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
When SESAR was launched all kinds of claims were made for why it would succeed where every other project before it had failed. It was certainly bigger and more all-encompassing than its predecessors; there was more, far more, money involved than ever before; and it had the backing of the EU’s Single European Sky initiative. A baby born with such credentials need not worry about the future, right? Wrong!
The one thing SESAR has not yet found a solution for is the age old problem of chicken and egg… Airlines will not equip until there are benefits and it is not possible to provide, even early, benefits until aircraft are equipped. The myth that airlines will equip for improved ATM if there is a clear business case is indeed just that, a myth. First of all airlines will normally spurn any business case, however promising, that does not give them a 2-3 year return on investment and very few, if any, ATM projects can do that. But even if we disregard this, we have seen in the past how otherwise perfectly good business cases were still not enough to make the industry move en-masse. Not that the ground side is much better… As the sad track record of ATM projects in Europe demonstrates, airlines and ANSPs can happily share the honor of being the cause of missed deadlines and missed opportunities.
SESAR has not provided a solution to this yet and if they fail to do so, its jumbo size will mean a bang on a jumbo scale.
However, there is an important difference compared with the past. SESAR has recognized this problem, the SESAR JU is talking about it quite openly and they have a stated intention to find a solution.
Click here to read the full article
Pioneering and progressing: Assessing the progress of SESAR with Florian Guillermet
On 06/07/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
The SESAR programme was launched on 3 June 2009. Now almost two years since its launch, It’s a good time to take stock of the status of the programme’s 300 projects, assess progress in the execution of the first SESAR release and the first project deliverables. In a short interview, Florian Guillermet, SESAR JU Chief Programme Officer, gives his evaluation of the programme and the first release, and looks at some of the challenges facing SESAR in the second half of 2011..
At mid 2011, what is the situation of the SESAR programme in general?
It’s almost time to celebrate the second anniversary of SESAR’s launch, and after two years of hard work we’ve made great progress: the ramp-up phase of the programme is complete and 85% of projects are now in full execution mode; the first concrete deliverables are arriving; all the programme management processes are now in place; and the programme delivery approach through SESAR Releases has been implemented. In addition, we are now fully integrating airspace users into the programme and they will directly participate in the execution of projects. Overall, we are on track…
Click here to read the full article
Fly4D takes off
On 22/06/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
The Fly4D consortium – led by Airbus with Cassidian, Honeywell, Lufthansa Systems and Sabre Airline Solutions– has been awarded a contract to perform SESAR sub-work package 11.1 (Flight and Wing Operations Centres). This challenging work addresses the definition, the development and the validation of Airspace User’s future flight planning and control systems and procedures in support of the SESAR ATM Target Concept. The selected consortium consists of world leaders in this domain, and will be working closely with the SESAR JU Members and overall the airspace user community on this critical topic. First validation results are already expected by the end of 2012. The contract is signed by EUROCONTROL on behalf of the SESAR Joint Undertaking.
The SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) programme is one of the most ambitious research and development projects ever launched by the European Union. The foundation of the SESAR ATM Target Concept is trajectory-based operations. A trajectory representing the business/mission intentions of the Airspace Users, and integrating Air Traffic Management and airport constraints, is elaborated and agreed for each flight. Trajectory based operations ensure that the Airspace User flies its trajectory close to its intent in the most efficient way.
Patrick KY, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking commented: “We are the first in the world to start to integrate ATM future concepts with airlines operations. This is truly a breakthrough in our sector of activity.”
Should we listen to the jungle telegraph?
On 08/06/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by cleo
Editor’s note: When the material for this article hit my desk, I thought long and hard, pondering what to do with it. Most of what is said in it I have heard also myself and Cleo, the original author is well connected and not given to crying wolf… Having consulted a number of friends, I decided to go ahead and publish it, duly qualifying some of the information as bits off the jungle telegraph. As you know, there is a lot of noise coming off that particular type of telegraph but if you listen carefully, you can learn surprising things. Some of which might even be true.
No ATM person having suffered through EATCHIP and ATM2000+ could wish anything but for SESAR to succeed. There is no plan B and if the European Commission, not to mention the airlines, sees all this money being squandered, there will be hell to pay. Literally…
When you ask people close to the program about how things are going, you will either get a blank stare or a few mumbled words about SESAR being reoriented, project dates slipping, some technical projects having run ahead without the non-technical underpinning having been delivered to them and the need to stop several projects for anything up to a year to get things back on track again. There are strange noises also about a SESAR 2. Mind you, this is on the jungle telegraph and the messages are unsigned.
With just one or two people saying such things one may think it is the normal noise in a complex project. When you have scores of them, it is hard not to take notice. Of course in a project involving so many people and so many organizations, there are bound to be those who always complain. Yet, somehow you get the feeling that there is more to this than meets the eye…
Click here to read the full article
If you are delayed – now at least you can watch a SESAR video
On 02/06/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
A few days ago my attention was directed to a new video produced by SESAR. It was tagged: watch this video to see the future of flying. Perhaps a bit too lofty a claim for SESAR but ok, enthusiasm is not a bad thing.
What struck me first and foremost was the dynamism of the little clip. It really manages to grab the viewer by the collar and take them along for the ride. Feels a bit like the push you feel when take off power is applied and your plane starts to accelerate down the runway.
The content itself is less impressive. Lots of numbers with the visuals only so so. At first I was at a loss to understand why such a video got produced in the first place. For those in the know the numbers were not new at all and in any case at this point in time one would expect to have the focus on the achievements rather than the promises.
A quick email exchange with the SJU clarified the matter, however.
This video clip is for the European citizen and it will be shown in airports, on airline and other web sites and no doubt some enterprising companies will also include it in their on-board videos, you know the bits that show you images of your destination just before landing. I guess it will be fun reviewing the planned improvements while your flight is holding over London.
With the upcoming debate over SESAR, someone must have felt the need to involve the citizenry and sell them the SESAR message. Nothing wrong in that. I would even say the clip is quite good and fit for the purpose.
Will passengers notice it? Perhaps…
Have a look here.
When Titans speak
On 25/05/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Mid-March Aviation Week published a double interview in which Canso director general Graham Lake and Air Traffic Control Association president/CEO Peter F. Dumont spoke their minds about air traffic management developments on both sides of the Atlantic.
The interviews were refreshing and revealing. They both spoke about the prospects of SESAR and NextGen frankly and eschewing the usual bluster and we-have-won type of text so frustrating in the “formal” communications.
Mr. Lake tells us that it is not yet clear where the 4 billion euros implementation funding needed by SESAR will come from… With SESAR well into its 8-year life-span and 2.1 billion euros being burned through as you read this, such an uncertainty about the future is cause for concern to say the least.
He also makes the point that the new ATM system will still need people to operate it. He then goes on to say that some 70 % of the typical ANSPs costs are staff related, expressing surprise that parts of the ATM network face disruptions as a result of labor disputes and demands for unsustainable labor agreements. As an industry, we cannot allow this to continue he states. There is a strong message here and one is almost tempted to compare the number of pilots and other airline stuff who lost their jobs because of the economic crisis with the number of ATC staff who had been handed the pink slip for the same reason…
Click here to read the full article
SESAR at ATC Global 2011 – Connecting vision with reality
On 09/03/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Roger-Wilco was given a special opportunity to interview SESAR’s Chief Program Officer on the occasion of ATC Global 2011 and in particular in connection with SESAR Release 1, being presented as the most important SESAR deliverable for the year.
Florian Guillermet talks to editor Steve Zerkowitz.
Roger-Wilco: Looking at the details of SESAR Release 1, one sees that this is basically a very big and complex validation exercise. We have seen such things, even if possibly not on this scale, in past programs like EATCHIP and ATM2000+.Regrettably, not much came from those… What is the difference now, what makes everyone confident that this time things will work out better?
Mr. Guillermet: There are three important differences compared with past exercises:
• Clearly defined scope
• Clearly defined time-frame
• Close control by the SJU
Let me explain. The operational concept of SESAR is very ambitious and it can only be achieved if there is a clear focus on what has to be done and in what time frame. The elements of Release 1 have been carefully selected to ensure an initial maturity level that lends itself to development to a pre-industrialization state. This selection process was carefully controlled by the SJU so no pet-projects, be it on an organizational or personal level, were allowed in if they did not meet the agreed, stringent selection criteria.
Click here to read the full article
First concrete SESAR achievements in 2011
On 08/03/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
At the biggest international Air Traffic Management exhibition, ATC Global being held this week in Amsterdam, the SESAR Joint Undertaking presents the first components of the future European ATM system. The aim of this first SESAR Release is to group projects and validation exercises and to start delivering together with the 49 SESAR members and associate partners tangible results at a reindustrialization stage as of this year.
“SESAR is set to modernize air traffic management in Europe. Recent projections predict for Europe a doubling of flights by 2030 compared to 2009 levels. This equals 16.9 million movements; everybody knows that the current air traffic management system cannot cope with such an increase. SESAR is prepared to address this challenge by presenting first benefits for the aviation community this year, just as planned.”, says Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking.
Periodic releases
With the commitment of the private and public partners involved in the work program, SESAR will deliver results through periodic releases.
The first SESAR Release is the outcome of a thorough status review of the approximately 300 SESAR projects to see where early results can be achieved to
quicker serve the aviation world. Projects which are included in the 2011 Release will have been verified and validated in an operational environment to allow for a decision on industrialization and subsequent deployment.
With the first SESAR Release, the European ATM modernization program reveals initial components of the future European ATM system. The validation exercises will cover the areas of efficient and green terminal airspace operations, the initial 4D trajectory, end to end traffic synchronization, as well as integrated and collaborative network management. Concrete benefits will be achieved for airlines, pilots, airports, air traffic controllers, pilots, passengers and the environment.
Improved procedures, tool sets, prototypes
Through simulations, prototypes, shadow mode or live and flight trials, the SESAR members will perform 29 validation exercises all over Europe, the first of which have already taken place in February.
Click here to read the full article
What everyone is waiting for – Details of SESAR Release 1
On 01/03/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Without any doubt the most anticipated news at ATC Global (which will be held next week in Amsterdam) is details about SESAR’s Release 1.
Those of you attending the event, look for the brochure with this cover. Those who are not so fortunate, come to Roger-Wilco and you will be able to download the brochure from around lunch-time next Tuesday, 8 March.
Roger-Wilco will be at ATC Global and we will be bringing you an exclusive interview with Florian Guillermet who is as near to this SESAR Release 1 as you can get. Needless to say, we will also be reporting from the SESAR session where Release 1 will be presented in detail.
Stay tuned and check back often.
A first SESAR release in 2011 – WHAT?
On 26/01/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
One of the products in the run-up to the SESAR world was/is the ATM Master Plan, setting out the when and the how of new air traffic management improvements for Europe. Based on this plan, there are several lower level thingies called implementation packages which show in more detail what will be done and when. Together they form the great PLAN that will hopefully bring the much needed improvements.
In the latest issue of SESAR e-news and in an article entitled “SESAR delivers in 2011” we now read the following.
“During the last meeting of the SESAR Joint Undertaking’s Administrative Board, the members accepted the SJU’s proposal for a first SESAR Release as part of the SESAR programme. The release will provide the air traffic community with the first tangible results coming from Europe’s ambitious ATM modernisation programme.
Click here to read the full article
New clouds on the Mode-S/ADS-B horizon in Europe
On 18/01/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Most of those who took part in the epic battle over the introduction of Mode S Enhanced Surveillance (EHS) have either retired, moved to other activities or flew west to greener pastures but I guess there is still a hard core who will remember how the airspace users lost that one to the three big States in Europe and EUROCONTROL who was caught between a rock and a hard place… I was one of those doing the shouting, telling anyone who would listen that Mode S Enhanced Surveillance would cost the airlines an arm and a leg and would generate next to zero benefits. The majority of the airlines and some ANSPs agreed… This was back at the beginning of the previous decade and in the end, the three promoters of Mode S EHS, fed up with the indecision of the others and the opposition of the airlines, banded together and set up the Three State Program, in effect deciding that they would put in Mode S EHS regardless of the opposition. They did have the grace to announce clear time-frames (2003) to have everything on the ground ready and the benefits accruing for the airspace users. We are now in 2011 and very little of that grand promise has been realized, certainly if we look at things from the benefit point of view. If anyone out there has news about Mode S Enhanced Surveillance quantifiable benefits being available to anyone, please let us know…
But the story continues except that the stakes are even higher. This time the matter is on the level of the European Commission and its Single European Sky Implementing Rules (SES IR). Mind you, there is nothing wrong with the Commission wanting the jump start SES via implementing rules. On the contrary, this is a good thing. Except that the old specter of Mode S implementation is beckoning again in the Surveillance Performance and Interoperability IR.
Click here to read the full article
Trajectory based operations (TBO) – Still not properly understood in SESAR? Take 2.
On 18/01/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
You may recall that a while ago I had written an article with the same title, expressing concern that this all important element in the SESAR Concept of Operations was apparently still not properly understood by some of the “experts” working on the subject.
Recently another paper dealing with trajectory management crossed my desk and on reading it I started to wonder: have these people not read the CONOPS at all? Mind you, the paper comes from a major SESAR partner who should know better… But apparently they do not.
The paper is entitled “Use of the SESAR RBT in ATM Systems”. RBT in case you did not know stands for Reference Business Trajectory and this is the trajectory that “the airspace user agrees to fly and the ANSP agrees to facilitate” to quote the relevant part of the SESAR Concept of Operations (CONOPS).
The purpose of the paper, by its own admission, is to prompt discussion of the trajectory issues within the SESAR program and in particular to ensure that they are addressed by Work Package B. In other words, the paper is arguing that alongside the RBT, the various other types of trajectories that exist in local systems must also be recognized and treated in SESAR. Since the CONOPS already contains references to all those “other” kinds of trajectories, one cannot but wonder: what do the authors of the paper have in mind? Why would SESAR ignore the CONOPS references to those other trajectories? Or have the authors not read the CONOPS and are now thinking that they have discovered a gap in that document?
I will not even attempt to figure out this aspect. There are many other elements in the paper that should make anyone familiar with trajectory based operations want to cry.
Click here to read the full article
The new SESAR home page
On 12/01/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
We did review the first version of the SESAR web site some time ago and found that there were nice features and some frustrating ones giving rise to a bit of criticism. Of course few enterprises manage to have their very first web site meet all expectations and it would have been unfair to fault the IT folks at SESAR for their shortcomings. It was therefore with interest that I looked at the new iteration that went on-line recently.
The first thing that strikes the visitor is that the rather disturbing banner heading is now gone, replaced by a sliding set of items that do actually mean something and are not there just for the show. Click on the title in the text area of the sliding thingies and you are taken to the subject of the particular item. It is a pity that you actually have to hit the title line as the rest of the picture is not “hot”. I am used to clicking on pictures and having to hit just one line in the text area of a picture is a bit cumbersome. But this is a small irritation compared to the usefulness of the sliding items.
Click here to read the full article
GA and rotorcraft experts scrutinize the SESAR Concept of Operations
On 20/12/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
A working group with a wide representation of operational expertise from the general aviation (GA) and rotorcraft communities commenced a study to enhance the SESAR Concept of Operations (ConOps) from a specific GA and rotorcraft perspective. The task of the group is to integrate GA and rotorcraft specific needs to the SESAR ConOps and to provide necessary complementary guidance material for the SESAR programme. This study follows on from the earlier exercise undertaken to integrate military needs into the SESAR ConOps that was concluded earlier this month. The members of the general aviation and rotorcraft group are Peter Norton (British Helicopter Association), Philippe Rollet (Eurocopter Group), Nigel Talbot (AgustaWestland), Michael Erb (AOPA), Jo Konrad (Microlight Specialists), Julian Scarfe (PPL-IR), René Meier (Europe Airsports).
The group met for the first time from 23 to 25 November at the SJU premises and is expected to deliver its final report in April 2011. Once approved, the updated version of the ConOps including the GA and rotorcraft aspects will be integrated into the relevant SJU programme work packages.
Well, I should be sleeping much better now, except for one thing. This piece of news, which is positive after all, does show up once again that European air traffic management still has not gotten over its silo mentality.
Click here to read the full article
Why is the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) wary of consultants?
On 30/11/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
OK, you may say that consultants have made a bad name for themselves and you would be partially right. In some industries some of them have and we all suffer the consequences to some degree. But on the other hand, many companies have found considerable cost savings in the use of consultants who will perform tasks that would otherwise cost a fortune… and this is true even if consultants are not cheap themselves.
But why is the SJU so diametrically opposed to the use of consultants that they have told everyone, the airlines and their associations included, right at the beginning and have repeated it many times since, that they may not use consultants to represent them in the SESAR tasks?
You may say the following is conjecture but it is logical and the only reasonable explanation of a totally unreasonable attitude on the part of the SJU.
When the airline industry first faced what was to become a series of financial crises, including the effects of 9/11, they responded by cutting costs across the board. This translated also into reducing their staff engaged in attending to activities like air traffic management. All of a sudden airline representatives all but disappeared from EUROCONTROL meetings and the airspace user influence on ATM developments was automatically reduced to fire fighting and some shouting on the policy level… with predictably meager results.
When SESAR came along, the airline industry was suddenly faced with the opportunity of a lifetime to improve things… except that they lacked the knowledgeable manpower to represent them on an H24 basis. There were of course excellent airline experts still around and those were promptly brought onto the firing line but almost none of them were all-round experts who were at home equally in airline and ATM operations.
Click here to read the full article
Trajectory based operations (TBO) – still not properly understood in SESAR?
On 26/11/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Following Henning’s article about the fate of the original SESAR Concept of Operations (CONOPS), I received a slew of mails basically confirming his point of view and worries. Of particular concern seems to have been a document dealing with trajectory management…
People who had seen this document were of the opinion that it was little more than a reiteration of the legacy way of working with no visible attempt to bring things in line with the spirit, let alone the words, of the CONOPS.
Why am I not surprised?
During the definition phase we had a very hard time getting people to understand why the legacy system, based on managing airspace and massaging individual aircraft left and right had to give way to something else that took a broader view than is the event horizon of a controller working his or her sector.
The concept of trajectory based operations (one of the mainstays of NextGen also) does exactly that. The system is run on the basis of managing trajectories end to end with situational awareness shared by all concerned and hence both strategic and tactical decisions being aligned, safety permitting, with the business intentions of the owners of the trajectories. Airspace is shaped to allow the undistorted inclusion of the trajectories rather than trajectories being bent to fit the airspace.
Click here to read the full article
EASA and SESAR to cooperate closely in future
On 21/11/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
On 10 November 2010, the Executive Directors of the SESAR Joint Undertaking and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Patrick Ky and Patrick Goudou, signed cooperation and working arrangements to secure EASA’s support regarding the implementation of the SESAR work programme. EASA’s expertise is sought in different domains, including impact analysis of new concepts on the rulemaking, oversight and certification activities of EASA; advice on methodologies for the acceptable elaboration of safety deliverables (safety cases, safety assessments…); review of these safety deliverables and issue of opinions; or the assessment of ‘certifiability’ of future systems/services derived from SESAR concepts. Additionally, the Agency will provide input in different work packages and will participate in updating the ATM Master Plan as well as the regulatory and standardisation roadmaps. “EASA’s cooperation is good news for SESAR and especially for our members developing the new ATM procedures and technologies. The Agency’s involvement will ensure compliance with highest safety standards which will in return facilitate the certification process”, said Patrick Ky after signing the working arrangement. The participation of Eurocontrol’s safety experts is foreseen to support EASA in this activity. To that end, the agreements have been sent to the Director-General of Eurocontrol, David McMillan, for acceptance.
SESAR and SWIM – things are slowly becoming reality
On 03/11/2010, in SESAR's Palace, SWIM, by steve
Good news at long last
Not so long ago, I was asked to make a presentation about System Wide Information Management (SWIM) to the participants of a project we are involved in. While most of the audience noted what I said and asked a few relevant questions, there was also a small minority who expressed the opinion that SWIM as I described it will never happen. This reminded me of arguments I have had years earlier with someone who went so far as even wanting to banish the name “SWIM” for reasons I could never really understand (you can read more about how this name was born here).
It also struck me as strange that if you ask the average person involved in or near SESAR about what is going on in the project in the context of information management generally and SWIM in particular, you are likely to get a list of work packages and companies involved in working on them but little else.
I at Roger-Wilco have written a lot about SWIM but most of the time I was trying to describe the why with an indication of possible “how” options but that was also not the information we crave so much: what is going on with SWIM?
Into this void came finally information from recently published papers (e.g. from the Stakeholder Consultation Group SCG) that describes not only the why and how of SESAR but also the status as it is now with important details about the work that is ongoing.
Having been involved with SWIM right from the day it was born (hell I can claim part of the fatherhood for this baby), I am now especially pleased to see that the terminology being used to describe the SWIM concept and its practicalities is exactly as we have always intended it to be. This is important because over the years there were several attempts to water down the concept, to change its focus or main principles and there was a very real danger that it would end up like so many good initiatives before it, dead before it had a chance to prove itself. But apparently this danger is now past and those involved in the work to-day are developing SWIM along the correct lines.
I will not bore you with a repeated description of what SWIM is. You can read more about that here. Instead, I will focus on the ongoing activities and their significance.
As you will see, there is plenty to talk about.
Click here to read the full article
Air Traffic Management déjà vu
On 19/10/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Reading Henning’s article and with my up-close-and-intimate involvement in the SESAR definition phase (and the 20 or so years leading up to it) I could not escape a terrible feeling of déjà vu. This was only strengthened when I read the news about ANSP CEOs rumbling that the performance targets of the EU’s Single Sky Package were unrealistic and airlines rumbling that the costs arising from the proposed ADS-B implementing rule were placing an inordinate share on them compared to the burden to be borne by the ANSPs.
These are signs of a toxic mix well known from the past and they bode ill for ATM developments in Europe.
But there is more.
One of the airline associations is very vocal about the need to get financing support for the airlines as they consider the price of SESAR prohibitively expensive. This is all very well, but apparently little is being done to actually find and organize such financing.
IATA, the one organization that in the past successfully influenced ATM development directions by being present everywhere down to the working level, has now basically drawn back and seems to believe that things in the ATM world can be influenced equally successfully by simply issuing policies. This is a fallacy that will cost the airlines dearly. Policies are fine but in practice they are often ignored or interpreted in ways favorable to interests other than those of the airlines. By the time this is discovered, all kinds of binding agreements and decisions will have been made and airline protests will be met, in most cases, with a shrug. You missed the boat folks…
Click here to read the full article
Is SESAR doing what the airlines intended?
On 14/10/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Exclusive interview with Dr. Henning Hartmann
Today we bring you an exclusive interview with Dr. Henning Hartmann, who was, during the SESAR Definition Phase with Lufthansa German Airlines and representing the Airspace Users, he was also the person responsible for the development of the SESAR Concept of Operations (ConOps). He will give us his views on what SESAR is to-day as he sees it and explains why there is cause for some concern.
Henning can you give our readers an impression of what you are feeling today when looking at SESAR and the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) as they are now?
In order to understand my arguments concerning today’s situation, I’ll first have a closer look at the situation as it was during the definition phase.
The SESAR Definition Phase was a multi-stakeholder project consisting of 6 milestones which delivered 6 documents each of which was subject to agreement by the stakeholders. The SESAR Concept of Operations was part of deliverable 3, entitled “The ATM Target System”. It was seen as the driving engine of the future system and consequently to some extent the development process of the concept was THE culmination point of the diverging views of the different stakeholders. Obviously, in the end all stakeholders had to compromise to some extent.
Why did these different views come up?
It makes a huge difference “how” a system is operated and since I was representing the Airspace Users, the Airspace Users operational concept vision did not come up just by accident. It was the result of a structured process reflecting all types of Airspace Users.
Before going to the different views, it is essential to understand how the vision of the Airspace Users was constructed: we looked 15 years ahead, we did analyse different passenger segmentation forecasts and their needs and preferences and how the airlines could respond (in terms of the operational context) to those passenger needs.
Click here to read the full article
European Parliament adopts resolution on sustainable future for transport
On 30/09/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
The European Parliament adopted in July a resolution that sets out the priorities for a sustainable European transport policy in the next ten years. The resolution puts high emphasis on a safer, cleaner and more efficient European transport system but also underlines its economic impact and need for more research. Consequently, the report gives reference to the completion of the Single European Sky and the SESAR program to enhance the EU’s competitiveness and efficiency. The resolution also makes the link between research leading to environmental improvements. Thus, the European Parliament states that for programs such as SESAR, not only research and development activities should be supported but also their application.
Read the resolution here.
Are ATM operational concepts the cause of failure?
On 03/09/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
I have known Jean-Marc Garot, the former director of EUROCONTROL’s Experimental Centre in Paris for a long time. A forward thinker and in many ways a visionary, he retired from EUROCONTROL in 2005. He has now published an interesting article in The Controller magazine with the title “What is an ATM concept?”
I think everyone in Europe and in the US who has ever been involved in the development of operational concepts for air traffic management should read this article. Not because it is so good or so full of revelations from which we can learn but to see just how poorly we have communicated our efforts and how completely things have been misunderstood on various levels of the ATM world and at different ATM organizations.
The article starts off with a nice and even funny summing up of how, it is claimed, experts for concept work are/have been selected. There is indeed some truth in the description and it is also true that there have always been people on the concept groups coming from airlines, ANSPs, industry and what have you who could only think in terms of their own particular activities with little regard for anybody else’s. But those were always a minority. Troublesome yes, but hardly determinant for the final product.
The overwhelming majority of experts in concept work knew what they were about and it was quite common to have airline reps with an ATC background as well as the other way round with ATC folks who were flying on the side.
The article correctly points out that some of the documents produced were indeed overly voluminous… It is a pity that in the very next paragraph 4D Trajectory Management, System Wide Information Management (SWIM) and even air/ground digital link are listed as mere hypotheses, ambiguous descriptions that everyone can agree to and which therefore assume the status of certainties, no longer questioned and on which benefit expectations can be built… without much justification.
Click here to read the full article
New members in the SESAR family
On 20/07/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
A family normally gets new members through marriage, birth, adoption… In SESAR this happens via the less glamorous sounding “association” process. As it has just been announced, SESAR now boasts 13 associate partners who were taken on board on the basis of the recommendations of organizations already part of SESAR. The list of new partners (see the list below) includes some naturals like Boeing and AVTECH (why were they missing in the first place???), three that are in fact distant relatives of existing members (THALES and NATS) and one, the Moroccan Airports Authority that is a truly new face which can potentially open a window on new horizons towards Africa.
Partnership with all relevant aviation players in the modernization of the European air traffic management is the key principle of SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research). As a consequence, the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) endorsed 13 associate partners to contribute to the SESAR work programme. Among others, the Boeing Company, Thales Australia, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency and the Moroccan Airports Authority (ONDA) will from now on participate in the work programme. Associate partners were proposed by SJU members which will remain their primary point of contact.
SESAR’s aim is to bring about an evolution in air traffic management systems, eliminating the fragmented approach of European air traffic management (ATM), bringing both public and private stakeholders together. Since its set-up, the SJU secured the additional involvement of airspace users, staff associations, air forces and the scientific world. With this latest enrichment, the SJU not only broadens the number of stakeholders but includes more organizations from third countries in Europe’s ambitious ATM modernization programme.
“Our new associate partners will bring in their specific experience and know-how. We now have 21 air navigation service providers participating in the EU ATM modernization programme. We are particularly delighted to also welcome non-EU members on board of the SESAR ship; this demonstrates our commitment to developing interoperable solutions”, says Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking.
New SESAR family member - ONDA the Moroccan Airports Authority - Marrakech old...
Click here to read the full article
Three short questions on the SESAR Concept of Operations answered
On 19/07/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Over the past year we have published several posts dealing with SESAR in general and the SESAR concept of operations in particular. Some of those posts voiced concerns and uncertainties. In an exclusive interview with Michael Standar, SJU Chief Air Traffic Management, published here in May 2010, we attempted to answer the concerns… to some extent anyway. In SESAR Magazine Issue 3, published in July 2010, Michael now answers three short questions on the Concept of Operations. We bring you the full text as it appeared in SESAR Magazine in the hope of making the ConOps picture a bit clearer.
Michael, where are we today with the SESAR Concept of
Operations (ConOps)?
The first thing to remember is that the SESAR ConOps was set out in the SESAR Definition Phase. In the SJU ConOps storyboard it was structured into three steps to realize the paradigm shift necessary to modernize the European ATM system. In step 1, we move from the current day to time-based operations, focused on better use of existing technology and optimizing communication between ground and airborne equipment. Step 2 introduces trajectory based operations through the 4D trajectory. As new technology is involved, international standardization bodies and ICAO will be engaged. The third and final step will be a fully integrated performance based ATM System supported by System Wide Information Management, SWIM – the intranet of the air. These three steps are not sequential but start in parallel, aiming at gaining early benefits for the air transport sector.
Click here to read the full article
SESAR unites aviation world for quick green results
On 15/07/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
The SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) selected 18 projects involving 40 airline, airport, ANSP and industry partners to expand the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE). Under the initiative, the SJU supports integrated flight trials and demonstrations validating solutions for the reduction of CO2 emissions for surface, terminal and oceanic flight operations. Seven of the 18 proposals include green gate-to-gate projects, among others between France and the French West Indies. One highlight of the programme will be a series of green transatlantic flights with the Airbus A380, the world’s largest airliner.
AIRE was launched in 2007, designed to improve energy efficiency and aircraft noise in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The SJU is responsible for its management from a European perspective. In 2009, the SJU supported 1,152 green flight trials under the AIRE umbrella. 18 partners in five locations participated in the trials.
As a result of a complementary call for tender, more partners will be involved in AIRE in additional pioneer locations such as Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, Morocco, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. “AIRE 2 means more partners in more locations with more trials for more results. We will demonstrate that green flight operations can be applied everywhere immediately, when partners agree to work together with a common goal. This is not the future, this is SESAR’s reality”, says Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the SJU.
Click here to read the full article
European ATM – Is there anything really new under the Sun?
On 24/06/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Back in March, Daniel Calleja, Director of the European Commission’s Air Transport Directorate, informed his audience at the ATC Global conference in Amsterdam, that “…despite six years’ effort, Europe has yet to achieve its objective of creating a Single European Sky (SES).” Six years indeed… make that thirteen Mr. Calleja.
Thankfully I do not attend that many meetings these days but those I do tend to be teeming with fresh new faces, enthusiastic young experts who sometimes stay long hours to discuss things that we too had discussed at length when we qualified as a fresh new face. I have no doubt about their sincerity or expertise. My concern is about the perception that what they are dealing with is new…
So what is this new ATM system they are trying to create? “A concept predicated on layered planning, based around a strategically derived daily plan and collaborative decision making between the parties involved, evolving towards managing resources rather than demand. Airspace is regarded as a continuum for airspace planning purposes to optimize the available resources… Airspace divisions are based on ATM needs rather then on national boundaries… Free flight airspace is part of the concept… major change of the roles on the ground and in the air… greater use of computer support…” Why am I quoting from the SESAR concept you will ask???
Well, the sad truth is the above quotation is NOT from SESAR or the Single European Sky (SES) but from Edition 1.0 of the European ATM Operational Concept Document, dated 1 March 1997! The foreword of the document lists those involved in its preparation and the list shows an uncanny similarity to the current membership of the SESAR Joint Undertaking. The EC’s DG7 was also there and as I remember, they were pushing really hard for innovative solutions.
Click here to read the full article
SESAR Concept of Operations in limbo?
On 28/05/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by cleo
One of the more unfortunate developments during the SESAR definition phase concerned the Concept of Operations. At first what passed as the concept was basically inadequate and it was only after the insistence of the airspace users that work started on what in the end became the SESAR Concept of Operations or CONOPS. Peculiarly, it was never really recognized as an official deliverable although, again on the insistence of the airspace users, a reference was inserted in one of the official deliverables that pointed to the CONOPS as the basis of everything else.
Few definition phase documents generated so much debate and even enmity as the CONOPS. Its novel nature and truly forward looking ideas were hailed by some, hated by others. In the end the released version, which was in many ways a compromise between the parties concerned, still contained enough guidance to ensure that a system built to realize it would do justice to the needs of future air traffic management.
And now we jump to the present where rumors abound about the SESAR concept work once again being in trouble. Last I heard, people seem to be saying that the concept is currently a blank box in the SESAR work and there will be no ops concept on the table until 2011. What about the original CONOPS? The answer is an enigmatic: they do not like it any more.
Click here to read the full article
Low fare airlines and SESAR team up
On 18/05/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Following an open call for tenders, the SESAR Joint Undertaking today signed a framework contract with the European Low Fares Airlines Association (ELFAA) to include its expertise in the execution of the SESAR work program. For this contract, the association has secured the confirmed participation of three ELFAA airline members: Ryanair, Jet 2.com and Flybe. This marks the latest addition of external partners to SESAR, the European ATM modernization program.
The mission of the SESAR Program is to enhance the capacity, safety and efficiency of the European ATM network while reducing the environmental impact per flight by 10%. To do so, the SESAR Joint Undertaking built an effective partnership between airlines, airports, manufacturing industry and Air Navigation Service Providers. Apart from its 15 members and Eurocontrol, the SESAR Joint Undertaking has so far concluded contracts with staff associations, major airlines, business and general aviation, as well as air transport associations. The academic world is integrated through a dedicated work package and the SESAR Scientific Committee.
“Having ELFAA on board SESAR is essential. We need the involvement of all air transport actors to ensure applicability and acceptance of the SESAR technologies and procedures. The diversity of our members and partners is the key to success of our program and ELFAA helps us to close one more gap”, said Patrick Ky, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking.
Click here to read the full article
SESAR’s progress – real achievements, real issues
On 17/05/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Exclusive interview with Michael Standar, Chief Operational Concepts and Validation, SESAR Joint Undertaking.
Michael Standar
Since the inception of the current phase of the SESAR program, we have come to expect regular updates published by the SESAR Joint Undertaking telling the ATM community how things were going. SESAR has introduced a refreshingly innovative way of communicating with the world, making use of all the modern communications means from electronic newsletters to the social media.
Communications issued so far have focused on the achievements but like all major projects, SESAR is also not without problems and issues that they need to address. This is normal and problems are there to be solved. The main thing for managers is to figure out how to solve the problems and not necessarily to avoid them at any cost.
In this exclusive interview with Michael Standar, Chief Operational Concepts and Validation, we talk about the inevitable problems and how the SJU is going about solving them.
It is said that the reduction in traffic has reduced ANSP revenue and as a result, ANSPs had to cut back their resources. As a consequence, they were forced to allocate to the SESAR work experts who are less familiar with the discussions in the Definition Phase, less familiar with the exact meaning of the Concept of Operations. Does this have an impact on the work and if yes, how will it be countered?
SESAR is a major programme including all aviation stakeholders. Through its construction of the three phases, there will always be new faces joining in the work. But we place a great emphasis on sharing the exact meaning of the ConOps through innovative internal communication features.
This being said, we are prepared to share and communicate to each and every individual working in or with SESAR the concept implications in terms of change in procedures and systems. This will be a continuous learning process for many years to come.
Click here to read the full article
Will public funds be available to help SESAR along?
On 12/05/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
If nothing else, the recent wholesale grounding of aviation in Europe will have been an eye opener even to the most recalcitrant and aircraft hating citizens and politicians of the old continent. Some people still tend to regard aviation as a toy of the rich and transport for holidaymakers which damages the environment and should be taxed heavily. Well, with nothing flying for a few days everyone had to realize that aviation is an essential and integral element of our daily life and this is true also for those who never set foot on an aircraft. Car parts, produce and millions of other items normally carried by air were left undelivered with no alternative means of carriage.
This was a timely reminder not least because the SESAR Joint Undertaking is seriously looking into how public funds may be made available to support the deployment of the new SESAR technologies.
The total cost of SESAR is put at around 35 billion Euros of which 20 billion is to be spent by the airspace users to equip with the new capabilities. And herein lies the catch!
Click here to read the full article
EUROCONTROL reorganizing – is this good for you?
On 02/05/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Visiting EUROCONTROL these days is a bit like entering a five star hotel during off-season in a bad year. Empty offices at every turn and talk in the corridors that tends to focus more on individual futures than on trajectory based operations and other exotic ideas.
Yes, EUROCONTROL is reorganizing (again…) but they are also cutting loose most contract personnel, and even the permanent staff is being reduced. One might say this is a sign of the times – cost cutting being the name of the game everywhere. Like in all organizations, there was a lot of deadwood at EUROCONTROL, but it was and is a unique European institution concentrating ATM skills like no other place on the continent. When an icon like that decides to change itself in fundamental ways, there must be something serious in the air.
Of course EUROCONTROL has to adapt to the new environment as dictated by the Single European Sky and SESAR. One can only hope that this adaptation will result in something better and more efficient. But I have my doubts.
I remember some years ago people used to joke that if EUROCONTROL does not get its act together, the superb headquarters building in Haren will be turned into a great conference hotel which hotel room starved Brussels would no doubt have welcomed with open arms. But jokes apart, most of the real or perceived “failures” of EUROCONTROL back then were not due to incompetence on the part of their experts. Far from it! These experts came with truly forward looking ideas and proposals and some of those are now part of the more advanced features of SESAR to-day! So why were those ideas not implemented back then, years and decades ago? Mainly because European States blocked most of them cold. Why? Because those advanced ideas would have required the kind of continent wide cooperation SES and SESAR are now proposing and that was anathema to most ANSPs keen on protecting their own turf. That things have not changed much until quite recently is shown clearly in the extreme difficulties the European Commission has had in pushing the Single European Sky towards acceptance.
Click here to read the full article
SESAR video – too much focus on problems, too little on solutions, misses CPDLC work already done
On 13/03/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
The SESAR Joint Undertaking has produced a short video meant to explain the essence of the project. It is obviously destined for a lay audience and this has put limits on the amount of technical detail that can be described without the danger of losing people’s attention.
The story is framed by an SAS flight from Stockholm to Brussels as it happens to-day with hints here and there how it will be once SESAR has done its job. And this is where the video is a bit of a let-down. With most of the characters describing the current problems, the focus shifts from the future to the current fragmented environment that SESAR is meant to remedy. As such, the video becomes a bit like the scores of others in the past which were made for previous efforts to repair European air traffic management (remember EATCHIP?), little more than a list of existing grievances with rather vague hints as to how things will be better in the future.
It is not easy to make movies on complicated subjects for a lay audience but they should have been given a bit more credit for their intelligence and a bit more detail on how things will in fact be repaired.
It is obvious that a lot of the aircraft sequences were provided by Airbus which is fine except that seeing all those aircraft flying in Airbus house colors is not necessarily the right message in terms of Airbus’ wide customer base.
I am sure a lot of experts at EUROCONTROL, ARINC, the FAA and other organizations will shake their heads and may even grab a pen and write to the SJU when they hear the narrator say that Maastricht is testing Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC), “the first component of the data link communications that SESAR will develop” giving the impression that this is something new brought by SESAR. This is a particular let-down and I guess is nothing more than an unfortunate use of words in the script… but still. Not crediting the huge amount of international work already carried out is most regrettable.
All in all, I think this video does not do justice to what SASAR is and where it is going. Even if we consider that it is for a lay audience, it is not as good as it could and should be. Certainly the strange text about CPDLC could earn it a Worst Movie of the Season Award but let’s be kind. The video has good material in it and by refocusing things on the future and giving CPDLC credit where it is due, take two of this movie could even be enjoyable.
Check out the video here.
Is there a lesson for SESAR in the A400M?
On 24/02/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by pbn
In case you do not know, the A400M is the military transport Europe has been trying to put together for a few years now and which has recently managed to get airborne. In body anyway because the future of its spirit is far from assured. Why the military needed a new propeller driven heavy transport when they had Boeing’s C-17 already up and running is something of a puzzle… I guess someone somewhere must have thought a big collaborative project like this would be good for European industry.
The Airbus Military A400M
Well, they were absolutely right. The A400M project, beset by delays, incredible cost overruns and government meddling on an unprecedented scale, has shown all the weaknesses current European co-operation can master when States set their minds to it. True, this time the scenery was provided by the military but many of the parties involved have a civilian “face” also, so the outcome is of general interest.
Click here to read the full article
SESAR and multimedia
On 22/01/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
The personal level visual communications facilities brought to us by modern technology have changed how we as individuals express ourselves and to an even higher degree how big companies talk to us. Traditional ads now sometimes resemble animated feature films and the on-screen safety briefing on some aircraft make us wonder whether we were watching a Pixar release and candidate for the aviation golden globe…
It is not surprising then that SESAR, the big European air traffic management research program, also makes full use of what multimedia has to offer…
Go to their multimedia gallery and you are greeted with video interviews (the latest just added is with Florian Guillermet, the Chief Program Officer), cute screensavers and even a number of wallpapers! These latter have also been added to recently so check them out if you fancy having the SESAR logo (and that of the EC and EUROCONTROL) lurk in the corner of your screen. To their credit, the logos are small and discreet.
I have heard people question the reasoning behind this multimedia drive. Personally I find it a new, refreshing way of keeping everyone aware of this important project, an approach to communications that is right where it should be these days.
SESAR will have plenty to communicate and they might as well do it in an enjoyable way.
Who is in charge here?
On 13/01/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by pbn
Those of us who have served the airline industry know full well that what may appear as a monolithic industry (all airlines fly aircraft after all, do they not?), is in fact a multitude of differing business models, interests, attitudes, readiness to invest in new things, inertia, vision and what have you. Even within the group of legacy carriers or the group of low cost folks, the diversity is immense.
In the past, the airline industry booked its most significant successes in influencing the political scene as well as air traffic management when it was able to speak with one voice. That voice on the world-wide stage used to be IATA. The most spectacular flops were booked when dissent in the family silenced the common voice. Just think of the Mode S Enhanced Surveillance debacle if you want to have proof.
Click here to read the full article
