In Place of Praise
On 12/01/2012, in Tower chronicles, by lajos
The end of 2011 is in fact the end of an epoch in the history of Hungarian air traffic control. I do not want to qualify this epoch, future generations might do that in the fullness of time. The fact remains, an important generation of controllers have retired. I call them the “beat-generation”. About 40 people have, willingly or reluctantly, chosen for retirement in 2011 mainly to avoid the consequences of the altered pension rules kicking in this year.
They were lucky in this also, like in so many things during the past 40 years. Our generation will miss out on any favorable terms of retirement, exactly because of the huge numbers in the “beat-generation” causing the strain on the State retirement fund to grow exponentially. This is why the age limit for retirement is being raised, a fact that affects our generation especially hard since the age limit is climbing in front of our very noses.
The “beat-generation” was lucky also in arriving at the airport at just the right time. With low traffic, they did not take long to learn the tricks of the trade. I have heard from them many times that they became air traffic controllers more or less by accident, they were working at the airport where they heard that aircraft could not only be flown but also controlled… Of course as time passed by, they grew with the traffic. They had another ace up their sleeves. In those decades, controllers were still a team, they knew how to stand together and protect their interests. This was the case when we came home from the ATC course in Riga after almost three years. They knew that our knowledge was superior to theirs (not only because of Riga) and they responded by simply closing ranks. At the courses held on home base they were present as instructors and they did their best to make us hate this business and to discourage us from trying to be more clever than they were.
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Collaborative Departure Queue Management (CDQM) – What is this?
On 26/12/2011, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
Although the concept of Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) originated in the US, Europe did leapfrog ahead with its initiative called Airport CDM (A-CDM). A-CDM has been implemented at a number of European airports with varying degrees of success and it seems that the momentum of implementation has slowed somewhat. On the other hand, most everybody agrees that A-CDM, if done properly, does bring the benefits predicted by the early cost-benefit analyses.
While A-CDM has several elements, practically all the benefits arise from the shared information and resulting better decisions while the chief conceptual basis of A-CDM is embodied in the milestones approach. The milestones are in fact defined events and corresponding statuses that must be achieved at defined times as the flight is going through the turnaround process. The turnaround process is then managed proactively by all the parties involved who share the same view and understanding of the process and the consequences of not meeting a given milestone. In fact, the purpose of A-CDM is to make the operation more predictable which reduces unnecessary queuing at the runway.
Of course things did not stand still in the US either. While the basic principles of the A-CDM concept have been adopted it was necessary to steer developments in a direction that took account of the fundamental differences between Europe and the US environment. These concern mainly the more active role aircraft operators play in assigning and controlling airport resources like gates and ramp areas as well as the availability of the FAA Command Center which, unlike the CFMU in Europe, has real authority to dynamically manage the National Airspace System.
The FAA has developed a Surface CDM Concept of Operations which provides the overall framework for CDM implementation in the airport context, much like the A-CDM Concept of Operations does in Europe. Collaborative Departure Queue Management (CDQM) is one element of the Surface CDM Concept, which has actually been tested in the US (in Memphis among others).
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My Fifth Mistake as an Air Traffic Controller
On 23/11/2011, in ATC world, by jim
Yes, here I am again. You’d think by now I would stop this self-flagellation, but this is not for me. I record these incidents so you may see the mistake and avoid the same or similar in your life. I noted in my last missile that pride was a key ingredient in most of my mistakes. So it was and is.
Altimetry, a simple system; Know the pressure of the atmosphere and you can accurately judge distance above the surface. But we humans have made it a bit more difficult than stated. We have different methods of measurement. Some measure in inches others measure in centimeters. Compounding this is the insistence of some to measure height above sea level and others above the ground level. In the parlance of the time QNH and QFE.
Because of these anomalies the controller at Rhein-Main in 1957 had to have available the QNH and QFE in both Inches of mercury and Millibars of mercury. This means four numbers. The field elevation at Frankfurt International Airport was 272 feet Mean Sea Level. Therefore a QNH reading of 29.92 inches becomes a QFE of 272 feet less, or 29.65 and the concomitant millibar numbers, 1012.3 and —–.
Each hour when the weather observer recorded the observation on a Dimiphone recording, the QNH and QFE would be given in both inches and millibars. Those numbers would then be written on a backlit Plexiglas placard and posted so everyone in the control room could see the placard.
For those who are interested, the QNH and QFE three letter groups are from the days of Morse code transmission of information. They are from the list of “Q” signals. QDM is the magnetic course to a station, QSY is, “Change your radio frequency to xxxx“. There is a long list of these abbreviations. Many were still used as shorthand phraseology in radiotelephony in the 50′s and 60′s, especially in the international aviation system.
With all that as preface, this is the incident as it happened:
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Island hopping with Travel Service
On 18/11/2011, in The lighter side, by heading370
Summer months are of crucial importance for all airlines but they are even more so for those in the charter business. Airliner World was happy to accept the invitation of one of those charter companies, Travel Service Hungary – an affiliate of its owner Travel Service A.S. – to check how their operations are conducted from their Budapest base.
The Czech company was founded in 1997 and became one of the fastest growing Central European charter operators. In 2008 the company transported 2.8 million passengers using a fleet of 18 aircraft. The company has 2 Boeing B737-500, 12 B737-800 (of which OK-TVJ and OK-TVK were delivered brand new), 2 Airbus A320 and two B737-800 on wet lease. They have been present in Hungary since 2001 and operate about 32 medium and long haul flights a week from Hungary while employing 21 full time pilots at that base.
On a beautiful Sunday morning in July at Budapest-Ferihegy (ICAO:LHBP, IATA: BUD) Terminal 2B I met one of the airline’s young captains Peter Buliczka and his crew getting ready for an interesting trip. The flight’s first stop will be at Heraklion, Nikos Kazantzakis airport (ICAO: LGIR, IATA: HER) Crete then we will fly on to Rhodes (Rodos) Diagoras (ICAO: LGRP IATA: RHO) before heading back to Budapest. Some time ago the airline would have operated two separate flights to these two destinations, but because of the falling demand this summer travel agencies struggled to fill these flights every week.
Captain Buliczka introduced me to the entire crew: the captain will be assisted by First Officer Attila Lanc in the cockpit, while in the cabin the usual crew of four will be supplemented by two young trainee flight assistant colleagues under the supervision of Purser Zoltan Koltai.
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Check out the Aero Glossary
On 14/11/2011, in Just to let you know..., by steve
It is probably the sign of the times but we are being inundated by abbreviations. Just watch your son or daughter write an SMS and you will see how they have caught on to the old secret familiar also in aviation: use abbreviations to express what you want to say and you can say much more in the same space of time… or the SMS as it were.
The old Q-code system is a good example of how abbreviations can be used to communicate effectively when the bandwidth is limited and it is important not to be ambiguous. That aviation still has this propensity to invent new abbreviations is probably due to a family trait that goes back to before even the Q-codes were introduced.
But it is not only abbreviations that make life difficult. Technology is progressing so fast that it is well nigh impossible to keep up. New terms keep coming at us and it is an achievement in itself if we can familiarize ourselves at least with all the new things popping up in our specialist area.
But help is at hand. Check out the free Aero Glossary here. This wonderful repository contains 12000 abbreviations, more than 2000 aircraft codes, more than 8000 airline codes and much much more, with their coverage increasing by the hour. A really nice touch is that you can access the free glossary not only from your PC but also your mobile devices as there are versions for Apple, Android and Windows Phone.
All this is brought to you by Compass Innovative Solutions Ltd. who will be also happy to receive your contributions to the glossary.
Before you ask, let me answer the obvious question. With Wikipedia around, why do we need the Aero Glossary? Wiki is great but I like the focused way Aero Glossary works. It also brings you, in an easy to navigate way, things that do not fit well with Wiki’s format. Just think of country or airline codes or ATC call-signs and you will see what I mean.
This is a very nice initiative and I will be using it all the time.
TITAN – The best game in town
On 14/11/2011, in TITAN, by steve
No, this is not something new for your Wii or other gaming platform… sorry.
True, experts participating in the TITAN project gathered in Budapest’s Airport Hotel for a gaming exercise but this was serious business. The project has reached an important phase in its development: it was time to validate the services and information defined as the basis of the TITAN concept of operations.
As you will recall, TITAN is about optimizing the aircraft turnaround process by making it more predictable. This is achieved by creating a picture of the turnaround that shows much more detail than was previously the case. TITAN uses a service oriented architecture and some elements of the SWIM concept have also been incorporated. All information is shared and users access information via subscriptions and in accordance with the access rights defined as one of the characteristics of the various data elements.
Gaming is more or less what its title suggests: you get some folks together, assign them various roles that correspond to the roles in the real life environment you are trying to validate and they “play” out their role as pre-written scenarios evolve. In the case of TITAN, the whole affair started with the selected participants being asked to subscribe to the information they thought would be required to perform their roles. So, the persons acting as ground handler, airport operator, airline and ATC had to stop and think what exactly they would need to facilitate the turnaround, knowing of course that asking for too much information is both expensive and can lead to information overload.
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Landing Gear Problems – Seen from the Cockpit
On 03/11/2011, in Life around runways, by phil
“It’s too much to say I am a national hero, I am absolutely sure that any one of our pilots could have landed the plane and the result would have been the same because we train for situations like this on simulators”, So said Captain Wrona after the wheels-up landing of the LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 at Warsaw. And he is absolutely right. No pilot I have ever known has wanted to be a hero; he or she just wants a quiet life and to do a good professional job, as do our ATC colleagues.
As a counter view to the previous article giving the view from the Control Tower, I would like to say a few words about how this incident would have been seen from the cockpit.
I have never operated ETOPS aircraft and so will not comment on the wisdom or otherwise of continuing across the Atlantic with one of the hydraulic systems out of action. I operated Boeing 747s where we had the luxury of having 4 engines and 4 hydraulic systems. But what I would like to comment on is how one handles a wheels-up landing and some of the decisions that would have had to be made by the flight crew.
The first thing is that no-one would have expected the alternate gear lowering system to fail. This consists of a simple electrical system which releases the uplocks so that gravity and aerodynamic loads will effect a free fall of all the undercarriage legs. The failure of this system would only have become apparent during the initial approach when the crew were ready to lower the gear. At this point there would probably have been sufficient fuel on board for somewhere between 1 and 2 hours flying time. Thus there was time to assess the situation, to consult the airline’s maintenance department, try a number of other methods of lowering the gear, to burn off fuel so as to reduce the landing weight and minimise the residual fuel in the tanks, and to prepare for an emergency landing and subsequent evacuation.
No-one wants to have to deal with an emergency of any sort, but these things are a fact of life and are trained for on the simulator. Most (all) aircraft manufacturers recommend, in these situations, landing with all available gears extended.
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Emergence – Chapters from the history of Hungarian air traffic control
On 21/10/2011, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Jozsef Torocsik
Publisher: Athenaeum
ISBN: 978-963-293-123-4
We usually only review books written in English but every now and then an exception is warranted as in the case of Jozsef Torocsik’s wonderful book about air traffic control in Hungary. I hope an English translation will be available soon because it is simply unfair that non-Hungarian speakers should be denied the pleasure of reading what is arguably the most enjoyable account of ATC in Central Europe.
The beauty of this book is that whether you have an aviation background or not, you will understand every detail Jozsi is talking about as he takes you to the secret world of air traffic control and the wider pastures of ATC training in Hungary.
His own background in air traffic control comes vividly alive and we travel with him to Riga for training and get tears in our eyes when he relates the inevitable tragedies that are also part of life in this otherwise superbly safe industry.
The title of the Hungarian version of the book is of course not Emergence… this is just my attempt to translate the cute play on words the original Hungarian title represents. They took the Hungarian equivalent of “Emergency” (Veszhelyzet) and removed the V whereby it became Eszhelyzet, something that could best be translated as a “Mindful Situation”.
I know the environment Jozsi is writing about well and I can tell you, his stories are spot on.
If you are a Hungarian speaker, get a copy. If not, check back often, we will tell you when the English version becomes available.
In the meantime, why not read some more stories from Hungarian ATC in the Same time, same place… category of Roger-Wilco.
Technologists vs. Economists
On 21/10/2011, in Managers' corner, by steve
It is not a secret that some people considered Boeing’s decision to forego the New Small Aircraft and follow Airbus’ lead in re-engining their existing product a poor one and something that will delay the appearance of a really novel aircraft by a decade if not more. I must confess that I am one of those who would have loved to see the two airframers rush to bring the single-aisle of the future to market.
Commenting on the same subject in a recent issue of Aviation Week, Richard Aboulafia , VP for analysis at the Teal Group, while approving the Boeing decision, divided the world in two groups of people. There are the Technologists and the Economists.
For Technologists, “aviation is a technology driven business, with new equipment stimulating demand and therefore creating its own market”. Economists on the other hand “view technology as a means to an end: profit”. He also points out that most airlines and aircraft companies are run by Economists.
Reading this very interesting article, I stopped to do some soul searching. Which camp did I really belong to?
Some years ago, still as an assistant director infrastructure at IATA, I was called to hold afternoon-length sessions for ATC supervisors at EUROCONTROL’s school in Luxemburg with the aim of outlining to them what the airline industry wanted from air traffic management in the future. I usually started out shocking them by the statement: airlines were just a business and air traffic management must behave in a way that facilitates that business. By proxy, ATC was just a part of a complicated business environment.
I have also often argued for having a business case for just about everything… New channel spacing? Business case. Air/ground digital link services? Business case. Mode S Enhanced Surveillance? No, I did not want that even if there was a business case (there never has been, not a credible one anyway).
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Air Traffic Control – Your Safety in the Air? Or something more…
On 13/09/2011, in ATC world, by steve
Back in the early 70s I was the vice-president of the Hungarian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (HATCA) and we were busy searching for a good slogan for the association. In the end, we decided to use an adapted version of the slogan put out by the Canadians: “Air Traffic Control means you will have a safe flight”. The HATCA version became: “Air Traffic Control – Your safety in the air”.
Many many years later, when I was working in the airline Project Coordination Platform supporting the SESAR definition phase I introduced the idea of the “business trajectory”. This term referred to the trajectory defined by an airline, the one they wanted to fly and which best expressed their business intentions in relation to the flight concerned.
While the airlines really liked the idea, there was an immediate outcry from the controllers involved in the definition phase. How could I mention the term “business” in the same sentence with trajectory and air traffic control! ATC was there to ensure safety and business had nothing to do with it.
Recalling my time as HATCA president, I did not blame them. After all, when we were looking for the logo, we too highlighted safety as the aim of ATC and the word “business” did not cross our minds. We did this in spite of the fact that ICAO has been saying right from the start that the aim of air traffic services was to maintain a safe and efficient flow of air traffic.
Of course a lot has changed since then and while the importance of safety has not diminished, the relative importance of efficiency has grown tremendously. It is not an exaggeration to say that safety and efficiency are equally important if this industry is to survive. Concentrating mainly on safety is not enough by far… Our thinking must change so that the terms “safety” and “business” may coexist peacefully in our minds.
While the awareness to maintain safety is generally high in the ATM world, the business aspect still tends to be considered a necessary evil, even an affront to people anointed, after all, to uphold safety.
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Initial Tailored Arrivals – What is this?
On 05/09/2011, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
We have all heard about Tailored Arrivals. But what are Initial Tailored Arrivals? The following article from the FAA explains it for us.
An Initial Tailored Arrival (ITA) is a pre-negotiated arrival path through airspace of multiple air traffic control (ATC) facilities. The ITA limits vectoring and minimizes the time the aircraft spends maintaining level flight during its descent. The concept has matured during four years of demonstrations, and we will make the transition to normal operations in 2011.
The pilot initiates an ITA with a request to ATC while the aircraft still is in its cruise phase. If an ITA is available, the controller sends the pilot a clearance that includes a descent profile with speed and altitude restrictions, as applicable. The clearance is sent as data, which limits ITAs at present to aircraft equipped with the Future Air Navigation System (FANS) for communications over oceans. The pilot loads the clearance directly into the aircraft’s flight management system, which controls the descent.
ITAs differ from other types of Optimized Profile Descents (OPDs) in that they are assigned by controllers to specific approaches and tailored to the characteristics of a limited number of FANS-equipped aircraft types – 747s, 777s, A330s, A340s and A380s. They begin at the top of the descent and, when completed, control the aircraft all the way down to the runway. By contrast, other types of OPDs, such as Area Navigation arrival procedures, are published for all users and must serve a wide variety of aircraft types.
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6 July 2011 – 75 years of ATC in the US
On 15/07/2011, in Anniversaries, by steve
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration marked the 75th anniversary of federal air traffic control ON 6 July as American aviation experiences its safest period ever. Since its inception with 15 workers operating in just three control centers in 1936, the agency has become a world leader, pioneering safety improvements and developing new technology to speed up flights, save fuel and improve safety.
“The United States has the safest air transportation system in the world. But as the last 75 years show, we will never stop working to make our system even safer,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
“As a pilot, I am in awe of the aviation safety and technological advancements that have been made in the last 75 years,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “NextGen represents the next milestone in aviation innovation. The FAA is committed to transforming our national airspace system so passengers can reach their destinations even more safely and more efficiently than they do today.”
Federal air traffic control began on July 6, 1936, when the Bureau of Air Commerce took over the operation of the first airway traffic control centers at Newark, N.J., Chicago and Cleveland. Faced with a growing demand for air travel, the 15 employees who made up the original group of controllers took radio position reports from pilots to plot the progress of each flight, providing no separation services. At the time, the fastest plane in the commercial fleet was the Douglas DC-3, which could fly coast-to-coast in about 17 hours while carrying 21 passengers.
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Bright sunshine from historic Ferihegy
On 30/05/2011, in Flashback, by steve
I guess young people to-day are enjoying their days working at Budapest Ferihegy Airport as we did when we were young and felt that the whole world was ours. There was bright sunshine in those narrow corridors even on rainy days, making even the government-issue gray office doors look somehow inviting.
Of course the sphere came not from the building but the people working there, the people who often did not feel the need to take a holiday because they liked their work so much! We were an enthusiastic lot that is for sure.
It is difficult to pick any one person to write about and not worry that I hurt the others, after all, they all had a story to tell that would deserve a place on Roger-Wilco. Come to think of it though, there are a few who were so well liked and so completely part of the scenery that writing about them would feel natural to everyone else.
The story of Istvan Toth (nickname in Hungarian Totyi) will no doubt bring back memories for most of us old-timers and perhaps give some guidance to those belonging to the younger generation.
Totyi, in the middle up front, circa 1972
Totyi was hired by Malev on 17 December 1969 and he started work in the department that provided the air traffic control service in Hungary. Yes, back then the national airline was running ATC… When the Air Traffic and Airport Administration (LRI) was set up in 1973, he continued there and finally retired on 1 February 2008 from HungaroControl, the ANSP that was formed from the ATS parts of LRI in 2002.
He has spent 40 years and 155 days in aviation and I think that he was one of the best known people at Ferihegy Airport. You know, the kind of guy who, if seen standing next to the pope, would have visitors asking: who is that guy next to Totyi?
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Aircraft turnaround made visible from a TBO/SOA perspective
On 29/04/2011, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) are two concepts rather new to air traffic management (ATM) and apparently they continue to cause some head scratching when it comes to agreeing what TBO really means or how to define services in the ATM context. In this article I will attempt to explain a few relevant aspects of those concepts and will also try to visualize the concepts using the aircraft turnaround as an example.
Why the aircraft turnaround? Because we see that in spite of the original SESAR Concept of Operations having made clear that the trajectories of flights performed by the same aircraft are in fact always connected via the given airframe, some experts are now laboring to show that this is so and are trying to bring in new constructs to account for this “connection”. The trajectory does go through important metamorphoses during the turnaround and so using that phase of the operation gives us the opportunity to examine TBO and SOA in all their glory.
But first a few basics.
The concept of services.
“Service” is a word that can mean different things depending upon the context in which it is being used. In general, the context is based upon a consumer/supplier relationship. Further, a hierarchy of services can exist with, for example, a high-level service being made up of a number of lower level sub-categories of services. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that the nature, scope and detailed characteristics associated with each service are clear and unambiguous each time it is used, including defining who is supplying what to whom.
Services may be defined from a business perspective or an IT perspective.
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A Lifetime of Chances
On 11/04/2011, in Bookshelf, by steve
By Mary Chance VanScyoc
Publisher: Parkwood Press, Wichita, Kansas, USA
ISBN: 0-9649065-0-3
I do not know how many air traffic controllers have taken the trouble to write up their story (I guess there are not so many of them) but I am very happy that Mary did. Her book may look simple and the washed out photos on the cover may not look very promising but appearances are often misleading. After reading a few chapters you slowly realize that you are holding a rare gem in your hands.
She does not give up her secrets easily. You have to work for the privilege. On the first few pages of the book Mary takes you through her impressive family tree and you learn, among others, the origins of the rather unusual VanScyoc and Chance names. Her clipped and crisp style feels a bit rough at the edges but you soon acquire a taste for it and you start appreciating just how accurately this style reflects the rough and tumble life she had as a child in rural America. I do not know how she does it but those staccato sentences precisely convey the emotions, sights and even smells of her world… when she says Spring, you feel the gentle breeze and smell the fresh grass.
A girl who cares more for her pilot license than the new sheer nylons she was given as a present to make her “more lady-like” (a big mistake, she has never put them on), it was quite natural that Mary should try for a profession hitherto closed for women. She became an air traffic controller in an age where the skies were still filled with DC-4s and its kin and I wonder what she means when she says “traffic at our airport was quite heavy”… But then she mentions several times how they had to rely on the Aldis lamp to send light signals to the pilots, that military aircraft were also mixed in for good measure and you start to appreciate why, even if the numbers may not have been huge in absolute terms, the complexity of the traffic, to use a term born decades after her time, must have made it feel really heavy.
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Headache
On 06/04/2011, in Perspectives, by steve
Every so often I wake with a splitting headache which is bad enough as it tends to persist the whole day… Even worse however is the rather somber view I have at times like that of our beloved aviation world.
When I think of airports, I see not the runways and the aircraft parked at the gates… I see expensive supermarkets where finding your gate is difficult not because there are so many of them but because you have to wade through shops selling stuff at “tax-free prices” that are still double of what you would pay on Main Street and because the airport will not post the bloody gate numbers until the last minute to keep you in the shopping area that much longer. Very naughty because passengers sometimes forget that they are there to travel and not to make the airport richer with the consequence that they will be late at the gate and possibly delay the flight (or have their baggage unloaded and be left behind). With more and more of their revenue coming from the concessions, who could blame the airports for often concentrating more on selling to the passengers while giving only the minimum they can get away with to their supposedly main customers, the airlines. It is remarkable that one of the main achievements of SESAR will be the full integration of airports into the air traffic management system. I could have sworn aircraft departed from and arrived on runways at airports for decades and that this integration had taken place many years ago. No Sir, that was not the case. Airport operating companies are profit oriented and very competitive and until recently they very successfully kept out of the ATM fold lest their peculiar ideas about operating aircraft be corrupted by “outside” influences. The ideal airline for an airport would be one with no aircraft… The passengers would come to the airport, shop and dine and shop some more and then go home… Aircraft are such a pain in the six o’clock. They are noisy, need a lot of space and their operators are in constant financial stress so the prices the airport can charge is limited. Walking through some airports these days I get the feeling these guys are transforming the facility into a shopping mall and the flying bit is becoming almost incidental.
A few years ago I was crossing the plaza in front of Amsterdam Airport and a guy with a big suitcase approached me with desperation in his eyes: Sir, he asked, where is the airport here? Where indeed!
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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.
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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.
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Changes are coming to a tower near you – the Distant Aerodrome Control Service
On 04/03/2011, in Life around runways, by steve
DFS, the German ANSP will be introducing its Distant Aerodrome Control Service for the first time at ATC Global Amsterdam (8 to 10 March). Using the Distant Aerodrome Control Service, aerodrome controllers can switch between the display of visual information and sensor data. They are no longer primarily reliant on the direct out-of-window view. Aerodrome control is now possible both from distant locations as well as under poor visibility. What’s more: DFS is also showing its modular PHOENIX Tower Automation Suite and additional ATM solutions.
The distant aerodrome control solution provides the controller with a combination of visual data on the one hand, as well as instrument and sensor data on the other. This combination allows the controller to readily review the air and ground traffic situation at the airport and in its vicinity. High-resolution pictures from video cameras installed at the aerodrome deliver an artificial real-time view. By means of a monitor wall attached above the regular console screens, the controller can track aircraft on the apron and runway as well as zoom in as necessary. The real external view is replicated as precisely as possible.
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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.
The Great SID/STAR Phraseology Fiasco
On 24/02/2011, in View from the left seat, by Alex1
ICAO HQ, Montreal
Most of us find the workings of ICAO pretty strange. The constant repetition of States’ sovereignty, with its assumption that they actually know what they are talking about, is quaint, rather than obviously dangerous. The glacial speed of progress, with timescales measured in years for quite minor textual changes, can be exasperating, but nothing is quite as baffling to me as this extraordinary saga of the change to the SID /STAR phraseology.
It may be that there are some out there who have not come across this piece of upside down logic, so here is a quick summary. For years (since Pontius was a pilot) the basic rule concerning clearances involving a change of level, was that the new clearance cancels the old. So if the previous descent clearance was to, say, ‘FL150 level 20 miles south of X’ and the next clearance received was just ‘FL 100’, this cancels the requirement to be at FL 150 20 miles south of X. If ATC still want you to observe that restriction, they must repeat it with the new clearance. The exact wording is (note the six levels of paragraph nesting!):
Clear? You’d think so. You might also think that this was a rather important understanding. So what are to make of the following in the current version of Doc 4444, PANS ATM, Amendment 15 dated November 2007, which given ICAO’s normal pace must have been discussed for a solid three years previously?
Translated into everyday speak, this means that if you are flying a SID with say an initial cleared level of 6000ft (you can tell I am familiar with London…) and ATC clear you to FL 110, under this rule you have to maintain 6000ft, until the end of the SID profile, wherever that is, unless you are told otherwise. This is of course the opposite of what you would do at any other time. What the ATCO meant you to do was to climb immediately to FL110
Click here to read the full article
Women in ATC – Echoes from the past
On 20/02/2011, in Women in ATC, by steve
The subject of women in air traffic control is dear to my heart for several reasons one of which is that I did play a small role in setting the scene for girls to be eventually accepted as ATC cadets in Hungary. The real achievement belongs to the ladies themselves who completed the fight but I do have fond memories of the first steps we took and which were anything but easy.
Anyway, with this background it was only natural that my blog should also take up the subject and it is with real pleasure that I noted just how much interest there is for it amongst you.
This time I would like to share with you some material kindly provided by one of our readers, Evon Russell, who is distinguished by being the daughter of one of the first women air traffic controllers while her dad was also a controller!
Her mom, Marian McKenna flew west several years ago and she was recently followed by another woman controller, Mary Elizabeth Chance VanScyoc who passed away on 9 February. These two ladies are special because they were the first and second female controllers in the US. It is commonly thought that Mary was the first but Marian often said to her daughter that she was in fact the first, even if the difference had only been a few days or weeks. I have no means to ascertain the facts and in a way this is probably not too important anyway. Or is it?
Click here to read the full article
Obituary – Mary Elizabeth (Chance) VanScyoc
On 12/02/2011, in Women in ATC, by steve
The lady recognized by most accounts as the first woman controller in the US has passed away.
VanScyoc, Mary Elizabeth (Chance), 91, passed away Wednesday, February 9, 2011. Mary was born on Dec 26, 1919 to Gerald and Lois Chance in Wichita. She obtained her pilots license at age 20, graduated from Wichita University and became the first female air traffic controller in the United States in June of 1942. Mary married Evart Breece VanScyoc on October 10, 1947 in Wichita. She taught girls P.E. and started an aviation class in Augusta from 1961-1974. Mary wrote a book entitled “A Lifetime of Chances” and was inducted into the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame in 2002. Survivors include her daughters Betty Carson of Wichita and Martha Shaw and her husband Mark of Gainesville, Florida; five grandchildren Danny (Tifyne) Carter, Paula (Sam) Holland; David (Kira) Carter; Ronda (Robert) Thomas and Gina (Curtis) Baxter and 14 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; spouse; son Gary; brother Richard Harold Chance and a sister Geraldine Chance. Visitation will be held Sunday, February 13, from 3-5 p.m. at the funeral home. Funeral service will be at Faith Christian Church, 2110 West 45th Street, South in Wichita on Tuesday, February 15, at 1:00 p.m. Interment to follow in Elmwood Cemetery in Augusta. A memorial has been established with the Kansas Aviation Museum, 3350 South George Washington Blvd, Wichita, Kansas 67210 or in care of the funeral home. Dunsford-Zeiner Funeral Home 201 East Fifth Avenue, Augusta, Kansas (316) 775-6363.
The Story of Alpha Mike (Part 2)
On 04/02/2011, in Women in ATC, by arminda
The Road to Becoming an En-route Air Traffic Controller
To continue with my story, let me just go back to that time when, in 1981, I received an Order transferring me to the Manila Area Control Center (ACC), eight years after I graduated from an air traffic control training course. The ATC staffing crisis – brought about by the exodus of ATCs to the Middle East for better pay – had given way to my dream of working as an air traffic controller; this time, the ATC units are more welcoming when it comes to accepting women in the workforce. I began my certification or rating process only a few weeks after I reported for work, it seemed that there was a rush to put ATCs into jobs that require years of training.
Arminda with the first Manila radar
Back then, the Manila ACC had no radar systems yet; separation of aircraft was done using procedural or conventional control – where ATC’s main tools in controlling traffic were just paper strips mounted on plastic strip holders, a ball pen, and a radio transceiver. The flight progress strips, as they’re called have all the information ATCs need – aircraft call-sign, type of aircraft, airspeed, route to be flown, and altitude, among others (all handwritten); color of strips depends on the direction of flight – white strips for eastbound, buff or yellow for westbound traffic. You don’t have to have a high IQ to get this job done; it’s more of imagination and guts you need. Imagination in this case means being able to make a picture in your mind of what’s going on up there as you look at those information on paper strips with a map or chart already ingrained in your mind, as if seeing aircraft moving across the skies; and have the guts, as you separate aircraft from each other though not actually seeing them; then, based on this mental picture you either climb or descend aircraft converging or on opposite direction – with no doubt in your mind that they had indeed passed each other after you clear one through the altitude of the other; that your mental calculations were correct when you make split second decisions.
Click here to read the full article
Do you really understand – Trajectory based operations (TBO)?
On 04/02/2011, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
There is a misconception in some air traffic management circles that trajectory based operations is simply business as usual except that the current, notoriously imprecise ground generated trajectories are replaced by more accurate, 4 D trajectories and that is all there is to it. Some will add that parts of this 4D trajectory might be sourced from the FMS or an airspace user ground system… While there is truth in all this, TBO is much more. Much much more and significantly, if the other aspects of TBO are not considered, the potential for benefits inherent in TBO is reduced significantly.
So, what is trajectory based operations?
First and foremost we must look at the basis of the existing operation. Air traffic management has grown historically along an airspace based paradigm. Airspace as such was a given so it stood to reason that early ATM experts set out to define airspace volumes which they thought would best fit the traffic they expected and established air traffic control units to fit the task foreseen in those volumes. When aircraft arrived, they were obliged to fly within the confines of the defined airspace and if their needs differed from that envisaged, the aircraft trajectory was bent to fit the picture. Of course this is a bit of an oversimplification but to this day, ATM is being done on this basis.
The end-to-end trajectory played almost no role in this game. To illustrate the point, juts consider that until recently the Central Flow Management Unit calculated expected sector loads on the basis of a trajectory the vertical dimension of which was famously inaccurate while ground ATC systems generated their own trajectories for their own airspace and these often did not tie up with the trajectory dreamed up by the neighboring unit. All this time however scores of experts everywhere worked furiously on airspace design and organization… Only a blind person could fail to see that this legacy, airspace based paradigm had to go if the volume and efficiency demands of increasing traffic were to be met.
Things were not helped at all by the fact that controllers were handing flights as if they were born just outside their sector boundary and went into the big blue yonder when they exited their sector. In other words, they only ever looked at a small part of the trajectory with little regard to what was or was not happening further downstream. Conflict free handover was the almost the only aim.
Because of the way airspace was used in the past, popular ATM wisdom came up with the notion that airspace was a scarce resource and it had to be organized better to save the day. This notion was a dangerous one because for a long time it did divert attention and effort from looking at the real problem. Trajectories…
Click here to read the full article
Women in Air Traffic Control
On 03/02/2011, in Women in ATC, by steve
My original article about the difficult road women wanting to become air traffic controllers (and commercial pilots…) faced in the early days seems to have struck a chord in several parts of the world. First there was Aminda’s lovely contribution from the Philippines then Evon Russel contacted me on Facebook with a link to an article at the Wings Over Kansas site which talks about whet they claimed was the first American female controller, Mary Van Scyoc.
Evon wrote something very interesting. She said that her mom, Marian McKenna Russel was also a controller in the 40s and that she had said to her that she believed she preceded Mary by a little bit. Unfortunately Marian has departed to the world where airports do not know delays and so it is not easy to verify the claim.
I did decide to follow this up and sent an email to the Kansas Aviation Museum where Mary van Scyoc could be reached according to the article quoted above. A day later while I was on the motorway in France the director of the museum called and explained that Mary was very sick and it is not possible to interview her any more. He did promise that the museum’s historians will help with my quest…
On learning Mary’s fate, Evon again helped by pointing me to a book Mary had written, entitled “A Lifetime of Chances”. She said the book should shed some light on Mary’s life as a controller.
Click here to read the full article
Freight dogging with TNT Airways
On 26/01/2011, in The lighter side, by heading370
Sure they can…!
A large majority of Air Traffic Controllers are usually busier during the day than during a nightshift. There are however a few radiotelephony callsigns which are always associated with night operations. One such call sigh is “Quality”, the official ICAO callsign of TNT Airways which sounds familiar to all ATCO-s on night duties. Our contributor Heading370 travelled to Liege Airport in Belgium to join the crew of TAY47R to find out how a typical short haul cargo flight is operated by the company.
TNT opened their European hub at Liege Airport in Belgium in 1998. They had several reasons to choose this airport. The company was looking for a location in the vicinity of the Paris-Amsterdam-Frankfurt-London area with excellent road connectivity and the future opportunities for expansion combined with unlimited number of night flights at an uncongested airport. That’s exactly what Liege was able to offer and made it a number one choice for the company. TNT Airways, the airline of the group has been created in 2000 and now operates a fleet of 42 aircraft. Every night an average of 40 aircraft serve 63 airports in 26 European countries from the Liege hub. The company also operates flights to New York JFK 5 times a week and flies to Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong three times a week. TNT Airways employs about 500 people in Liege including 250 pilots.
TTNT Airways’ fleet consists of 4 Boeing B747-400ERF (payload 117 tons), 2 Airbus A300B4-200F (payload 43 tons, operated by Air Atlanta), 5 Boeing 757-200SF (payload 25 tons – operated by Icelandair and Gestair), 12 Boeing B737-300SF including 2 QC (payload 17 tons), and 19 British Aerospace BAE146-200/300 including 2 QC (payload 12 tons).
Using the QC models the company can offer passenger charters as well besides its usual cargo operations.
Click here to read the full article
The story of Alpha Mike
On 11/01/2011, in Women in ATC, by arminda
It was in summer of 1971 when I started training for air traffic control at the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Air Academy in Manila, Philippines. Actually, it was only the fourth time since 1957 that they accepted women in ATC training classes, the last one being in 1963. All those years, only 11 women graduated and were hired. Our training class started out with about 67 trainees, divided into 2 sections of 30 or more trainees in a class, but only 34 graduated; the others did not survive the dreaded washout, meaning they had failed in some final exams in 3 subjects. In April of 1972, we were hired and received our facility assignment, but the three of us (women who graduated) did not get to be assigned in any of the three ATC facilities i.e. Tower, Approach or Area Control Center (ACC) also known as Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), an FAA term.
I was a bit depressed because I was hoping that our assignment would be in ATC facilities. I knew my father wasn’t excited about the assignment either because he also wanted me to become an air traffic controller (ATC), being a former ATC himself. As a matter of fact, my father was among the pioneers in air traffic control in the Philippines. He and six others were the first Filipinos to be trained by the U.S. FAA in 1948. During the early postwar years, the U.S. FAA was in charge of the technical phase of ATC operations for the Philippine government. My father and their group formed the nucleus of the ATC section which was later transferred to the Philippine government in 1951. I guess I was not meant to follow his footsteps.
Click here to read the full article
The long and winding road – women in the cockpit and the control tower
On 27/12/2010, in Women in ATC, by steve
To-day, nobody bats an eye at the sight of a four-striper with long blond hair and lipstick hauling her flight case like her male colleagues do. Even an all female crew in the front office is commonplace these days. A female voice on the control frequency is also quite normal now in most of the world. But this was not always so and in some countries the going was more difficult than in others.
Even after female pilots on commercial flights were no longer a rarity, public reservations resulted in Air Inter telling the passengers of its Paris-Nimes flight on 7 February 1985 that it had been operated by an all female crew… only after they landed! This was a historic event, an absolute first in France.
Perhaps the most convoluted story comes from Hungary where girls had to put up a fierce fight to be allowed a shot at the microphone in international ATC service.
Back in the 70s and 80s Hungarian labor law had a list of professions that were not open to women. These concerned mainly work requiring a lot of physical strength but for some reason, “air traffic controller” was also among them. When asked why this should be so, some kind of weird explanation was given about women having fewer red blood cells that effectively prevented them from working in ATC. The fact that women in other countries were getting licensed and worked to everyone’s satisfaction did not seem to change anything. Hungarian women, apparently, were different…
Click here to read the full article
ATC Global 2011 – Amsterdam RAI, 8-10 March 2011
On 15/12/2010, in Events, by steve
Although ATC Global claims to eclipse all other industry events, this yearly jamboree of the ATC “industry” is not judged equally useful by those involved. Through clever marketing and a bit of luck, ATC Global has grown into an event which many feel must be attended (or rather, they feel you cannot afford not to attend) but when asked afterwards how far their benefit expectations have been met, often only silent shrugs are offered. I also know of companies who no longer go there as they do not see any benefit for themselves.
One of the criticisms often heard is that the presentations tend to be along the official lines and as such they provide precious little additional insight into the “real” picture of projects like SESAR or life at EUROCONTROL.
On the other hand, since in spite of its shortcomings, ATC Global draws a lot of visitors, it is a nice opportunity to network and chat up old friends.
If nothing else, you will be right outside Amsterdam and that is certainly a place worth visiting.
You can find all relevant information about ATC Global here.
ATSB Preliminary Report on Qantas Flight 32
On 04/12/2010, in Safety is no accident, by phil
On the 3rd December the ATSB issued its preliminary report on the uncontained engine failure suffered by the Qantas A380 on the 4th November. The initial cause appears to have been a fatigue crack within a stub pipe that feeds oil to the HP/IP bearing structure. And this cracking was associated with a misaligned region of the counter boring within the stub pipe outlet.
Not having been an engineer I would be unwise to comment on the causes and nature of this failure. Also, it is always unwise to speculate on the basis of limited information. However, I can make some generic comments on the things this crew had to cope with.
In a major emergency the very first requirement is to maintain control of the aircraft and to maintain a safe flight path. The old adage; “AVIATE; NAVIGATE; COMMUNICATE” still holds good, however advanced and automated the aircraft. Then, having established that the aircraft is still flyable and is not pointing towards high ground, it is essential very carefully to assess the situation.
Click here to read the full article
WorldFlight: driving virtual airspace to the max
On 02/11/2010, in Simulator world, by hoppie
On a sunny, crisp Sunday morning in Melbourne, Australia in the late 1990s, Matt Sheil raised the gear of his light twin and called Departure. With little traffic, he received clearance direct Sydney, his home town. Matt pointed the nose to the North-East, engaged the autopilot, and looked where he had put his newspaper.
Ten seconds later, he dropped the paper and stared at the GPS. What the hell was he doing? Sitting here in his own airplane, reading the newspaper, having himself transported home like cattle… why did he actually own an airplane and did not just book a seat on an airliner? The next morning, he sold off the aircraft, and decided that he would take ten years to build a credible, semi-professional simulator, to get the fun part of flying back into his life.
By the year 2000, the simulator actually was flyable and Matt decided to organise a small event to get some operation going. The aircraft simulated was a Boeing 747-400, so an around-the-world series of flights seemed the right way to go. A skeleton crew was assembled, and on November 5, 2000, Worldflight took to the skies, raising money for the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service.
John Davis, sim owner, and myself, software engineer, flying the Coventry 747-400
Over the years, Worldflight has grown to an annual event with a large share of followers. By now, up to nine full-size flight decks join the group, augmented by dozens of desktop simulators flown by people all over the world. All aircraft are linked into a virtual airspace provided by one of the virtual ATC networks, VATSIM. They can see each other out of the window, register all on TCAS when so equipped, and create a buzz of traffic that is quite a handful for the controllers.
Click here to read the full article
Visual illusions – check this out and you will never believe your eyes again
On 12/10/2010, in Couch and hammer, by steve
We often say on seeing something surprising “I could hardly believe my eyes”. Of course we know from countless little tricks from childhood onwards that our eyes, those vitally important sensors of visual information, are far from infallible. Of course it is no so much the sensors, our eyes themselves, that are at fault. They usually send the data without corruption to our brains which then is responsible for the images that we actually see. It is in this processing phase that things can get out of whack and we end up seeing things that are anything but an accurate reflection of reality.
In everyday life, we tend to compensate pretty well for those shortcomings and experience in most cases simply overrides the more egregious interpretations our brains come up with.
But in the more synthetic environments of the cockpit and ATC centers, extreme care is needed from designers and operators alike to avoid the tricks our eyes and brains can play on us.
Follow this link to find out just how unreliable our visual perceptions are.
Air-ground voice communications – the vital and often weakest link. New guide from EUROCONTROL for GA pilots
On 11/10/2010, in Bookshelf, by steve
It is a curious fact of life in air traffic management that it is impossible to do ATC without proper communications yet the air-ground voice communications system as we know it to-day is both a hindrance to increasing capacity and a potential source of serious incidents. The former is due to the fact that a controller can only speak to aircraft in a sequential manner and hence he or she will run out of talking time relatively soon when traffic increases beyond a certain level; the latter is due to the relative ease with which the spoken word can be misunderstood, even if it is in a standardized form like the standard radiotelephony prescribed by ICAO. From call-sign confusion to misunderstood clearances resulting in near-misses or runway incursions, communications is a major source of problems.
Of course there are many things the aviation community can do to mitigate the risks inherent in voice communications. Air/ground digital link supporting Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) will enable more capacity while also reducing the possibility of misunderstandings.
Where voice remains, better training and discipline in the application of the relevant procedures can go a long way towards improving the situation.
EUROCONTROL has now published a cute booklet, available in electronic format, entitled “A Guide to Phraseology for General Aviation Pilots in Europe”. As the title says, the book does not cover peculiarities applicable only in the United States or other parts of the world but it is still a useful addition to the library of any GA pilot. Since aircraft operations in Europe are mostly subject to strictly ICAO compliant procedures, this book is also a good reference to check what the ICAO rules say in certain communications related situations.
You can access the guide here.
Use of selected altitude by ATC
On 23/09/2010, in SKYbrary News, by steve
News from EUROCONTROL’s aviation safety knowledge base SKYbrary.
The ability of a controller to see the selected altitude set by the flight crew gives him the ability to intervene when, for whatever reason, the selected altitude does not match the clearance. This greatly reduces the chance of a level bust.
Read the full article 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
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
Conversion course – Does anyone understand the airlines?
On 22/06/2010, in Airline corner, by steve
My fascination with aircraft started at about age 5 and I first heard about air traffic control when I was 16. Gabi Nemeth who made music besides being an air traffic controller was on a TV talk show and he made a gallant effort to explain what ATC was all about… He must have done a great job because I for one understood what he was saying and from then on wanted nothing better than to be a controller. Being accepted to the physics faculty of a University in Budapest almost derailed my destiny but I corrected it soon enough and on my 21st birthday I issued the first landing clearance all on my own!
In the years that followed I collected just about every qualification a controller can have and added a bit of computer programming skill also. In time I exchanged the microphone for a desk at ICAO in Paris and later, for a post involved in building the new Amsterdam ATC system, AAA. But I never thought of myself as anything other than an air traffic controller. I was also very much convinced that what I was doing with or without the microphone, was the best possible course for our charges, the aircraft and their operators. Giving them directs, shortening the tracks wherever possible and the many other “treats” all appeared as going out of our way to help them.
My first exposure to IATA was at the very first Flow East meeting which was held in Budapest. We knew relatively little about this mighty organization or how it worked and were generally a bit suspicious of its motives… They sent a diminutive Swissair captain as one of their representatives and what he lacked in stature was more than made up for by his forceful personality and very clear words blasting us for the very poor job we were doing. He did not spare the civil aviation authorities either, drawing multiple color lines on a wall chart showing where the air routes should be in his view… Very few of the existing routes were where he thought they should be of course. His propensity for drawing colored lines earned him the nick “Tintoretto”. I remember how deeply hurt I felt by all the verbal abuse but also the feeling that may be, just may be, Tintoretto had a point. Had I known what profound effect his colored lines would have on my life many years later, I would have kissed the little captain on the brow for sure.
Click here to read the full article
Surprise in Vienna – When the system really fails
On 21/06/2010, in CDM, by steve
Brussels Airlines flight SN2908 is the evening counterpart of SN2901, the red-eye Brussels-Vienna flight that takes you to that magnificent city in time for a meeting that can start as early as 10.00 and conclude as late as 18.00 since SN2908 will bring you home comfortably. The only trouble with SN2908 is that it is apparently late in nine cases out of ten… No doubt this is a flight at the end of the series of rotations assigned to the 737 performing it and ATC delays and a bit of bad weather can all conspire to make an on time run a mission impossible. I have spent quite some time and euros at the Starbucks outlet conveniently located near the gate usually assigned to 2908 waiting for her to put in an appearance.
But in all cases, we knew about the delay right on arrival at the airport and could plan our extra sojourn accordingly. But not on this Friday, 18 June when we were dished up something completely new, shaking my trust in the information management savvy of our industry.
In case you are not familiar with Vienna airport, in the terminal used by Brussels Airlines the gates have a kind of holding area which you enter through a security check done at the entrance. Each gate has its own screening equipment. The gate and the security check point is normally manned about one hour before the published boarding time.
The boarding time for SN2908 was 20.05 and so a little over 19.00 processing of passengers into the holding area began as usual. One would assume that all this activity is started on the basis of the news that the aircraft is in the air and will be landing more or less on time.
As I don’t like queues, I was one of the first through security and then planted myself near the air-bridge doors ready to walk when the sign was given. I like to have a place for my flight case in the overhead bins…
Click here to read the full article
Your project delayed? Come join the club!
On 15/06/2010, in NextGen, by steve
It must be horrible to be the project manager of major aircraft programs these days. Look at the Airbus A380, the A400M, the Boeing 787 or the 747-8. They were all delayed by several years and the reasons were often quite pedestrian (like incompatible software or strength calculation errors). It will fall on the Airbus A350 to improve the record but in view of what has almost become the routine now, it would be a miracle of the 350 flew on time.
But air traffic control systems are faring little better. Which was the last really new ATC system in Europe that was delivered and put into operational use on the date originally stipulated? And now, a delay to ERAM is here to set the trend forth.
Under the En-Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program, the FAA is replacing the computer network for air traffic control facilities that manage traffic in the upper airspace. Modernizing this network is critical to allowing the FAA to continue managing air traffic effectively. It is also an essential component of NextGen , the FAA’s next generation air traffic control system.
Click here to read the full article
