IFATCA - The Controller - September 1978

D 21003 F

JOURNAL OF AIR

In this Issue:

OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC

CONTROLLERS

FEDERATION ASSOCIATIONS

3/78

17th Annual IFATCA Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark Symposium on Issues in ATC Simulation Microwave Landing System - ICAO Choice

FRANKFURT

AM

MAIN

3rd Q U A R T E R 1 9 7 8

VOLUME

17

D M 4,-

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IFATCA

JOURNAL

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TRAFFIC

CONTROL

THECONTROLLER Frankfurt am Main, September 1978

Volume 17 • No. 3

Publisher: International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations, P. 0. B. 196, CH-1215 Geneva 15 Airport, Switzerland.

Officers of IFATCA: H. H. Henschler, President, 0. H. J6nsson, Vice-President (Technical). A. Avgoustis, Vice-President (Professional), E. Bradshaw, VicePresident (Administration), H. Wenger, Treasurer, T. H. Harrison, Executive Secretary, J-D. Monin, Past-President.

Editor: Brian C. Jones 12, Fitzpain Road, Ferndown, Dorset, UK. Telefon 0202 89 29 99 Contributing Editor: V. D. Hopkin (Human Factors) Managing Editor: Horst Guddat POB 600209 0-6000 Frankfurt am Main-60 Telefon (06 11) 21 08 86 22 Publishing Company, Production, Subscription Service and Advertising Sales Office: Verlag W. Kramer & Co ..

Bornheimer Landwehr 57 a, 6000 FrankfurVMain 60, Phone 43 43 25 and 49 21 69, Frankfurter Bank, No. 3-03333-9. Postscheckkonto Frankfurt 1105-601, Rate Card Nr. 6.

Printed by: W. Kramer & Co., Bornheimer Landwehr 57 a, 6000 FrankfurVMain 60 (Federal Republic of Germany).

The Swedish ATC School at Malmo·Sturup with the Control Tower of Sturup Airport in the background. About 100 delegates to IFATCA 78 were fortunate enough to get a seat on a DC-9 of SAS especially chartered for the purpose of visiting the Swedish ATC School.

Subscription Rate: OM 6.- per annum for members of IFATCA; OM 16,- per annum for non-members (Postage will be charged extra).

Contributors are expressing their personal points of view and opinions, which may not necessarily coincide with those of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA).

IFATCA does not assume responsibility for statements made and opinions expressed, it does only accept responsibility for publishing these contributions.

Contributions are welcome as are comments and criti• cism. No payment can be made for manuscripts sub• mitted for publication in "The Controller". The Editor reserves the right to make any editorial changes in manuscripts, which he believes will improve the material without altering the intended meaning.

Written permission by the Editor is necessary for reprinting any part of this Journal.

CONTENTS

Aviation and the Air Traffic Controller

9

Symposium on Issues in ATC Simulation, Training and Technology

10

The 17th Annual IFATCA Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark

15

AEG - TELEFUNKEN New Air Route Surveillance Radar

20

ICAO Meeting Chooses New Landing System

23

International

26

Law - Part XVII

Microwave Landing System - The Road to Montreal

29

Cartoons: Helmut Elsner.

Greater Speed or Greater Range - Concorde or B-747SP

31

Fotos: Archive, AE'G-Telefunken, K. Aulin, Atelier Bache, BFS-Germany, J. Fournier, H. Guddat, Philips Telecommunications, Rohde & Schwarz.

Hobby Corner - Aviation on Stamps

35

News from Member Associations

36

News from Corporation

40

Advertisers In this Issue: Selenia Radar (inside cover), T-VT (page 2), Varig, Brazilian Airlines (page 3), AEGTelefunken (page 4). Hollandse Signaalapparaten (page 7), Aerolineas Argentinas (page 8). Philips ELA (page 11), Ferranti Radar Ltd. (page 14), .Cable & Wireless (pages 24/25), Cyprus Airways (page 44), Canadian Pacific Airlines (page 47). T-VT Aircat (inside back cover), Oatasaab Electronics (back cover).

Members

Universal News . .

43

Publications

Review

46

Corporation

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Editorial What's going on?

So often one hears the question, "But what can IFATCA do?" Without being able to quote any concrete examples of achievement, answers in general terms may do the trick, but not many of us know, without reference to past Conference Working Papers and Recommendations, followed by extensive cross reference to national and international regulations, just what our influence has been. So perhaps a quick dip into the Executive Board mailbag will give an idea of a fraction of our activities and achievements. The following letters tell their own stories. There are many more.

Dear Daniel, This letter is intended to serve as a sort of report on the outcoming and effects of Mr. Bradshaw (Ted) and your goooself visit to Argentina.

It is difficult to measure accurately the impact of your visit in the particular context of Argentina life these days but we have felt that, being as the authorities are, sensitive to the outside opinion, in particular European public opinion, they were eager to be pleasant and we had an excellent opportunity to put across our message.

T 0,is. we think was most important part of your work here. ATEPSA was able to talk to important officials about its problems, and the dialogue took place in the presence of two top officials of an influent world association, IFATCA, therefore, they will try to comply with all the promises made.

The visit to the authorities of the intervention to the C.G.T. we estimate, was framed by a spirit of comprehension of our problems and all the points raised by IFATCA and they spoke of the existence of a will to solve ATEPSA's problems.

Much of the same can be said of the visit with the Commander of Air Regions, which was held in a very cordial atmosphere and understanding from his part on IFATCA and ATEPSA's activities on behalf of the profession and the safety of aviation.

The visit with the Vice President of AUSTRAL, a domestic airline, gave us the opportunity to exchange points of view on how the relations with the air crews should be and he promised to increase the exchange between us.

Then, we had the visit to Cordoba Center, and also to the CIPE, where you could have a direct experience on the working conditions and the equipment used by the Argentine controllers.

The balance of your visit is quite positive. It has permitted us dialogues and agreements that, we feel will shortly lead to solutions of our many problems.

As for your kind words towards us, we are glad that you and Ted came, and what we did is too little for you and Ted. With kindest regards Yours sincerely Secretariado Nacional A.T.E.P.S.A, Argentina

Dear Mr. President, On behalf of the Greek Air Traffic Controllers may I express our deep appreciation and thankfulness for your willingness to help us effectively at the trial of 10th January 1978, after the accusation of the Greek Electronics Technicians against our Executive Board.

Your presence at the trial, Mr. President, encouraged us and strengthened our defense, so that the people who tried to obtain our condemnation or a written apology, were finally found in a difficult position which forced them to withdraw their accusation. This happened after a 3 hours trial, when they realized that they were going to lose the case, after hearing our lawyer Mr. George Magakis threatening them by the phrase "vae victis".

5

We shall never forget that you left your home and family to come in Athens in the heart of winter.

We'll never forget, also, that Andreas Avgoustis made the same, giving us his valuable assistance.

Being very proud that we have You as President of our international organization, we thank you most warmly and we ask this letter to be distributed to all IFATCA members Associations.

With great appreciation and gratitude On behalf of the Greek Air Traffic Controllers Basil Paparoussos IFATCA Liaison Officer

Captain D. F. Pearce Yuk Leen Villa Lot 206 8½ Miles Clearwater Bay Road Kowloon HONG KONG B.C.C. Dear Derry, Arising out of the 17th Annual Conference of IFATCA I have a very pleasant duty to perform.

The Sudanese Air Traffic Controllers' Association, a Member Association of this Federation, has asked us to convey its appreciation and gratitude to the Sudanese Air Line Pilots' Association for their past and continued assistance and co-operation. It is in no small measure due to this assistance that the Sudanese ATCA has gained recognition, understanding and co-operation from its administration and was able to attend our Conference with a full delegation.

May I ask you to convey these sentiments on behalf of IFATCA, its Executive Board, and the Sudanese ATCA to your Sudanese Member Association.

This, in my opinion, is an outstanding example of good co-operation between members of our Federations and is much along the lines of our discussions in Frankfurt during your Conference.

Yours sincerely, H. H. Henschler PRESIDENT

Editor - THE CONTROLLER It is nearly two years since I fell (or was I pushed?) into Ge de Boer's shoes and I don't think we've made a deadline yet. Without Managing Editor Horst Guddat's constant efforts we would probably have missed the odd issue. Among a dozen reasons for this, two stand out - the Editor has not been able to give the time the job requires and original professional material has not been forthcoming in anything like the quantity necessary to fill the space. One or two stalwart regulars have helped us through and we are grateful to those few Corporate Members who have taken advantage of our unique medium to get their message across. I had hoped that my move into civil life would solve problem one and give more time to chase material. Unfortunately this has not been the case and the prospoots for improvement in the near future are pretty slim. So in the best interests of the Journal and the Federation I have submitted my resignation to the Executive Board. I hope to see 4/78 published, after which I will assist the new Editor where I can. What new Editor? Applications please, to the President. Meanwhile would you please address material to the Managing Editor (address on page 3) or to M. J-D Monin in his capacity as Chairman, SCII. (address: 45 Avenue des Morgines, 1213 Petit Laney, Geneva, Switzerland).

Executive Secretary At their meeting in Geneva in June, the Executive Board appointed Mr Ted Bradshaw, currently V-P Admin, to the post of Executive Secretary, IFATCA. Tom Harrison, hard-working Exec Sec since 1972, retires shortly. This appointment will call for nominations for V-P Admin for election at IFATCA '79.

BC 6

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8

Aviation and the Air Traffic Controller

by H. H. Henschler, President IFATCA

The title of this article raises the immediate question as to why aviation and the controller are perceived as two separate entities.

Surely, aviation as we know ii has been, for some time now, and is, Impossible without the air traffic controller. Agreed - but try to convince certain people of this fact.

As the profession of air traffic controller enters its second, in some countries third, generation it has become established and its existence accepted. What has not been accepted, in most countries, is the uniqueness of the occupation and its inherent special demands on those who practice it.

Recent problems and disruptions were caused, exclusively, by this lack of recognition. Their number appears to be on the increase.

But let us look at the lack of recognition and what it entails.

In recent years there has been an immense increase in the number of aircraft and the number of passengers carried. In the U.S.A. alone, the total of paying passengers carried has increased by 23 0/o in 1978, it is forecast to continue to grow at an annual rate of between six and ten percent.

To safely handle the increased number of aircraft, airlines and, more and more so, general aviation, the system relies on the controller. Untold sums of money are being spent on developing more and more sophisticated airborne equipment, navigational systems which are accurate within a fraction of a mile after a !rans-oceanic flight, colour weather radars, to name but two.

It is accepted that responsibilities for aviation safety have been shifting, and continue to shift, ·from the flight deck to the ATC unit. But in most cases the development of new or the availability of improved existing equipment has not kept pace with the development of airborne equipment or the increase of responsibility.

We still have areas around the globe which, although they are used regularly by cheduled, passenger-carrying aircraft, are uncontrolled. We still have areas where adjacent units, in this age of communications satellites, have no direct voice communication and rely on teletype and relay through other units to effect separation. We still have areas which, although peak traffic may climb to forty movements per hour and the traffic is a mixture of heavy jets, light twins and business jets, no secondary radar is available, not to mention altitude read-out capability. In another area a 25 year old primary radar system, to be installed in two years, is seen as the answer to traffic problems at an airport which handles five international airlines.

There are many areas in the world where controllers, due to lack of adequate remuneration, hold down one or more outside jobs to ensure physical survival of their families. Small wonder then, that when a better paying career offers itself they leave the ATC profession. Under these circumstances it is virtually impossible to attract the most qualified personnel and build up a core of experienced controllers.

The g:aring irony of the situation becomes even more obvious when one considers that the captain of a B747 may earn as much as US $11,000 per month while the controller, responsible for his safety and that of any number of other aircraft at the same time, may earn as little as US $70.00 per month. Only the most dedicated person will, for a time, accept such inconsistency, but coupled with the stress imposed by having to use out-dated, inadequate equipment and, just as important, the ever-existing threat of a jail sentence and termination of career as the result

of a human error or system error, an inhuman burden is imposed on people who should be able to concentrate on their only preoccupation, aviation safety.

It is interesting to explore the cause of the above very short list of problems. Air Traffic Controllers, regardless of who their employer may be, work for the aviation industry, scheduled and general aviation.

Without air traffic control, safe aviation is impossible. As mentioned, the responsibility for aviation safety has shifted towards air traffic control. It is only through the dedication and the immense personal effort and perseverance of the air traffic controller that the system continues to work safely.

The troubling question is, how long can humans be expected to apply themselves in this manner, and when, despite all their best efforts, will the system become less safe.

What is needed, is a realistic approach to air traffic control.

The acceptance of the fact that in order to provide the safest possible system, the best available tools must be used. The acceptance of the fact that controllers are not just another group of civil servants, but one of the most crucial components of the aviation system.

It is not productive to threaten regressive legislation against controllers who aspire to achieve conditions which would make a career in the profession attractive to the best qualified people, with due regard to the fact that the average working life of the operating controller is, for reasons of safety or occupation-related poor health, shorter than that of the average civil servant.

Desk jobs and operational ATC work are not comparable. Air traffic control must be recognized as the unique profession it is.

At the root of the problems, and the reason which delays implementation of solutions, is funding. It is accepted that, although the controller has been recognized as being "the third man in the cockpit", improvements to the ATC system, since they are not highly visible to the population at large, are not politically popular.

It is also a fact that improvements are urgently needed, and a growing development, which may provide the answer, can be found in many countries.

Independent or semi-independent agencies are being established, funded by user-charges, to provide air traffic services.

They operate, although under political supervision, outside the politically opportune programs and do not impose heavy burdens on the tax-payer. They can plan and operate in the most efficient manner.

No doubt the idea of unser-charges will not be popular with some. But. unless governments choose to adopt a more realistic approach to solving the problems of air traffic control by increased funding, they may be the only reasonable approach to providing a safe system.

After all, users of the system, air crews and passengers, are entitled to the greatest possible safety money can buy and the best qualified controllers who can be found. Less than that is not acceptable to the air traffic controller. Sadly, it seems to be acceptable to some present-day decision makers.

9

The Society for Applied Learning Technology Second International Learning Congress and Exposition.

Symposium on Issues in Air Traffic Control Simulation, Training and Technology Orlando, Florida, 14-15 February, 1978

Introduction This conference consisted of numerous parallel sessions on aspects of learning technology, and an associated exhibition. The symposium on air traffic control problems lasted two days during which some thirty papers were presented. The texts of papers will be published.

The main conference papers of interest are described here in the order in which they were presented.

Air Traffic Control Training Programmes and Facilities The first session, on air traffic control training programmes and facilities, was introduced by Mr. B. Wenning of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Headquarters in Washington, who emphasised that the conference would relate the current state of the art in training to advances in simulation. He noted a tendency towards off-the-job training by simulation rather than training on the job.

The first paper, on the American approach to ATC training, was by Mr. H. Richardson of the FAA Headquarters. He emphasised the need for standardised training so that the efficiency of training did not depend primarily on who was providing it. The FAA Air Traffic Control Academy adopted standardised training procedures. From 1980, when new radar training facilities would be introduced, the Academy would have the capacity to train over 2,000 controllers annually. The use of simulation during training had the extra advantage of permitting evaluation of the programmes given to the students. Their performance could be assessed and they could be screened during all phases of training. The methods used had been shown to be reliable and valid as measures. The simulation method also permitted the early assessment of progress in a controlled environment during training so that potential training failures could be identified early and either advised to discontinue training or given fuller or more intensive training.

Some laboratory performance tests have been introduced during training and the scores on individual tests have been weighted in relation to their predictive value. One test, the controller skills test, is a group test consisting of 50 multiple choice items, the responses to which can be scored objectively as true or false. This test measures the ability to handle a variety of controller's tasks during non-radar phases of training. With the provision for additional remedial training, substantial reductions have already been achieved in the time needed for subsequent training on the job.

Mr. J. Pilgrim described the requirements of the United States Navy and Marine Corps for training in Naval air traffic control. About 800 Navy and Marine Corps personnel are now trained annually in air traffic control. They begin with programmed instruction methods for control tower certification and then progress to using equipment similar to that in the field. Air traffic control phraseology is practised in a control tower laboratory at progressively more complex levels. They employ a simple plan layout of an airfield with model aircraft so that the relative positioning of Naval air traffic can be seen by controllers during simulation and the consequences of control instructions can also be seen. Additionally there are various specialised simulations including an aircraft carrier air traffic control mock-up where different air traffic control procedures are followed. The main reason is that, on aircraft carriers, aircraft cannot take off and land at will but must do so exactly as designated, and air traffic control must work to this rigid requirement. The use of simulation in training Naval air traffic controllers has greatly improved the flexibility of training and has also improved the quality of training in the judgement of the users. One difficulty in Naval air traffic control is the great variety of control procedures, many of which are highly specific to each facility. As a result if a controller is changed to a different Naval air traffic control facility he often has to relearn completely much of his task. Simulation has proved to be most helpful in retraining when a change of facilities occurs.

Mr. T. Paine of the Canadian Ministry of Transport described an Air Traffic Services simulation and evaluation programme in Canada.

This uses the facilities of a new simulation centre in which real-time simulation is bringing ATC research and development and training together. He described the hardware, software and communications facilities of the simulation centre. One facility enables the individual student at each training position to have an individual start/stop capability in his task so that detailed instruction can be given to him 10

Reported by V. D. Hopkin

without interference with the instruction of other trainees at the time.

In training, a distinction is drawn between the three phases of exercise preparation, the conduct of the real-time exercise, and subsequent exercise analysis. The system combines comprehensive and elaborate simulation facilities with the ability to control numerous variables and to simulate a great range of conditions. It also permits detailed and sophisticated analysis of the exercises.

It is envisaged that the system will ultimately be used for a great variety of projects; already a considerable number have been tackled.

They include studies on short take off and landing services, on some problems of bilingual air traffic control, on MLS procedures, on the introduction of prediction facilities, on certain aspects of air to ground data link, and on problems of specific air terminal areas within Canada.

Currently the capacity of the system is limited to presenting 80 aircraft, but it is planned to expand the facility so that up to 220 aircraft can be simulated.

Mr. D. Blake of the AAI Corporation described a VFR control tower simulator. This was a large facility with an extensive background screen with provision for numerous special visual effects. The screen had a diameter of some 25 metres with the ability to project, over a visual angle of 210°, the VFR simulated traffic. Dual projection of each target permitted a realistic visual simulation on the screen of a large variety of targets. The selection of targets and their continual generation were under the control of the computer which was programmed to simulate realistic visual movement of traffic across the screen. As well as providing dynamic simulation of each aircraft their aspect could be varied and there was control independently over the illumination levels of the aircraft and of the background which could include night or day, cloud base or ground, runway lighting, etc. The physically large screen engendered an impression of great spaciousness. This facility is just coming into service; therefore its effectiveness for training has not yet been tested.

Dr. R. Sugarman of the Calspan Corporation explained how he believed the system should be defined if a systems approach was adopted towards training. He contended that it was necessary to start with the allocation of functions to man or machine and then conduct a task analysis which would define what was required of the operator. This would specify what he needed to know and what he should do. It was noted that constraints are often imposed by policy decisions made by those not directly concerned with the system. When the task requirements had been defined it was possible to specify training objectives and then to draw up a programme of instructional methods and contents in order to achieve those objectives. Performance criteria could then be derived to show how far the objectives were being achieved by the training specified. When the training was implemented its efficacy should be carefully assessed with a view to refining it and improving it.

Performance and Evafuation Research A series of papers on performance and evaluation research in air traffic control systems was introduced by Professor E. Wiener of the University of Miami. He emphasised some of the snags of simulation including its lack of face validity, and an overwillingness to accept it as a means of tackling all problems. He also criticised the underlying assumption that an innovation must be good just because it is new.

Some benefits of simulation were manifest, such as its savings in costs, and the opportunity it provided to rehearse beforehand procedures for dealing with accidents and emergencies.

The following paper, by Mr. D. Hopkin of the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, appraised the experience in the United Kingdom of real-time air traffic control systems over a number of years and reached conclusions which are in broad agreement with many of Professor Wiener's remarks. Realistic assessments of the validity of realtime simulation as a method for solving air traffic control problems are now possible in the light of experience. The use of real-time simulation in future can therefore be planned in relation to its known limitations. Real-time simulation cannot answer every kind of question with equal validity, and its relevance for assessing capacity, workload or stress is dubious. There is a temptation to choose measures in simulation studies primarily for their practical convenience and because they can provide answers which are expressed in system concepts but the simulation technique can be most useful in revealing discrepancies between subjective and objective evidence and suggest-

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ing why they have arisen. It was therefore concluded that in air traffic control real-time simulation is on the one hand indispensible as a technique and on the other hand overused.

Dr. J. Boone of the Federal Aviation Administration Civil Aeromedical Institute described some of the tests currently used in the selection of controllers for training in the United States. Tests which have been in use for some time include arithmetic, letter sequences, complex oral directions, and spatial relationships, the last of which gives the best predictions. Further relevant factors being considered are tests of general intelligence, a directional headings test, and a multiplex controller aptitude test.

At the ATC Academy the problems used in selection are based on a fictitious sector and presented as a series classified according to their complexity. The instructor uses a standard worksheet to record and grade any errors which occur. Assessments are based primarily on laboratory tests with a substantial contribution from a controller skill test. Other tests have relatively little influence. In scoring the laboratory tests more weight is given to the errors which the trainee controller makes than to the instructor's assessments. The intention is gradually to replace the subjective judgements by the instructor with more objective standard assessments.

A paper by Dr. E. Buckley of the FAA National Aviation Facilities Experimental Centre described basic work on what simulation is for in air traffic control. The paper considered system performance measures in relation to individual performance measures. Following a review of the purposes of the air traffic control system it was pointed out that the quantitative measures of the efficiency with which that purpose was achieved had been developed over a long period for use in simulations of air traffic control. These measures could be used equally well in two ways. Firstly they could evaluate teams of controllers or individual controllers in a system which was held constant, and secondly they could evaluate changes in the system while the teams of controllers were held constant. To make full use of such measures it was necessary to conduct preparatory experiments in order to assess how sensitive the measures would be, how reliable the conclusions from them could be, and how far findings from such experiments might be generalised. The major point of the paper was to show how the development of performance criteria through basic experiments could also improve methods for evaluating performance after training and for evaluating systems.

Mr. W. Kolacek of the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Centre described the application of profile analysis to air traffic control training. The purpose of profile analysis was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual controllers and to assess their performance in relation to their known strengths and weaknesses instead of by simple pass/fail criteria. For example, if a controller was found to be unsatisfactory in some aspect of his task during training, in co-ordination for instance, it could be that a lack of the requisite ability was the cause of the problem or that his failure in co-ordination was caused by something else, such as an adverse reaction while being assessed. It has been found that the strengths and weaknesses identified in individual controllers generally persist throughout the thirteen phases of their training. The intention is that by showing the student his own weaknesses and the effects they have on his performance he may learn to overcome them or compensate for them. Because his strengths and weaknesses are relatively stable, and a profile analysis uses an historical approach, if a problem occurs at a late stage in training it can be quickly assessed as either a new problem which has not occurred before or one which has occurred before and apparently been resolved.

An incidental benefit is that if the student has detailed knowledge of his own strengths and weaknesses this aids his motivation. Because of the availability of the profile analysis, a change of instructor does not give different feedback to the students and therefore student instructor relationships are improved. Currently the profile analysis method is still under development and its use is being extended. It has also proved helpful in retaining students because the student knows beforehand what he is likely to do wrong or inadequately. The training loss has been cut by this method from 470/o to 11 0/o at Chicago. This compares with an average loss through the Air Traffic Control Academy of 14 0/o. A possible problem with profile analysis is that some students encounter difficulties if they have to try and improve more than one of their weaknesses at once because they tend to improve on one at the expense of the other.

Professor P. Stager of York University, Ontario, described the use of air traffic control simulation in Canada in relation to the problem of bilingual air traffic control. VFR control at Quebec is now operating bilingually but it is not yet known if it is possible to operate IFR control bilingually. Simulation studies have used bilingual controllers as subjects and have compared control in English with control under bilingual condition. It was not in fact practicable to control fully all the experimental variables. En route and terminal simulations have been conducted in which voice linked and data linked information to centres have been compared. Measures have concerned the quantity of information communicated, the content of information communicated, and the occurrence of operational irregularities such as a loss of separation. With regard to communication content, failures have been classified as errors in read back, as mid sentence corrections, or as transmissions in the wrong language.

12

In this experimental programme the terminal phase has just been completed with traffic samples representing aircraft mixes which occur at the airports. Factors included in the simulation were different runway configurations in relation to simulated wind shift and runway changes. A duplicated parallel display of the traffic situation is provided for observers of the simulation. The problems of an English language sector interacting with a bilingual sector have also been examined. The completed en route phase has provided some useful data. The question was to determine what procedures had to be developed to run a bilingual system and so far the prospects of solving the associated problems by simulation seem encouraging.

Mr. D. Whitfield of the University of Aston in Birmingham described the concept of interactive conflict resolution. This is not a working system but is a concept being tested at an early stage of its development, and illustrates how controller and computer collaborate to resolve problems and smooth traffic flow. Evidence was sought from simulation on how controllers would use such an aid, what sort of performance they would achieve and what their subjective impressions of the strengths and limitations would be. The aid enables predictions to be made of the consequences of proposed air traffic control instructions before they are implemented. A trajectory prediction is used for automated conflict search by the computer in fast time with a conflict warning facility for the controller. The controller can also make manual predictions at his own pace, stopping at any time.

One study has examined the use of two controllers as a team, with a support controller using the prediction aid to check plans before the aircraft enter a sector and an executive controller accepting the aircraft from the support controller and then having responsibility for them, using the prediction aid independently of the support controller.

The emphasis in the simulation has been on aircraft climbing or descending and an attempt has been made to give a more graphic presentation of the data in a new format of PPI display which successfully depicts the required information but was not liked by controllers. Some of the participating controllers felt that there was some tendency for them to come to rely too much on the computer for help and perhaps a tendency for them to lose the picture. This has raised the issue of whether an inevitable consequence of automated aids may be an increased tendency to lose the picture.

Automated Systems for Controller Training A further session was concerned with automated systems for controller training. Several papers described work being conducted at the Naval Training Equipment Centre at Orlando. In one of them, Dr. R. Breaux described the use of computer speech understanding in relation to a ground control approach system. The aim of the approach being followed was to define the performance of the trainee in order to teach him the fundamental concepts underlying his tasks. Computer speech recognition technology has been applied in relation to precision GCA approaches. The particular application was to take the student's own message and to convert it to a form which would drive the performance measures and the simulated pilot in the system. What this means in practice is that for applications such as carrier landing it is feasible to take the data on the aircraft and its deviation from designated flight path, to relate this to a series of pre-recorded instructions covering the limited kinds of deviations which can occur in such circumstances, to play back the appropriate verbal instruction to the pilot and to complete this loop without having a human being in it apart from the pilot. This is not quite the application envisaged for training where the intention is to convert the student's own message to a message in this standard form. The feasibility of this approach was successfully demonstrated in the laboratory and a full field facility will be installed next year. Following this, attempts will be made to apply the system in a tactical environment. Some difficulties were still being experienced with this computer speech understanding system in relation to the grouping within messages.

Mr. H. Beardsley of General Electric Company described progress on air traffic control visual simulation for tower training operations at Williams Air Force Base. The system which has been evolved presents a full visual scene, permits a full range of air traffic control problems to be tackled, and allows the students' performance to be monitored and knowledge of results to be given. Distractions can be a major part of his problem and they are provided since it is contended that he has to learn to perform efficiently amidst distractions. A series of photographs of the Williams Air Force Base and of the simulation of the visual scene from it showed that a realistic picture had been achieved in simulation, with a picture detail at about 10 0/o that of the real world, a picture resolution of 1 minute of arc and a picture contrast range of from 10:1 to 100:1 in the simulated image compared with up to 1000:1 in the real world. Such technology offers the capability of combining aspects of the real world and of simulation for training purposes by enabling a realistic simulation of the visual scene to be incorporated which is a faithful and detailed replication of all the cues of the real world which are used in air traffic control towers.

A paper by Dr. D. Connolly of the FAA reviewed studies on speech recognition in the programme at the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Centre. This paper, although it emphasised the difficulties and the problems still to be solved, gave a favourable impression of

impressive progress. The system included a speech synthesiser which basically proved to be a hardware task. It could synthesise speech in more than one language, and was flexible, and much of its impression of realistic speech was due to the inclusion of eight levels of inflection corresponding to the eight notes on the scale. In the system, speech recognition is shared between hardware and software. The presence or absence of thirty two distinct features of speech, abou\ half of which are phonetic and about half of which are concerned with energy, is measured 500 times per second. Whenever a pause indicates that the speaker has stopped speaking, software compresses the sample obtained into a pattern and compares it with similar patterns generated off-line. This is in some ways a limitation of the system.

It is designed to start and stop with the speaker and therefore it is not concerned with words but with phrases or sentences or whatever the speaker treats as a spoken unit without a pause. It therefore cannot recognise any forms of connected speech and this is also currently a limitation. The essence of the NAFEC approach is that speech recognition is treated as a pattern classification problem and not as a pattern recognition problem. Applications of this are seen for training and for operational purposes.

The original air traffic control NAS system interface clearly posed data entry problems and therefore some three years ago NAFEC started work on word recognition to assess its potential for data entry problems. Current thinking is that the benefits of speech recognition are more likely to be in a reduction of distraction rather than in a gain in speed of data entry. Speech may in effect be a spoken version of a keyboard language and a readback of speech may therefore be used for the purpose of verifying a keyboard input. Current further uses being contemplated are in air traflic control training, for example in relation to phraseology, for simulating pilots in simulation exercises, and perhaps for bilingual air traffic control. Speech technology enables new kinds of systems to be developed, especially for training.

The technology which is now available means that the accuracy of speech recognition is now approaching operational air traffic control needs.

In training, the prospects of automating some instructional tasks using speech technologies are being explored. There is already some evidence that training is enhanced by a speech synthesiser and the reality of the situation is impressive. The combination of speech synthesis and speech recognition during training has been completed with a limited vocabulary as an engineering prototype for field evaluation.

The system has further substantial advantages. Many of these systems are fun for the user. They also provide measures which are known by the students to be objective and the student motivation in training with synthetic speech has been found to be high. Future efforts will be devoted towards tackling the problem of connected speech in speech recognition and for this a software approach is being adopted, for listings of long codes for example.

Mr. D. Stevens of the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Centre gave an historical review of air traffic control simulation in the United States and described the current air traffic control simulation facilities at NAFEC. An air traffic control system has numerous interrelated components, including human ones, and a purpose of simulation was to discover what happened to the rest of the system if one component was changed. Real-time air traffic control simulation relied on a mock-up of an actual air traffic control facility, and air traffic control processes were studied in real-time. These included the man/ machine interface and usually the computer-generated air traffic was the basis of the tasks studied. The simulation had many advantages for system design and evaluation. It could increase safety, reduce costs, enable problems to be repeated, test the consistency with which they were resolved, provide flexibility in the approach to problem solutions and provide a full scale testing capability so that the interactions among components could be studied.

Following Mr. Stevens, Mr. S. Pszczolkowski also of the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Centre gave further details of the capacity of the current NAFEC simulation facilities. Formally there would be between twelve and twenty simulated pilots in the system.

Each could handle up to ten aircraft but would usually handle three or four or up to seven aircraft in the terminal area. These simulated pilots essentially acted as data entry devices, to answer questions from the controller of a kind which would be directed to pilots, or to issue emergencies which had been scripted and rehearsed in advance.

Within the facility there are also up to fourteen positions for controllers. The facility is also being used for some training purposes. A smaller air traffic control training facility was described by Dr. H. Pierson of the Mitre Corporation. This was a simulator for testing advanced concepts in air traffic control and not intended for training or for immediate operations.

The final paper was by Mr. T. Morgan of the Computer Sciences Corporation and described a particular air traffic control simulation project, the beacon collision avoidance system {BCAS). This facility was intended as a backup for controller radar surveillance and to give protection for controlled aircraft from aircraft which may not be tracked. The existing see-and-be-seen concept was believed to be inadequate to give this protection. Various previous methods of achieving this protection were described. The first was the proximity warning indicator, where the pilot was required to resolve the conflict. The second was conflict alert which although in use had limited value in

Hell! No! -

Can't you take that simulation more serious!?!

the terminal area, where it could generate false alarms, and might increase the workload for controllers. The third was an aircraft-to-aircraft data link but this would have no air traffic control interface and would be restricted to suitably equipped aircraft only. A fourth was a proximity warning based on an automatic terminal radar service which was being developed but had no function in non radar areas. Th is would give protection however to all aircraft within an area covered by the discrete area beacon system. Fifthly was a proximity warning system based on beacon collision avoidance which would provide protection for all aircraft but at high total costs. This was the subject of the simulation. It could have active, mixed or passive modes, be based on no ground radar sites, one or at least two. Pilot interactions with BCAS have been tested by experiment. Assessments were being made of the types of display to give intruder position information and to convey the logic of delayed warnings. It had been found that pilots desire this information especially to give them confidence in the system but it was necessary to give reasons and details about the commands.

Pilots were unsure whether the active, mixed or passive modes provided the better escape performance but they did have some expressed preferences for vertical rather than horizontal manoeuvres, although these expressed preferences were not verified from the performance data. It was found that pilots could not, in fact, detect delayed warnings, and visual cues had proved to be insufficient to indicate large differences in closure rates and range. Better separation had been achieved if the intruding aircraft had not been equipped with BCAS. It was found that a 15 second minimum warning time was required for manoeuvres and that this should in fact be nearer 20 seconds to allow a threshold time for delayed warnings. Some of the reactions to the BCAS system had proved to be excessive, increasing the separations between aircraft far more than was necessary.

Overview The papers as a whole provided a useful account of current air traffic control research and development which is in some way associated with learning technology, the theme of the conference. Some of the research is impressive both in its content and in the rapid progress which has been made. With a few exceptions, papers dealt only with research in the United States.

Safety: All-Time Accident Low for US.-A!rlines but Heavy Death Toll In 1977 US airlines

recorded

in their history: 26 in all.

However, in that year highest number of accident

the lowest

has declined

in 1977.

The accident

rate

considerably, per

of accidents

the major US airlines reported the fatalities: 653, with 327 deaths in the

same accident at Tenerife.

The accident rate per 100 000 flight a whole

number

million

hours for US carriers

from miles

as

1.193 in 1967 to 0.404 flown

went

0.010 in 1976 to 0.008 in 1977. The rate for accidents was 0.002 per million miles in 1977.

down

from

with fatalities

13

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14

[ill]

IFATCA '78 - The 17th Annual Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 24th-27th April 1978

Past President J-D Monin addressing

the 17th Annual Conference

of IFATCA during the Opening Ceremony.

A record number of 37 Member Associations attended the 17th Annual Conference, IFATCA '78 he!d in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 24th to 27th April, 1978. The venue for the business sessions and most of the social functions was the modern Hotel Scandinavia, appropriately enough, as although the Danes were founder members of the Federation, this was the first conference to be held in Scandinavia. The Technical Exhibition was also housed in the Hotel, on the wide Mezzanine outside the Committee Rooms.

The timetable of the Conference followed the established pattern, with an Opening Plenary session, followed by several days of Committee business ending with the Final Plenary, where heads of delegations ratify or reject the recommendations of the committees. However, IFATCA '78 saw several innovations in the basic timetable, including an earlier Technical Panel, a Ladies Panel and after ollicial conference business ended, a special return flight for delegates to Sweden's ATC Academy, by courtesy of DataSaab.

The Opening Plenary With over 500 delegates and observers present, the Opening Plenary commenced at 0915 on Monday 24th April with a welcome

by Mr Henning Christensen, Chairman of the Conference Organising Committee, Danish Air Traffic Controllers Association, who introducsd Mr Val Eggers, Director of the Danish Civil Aviation Authorities. Mr Eggers, in officially opening the Conference, stressed the need for cooperation between IFATCA, its Members Association and aviation authorities in order to promote safe civil aviation and professional efficiency among Air Traffic Controllers.

Then followed the Presidents' opening address, in which M Jean-Daniel Monin called for urgent action in order to promote and maintain a universal system of Air Traffic Control. This demands an increased requirement for international cooperation in the fields of dissemination of information, a common international philosophy and the definition of the international status of the ATC profession.

Speaking as Chairman of the Danish Air Traffic Controllers Association, Mr Aage Riis Johansen outlined the difficulties facing Danish controllers and the increasing problem, which he believed to be shared by controllers in many countries, of retiring age and proper payment for a necessarily shortened working life.

Mr Johansen then welcomed the Corporate Members, reminding everyone of the importance of good tools for the craftsman.

The Roll Call of Directors followed, with 35 Member Associations represented - a record number for an Opening Plenary.

The President then read several letters and telegrams (the full texts of which appear in the Annual Conference Report) and then called for one minutes' silence in recognition of those controllers round the world who are discriminated against. Applications for membership were received from the East African Association and the Turkish Cypriot Community Association. Cyprus immediately lodged an objection to the latter application. The Report of the Executive Board was then presented by the President and this also appears in the Conference Report.

Following the appointment of Committee Chairman the President invited Mr Richard C. W. Weston to speak. Mr Weston, a London solicitor, has been. and still is, professionally and personally involved in the Air Traffic Controllers' problems resulting from the mid-air collision near Zagreb, Yugoslavia, on 10 September 1976. He gave the latest news in the case of Gradimir Tasic, with hope that further information would arrive from Yugoslavia before the end of the Conference.

Thanking Mr Weston for his words and all his devoted work in the controllers' cause, President J. D. Monin presented him 15

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Left wing of the auditorium. The three delegates from Mexico (center, third row) carefully follow the procedings, whereas Larry Curry (second row, first from the right) seems to think about the work ahead.

An audience of more than 400 people attended the opening session.

Among them Richard C. W. Weston, a London solicitor (foreground, first from the left), who is very much engaged in the air traffic controllers· problems resulting from the Zagreb mid-air collision, September 1976.

with a picture from the President's own home. Entitled "Tristesse" it was both a thankyou and a reminder of a sad situation.

Mid-day saw the official opening of the Technical Exhibition, an excellent and comprehensive display of equipment and services by Corporate Members and others. The position of the exhibition ensured that delegates were able to visit it immediately outside the committee rooms, take coffee breaks among the stands and talk to the exhibitors.

Lunchtime saw the beginning of the "culinary flow control" techniques introduced by Henning Christensen to cope with the problems of staff shortage caused by a strike of hotel staff throughout Copenhagen. Controller waited upon controller and it worked very well - if you knew which end of the huge dining room Henning was going to select to start first!

Committee Work Committee sessions began in earnest on Monday afternoon.

Committee officers were as follows: Committee A (Administration): Chairman, Larry Curry, UK; Vice Chairman, Roger Bartlett, EGATS; Secretary, Lesley Austin.

Committee B (Technical): Chairman, Art Cauty, Canada; Vice Chairman, T. Karlsen, Norway; Secretary Ian Finlay, UK. Committee C (Professional): Chairman, Jim Kouk, Canada; Vice Chairman, John Kalvik, Norway; Secretary, Pat O'Doherty, Ireland.

All 3 Comittees extended their programmed working hours to attend to the enormous number of agenda items and it is a tribute to them and the incredibly efficient Secretariat, that work was complete, with Committee Recommendations printed and in the hands of the Directors in time for the Final Plenary to open on schedule (or very nearly!).

Opening of the Technical Exhibition with 11 Corporate Members participating. Graham Williams (center), our most efficient CM Coordinator for the last year, introduced the Director of Civil Aviation, Denmark, to the Corporate Members present.

List of Exhibitors FERRANTI LIMITED DATASAAB AB MARCONI RADAR SYSTEMS LIMITED A.l.E.C. / CABLE & WIRELESS DANISH AIRPORT GROUP THE DANISH CIVIL AVIATION SCHOOL BELGIAN GUILD - IFATCA '79 HOLLANDSE' SIGNAALAPPARATEN PLESSEY RADAR COSSOR ELECTRONICS LIMITED INTERNATIONAL AERADIO LIMITED DECCA SOFTWARE SCIENCES LIMITED DANNEBROG ELEKTRONIK A/S.

16

Committee A (Administration) with Larry Curry (UK) in the chair, Roger Bartlett (EGATS) as vice-chairman and Leslie Austin (UK) as secretary. VicePresident Admin. Ted Bradshaw (UK) stepping in to assist in the conduct of business.

Committee B (Technical) found in Art Cauty (Canada) a new committee chairman at this conference; ably assisted by T. Karlsen (Norway) and Ian Finlay (UK) as secretary.

Very efficiently Committee C (Professional)discharged its duties under the chairmanship of Jim Kauk (Canada), assisted by John Kalvik (Norway) and Pat O'Doherty (Ireland) as secretary. Most of the time Harri Henschler (then V-P. Prof.) was available to give guidance as required.

Final Plenary

The formal business of the Conference then closed, with a farewell speech by Henning Christensen, DATCA.

After being declared open by the President, the Final Plenary began with a Roll Call of Directors, indicating 34 present, with 5 proxy votes held. Prior to voting there was a debate on the admissability of proxy votes, with an original ruling of 'no proxies' overturned to allow proxy votes to be used.

Telegrams of good wishes from the Rhodesian Association and from Bob Meyer were read and applauded.

For administrative reasons the acceptance of the Committee Reports was in reverse order - C, B, then A. Both C and B reports were accepted unanimously, with a special mention of thanks to the Committee B sub-group whose work helped in the R/T phraseology paper. Committee A's Report was subdivided for voting purposes and separate votes were taken on the following Recommendations: Applications for membership from East Africa, Spain and Venezuela were accepted; Malta was expelled and Turkey was given 60 days to settle outstanding debts to the Federation; Hans Wenger was re-elected Treasurer IFATCA and Andreas Avgoustis was elected as the new Vice-President, Professional.

New Corporate Members were welcomed. These were Standard Elektric Lorenz, Philips Gloeilampern, Sperry Univac (St. Paul, USA), Sperry Univac (Germany) and Sodern. Jakob Peters and Erik Ludwig received Charters on behalf of Philips Gloeilampern and Sodern respectively.

Under Any Other Business Norway asked for news of Gradimir Tasic and the President read a telegram received from Yugoslavia indicating that Tasic's sentence had been reduced to three and a half years and the other defendants had been declared Not Guilty. Called for by East Africa, one minute's silence was then observed for the Ugandan controllers killed at Entebbe.

Guest speakers from IFALPA, IATA, ILO and Eurocontrol then addressed the Plenary, followed by the President of the Belgian Association giving advance details of IFATCA '79, plus a welcome from the Mayor of Brussels.

Then followed the moving ceremony and speeches to install the new President, IFATCA, H. Harri Henschler (Canada) and say thankyou to Jean-Daniel Monin. Mrs Peggy Bradshaw spoke on behalf of everyone in the Federation in saying thankyou to Madame Romy Monin and then Oli Jonsson, Vice-President, Technical, spoke of Jean-Daniel's long years of dedication to the profession and his achievements during his six years in office. To a standing ovation Jean-Daniel then made way for Harri Henschler. After the presentation of gifts to the Monins by Ted Bradshaw, Vice-President Administration, the new President made a short speech pledging his endeavours to the aims of the Federation and the profession.

Other Activities Space does not permit a full description of all the other activities of the Conference, but reference must be made to the first-ever Ladies Panel, held on the Wednesday afternoon and the very comprehensive Ladies Programme throughout the week.

Address by Romy Monin Dear Ladies, For years now Air Traffic Controllers from all over the world, consequently our husbands, meet together to discuss their problems about the profession of A.T.C. A lot has been said and written about Social Stress and the Air Traffic Controller. That is, why the Executive Board of lFATCA thought, it was time to convene all the ladies attending the Annual Conference and thus permit us to voice our opinions and discuss the Effects of the A.T.C Profession on Familiy Life.

Of course I don't need to explain you the profession of an Air Traffic Controller and the stress connected to this profession.

The family as some source of stress cannot be overlooked. How does the controller in a stressed state interact upon the family? Let us consider just some of the facets of the problem.

Owing to the nature of his work, a controller may return home each day having had "a bad day at the center or the tower". That is, he may be irritable, have lack of energy and be generally unable to fit into the normal family day. As he starts and finishes work at unusual hours these problems may be highlighted when considered in comparison

Ramy Manin, then First Lady of lFATCA(first from the right), chaired the first Ladies Panelever at an IFATCAAnnual Conference.

17

with the rest of the family. Shiftwork does lead to disruption of family life particularly when there are children in the family.

Social life is often disrupted by shiftwork particularly where regular activities such as clubs, night schools and sports are concerned. This tends to isolate the controllers family and force solo activities or to have friends only with other controllers and many social functions develop into ,boys discussing the job", not very interesting for their partners.

It is wrong to expect the family to accept the pressure brought on it without some reaction.

These are some of the problems that can confront the wife of a controller. I hope you all read the paper prepared by the Ex. Board with several suggested points for discussion.

At the beginning of the month some controllers' wives met in my home to discuss the matter, naturally over a drink. Resulting from this discussion, one of the problems apparent seems to be the pressure brought on the family by a controller returning home very often in a stressed state; this is especially true during the summer months.

Shiftwork and its associated problems leads to difficulties, more particularly when there are children in the family. By the mere fact that the wife has to organize the day according to her husband's shiftwork, but she has to be available at the same time for children with regular timetable; the wife has less free time for herself. Due to these facts wives find it difficult to carry on with a personal job outside.

So, dear friends, it is up to you now, to voice your opinions. Thank you.

DataSaab, the New·Old Corporate Member, in conjunction with the Swedish Board of Civil Aviation, provided a facility on Friday that is going to be very difficult to equal - a special flight for delegates from Copenhagen to Malmo, Sweden, to visit the Swedish ATC Academy. The flight, in a DC9 of SAS, callsign "DataSaab One" was short but interesting, with all passengers receiving a copy of the Flight Plan, and Graham Williams, retiring Corporate Members Coordinator, giving out continuous information on the aircraft's PA. A full report is awaited for publication in the next edition of THE CONTROLLER.

Report "Ladies Discussion Group" At first the idea of holding a woman's panel was not well received.

There were many who thought there was nothing to discuss and felt uncomfortable that this topic of discussion had been suggested in the first place. The initial paper circulated was considered too controversial in the way it was written. This was taken into consideration and six questions were set out as possible areas of discussion.

1. Do you find that the controller too often feels a need to meet colleagues in off-duty times to discuss problems and procedures to the detriment of family life? How should you deal with this?

2. In your opinion, does your husband often answer questions in the affirmative or negative without further discussions or explanation, especially when it comes to your children. How do you cope with this?

3. Do you feel that shift work is particularly disruptive to family life?

If so, how do you cope?

4. In what way do you deal with the frustrations of your husband associated with the job, for example, lack of sleep due to shiftwork, stress etc.

5. Is excessive drinking specifically related to the demands of the profession? If so, what can you as wife of the controller do to alleviate this problem?

6. Have you any suggestions as to how a controllers wife may learn more about her husbands work and develop a better understanding?

The response was quite positive, but there was no consensus as to whether there were such problems and if so, whether they were related to the ATC profession in particular. Neverthless many enjoyed the opportunity to voice their opinions.

Discussion continued among a number of individuals following the panel. One point of general agreement seems to be the desirability of some space being made available to women at various times throughout the Conference to encourage greater communication regardless of the topic of discussion. In future such an opportunity would undoubtedly be well received.

A. B.

A brief exchange of views between the two most important and most busy persons at the Conference: Henning Christensen, Chairman of the Organising Committee (left) and Tom Harrison, E'xecutive Secretary of IFATCA, who was in charge of the coordination between the Board and the Conference Secretariat. A few arrangements made for the next couple of minutes, and off they rush again into different directions. yet with the same aim: the smooth and efficient organisation of the Conference. Thanks to their efforts and the help of many other volunteers the Conference was another important milestone in the history of the Federation.

The Social Programme A very interesting Technical Panel was presented by the Corporate Members on Tuesday afternoon, in which seven papers were presented: "Rationalisation of Air Traffic Services"

by Anton Weijts, Signaal.

"Communications Recording in ATC" by "Joop" Peeters, Philips.

"Synthetic Data on A TC Displays"

by Bobbie Harrison, Ferranti.

"Advanced Simulation in ATC Training"

by Alan Greethrust, International Aeradio Limited.

"Approach Lighting Systems"

by Gynther Hansen, Airport Lighting & Engineering Co. "The Man/Machine Interface"

by Peter Jorgensen, Selenia.

"Measuring and Improving ATC Capacity"

by Bob Adderly, Software Sciences Ltd. 18

As has become usual, the host association once again worked wonders in organising a social programme, including a Reception by the City of Copenhagen in the historic City Hall and several sponsored lunches. At the farewell party DATCA even managed to provide entertainment by a famous singer rently appearing in a Copenhagen Theatre.

and comedian,

cur-

The thanks of DATCA and of all who attended IFATCA '78 go to the Danish Ministry of Works, Civil Aviation Authority, the City of Copenhagen, Scandinavian Airlines, ways, Thai International, Copenhagen management of the Hotel Scandinavia,

Cimber Air, British AirAirports Authority, the Copenhagen Excursions,

Radio Suisse and the IFATCA Corporate Members. Special thanks go to DataSaab and Graham Williams for his optimism and assistance and to the Danish CAA for their invaluable assistance, particularly concerning the secretariat, which was generally considered to have been the most efficient of any IFATCA Conference.

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One of the most impressive events of the Ladies Programme was the Castle Tour. Here busses stop in a small but famous fishermen village, a historic and well preserved place in Denmark.

Then there was the Daily Mirror-Sun, there was Committee D, there was old friends and new friends and Aquavit and ....... .

IFATCA '78.

IFATCA Ladies invading the castle of Kronburg and looking for the historic places where, till the present days, the fate of Shakespeares· Hamlet is revived at special occasions .

The Fredriksburg, surrounded by water, left visitors in admiration for its architecture and indoor treasures. It may well be that the beautiful figures around the fountain in front of the castle were formed by an unknown artist in memory of ...

. . . the first session of Committee "D", inspiring and motivating drinkers ever since, although labels and drinking cups have changed somewhat over the centuries. Also members of Committee "D" nowadays prefer to properly dress up for drinking ceremonies.

19

New Air Route Surveillance Radar With Adaptive Antenna Pattern and Coherent Transmit/Receive System A German Contribution by AEG-TELEFUNKEN to Automating Air Traffic Control Introduction In view of the growing number of partly and fully automated evalution systems that are being adopted in air traffic control operations and because of the related need for reliable and unambiguous aircraft detection, AEG-TELEFUNKEN set itself the task to develop an instrument that would combine the newest technology with both cost effectiveness and reliability, while at the same time optimally fulfilling air traffic controllers' and engineers' requirements.

This was AEG-TELEFUNKEN's goal when they set out to put into practice their SRE-M5 concept whose most outstanding features are the clutter-adaptive antenna, a coherent transmit/receive system (klystron transmitter), and digital 1/Q-MTI.

antenna pattern in elevation (Fig. 3). The design of the variable coupler allows variation of the pencil-beam and cosecant-squared patterns so as to detect distant low-altitude aircraft. The pencil-beam diagram has a sharper lower cut-off than the cosecant-squared patterns used in other dual-beam antennas and can therefore be operated at a lower elevation angle.

The upward lobe at the back slope of the cosecant-squared diagram which increases high angle coverage in the close-in range by a ratio of appr. 1 : 2, considerably improves the signal-to-noise ratio. It is of advantage especially in the presence of close-in ground reflections where both sensitivity time control (STC) and additional receiver gain control (RGC) may be employed to -enhance antenna performance.

The antenna transmit/receive system developed by AEG-TELEFUNKEN offers advantages which make the SRE-M5 eminently suited for installation in areas with major clutter problems.

These advantages are: 1. the underside of the antenna beam is variable in 4 range and azimuth-programmable steps rendering the system optimally clutteradaptive.

2. the sharp lower cut-off together with the beam variation capability result in practically negligible lobing so that there are no gaps in target detection.

3. the upper characteristic of the coverage pattern is practically not affected by any of the variation features.

4. the antenna is laid out for the addition of an AEG-TELEFUNKEN developed integrated SSR antenna, including an omnidirectional antenna.

Coherent Transmit/Receive System Having appraised various transmitter design concepts, AEG-TELEFUNKEN decided to employ the coherent klystron transmitter system for the following reasons: (a) a klystron transmitter allows a coherent radar system to be set up in which the transmitting and STALO frequencies are derived from a master crystal (= COHO). using the phase-locked loop technique; improved MTI performance is obtained. (b) modularity and fail-soft characteristic of the modulator prevent total transmitter outage during modulator irregularities.

Fig. 1: SRE-MS installation layout: to the left and right the two transmiVreceive channels; in the background control and power supply units with monitor display.

The dual-channel configuration (Fig. 1) is designed so as to be suitable for integration into existing systems and, in conjunction with AEG-TELEFUNKEN's modular target extractors and modular displays representing an adaptive data processing system, it can function as an autonomous system.

Graphic presentation of the reduction of the reception of ground clutter by the adaptive SRE-M 5 antenna

without pattern control, customary method

with pattern control SAE-MS

Tel'get suppress...--d

Target visible

Clutter-Adaptive Antenna System The SRE-M5 essentially derives its outstanding aircraft detection capability from the new antenna which ensures detection of both highaltitude and distant low-altitude aircraft, while greatly reducing ground clutter (Fig. 2).

The reflector height was selected to yield an antenna pattern with a very sharp lower cut-off, minimizing clutter reception as well as lobing due to ground reflections and maintaining good coverage capability at low angles. To accomplish this, the antenna coverage is divided into a modified cosecant-squared vertical pattern with added high angle coverage in the close-in range and a pencil-beam-like lower pattern, plus suitable combination beams for the transmitting and receiving modes.

This pattern combination is accomplished with the help of a fixed power coupler on the antenna and an electronically controllable power coupler in the receiver. The result, in conjunction with the sharp lower cut-off, is a highly effective, clutter-adaptive, variation of the

20

SRE-MS.COl'Jtf<&d•r'lt9ftN~ non-r..l pat1.,-n .,...oe ol .,,lenNI

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Fig, 2: Graphic illustration of how the adaptive SRE-Ms antenna reduces ground clutter reception

The antenna main bearing is designed for an operating life of more than 50'000 hours; it can be replaced in about four hours. The rotary joint in the antenna pedestal is provided with two L-band power channels for pulse peak powers of 3 MW and up to 250 kW, respectively; also, two secondary radar channels (6 kW pulse peak power) and a standby channel are available.

Digital angle data are generated in an encoder (12-bit azimuth count pulse plus north marker) on twin tracks for increased data availability and reliability, which is further enhanced by a built-in electronic angle data correction feature. The output level of the electronically processed and amplified angle data, which are available at the output of the system control cabinet, is sufficiently high to feed centers up to 3 km away.

Longer distances can be handled by using higher-quality cables.

14 slip-rings are available to transmit control signals to the circular polarizers; operating life of the slip-rings is ;;:::60 000 hours, that of the carbon burshes ~ 30 000 hours.

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COSECANT-SQUARED PATTERN

Waveguide Assembly

PENCIL - BEAM FEED /

The SRE-MS waveguide assembly is a dual-channel configuration with high-power and low-power sections. The highpower section which is designed in the waveguide technique is provided with a high-power diplexer for diversity operation. a water-cooled power circulator, a bidirectional coupler for transmitter power and VSWR monitoring, a highspeed klystron protecting coupler, a test signal coupler, and a PIN diode switch for the protection of the receiver.

The low-power section contains a PIN diode switch, a signal limiting device and a tunable coax diplexer. It is divided into a waveguide portion extending up to the PIN diode switch, and a coax portion extending as far as the receiver inputs.

COSECANT-SQUARED BEAM FEED

CIRCULAR POLARIZATION

---:.,.

PATTERN COMBINATION OF COSE CANT - SQUARED AND PENCIL BEAMS (ABOVE) AND SCHEMATIC OF CIRCUIT PRINCIPLE I BELOW) Fig. 3: Generation of a combined radar pattern from a cosecant-squared and a pencil-beam pattern, and the underlying circuitry concept.

(c) due to their coherent nature, ground reflections interfering with very distant target detection are eliminated by switching over sectorwise to a constant PRF. (d) missing pulses as occur with magnetrons are greatly reduced in the klystron transmitting tube, thus increasing the overall reliability of the system. (e) special AFC circuits are not required so that amplifier bandwidths can be matched to the radar pulse length and shape (matched filter principle). (f) typical operating life of a klystron is 25 000 hours which is approx.

2½ times that of a magnetron. (g) the klystron transmitter pulse characteristic can be almost bellshaped, thus reducing the frequency bandwidth required for the klystron transmitter as well as the harmonic content.

Function and Design of System Components The New Antenna The antenna assembly consists of a reflector which is 14.5 m wide and 9 m high. There are two feeds fitted to the reflector boom, which, in conjunction with the power couplers and phase shifters inside the waveguide run and receiver, form the combination pattern. The tilt is mechanically variable by ± 3 The dielectric feeds which are capable of radiating vertical and circular polarization energy are covered by a small protective radome. In conjunction with the switch-operated circular polarizers, an integrated cancellation ratio (ICR) of better than 22 db is obtained.

The standard SRE-MS antenna is equipped with one drive providing a scan rate of 5 revolutions/minute. If the optional dual-drive configuration is used, one of the drives can be replaced while the other continues antenna rotation.

Though not required under normal conditions, a radome when installed for environmental reasons reduces the necessary antenna driving power to < 15 kVA (compared with 30 kVA without radome).

°.

Fig. 4: Transmitter klystron assembly: 1 klystron tube with focussing magnet 2 pulse transformer 3 coolant flow monitor

Klystron Transmitter The transmitter operates as a coherent amplifier within a frequency range from 1250 to 1350 MHz. It is characterized by a pulse power output of 2.5 MW and a pulsed input power of about 40 W, the latter being supplied by an RF driver which is accommodated in the receiver cabinet.

The transmitter assembly is made up of three units: the klystron unit (see Fig. 4), a modulator and monitoring unit, and a high-voltage power supply unit. The klystron transmitting tube is a mechanically tunable VA 963 microwave tube with electromagnetic focussing.

Receiver/Processor Cabinet Jointly accommodated in one cabinet are the receiver assembly which is made up of an RF receiver input, power pack, RF driver, frequency generator, and IF/STC unit, and the signal processor, synchronizer and range-azimuth generator (RAG) with their power supplies (Fig. 5).

The receiver input combines the received patterns after they have passed through a phase shifter and a variable power combiner. RF 21

RF RECEIVER FRONTEND

A Modern Signal Processor The signal processor employed in the SRE-M5 system is made up of two major components. the I-Q double cancelation MTI system allowing separate processing of the in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) components of the radar echo, and the normal video channel.

Both normal and MTI video pass through CFAR circuits after having been subjected to low-pass filtering and aid conversion. Normal and MTI signal processing following aid conversion at the processor input is fully digital, using the Low-Power Schottky principle for increased reliability. A RAG-controlled range gate sends either MTI or normal video signals, depending on the prevailing clutter conditions. to a diversity combiner which serves to combine the gated video with the equivalent video of the diversity channel for further processing. A 9-bit video integrator eliminates aperiodic interference, thus increasing the contrast of the PPI display. For transmission to a video distributor (lo which a weather extractor may be connected), the integrated video signal is converted back into an analog form and smocthed. A final quantization procedure readies the processed video signals for output on a display unit.

The standard system configuration includes an automatic l:ist channel to be used not only for monitoring purposes but also as an additional video channel as well as supervisory device.

POWER SUPPLY

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RF GENERATOR

IF/STC

UNIT

Synchronizer/Rag Unit Synchronizer and range-azimuth generator (RAG) are combined in a twin unit whose front panel incorporates the RAG control panel. (Fig. 6).

The range-azimuth generator is provided to shift from lower to upper receive beam to skip over obstructions. to vary the sensitivity time control curve, to change over to a constant PRF. and to switch from normal to MTI video channel. The control signals required for these functions are generated by the RAG in the form of range and azimuth gate pulses with which prcgrammable blanking or gating windows are obtained in polar coordinates. With a coordinate raster of 256 steps in azimuth and range, adjustment is possible in steps of 1.4 in azimuth and about 1 NM in range.

To facilitate programming of the gating windows or sectors and to optimize antenna beam shifting, RGC/STC as well as normal/MTI switching, the window contours are added as bright lines to the video display on the monitor (Fig. 7).

RANGE-AZIMUTH GENERATOR

SIGNAL PROCESSOR

°

SPARE

Fig. s: Receiver/processor cabinet

sensitivity time control (STC) performed before the receiver input amplifier was chosen over IF-STC in order to enhance MTI performance and the use of digital target extractors. The STC/RGC (receiver gain control) function generator produces the STC characteristics which are largely programmable to meet individual clutter conditions.

The frequency generator. which features a phase-locked loop (PLL) oscillator with a crystal and a cavity transistor oscillator. performs the Stalo-COHO functicn in the coherent SRE-M5 system. The improvement factor achieved with the PLL technique is -60 db. The radio frequency generator produces the transmitting frequency of 1250 to 1350 MHz, the master COHO frequency of 30 MHz, and, by upward mixing, a heterodyne frequency for the receiver mixer. A pulsed COHO signal is used for the CFAR testing unit to monitor the IF portion of the receiver and the CFAR circuits in the video processor. The IF/STC unit has four output:;, one each for the MTI channel, the logarithmic channel, for connection of a radar monitor, and for test purposes.

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Fig. 6: Front panel of the RAG/synchronizer unit with RAG operating controls

22

The synchronizer provides all the triggers required for operating the SRE-M5 as well as those for the display equipment, a possib:e SSR system and target extractor. Since it is generally preferred to operate the SRE-M5 system in the diversity mode, it is very important that both channels be coordinated in time, i. e. that they be controlled by only one synchronizer. A selector switch at the system control cabinet therefore allows designation of one of the two synchronizers as master, the other as slave synchronizer. In the case of malfunction, the slave unit automatically assumes the tasks of the master unit. The synchronizer task~ naturally include PRF staggering and destaggering operations, and all these functions are extensively monitored. Any malfunction in the synchronizer system is indicated optically.

Control Cabinet All central control elements as well as a dual-channel power supply, patch-pad and test point terminal are housed in the control cabinet. It is here that the basic master/slave assignment is made for the entire system, using the channel selector. Equally, master-slave reversal, angle data processing, video amplification. trigger distribution, as well as control commands and acknowledgments are handled here.

The latter can be controlled locally or remotely, by cable or radio.

The system is generally operated in the diversity mode. However, the system control configuration is laid out in such a way that, in the case of malfunction, operation is continued in the simplex mode, using the channel not affected by the fault. Repair and maintenance can thus be carried out without interrupting radar operation.

The main control signals are stored with polarized relays so that. in the case of a power failure, the last command input is retained.

AEG-TELEFUNKEN is presenting ATC equipment users with a highly modern en-route control system that offers high reliability, economy and expandabi lily.

Monitor Display The standard SRE-M5 configuration includes a 16" monitor display (Fig. 8), type MTS 1116 of AEG-TELEFUNKEN. It is designed not only to monitor and display the various video and test signals but to serve as an important aid in RAG programming, allowing the display of bright lines as well as presentation of extraneous video, such a!. the raw video of an associated SSA system.

The MTS 1/16 can be modified to an MTS 11/16 model to permit display of PR and SSA signals after processing in a digital target extractor.

High Performance and Reliability Standard The SRE-M5 air route surveillance radar described reflects the many years of experience by AEG-TELEFUNKEN in the field of air traffic control. The underlying concept was implemented after all the individual components making up the system had been meticulously developed and tested, taking advantage of the newest technology and know-how.

Mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) is calculated to be 870 hours for each transmit/receive channel and 18200 hours for the non-redundant antenna system. The test concept employed permits isolation of faults to a replaceable module and built-in test equipment (BITE) ensures that the time required for it is reduced to a minimum.

In combining these most outstanding features: e clutter-adaptive antenna with low false alarm rate • long operating life of antenna main bearing • coherent transmit/receive system with reliable modulator life klystron transmitting tube • modern signal processor • ease of maintenance and repair due to modularity • extremely high operating availability of 99.99 0/o

and long,,, ,--,9q f,J-v Fig. 8: MTS 11/16monitor display

An ICAO Meeting Chooses a new Microwave Landing System The ICAO All-Weather Operations Division Meeting has recommended that the Council of ICAO adopt the TRSB/lnterscan system as the new standard non-visual aid for precision approach and landing (MLS). Over 250 delegates representing 73 Contracting States, one non-contracting State and 4 international organizations attended this meeting.

The choice was made by means of secret ballot between the US-Australian TRSB/lnterscan system, which uses a scanning beam to guide aircraft on landing, and a Doppler MLS (DMLS) proposed by the United Kingdom. The Federal Republic of Germany withdrew its own DME-based system from the competition and went over to the US/Australian proposal.

The results of the vote were as follows: 39 for the TRSB/ lnterscan, 24 for the DMLS and 8 abstentions.

When the choice made by the meeting has been approved by the Council of ICAO, the new system will be progressively set up throui:ihout the world to permit ongoing transition from the instrument landing system (ILS) which had been selected in 1949 by ICAO and is still used all over the world. The Conference decided that the ILS, which provides reliable and efficient service, will remain a standard ICAO system until 1995 at least. This date will

be again revised before 1 January 1985 should an extension be necessary in the light of current technical, operational and economic considerations.

The meeting considered that the potential advantages of the new MLS are important: its aerials are much smaller, siting is much easier and accordingly installation costs will be lower compared with the ILS; this system is not affected by weather conditions, it operates in difficult multi-path environments and can be used to fly segmented and curved precision approaches to attenuate noise and avoid obstacles. Owing to its flexibility and wider coverage, the all-weather MLS could be a big asset at congested airports by giving pilots a greater choice of approaches than the ILS which obliges aircraft to land in turn on a single approach path.

With the choice of the MLS, the second phase in a threephase programme has come to an end. The first phase concerned the finalization of general specifications and operational needs for a microwave system and the final phase will comprise the definition of standards and recommended practices based on the system selected for use by the 142 ICAO Contracting States.

ITA Bulletin

23

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SPACE· , : At Ca~-1~ wi;elc:°s~~w~•r~ ~er).-pro~d of. :. . • •. •We ·designed our Speech Processing & . being one of the largest telecommunications . Co.ntrol Equipment system to help air traffic ,_organisations in the world.:· •.'. . : . _-'. • • • . .And one of the most significant factors in . ..<-control, by providing.a comprehensive and.

•' our success has been our willingness and versatile radio/intercom/telephone control . system. SPACE is a very flexible system • capability to develop, install and maintain. . which can be tailored to meet the needs of systems designed specifically for individual -'.·'industries... ··.•.··'·. .'·.···,.·_-:._.··.' ·.··: individual customers, varying from multi.. · The very special rieeds ofth~Aviati~n· · operator position air traffic control at major airports to a private communications network· Industry, for example, have prompted the • •development of several such systems: •. , with only one or two control positions. All . ·- '. . .•. . • . . .' . . . ... '. ·, .• • : . '•. . • units in the control console are of modular .

• construction to ensure ease of maintenance· SPACE, LO PAC and c·ABEX . . and expansion and can be duplicated toSysteins designed to aid the speed and .provide standby facilities. A number of• . efficiency of communications in an area where.

SPACE systems are currently in operation •• faultless communication is crucial at all times.

•. around the world including the United //:·.: ...... -; . . . ·: : .._Systems that, all over the world, are Kingdom, Hong Kong, the Seychelles and it<.::"'. ,:_<,i/·, ·,. already making airlines more profitable and· several countries in the Middle East. ';?6;'~j}:tf:,:t· :~;-~irportsmore efficient. , •. •.;_. • : •.. • • . . • • ,-,--~.;;_;.-,;,.::·:4f;,.,tff;;;·,'";,/ And greater efficiency means more ".

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LO PAC •: CABEX 3E4 :: To help airlines achieve optimum payloads·.· ••Store-and-forward message s\vitchi~g more efficiently, more economically, Cable&· ••· :..means you can communicate over a private Wireless developed LOPAC. An alpha-numeric network tq send messages into this switching; computer based departure control system. . .systerri and have them stored until the··:::·, _-. :'"\ ··::. meeting all PNR requirements. LO PAC works· •. . destination terminal is free. Meanwhile, you •, • round the clock, offering automatic or manual can get on with your job. CABEX will also send flight initialisation, automatic seat pre- • . messages into the system from public telex : : allocation, check-in and close out functions, •networks, deliver telex messages and dial : \~ -;~._:__. data accumulation and a handling capacity of· •. •. automatically until whatever number you . '. :\ •. •.. • • 100 simultaneous flights. LO PAC will interface· • • : · • ... _... :want is free.··,: • • . - : •. .'. \vith message S\Vitchingand reservation-. .. · ·:·.: ::·.:.....• •.;

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International Law XVII The Law of Air (4) The Years since the Chicago Convention The States as we have seen had been unable to arrive at a truly International and truly just Law of the Air, nevertheless for all the faults of the Chicago Convention, ICAO set about drafting the various Annexes which we know so well as controllers. Little by little technicians in all spheres of aviation came to realise the value of standardisation and in many cases succeeded in implementing it despite the political barriers which seemed permanently to be placed in the way of common sense which is the basis of all good law.

Other very important efforts were made in the field of technical assistance to the developing countries, air traffic control being not the least of theoe fields but these programmes were not helped by certain States which either would not permit secondment of technicians or made the prospects of a career at home difficult for those who wished to assist. Great efforts were made also in the ICAO regions to produce regional plans well adapted to the needs of civil air traffic but these efforts continue to come up against political barriers and outright flaunting of International Law by certain States.

Much has yet to be done and ICAO is not helped in its task by the use of the Organisation in its capacity as a technical service of the United Nations Organisation to implement UNO's political sanctions at times to the detriment of the safety of air navigation. While the International Civil servants were taking matters seriously in an attempt to produce viable International Law and its application, the States having made many unfortunate compromises from the outset turned again to problems which had been left aside since the inter-war period.

International Liability The Warsaw Convention had become out of date and updating commenced with the Hague Protocol of 28th September 1955.

The conditions oi contract for ticket holders had to be published on the ticket. In fact the updating apart from printing the conditions of contract turned out to be a modernisation of pre-war terminology taking into account the reduction in the number of colonies but no new benefit was forthcoming for the passenger or shippers of cargo or mail. Another attempt to update was made in the Protocol of Guatemala of the 8th March 1971 but the result was in effect a reduction in the liability of the airlines. Article 17 now removed responsibility if a passenger's state of health was in doubt. Article 22 set a maximum liability, instead of the maximum liability per passenger so that instead of a liability of 125,000 francs per passenger the airline became liable for 1,500,000 francs for the total of all complaints made. It can be seen that with the size of modern aircraft passenger is much less protected. The fact that the francs are gold francs makes little difference. Whereas States were free to add another indemnity to that of the transporter they were not free to add additional liability to the transporter under national law. This may seem unjust to passengers and it probably was, but this precedent of international liability where the State cannot add further liability is a sound precedent for the question of Liability of the Controller which IFATCA seeks to have solved by these same States. The more recent Montreal Protocol introduced for those States which ratified the protocol a move away from the gold franc in favour of sums tied to the rates of the International Monetary Fund so passenger indemnity now depends on which protocols have been ratified by which States. Airline liability is in a similar case of non-standardisation.

The case of another transporter other than the original contractor was coverad by the Guadalajara Convention of 1961.

26

by E. McClusky

Having thus limited airline liability for persons with whom they had contracted, the States limited airline liability in another sphere, that of damage to third parties on the surface, by the Rome Convention of the 7th October 1952.

International recognition of aircraft registration was given under the Geneva Convention of 19th June 1948.

The composition of the ICAO Council was changed by Protocols to the Chicago Convention signed in New York 12th March 1971 and in Vienna on the 7th July 1971. The Protocol of Buenos Aires gave equality to the three languages English, Spanish and French.

Hi-Jacking - A New Phenomenon If we consider these changes listed above to be the main changes which the States had managed to introduce in a period of thirty years we see with how much success the efforts of jurists were meeting. During the early part of this period the world looked on with mild interest at a new phenomenon that of hi-jacking aircraft from the United States to Cuba. Apart from these tw0 countries no-one took the threat particularly seriously.

But suddenly the frustration of a nation whose calls for help were not heeded burst upon the world in the form of hi-jacks in every part of the globe. Others commenced the same piracy.

Faced with a danger to their citizens and their aircraft one would have expected the States to react strongly. Their first attempt to control air piracy resulted in the Tokyo Convention of the 14th September 1963. This Convention excluded hi-jacks of military, police and customs aircraft as well as hi-jacks which had a political, racial or religious character. As with the Warsaw Convention, only International flights were covered. Nevertheless there was the beginning of definition of the powers of the aircraft commander. Aircraft had to be restored to their rightful owners and passengers and cargo had to be facilitated to their original destination. States had to permit the captain to off-load persons who were in contravention of the Convention. The receiving State could either send such a person back to the State whose nationality he had or to the State where the journey commenced.

The drawbacks of this system can easily be seen. Palestinians still do not have recognition of having a nationality. The State where the flight commenced might well be disinterested if the person sent back was not a national or if the aircraft against which the tort had been committed was not home registered.

So if these provisions did not work the person who had committed the tort could go to a destination of his choice provided the receiving State did not require him for legal proceedings.

Torts committed aboard an aircraft were to be considered as if they had been committed in the State of registration so were subject to extradition if the two States concerned had a relevant extradition trflaty but the Convention did not presume right of extradition. Looking at the Convention in this light in most cases a hi-jacker could drive a coach and horses through the loopholes. Twelve States required to ratify before the Convention entered into force. At the time of writing only nine have done so and to add insult to injury one even included in its municipal law penalties against the pilot who falsely declares a hi-jack. So this first attempt to restore law and order was a miserable failure. Hi-jacks continued and seven years later the States tried again to control the scourge. This resulted in the Hague Convention of 1970. In the interim period a British judge had said "there are very few subjects connected with the law of the air on which lawyers have written so much or which they have discussed so often at International Conferences as Crimes on Aircraft". If we add to these discussions the force of resolutions of such organisations as ICAO, UNO, International Law Association, Air Law Group of the Royal Aeronautical Society, IATA, IFALPA

and our own Federation the literature available for the politicians on the subject was to say the least considerable. The Hague Convention was conceived to deal exclusively with the problem of hi-jacking and had the merit over the Tokyo Convention of being supported by both the USA and the USSR. The Convention came into force on October 14th 1971. The Convention defined the elements of the crime of hi-jacking without defining the crime itself. The notion of accomplices was introduced, a point which had been missed by the Tokyo Convention. Some of the provisions are a little difficult to understand and it is suggested that the drafters of the Convention wished to cover all possibilities without being sure what these possibilities were. "Use of force" or "threat of use of force" are self explanatory but it is difficult to imagine "any other form of intimidation". The hi-jackers can only become hi-jackers by force or threat of force but a pilot could himself hi-jack an aircraft without force. A steward could drug a pilot and take over the aircraft. Again there is no force or threat of force or even "any other form of intimidation" so we have to look at the work carried out before the Convention to see if this was intentionally left out. This point was raised by Australia in discussions in the ICAO Legal Committee and was expressly voted out. This raises delicate problems of Treaty interpretation. The person who drugs the pilot or bribes him could well come under the "unlawful exercise of control over an aircraft in flight". The question arises as to whether the drafters having expressly voted this problem out, a Court could still consider the case mentioned as hi-jacking. The type of interpretation likely to be given would be similar to that of the International Court in the "Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa} notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276" (1970). South Africa submitted that new facts had not been before the Court since 1950 and the new facts were a proposal

by China at the last meeting of the League of Nations providing for explicit terms for the transfer of supervisory functions over mandated territories. The argument was that since the proposal was not adopted no transfer was envisaged. The decision was "The Court is unable to accept the argument advanced. The fact that a p3rticular proposal is not adopted by an international organ does not necessarily carry with it the inference that a collective pronouncement is made in a sense opposite to that proposed. There can be many reasons determining rejection or non-approval''.

The use of force or threat of use of force is a narrower interpretation of hi-jacking than the Tokyo Convention provisions which included "interference with the aircraft". The hi-jacker must be on board so threats from the outside are not covered.

The only way a threat from outside could be considered hi-jacking is by a very wide interpretation that the Convention was aimed at stopping hi-jacking. This is not, it is submitted, very good law. Anyone who uses violence against the hi-jackers in order to restore the aircraft to the control of the commander is excepted from the "use of violence" clause. The Convention however throws proof in this case back on to municipal law which may be the law of the State of Registration, the law of the State of landing, the law of the State where the person is eventually found, the Law of the State to which the person is extradited under an extradition treaty etc.

Definition The definition of aircraft in flight means that all external doors must be closed or there is no hi-jack. This compares with the Tokyo Convention where power had to have applied with the intention of take-off. The question of closed doors does not apply if there is a forced landing when the hi-jack continues until the local police arrives. Again the drafters did discuss this loophole but thought that prior to the doors being closed the case came under local municipal law. France was the main

instigator of this view and recent events in France have shown that the local authority can be extremely competent in such a case. Obviously if the hi-jack is unsuccessful prior to take-off, the municipal law would normally be better suited to the situation but many countries do not have laws dealing with the offence and so it must be considered that the abortive hi-jack would have to fall under the normal laws concerning violence.

The Hague Convention appears to apply to all aircraft no matter where they are registered whereas the Tokyo Convention would have been applicable only to aircraft of contracting States.

However if a contracting State were to apply the Hague Convention in the case of a hi-jack of an aircraft of a non-Contracting State it may well be in breach of the Vienna Convention so there could be a conflict of law. Perhaps the case could fall under the Geneva Convention on the High Seas 1958 but the discussion leading to such an incomplete definition seemed to throw jurisdiction back on to International Custom. Australia and New Zealand took the view "in view of the gravity of the crime which, by endangering international traffic, constituted a violation of human rights, it should be made clear that the terms of Article 1 applied to offences committed against all aircraft, registered in any State whatever". In this case one might wonder how International Custom can be immediately created and not grow up over a period of years. Here we need look no further than the North Sea Continental Shelf Cases 1969 where Denmark and the Netherlands submitted that the principle of equidistance of the Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf 1958 was accepted as a general rule of law. The Court held "With respect to the other elements usually regarded as necessary before a conventional rule can be considered to have become a general rule of international law, it might be said that even without the passage of any considerable period of time, a very widespread and representative participation in the Convention might suffice of itself, provided it included that of States whose interests are specially affected". So IFATCA is correct to continue its efforts to have as many States as possible ratify these Conventions. The States involved in a given case might be the determining factor by using the principles of Consent, Recognition, Acquiescence or the principle of Estoppel. We can also add weight to this idea by reference to numerous national laws where the custom of civilised nations might be invoked. Canada, Cuba, Federal German Republic, Norway and Mexico all have similar definitions of this problem. Public statement of the representatives of Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden can also add weight to this type of argument.

As already stated the question of accomplices had now been covered but despite the efforts of the Netherlands the extension of the Convention· to accomplices on the ground was not included. This notion was explained by the Egyptian delegate "The whole point of negotiating the Convention was to provide for the prosecution of offenders out of reach of national jurisdiction by virtue of the fact that they were on board an aircraft in flight.

Accomplices on the ground were subject to prosecution according to the law of the land".

Nevertheless the question of jurisdiction in general was much better defined than at the stage of the Tokyo Convention. The Hague Convention was a big step forward because it enlarges the number of States competent to deal with hi-jackers especially opening up a new idea in International Law that of jurisdiction of the State of residence of a charterer. The crime of hi-jacking was brought nearer to the crime of piracy. Another big step forward was the recognition of the need for extradition in hi-jacking cases but extradition was still not mandatory. What is surprising though is that, as the Hague Convention borrowed to a considerable extent from the Tokyo Convention, it was not made a protocol of the Tokyo Convention. This would have been particularly efficaceous in the fields of rights of the aircraft commander and crew members, their protection, arrest and handing over of hi-jackers, and simplicity of these arrangements, as suggested at the time by the USA. 27

Frustration

Disarray

However large steps forward on paper serve no purpose.

Instead of ratifying the Convention many States found reasons for not ratifying which varied from the fact that their own municipal law was already stricter, right across the spectrum to those which open!y supported certain groups of hi-jackers. The result was frustration for some States, for the flying public and for organisations such as our own and IFALPA. The hi-jacks still continued. But other violent acts continued alongside hi-jacks. Once again the States did try to block the loopholes. This resulted in the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation adopted in Montreal in September 1971.

Acts of sabotage and acts of violence against civil aviation were covered. The Montreal Convention follows very closely the outline of the Hague Convention. States are required to make certain criminal offences punishable by severe penalties and to establish jurisdiction over the offence when it is committed in their territory, or their aircraft, or on aircraft landing in their territory. Any person suspected of committing such offences must either be extradited or submitted to the "competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution". States having reason to believe that an offence will be committed must convey the relevant information to the States which it believes would have jurisdiction were an offence to be committed. Acts considered offences now include acts of violence on board an aircraft in flight likely to endanger safety, destruction of an aircraft or causing damage rendering an aircraft incapable of flight, placing on an aircraft a device likely to destroy or damage the aircraft, the destruction or damage of air navigation facilities if such action is likely to endanger aircraft, and communicating false information which endangers the safety of an aircraft in flight. It is also an offence to attempt to commit such acts or to be an accomplice in their commission.

The complete and utter disarray of the politicians which had such disastrous results in Rome in 1973 (See THE CONTROLLER Feb. 75) when an attempt was made to put the conditions of the three Conventions into the Chicago Convention in order to achieve the much needed world-wide cover on ratification began to be forgotten. The fatal hi-jack to Mogadischo, because of the courage of the aircraft commander and the finesse of the rescue operation, meant that Governments could no longer be insensitive to public opinion. Many governments started immediately to co-operate to the full on all acts of terrorism. In rather the same conditions as the "Uniting for Peace" resolutions, the General Assembly of the United Nations, under pressure from the public, organisations such as our own but not least the threat of world-wide action from the pilots under the aegis of IFALPA, decided to resolve to combat the problem of violence affecting civil aviation. It is to be hoped that the resulting actions will produce International Law with no loopholes and that the hi-jack menace will be finally defeated. Nevertheless there are still a handful of States which tend to be mavericks and if eventually action must be taken by the rest of the States; we in the Federation must be ready to show that we are willing to support the pilots and the States in whatever actions may be necessary.

Again the States trailed their feet as far as ratification was concerned. But worse was to come. Using all the arguments possible as regards State Sovereignty or rights of political asylum at least some States honestly showed their disinterest in the safety of air navigation, but some which had ratified one or more of the Conventions blatantly ignored the conditions and quietly got rid of known or convicted hi-jackers only for these same persons to become involved again in hi-jacks. Worse, when other States had given prior information on suspected criminals of this nature, certain Contracting States turned a blind eye to the information with known fatal results. In this state of affairs, States which had believed in the Conventions having consistently supported International Law in this field found that they had to revert back to the principles of International Law to bring the World to its senses.

The hi-jack of the Air France flight to Entebbe looked to be another case of International deadlock or disinterest when Israel took the unprecedented step of falling back on the principle of self-defence and sent in a military commando. Nevertheless the world tended to look on this case as another spectacular feat of the Israelis and quickly forgot that innocent lives were lost, that of a passenger in hospital miles from the airport and those of air traffic controllers whose only crime was to have been on duty during the rescue operation. A number of States however were beginning to see that a tougher line and International co-operation were necessary to beat the scourge which was beginning to take on the proportions of the worst years of piracy at sea. A number of other States were realising their errors in giving asylum to hi-jackers and it needed only one more "sensation" to array world public opinion on the side of law and order. The occasion came when the Federal German Republic sent a commando to Mogadischo with the support of world opinion and most of the Governments in the countries concerned with the hi-jack supporting the German Government action as far as they could possibly do in the circumstances.

28

We have seen how much the cherished sovereignty can lead to disaster.

idea of

national

In the next Article we shall see that while the States were carefully protecting their national interests, their right to their own airspace by their own laid down definitions was during the same period put seriously into question. While they were in the case of hi-jacking being pushed by events to recognise the need to be less insular, events in space were having the same effect.

For further study: Tokyo Convention: Hague Convention: Montreal Convention: "Crime in Aircraft'" 67 Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society 175; Sir Richard Wilberforce: "Aerial Piracy and International Law" 37; Journal of Air Law and Commerce: Report of the Legal Commission 17th Session; ICAO Doc 8877LC/161: Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties: "Piracy in Modern International Law··: 43 Transactions of the Grotius Society 76: "Aircraft Hi-jacking under the Hague Convention 1970 - A new Regime?"; Shubber; International and Compatative Law Quarterly Vol 22 Pt 4: Law of Nations; Brierly; 0. U. P: "Limits of State Jurisdiction"; R. Y. Jennings; 32 Nordisk Tidsskrift for International Ret 209: Law of International Air Transport; Cheng: I. L. A.

As a postcript to this Article the immensity of the problem is shown by listing some hi-jacks and some problems of extradition: Eastern Airlines March 1970 co-pilot killed, pilot wounded Czechoslovakian Aircraft May 1970 pilot stabbed Aeroflot October 1970 stewardess killed, three people wounded South Korean Aircraft January 1971 co-pilot died from injuries National Airlines July 1971 stewardess wounded American Airlines October 1971 pilot killed Chalks Airlines March 1972 pilot and engineer wounded Czechoslovakian Aircraft June 1972 captain killed National Airlines July 1972 pilot and engineer wounded BOAC July 1971 compelled to land by Libyan Air Force March 1971 bomb on a TWA aircraft May 1971 bomb on a Quantas aircraft July 1971 bomb on an Aer Lingus aircraft June 1972 bomb on Ozark aircraft Not all of these could be considered political Extradition refused by: Denmark to Poland June 1970 Turkey to USSR October 1970 - hostess killed, pilot wounded Bulgaria to Turkey May 1972 Algeria to United States June and July 1972 Federal Republic of Germany to Czechoslovakia June 1972 Chile in August 1972, hi-jackers permitted to leave for Cuba.

In 1961 Cuba extradited a Frenchman to Mexico USA refused extradition to Czechoslovakia in 1950 Switzerland to Yugoslavia in 1952 Turkey extradited to the USSR in 1971

Microwave Landing System: The Road to Montreal With the future ILS replacement now chosen, the following article on the competing systems makes interesting reading.

For 40 years the instrument Landing System (!LS) has served as the standard approach and landing aid for the international civil aviation community. During this time it has served well and a number of improvements have been made to increase its performance and reliability. Over half of the world's ILS installations are in the United States.

There are, however, a number of limitations in ILS which indicate the need for a new approach and landing system. For example, the ILS is extremely site-critical; the conventional ILS gilde slope depends on using the ground as a reflector to form the gli.de slope beam. As a result, a large area in front of the antenna must be levelled off to almost athletic-field smoothness.

Sometimes the cost of the required earthwork exceeds the cost of the ILS equipment itself. At many airports in mountainous areas it simply is not technically feasible to install a conventional ILS. Terrain reflections would make the signals unsafe for approach guidance.

The present ILS provides lateral guidance only over a relatively narrow sector, precluding the use of curved approach paths. Similarly, the glide path angle is fixed, and is not adaptable to high-angle approaches by future STOL and VTOL aircraft.

The sensitivity of the glide-slope beam to nearby reflections sometimes reduces airport capacity, at locations where departing aircraft must be held a long distance from the takeoff threshold in order to stay out of the glide slope critical area whenever an arrival is making an instrument approach.

Also, there is a scarcity of ILS frequency channels, being limited to 40 in the U.S. This limit makes it very difficult to install ILS on additional runways in congested areas such as the Los Angeles basin.

Because of these limitations, various civil and military organizations began as early as 1950 to look for a suitable alternative to ILS. By 1967 more than 50 different types of landing systems had been proposed. Some had already been implemented by the military. The possibility of having many different types of civil approach systems in operation in different parts of the world raised the threat that international operators would have to carry several different types of avionics in their aircraft. To preclude such a possibility, a movement was started toward the selection of a single new approach system that could be endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as a standard ILS replacement for worldwide implementation.

After consultation with the FAA, the US scheduled airlines proposed, in 1967, the formation of a special committee of the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) to study the landing guidance situation and to recommend a single system which could meet future operational requirements, and thus be capable ot achieving worldwide standardization. In response, RTCA set up a special committee (SC-117) to define the requirements and technologies for "a new precision guidance system".

The work of this group was endorsed and supported by U.S. user organizations and by experts from the U.S. government and industry.

SC-117's Technical Working Group include more than 100 experts from the U.S. UK, Canada, Australia, France, the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). They made a detailed examination of 23 different techniques submitted by companies from several different countries, along with several unofficial government proposals. Each proposal was evaluated

exhaustively against the operational requirements. Finally the Technical Working Group was able to formulate the necessary signal format for a universal system, which would utilize microwave frequencies.

The basic system would provide a variable glide slope angle selectable by the pilot. The localizer signal would cover a sector of at least 60° on both sides of the runway centerline, in order to permit short curved automatic approaches. Future add-on features would include autoland flareout guidance plus a missed approach course.

Figure 1 shows the limited coverage available with the single path ILS. Figure 2 shows the Microwave Landing System wide angle coverage for elevation, front azimuth and back azimuth, suitable for takeoff or missed approach guidance.

Figure 1: The conventional Instrument Landing System (ILS) has a single approach path for landing guidance.

Figure 2: The Microwave Landing System (MLS) is designed to provide wide angle coverage for elevation, front azimuth, back azimuth and flare in the full capability application.

29

Although SC-117 reached agreement on the basic structure of the system, the committee could not agree on the scanning technique to be used. Many members preferred the scanning beam technique, which had been used successfuly for years in several U.S. military systems. However, the UK representative proposed the use of a Doppler scan. At that time the Doppler concept appeared to offer some cost advantages. Therefore it was included in the subsequent development program.

SC-117 concluded that a Microwave Landing System {MLS) using the agreed signal format could be mechanized in various forms and still meet the operational requirements.

The SC-117 recommendations were published in December 1970. By this time, more than 400 experts from various countries had participated, and the work of this group ended with an almost unanimous recommendation that the technical evaluation phase proceed as soon as possible.

In July 1971 and in full partnership with DOD and NASA, the FAA initiated a National Plan for the Development of a Microwave Landing System (MLS). It was agreed that the deliberations would be continued in an open forum, in order to provide the best opportunity for participating organizations and international interests to contribute to the activity and accept the final results.

The first phase of this plan was to explore both Doppler Scan and Scanning Beam concepts. The deliberations in this phase resulted in the selection of four competing technical approaches for the next phase of the plan: 1. Scanning Beam using electronically phased arrays 2. Scanning Beam using mechanical scan 3. Doppler using beam port and modal antennas 4. Doppler using commutated array Contracts were let to Bendix, Texas Instruments, Hazeltine, and ITT respectively, to develop and test these four systems.

The tests extended over a one-year period. Thereupon, the FAA established a Central Assessment Group {CAG) to analyze the test data and to determine which Scanning Beam or Doppler technique should be carried forward. As part of the assessment by an advocative procedure each technique was to be optimized for equipment implementation and signal ,format before a final selection would be made.

The CAG included experts from Australia, France, the Netherlands, and the UK. The FRG and the USSR also made substantial contributions. The CAG deliberations started in September 1974 and lasted four months. Several system changes were made in committee, for both the TRSB and the Doppler techniques. It was during this period that the time reference scanning beam (TRSB) format was optimized for the final comparison.

The CAG decided that both the TRSB and Doppler techniques could meet the stated operntional requirement. However, several small but significant system discriminants were recognized. One was an advantage for TRSB in providing multipath suppression {reduction of site reflection effects). Another was an advantage in the cost of the ground equipment. The original promise of a lower-cost Doppler system evaporated under detailed scrutiny.

One of the reasons for higher costs in Doppler is the need for two transmitters for each function, as opposed to one for TRSB. Another significant advantage for TRSB was the fact that Scanning Beam systems had been operated successfully for several years by the U.S. military. A majority of the CAG members decided to go for this historically proven technique, as having less technical risk than the Doppler technique.

Public law required the concurrence of a DOT/FAA Advisory Committee, in this decision. This group of disinterested experts reviewed in public the FAA test plans, decision criteria, and benefit analysis, to determine that a fully objective assessment had been made. In February 1975 the Advisory Committee endorsed the rationale and findings of the CAG, in recommending the TRSB technique. The UK immediately appealed the decision, and moved to carry their advocacy of Doppler vigorously into !CAO. Following the CAG decision in early 1975, a number of TRSB 30

prototype systems were developed for the FAA by Texas Instruments and the Bendix Corporation.

Meanwhile in a process which had begun in 1972 with the Seventh Air Navigation Conference in Montreal the ICAO AllWeather Operations Panel {AWOP) was given the task of establishing the criteria for evaluating MLS proposals which !CAO was about to request from its member states. AWOP would also have the responsibility tor assessing these proposals, and recommending a technique for worldwide MLS standardization.

Subsequently, ICAO received technical proposals for: A Doppler system from the UK (DMLS).

A DME-based system (DLS) from the FRG. A multi-function system {AGDLS) from France.

Almost identical TRSB systems from Australia and the U.S. (lnterscan and TRSB).

The French proposal was later whithdrawn from consideration. AWOP worked for nearly two years on assessing the remaining proposals. The final vote of the panel was 6 to 1 in favor of the TRSB (with three members abstaining). AWOP then voted 6 to 4 to recommend the TRSB system to the !CAO Divisional {worldwide} Meeting as the preferred choice for International standardization.

The AWOP representatives from the three states which did not enter a proposal of their own-Canada, USSR, and the Netherlands-chose to support the U.S./Australia TRSB system, as did the representative of the International Air Transport Association.

Part of the assessment process was a thorough review of test data taken on the implementations available at that time. The U.S. Phase II equipment had been chosen for the "test bed" for the U.S. proposal. All of the electronics are housed within the antenna enclosure. The test bed antennas included the elevation, back azimuth and flare subsystems.

The AWOP members chose TRSB over Doppler on the basis of a number of identified advantages, and each documented his position. The advantages include the lower cost of TRSB and the lower technical risk because of the maturity of its design.

The basic simplicity and the resulting higher reliability of TRSB was cited. The multipath rejection of TRSB was greater than that of Doppler, which has the weakness of "reference scalloping". Also, TRSB was able to demonstrate accurate guidance to lower altitudes over the runway than competing techniques.

The Air Navigation Commission {ANC) of ICAO reviewed the AWOP decision and determined that AWOP had fulfilled its assigned mission and that the assessment stage of the ICAO process was complete. ANC recommended that the matter now move on to the next step, the convening of a worldwide meeting which would have the job of making the actual selection. The ICAO Council subsequently approved and scheduled the worldwide meeting known as AWOD (All-Weather Operations Division) to be held in Montreal in April 1978.

With millions of dollars in potential equipment sales riding on the outcome, the UK immediately appealed the AWOP decision, questioned the validity of the FAA test data, and challenged the U.S. to a comparative fly-off of the DMLS versus the TRSB at a number of problem airport sites around the world.

The FAA, which had already spent millions investigating Doppler, had been thro1Jgh two exhaustive technical assessments, each of which favored TRSB, and had bent over backward to accommodate to the repeatedly delayed ICAO schedule, was not anxious to indulge the loser in yet another round.

The FAA wasn't sure that the comparative demonstrations would prove anything that wasn't already known, as they and Australia had provided comprehensive flight data to ICAO in support of their system candidate. Additionally the U.S. was well aware of the FRG candidate system status as a contender and did not believe that a bilateral approval to a multilateral process could be effective. But for political {or perhaps psychological) reasons, they went along with the idea of demonstrating the TRSB at additional operational airports when the idea was sanctioned by !CAO. In addition, the FAA Administration invited the

UK to demonstrate their equipment side-by-side with the American equipment, an invite which the UK took up and which was legitimized in a bilateral agreement covering these locations.

The demonstration system included the latest versions of the prototype equipment as well as the ICAO "test bed". All electronics are contained within the antenna closures.

The latest models of MLS avionics developed at Bendix included the precision L-Band DME interrogator, the angle receiver and in a group the range display, the control panel and the auxiliary data display.

This equipment has been demonstrated at Cape May, New Jersey; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; JFK

in New York, Kristiansand, Norway and Brussels, Belgium. Other planned sites include Dakar, Senegal; Nairobi, Kenya and Shiraz, Iran. The Bendix Basic 400 Azimuth system is collocated with an existing ILS at Jorges Newbury Aeroparque in Buenos Aires. The Doppler system will also be demonstrated at some of these locations.

In addition the FAA is conducting presentations to member !CAO states to brief them on the progress of the MLS program in preparation for the April ICAO Meeting. With the demonstrations, comparative testing, and briefings, it is a long road to Montreal.

From the Journal of Air Traffic Control

Greater Speed or Greater Range: The Choice Between Concorde and the B-747SP·") Man has always dreamed of going more quickly and farther So far aeronautical developments have always enabled him - apart from a few setbacks - to go more quickly and farther at each stage in technical progress (replacement of piston aircraft by turboprop aircraft and then turbojet machines, and subsequently replacement of conventional jet engines by turbofans).

Since 1976 - for the first time in the history of aviation - the two solutions have existed separately, and there is now the possibility of either going more quickly or farther.

We have the choice between: speed, with Concorde, or long range with the Boeing 747SP. We considered it would be interesting to examine the results of the two types of operation and to publish two articles on these two types of aircraft.

Two Years of Concorde Operation When this article has appeared, Concorde will have been in service for more than two years with British Airways and with Air France.

Air France Operation The version used by Air France is equipped for 100 passengers but the number of seats has been limited for operation of the Paris/Washington route: at the start of operation and during the year 1976

Routes served

during the winter of 1976/77

On 21 January 1976 the twice-weekly Paris/Dakar/Rio service was opened by Air France, and the twice-weekly London-Bahrain service by British Airways.

during the summer of 1977, from June to late September

Subsequently Air France opened the Paris·Santa Maria (technical stop)/Caracas route on 9 April 1976, with one flight a week, and the Paris/Washington route on 24 May 1976, while British Airways opened the London/Washington route.

On 11 Juli 1977, Air France raised its Washington frequency to seven flights a week and then, on 22 November 1977, opened a Paris/New York route with a frequency of seven flights a week and reduced the number of its Paris/Washington flights.

On the same day British Airways also opened its London/New York flights (first of all three flights a week, then four and recently six) and on 6 December the London/Bahrain/Singapore route, with the Bahrain/Singapore segment being operated under a pooling arrangement between British Airways and Singapore Airlines. Unfortunately, this route had to be temporarily suspended owing to difficulties with Malaysia.

') Raymond Bala! in an initial article that first appeared in the ITA Magazine examined the results of two years of Concorde operation, with particular reference to Air France.

during the winter of 1977/78

80 seats 100 seats on Washington/Paris 90 seats on Paris/Washington 90 seats both ways 90 seats on Paris/Washington 100 seats on Washington/Paris

The crew comprises two pilots (one aircraft commander and one co-pilot), one flight engineer and six stewards or hostesses.

The Paris/New York and Paris/Dakar/Rio return flights are operated by a new crew, whereas the Paris/Washington and Paris/Caracas return flights which take place the next day are operated by the same crew after a night's rest.

Traffic Results At 22 November 1977, when the Paris/New York service was opened, the following scheduled results had been achieved: - Rio route: 378 flights, 3.46 million km flown, 37 800 seats provided - Caracas route: 162 flights, 1.235 million km flown, 16 200 seats provided - Washington route: 579 flights, 3.575 million km flown, 51 950 seats provided Additionally, 29 special flights representing 155 flight hours were performed to destinations such as: Manila, Dakar, Cairo, Bahrain, Teheran, Pointe-a-Pitre, Colombo and Fort-de-France.

31

Air France Concorde on display at the Paris-Le Bourget Aero Salon.

In all 60 700 passengers were carried on scheduled flights of whom: - 23 300 on the Rio route (load factor 61.6 % ) , - 6 200 on the Caracas route (load factor 38.3 %), - 31 200 on the Washington route (load factor 60 %).

At 1 November 1977, the average load factor was 57.3 %.

At 31 Dezember 1977 the operating results for the three routes were as follows:

Seats provided Passengers carried Load factor Number of flights Km flown (x 1000)

Rio route

Caracas route

Washington route

40 500 26 650 63.3 405 3 859

17 800 6966 39.1 178 1 391

58 910 33497 56.9 648 4000

In the year 1977 alone, 44 000 passengers were carried.

Regularity and Punctuality Concorde proved its technical reliability immediately; the regularity rate for the aircraft (percentage of the number of programmed flights actually performed) is 99.8 % for the first 20 months of operation.

The punctuality (percentage of departures with a delay for technical reasons of under 5 or 15 minutes) of operation from stations ,is a whole is 92.8 % to within 5 minutes of schedule and 94.4 % to within 15 minutes of schedule.

Compared with the 747, it can be said that introduction has given rise to very few incidents despite the very muB lower number of hours; the only notable incidents which have occurred recently are as follows: a nose-up landing at Dakar resulting in some damage (tailwheel and nozzles), a damper incident at Washington, an engine incident at Shannon, - an air-inlet incident resulting in an arrival at New York on three engines, without, however, a priority landing being requested.

These various incidents seem to be quite unrelated.

Station times are 45 minutes for a technical stop (Santa Maria) or 1 hour at Dakar. The turn-around can be carried out in 2 hours with a change of crew (New York) or 4 hours at Rio.

This deficit is due to persistent under-utilization of the airline's Concorde fleet owing to the inadequacy of the network on which the aircraft is currently operated.

Certain existing operating costs - reserves for depreciation and fina!"lcial costs - are completely independent of the number of flight hours performed. Many fixed costs associated with aircraft maintenance and handling at stops cannot yet be distributed over a sufficient volume of flight hours. The crews who are already qualified are under-utilized.

In 1977 the operating deficit was about 300 million Francs owing to the delivery of a fourth aircraft and the delay in the authorization to open the New York route (eight months after the delivery of the fourth aircraft). The breakeven point for operation can be achieved only with a load factor of around 65 % and a total of about 2 750 flight hours a year, i. e. 7 hours 30 minutes a day. On such a basis, the cost per flight hour would be cut by half (in constant Francs).

This supposes that development of the network, including the opening of a second frequency to Paris/New York, extension of the Washington route to Mexico City, reinforcement of the Rio service with an extension to Buenos Aires and, on the basis of a possible agreement with Braniff, extension of the Washington route to Dallas (with the Braniff crew).

Clientele The Concorde clientele consists of: senior executives company directors traders middle-management staff liberal professions artistic or scientific professions miscellaneous

48% 17% 12 % 8% 7% 4% 4%

80 % of the passengers are men. Two-thirds of the clientele travel for business reasons. One passenger out of four is accompanied by a member of his familiy. A large number of passengers on the Rio and Caracas routes are from a town other than Paris: 68 % in the case of Rio, 76 % in the case of Caracas; 49 % continue their trip beyond Rio or Sao Paulo and 32 % beyond Caracas.

In the other direction, 72 % of the passengers from Rio and 69 % from Caracas continue their trip beyond Paris; 37 % come from a town other than Rio, and 25 % from a town other than Caracas.

The proportions are different on the Washington route: 56 % of Paris/Washington passengers depart from a town other than Paris and 60 % continue their trip beyond Washington; 56 % of Washington/Paris passengers are from a town other than Washington and 49 % continue their trip beyond Paris.

This is due to the excellent connections from the main European towns (London, Geneva, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Brussels) to Roissy, from American towns (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia) to Washington, and from Sao Paulo to Rio. The information received by Air France confirms the quality and efficiency of supersonic flight: travel by Concorde gives a time saving which justifies the additional charge paid by the passengers, cuts fatigue and adds to the pleasure of travelling.

The airline has endeavoured to provide a very high-class service which is integrated from departure up to arrival with a specialised satellite at Roissy. Despite the reduced width of the cabin, the seats are comfortable and the passengers have more leg room.

Noise Problems Concorde Operating Economics In 1976, despite an unquestionable commercial success (load factor of 61.2 %), Concorde operation resulted in a deficit of 220 million Francs after payment of financial charges.

32

The Concorde anti-noise procedure has a number of particularities owing to the utilization of reheat on take-off and the manoeuvrability of this aircraft which enables it to avoid certain noise-sensitive zones more easiliy than subsonic aircraft.

The procedure is then defined by the turn parameters: start of turn, bank, end of turn, end of anti-noise procedure.

The Concorde operations (utilization) manual gives graphs making it possible to calculate the different parameters in the procedure: time from brake release for start of the procedure (calculated on the basis of the distance of the noise-sensitive zones from the brake release point, taking into account the pressure altitude of the aerodrome, temperature and aircraft weight), rotation speed N2 of the high-pressure compresser and angle of the throttle pointer (on the basis of take-off weight, altitude pressure of the aerodrome and temperature), power to be set after reduction, on the basis of temperature and aircraft weight.

Special graphs can be used for each aerodrome and each runway (e. g. Charles de Gaulle runway 09 and runway 27).

The results can also be given in the form of tables (e. g.

Washington-Dulles QFU 19 L, 19 R and 30 and QFU 01 L and 01 R).

The illustration appended gives by way of example the procedure used at Washington Dulles airport. In the case of take-off from runways 19 L, 19 R and 30), this procedure involves a turn at 15° bank and maintenance of spee_d at 250 kt during climb to 10 000 ft. The take-off is along a straight line on runways 01 L and 01 R.

Standard Procedure Compared with a standard anti-noise procedure, the Concorde procedure includes an additional item, i. e. the use of reheat on take-off. The procedure is as follows: preselection of reheat with brakes on, full throttle and brake release, as speed builds up, reheat is obtained, at 100 kt, check on green indicator lights, build-up of speed as in conventional procedure (V1, VR, V2) up to a speed depending on the airport (e. g. Roissy 280 kt, United States 250 kt owing to speed limitation below 10 000 ft, J. F. Kennedy V2 30 kl), optimum climb attitude taken, anti-noise climb at that speed.

This procedure is determined by a time starting from brake release (the speed is checked 5 seconds before thrust reduction). at a precalculated time, reheat is cut, the throttle is brought back to a precalculated position (Concorde is the only aircraft with a pointer on the throttle indicators permitting this procedure), - adjustment to N2 (take-off parameter), - thrust increased in 10 seconds at the instant the procedure is over.

This procedure can be carried out very easily through the distribution of tasks on board.

+

Special Procedures At the majority of airports a systematic anti-noise procedure featuring an automatic sequence is used. At certain airports pilots adapt to the local particularities:

Procedure applicable at New York (J. F. Kennedy) Everybody has heard of the difficulties encountered by Air France and British Airways in obtaining permission to land at Kennedy where special limitations and procedures apply to all subsonic aircraft.

1. by means of a precalculated time depending on local conditions, 2. by flying a turn depending on the zones to be protected,

0:-, head!ne;

017

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Airspeed indicator

RUNWAY 191 straightAttitude~

line 15'

ANTI-NOISE

PROCEDURES AT WASHINGTON (Dulles) 33

The Concorde take-off procedure takes into account preferential utilization of runways 22 R and 31 L; runway 31 L involves the fewest difficulties with a left turn at 25° bank as soon as the aircraft has reached an altitude of 100 ft. The path flown is thus less penalizing than that of subsonic aircraft. It must also be noted that the aircraft does not take-off at maximum weight from New York.

Take-off from runway 22 R is practically on a straight line (10° adjustment of heading to the right as soon as possible) with reduction of thrust over the residential area of Rockaway.

Runway 13 R, which would be more penalizing, is used with a right turn at 25° bank, but whenever possible, Air France will request use of runway 22 R or runway 31 L. Runway 04 L is not used (take-off from runway 31 L).

A decelerated procedure is used for approach.

The utilization manual provides: the detailed anti-noise procedure for runway 31 L, - a table of take-off parameters giving, on the basis of the weight, the day and temperature, speeds V1, V2 and VA, the attitude of the three engines and the critical tail or head wind, - tables giving for each of the 31 L, 22 R and 13 R runways the instant for thrust reduction 6. t1, the corresponding N2 and the throttle pointer.

Sonic Boom Experience has shown that the results of the theoretical calculations for sonic boom were valid and that the zone affected by sonic boom did not exceed 20 nautical miles on either side of the route axis. As a precaution, the paths used are generally 30 nautical miles from the coast, which gives satisfaction.

On departure for the United States, acceleration takes place over the Channel; the path for departure to Dakar passes over Nantes and the route avoids Spain and Portugal; on departure for Santa Maria (Caracas route), the aircraft commander can either fly over Nantes or the Channel, but the return trip is always via Nantes.

Deceleration procedures have been carefully studied so that boom is eliminated over the sea.

Fuel Reserves Extremely detailed studies were conducted on the fuel reserve system for Concorde and the procedures finally selected were tested over a long period by means of endurance flights, which resulted in an optimum solution.

The tests showed, for example, that contingency fuel represented a percentage of block fuel which varied on the basis of distance and decreased as distance increased.

A statistical calculation for the various uncertainties affecting fuel consumption showed that, for example, this percentage was about 1.7 to 1.8 % on Paris/Washington and 3 % on Paris/Rio, with a probability of 2 o and a Gaussian distribution.

However, Air France preferred to use the fixed value of 5 % specified in French regulations which has the advantage of simplicity.

Another calculation method based on the precise analysis of a large number of flights performed could, if necessary, make it possible to use lower values on certain stages.

Holding reserves have been set at 30 minutes of flight at 6 000 ft., as required by the regulations.

Three main ideas for obtaining the greatest possible range were used: 1. Utilization of climb cruise, which makes it possible to fly constantly at optimum altitude.

2. Utilizatiori in exceptional cases, as for certain subsonic flights, of an optional technical stop (Halifax or Gander for arrival in the United States). When the quantity of fuel at the point for the start of a descent towards this aerodrome enables the aircraft to reach the real destination with normal reserves, the flight can be continued. The experiment showed that this was always the case in practice.

34

3. Systematic study of the quantities of fuel on board and their trend, with a curve being drawn to show the quantity of fuel available at the time of a possible diversion, on the basis of the percentage of cases in which this quantity was available.

This curve has a distinct shape and can be used to determine the playload so as to ensure a planned regularity of 95 %, with actual regularity being 100 %.

For the time being, and in compliance with French regulations, contingency fuel has been set at 5 % of stage fuel consumption for all flights until sufficient evidence has been assembled to justify another calculation method.

The limitation in the number of seats provided on Paris/Washington at the start of operation was decided as a result of extremely thorough simulation of meteorological conditions aimed at achieving full regularity on the route.

British Airways has preferred to use the standby system, whereby the number of passengers is made up at the last minute depending on the actual meteorological situation.

IATA Issues Traffic Conference Information Bulletin The International Air Transport Association has sent the first issue of a new Traffic Conference Information Bulletin to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and its member States. In a continuing information program, IATA intends to reissue the Bulletin every two months.

The international aviation network today links some 3,000 airports while the worldwide tariff structure comprises some 175,000 specified fares and nearly 1,000 cargo rates. The rates and fares structure covers transportation between more than 200,000 city pairs.

As an indication of the amount of work required to service the network the Traffic Conference Information Bulletin notes that in 1976 there were 40 Traffic Conferences and Policy Group meetings involving more than 23,000 man days of airline delegates and IAT A staff time.

This new source of information will include the following subjects every two months: General results of Traffic Conferences during the period of coverage.

Status of government action on Traffic Conference agreements.

Schedule of forthcoming Traffic Conferences with summarized agenda.

Other items of general interest.

The first issue of the Bulletin includes a great deal of background information on: definition of tariff negotiating areas; levels of fares and rates; the types of Conference action; and definitions of the status of various Conference actions. The appendices to the report detail how the Traffic Conference function, the Provisions for the Regulation and Conduct of Traffic Conferences and a background to the currency situation. The first issue of the Bulletin covers the period May 1, 1977, to mid-June, 1978.

Commenting on the initial publication of the Traffic Conference Information Bulletin, Knut Hammarskji:ild, Director General, said: "It is the desire of IATA to provide as much factual information as possible on the proceedings of the fare and ratemaking machinery of IATA".

He also noted that it was not the intention of the new publication to replace filings made by carriers and required by government authorities, nor to limit the information that governments may wish to obtain directly from airlines.

IATA News Note to editors: Copies of the Traffic Conference Information Bulletin can be obtained from Gordon Ruddick, Director, Public Relations in IATA's Geneva office, or Don Pengelly, Director, Pub I ic Relations (Western Hemisphere) in Montreal. If you wish to have your name entered on the mailing list to receive future issues it will be necessary to advise either Geneva or Montreal o: this requirement.

The Hobby Corner Aircraft on Stamps Pacific Island Aviation

The North Atlantic was the first vast expanse of water to attract the attention of early aviation pioneers. Soon, the other oceans tempted the aviators in their fragile machines and it was in the late 1920s that the islands of the South Pacific saw their first aircraft. As elsewhere, these islands have since benefited tremendously from the early pioneer flights and several postage stamps have been issued by the islands in recent years with an aviation theme.

In 1926, the Australian Government sent a Royal Australian Air Force aeroplane on an extensive aerial survey of the south-west Pacific. The aircraft was a De Havilland OH. 50A biplane which was originally intended for the use of the Governor-General. As there was a distinct lack of landing fields and a surplus of water, the aeroplan was fitted with floats. The crew comprised pilot, (Chief of the Air Staff, R.A.A.F.), co-pilot, and mechanic. It was the unenviable task of the latter after each landing to swim ashore with a tow-line through waters which were likely to contain sharks, crocodiles, or other unwelcome species. The commander of this

by George Sinclair Jersey, Channel Islands

historic survey flight now lives in retirement in Melbourne. Air Marshall Sir Richard Williams, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., was in attendance when a re-enactment flight set out from Melbourne in September, 1976 to fly over the original route. The original flight was the first "overseas" flight of the R.A.A.F. and took in Papua, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa.

Fifty years later, the Solomon Islands commemorated the arrival of the DH.50A by issuing a set of four stamps, one of which showed the historic landing on one of the islands. The same aircraft was shown on two stamps issued by Papua New Guinea also in 1976 and also commemorating the early survey flight arrival.

The 5,340 miles from Melbourne to the Solomons took 43 days, with delays for bad weather and an engine change. The return trip took only 15 days, when the crew were hurrying back before the bad weather season set in.

The DH.50A had a wing span of 4311.,powered by a Siddeley Puma engine giving a maximum speed of around 90kts. The other 35

three stamps in the Solomon Islands set show aircraft that fulfil! different roles in modern South Pacific aviation. The BAC1-11 (475) for longer routes, the BN.2A Islander for island-hopping, and the ubiquitous DC.3 for virtually anything required of it!!

In March, 1974, Norfolk Island commemorated their first aircraft landing on the island. This took place in March, 1931 when Francis Chichester (later Sir Francis, after his solo round-theworld single-handed sailing voyage) landed his aircraft "Madame Elijah". This was the first stop in his epic solo crossing of the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia. Chichester had just flown solo from England to Australia in a De Havilland 60G Gipsy Moth and had shipped the aeroplane to New Zealand for the Tasman Sea crossing. Before leaving New Zealand, the wheels of the Gipsy Moth were exchanged for floats. Chichester's greatest problem was to find Norfolk Island - a mere "speck in the ocean" and it is credit to his navigation with primitive instruments that he succeeded. The standard Gipsy Moth cruised around 8Okts. over a normal range of 320 miles. The stamp shows the aeroplane landing at Cascade Bay, Norfolk Island.

In 1976, many countries issued stamps commemorating the Bicentennial of American Independence. The Pacific Islands of the Solomons and Norfolk Island were among those, and each had one stamp in their sets showing one of the most famous aircraft of World War II - the Boeing B.17 Flying Fortress. The Norfolk Island stamp shows a B.17 positioning downwind to land on the strategic airstrip built on the island during the War. The island doesn't look big enough for an airstrip, but in fact a magnificent avenue of Norfolk Island pine trees had to be cut down to make way for the runway. This provided a solitary stepping stone in the line of supply and communication between New Zealand and the northern Pacific battle zones, and also between Australia and New Caledonia.

The Solomon Island stamp shows a B.17 on Henderson Field.

This airfield was started by the Japanese forces when they occupied Guadalcanal in the Solomons in 1942. However, six months later,...!_heU.S. Marines landed and so started the famous Guadal-

canal campaign. It took the U.S. forces from August 1942 till February 1943 to repel the Japanese troops in a fierce and bitter struggle. In this time they seized the airfield, completed its construction, and named it Henderson Field.

The Flying Fortress played an important part in the Pacific campaign and it is relevant that these two islands should remember this aircraft on postage stamps. The B.17 became a legend in its time and there are endless stories about the aircraft and its escapades, - not least those which relate the amount of punishment it was capable of taking, and yet still make it home to base!!

The first model B.17 first flew in 1935, and the production line closed down in May, 1945 after the 12,726th. aircraft had been built! The main production model was the -17E, but the "F", and "G" sub-types followed, with heavier armament and more powerful engines. These engines were Wright cyclones, giving a maximum speed of around 26Okts. and a range of up to 1800 miles.

Not to be outdone by their Pacific neighbours, Fiji brought out an aviation set of stamps also in 1976 and commemorating 25 years of Air Services. Fiji was one of the stops in the 1926 survey flight, but regular air services did not start until some time later. Fiji Airways was founded in 1951, and in 1958 the Governments of Fiji, Tonga, Solomons, Gilbert and Ellice, Western Samoa, and Nauru had all become shareholders. In order to better reflect the joint ownership, the name was changed to Air Pacific in 1971.

The Australian built DH. Drover shown on the 4c stamp was designed to meet local conditions, and production was started in 1948. Only twenty were built to fulfil! a large variety of duties, including some Flying Doctor service. Powered by three Gipsy Major engines, the Drover cruises at 120kts. The 30c stamp shows another three-engined type, the Britten-Norman Trislander. This is a 1971 development of the BN.2A Islander and is virtually the same aeroplane with a third engine in the tail and an extra 7ft. 6inches of fuselage!! It carries 17 passengers at 120 kts, and like the Islander, is well suited to island-hopping duties into and out of short strips. The other two stamps in the set show a Hawker Siddeley 748 and the BAC.1-11.

News From Member Associations France Prepared by the Regional Councillor for Western Europe In collaboration with the Executive Secretary

engage his Ministry in the three main problem areas of ATS: a) Salaries, b) Technical Aspects and c) The Anti-Strike Law of 1964. The actions have been supported by joint statements from the five Unions. APCA is monitoring the Unions' efforts closely, being itself heavily engaged in the technical aspects of the issue.

Following a number of enquiries from MAs, the Press and various outside organisations, the Regional Councillor for Western Europe (RC/WE) and the French Association (APCA) decided to have a meeting in Paris 26-27 July 1978. The purpose of the meeting was to gather information on the current situation in France for later distribution to MAs. Officials of APCA and the RC/WE met as planned, and after consultation with the Executive Secretary, it was decided to issue a Special Newsletter on the subject. The following information therefore has been released

by APCA who have authorised the RC/WE to present it to MAs in this manner.

As most of you will know from the Press the weekend traffic restrictions issued by ATS units in France were part of an official go-slow action initiated by the five Trade Unions in which French ATC personnel are members. The action was initiated with the aim to establish serious negotiations with the French Civil Avia· tion Authorities. In the opinion of the Unions the Authorities, notably the Minister of Transport, had made no real effort to

Salaries. The Unions have prepared statements which show how controllers' salaries have suffered a constantly decreasing purchasing power since the last major revision. This is primarily due to the fact that a special allowance granted to controllers (presently FF 500 per month) has remained unchanged since 1970, its value naturally decreasing each year with the generallly high inflation in France. The Unions now seek a general increase of the special allowance. This may be granted under existing agreements but has so far only been 'promised'. In addition the Unions claim that the special allowance should be included in the basic salary and as such become a subject of indexing. Finally the special allowance must, in the view of the Unions, become part of the basic salary on which retirement pay is based. This is now not the case and naturally causes a great drop in income after retirement. In France the retirement age is 55 for controllers.

APCA is not directly involved in these Union affairs but nevertheless would like MAs to understand this part of the background as well as the technical side.

Information on the Situation

36

Technical. The French Association is more actively involved in the improvements of ATC systems in France and in Europe generally than most MAs. They are particularly concerned with the need to make information from the control room available to the decision making authorities. Too much valuable information, APCA feels, is lost on its way through the administrative agencies. APCA emphasises the following problem areas typical to France: Civil-Military airspace management, Telephone communication limitations, VHF/RT coverage and distribution of equipment, Reliability and coverage of radar systems - including automated systems.

Civil/Military. It has been stated that in France the civil authorities manage 80 % of the traffic and 20 % of the airspace, while the military authorities manage 20 % of the traffic and 80 % of the airspace. In connection with the summer peak traffic periods APCA is trying to obtain permission for the civil ATS units to use military airspace for an extended weekend period, Thursday to Tuesday. In fact APCA officials were going to have meetings with Civil/Military coordinating bodies on 27 July 1978.

APCA feel that cooperation between civil and military controllers is good on the operating level. However some improvements may be made in the airspace management and systems definition areas.

Communications. APCA is greatly concerned that several of the French ATS units, notably the ACCs, are inadequately equipped with available efficient telephone communication to adjacent units. The requirement, in agreement, with IFATCA policy, is to have direct controller to controller communication for transfer of control of aircraft. This is presently not the case.

In particular the use of switchboards is considered quite unacceptable for this purpose. There is also a requirement to improve the number and coverage of VHF R/T receivers and transmitters for grc.und to air communication. Too often limited communication or loss of communication makes it necessary to implement traffic restrictions.

Radar and Automated Systems. APCA is concerned with the need to implement increased radar separation standards when new automated systems are being introduced. In their view this reduces controller confidence in the systems. It is also a fact that automated systems in different countries are only to a very limited extent linked together thereby making transfer of control a time consuming and involved process. APCA has established regional offices to monitor and take action on all technical matters of concern to controllers. Neighbouring MAs should be aware of this, take advantage of the work done by APCA, and seek, or give advice as may be considered appropriate in the interests of aviation safety.

The Anti-Strike Law of 1964. This subject is again of particular concern to the Unions, however the views expressed here are those of APCA. In 1964 an Act of Parliament made it illegal for ATS personnel to take part in strike action. The idea was to avoid head-on conflict between employees and civil authorities. In the view of French controllers the result has been quite the opposite as the only way achieve anything now seems to be to create a situation as near to strike action as possible without actually having one. The damage to third parties is therefore considerable and reasonable negotiations seem ruled out from the start. The Unions consequently want the law replaced by negotiating machinery that may be put into action whenever necessary. Needless to say APCA follows this development with close attention.

Finally the immediate objective of this Special Newsletter has been to give MAs information on the special problems of a particular Member Association. From a regional point of view there is always a problem of communication and information.

However, by getting to know the problems and disseminating the information a n,igional organisation may hope to achieve a long term objective of improving the understanding of common problems among MAs thereby facilitating improvements in aviation to be made.

State Secretary to the Minister of Transport. Heinz Ruhnau, addressing invited guests. The honourable speakers are seated in the front row. Among them, first from the right, Wolfgang Heim (GPR and GATCA). and sixth from the right, Heinz Voss (President BFS).

Germany 25 Years Federal Administration of Air Navigation Services In July last the Federal Administration of Air Navigation Services (BFS), Germany, could look back to 25 years of operation.

The anniversary was celebrated on 7th July 1978, and during a special ceremony speeches were delivered b·y the President of the BFS, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport (MOT), a representative of the German ATS personnel, the Mayor of the City of Frankfurt, the Chief Pilot of Lufthansa, German Airlines, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Denfense (MOD), the President of AOPA Germany, and the Chairman of the German Airports Association.

In his opening address Dipl. Ing Heinz Voss, President of the BFS, welcomed the invited guests and introduced the honorable speakers. He paid tribute to the pioneers and previous leaders of the Institute. Not without proudness he pointed out the efficiency of the German ATS system, the high technology in use and the international recognition obtained. The President thanked all those who have contributed to achieve that high standard and good position in the aviation world. Further developments and progress, he stated, are very much dependent upon increased cooperation between all parties concerned. To improve safety and efficiency will continue to be the main goal of the institute. He is hopeful that this will be achieved through closer cooperation between airspace users, and above all through intensified coordination between military and civil aviation authorities.

The State Secretary of the MOT, after conveying the special greetings of the Minister on the occasion, gave a brief review of the past 25 years, the development of the air traffic, the investments made, and how the Department is going to cope with the ever increasing demands. A catalogue of measures to increase safety in aviation had been established in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense and other parties concerned. I ndividual steps are in the process of realisation. He admitted that problems are still existing, mainly regarding the ATS personnel.

Some improvements, like early retirement (53 years) for air traffic controllers, special allowances, modified career system, recreation scheme were introduced during the past years. But many questions and problems still remain to be solved. The Department is aware of that. It is also aware of the dissatisfaction among the ATS personnel. For the time being, however, there is little chance to change the career and pay systems. It his hoped that a solution may be found in consultation with representatives of the German ATS personnel.

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A brief description of the German position within the Eurocontrol Organisation and the plans to levy higher airspace user charges from airlines and other users of the airspace, in order to fully cover the operating costs of EUROCONTROL {presently only 70 % are covered by user charges), concluded the speech of the DOT Secretary.

The following speech delivered by the Chairman of the BFS Personnel Representation {GPR), who at the same time is a Board member of the German Air Traffic Controllers Association, was well received by the audience. To some of the statements made by the DOT Secretary the views of the GPR were added and met with much applaus by the air traffic controllers present.

II is considered the right and the duty of the GPR to constructively critizise whatever the employer is doing; to observe the rights and duties of the personnel and, in the light of this, to participate in the work of the organisation. He continued that the personnel is not willing to compensate system deficiencies and accept responsibility for complaints from airspace users caused by delays repeatedly encountered at German Airport over the recent past.

He regretted that the human factor in this highly sophisticated technical environment is still not quite recognised. Instead of arriving at appropriate political decisions, mistakes appear to be sorted out on the shoulders of the personnel. A plea was made for better cooperation. There is a possibility of doing away with the present dissatisfaction among ATS personnel if confidence and mutual understanding will dominate at the negotiation tables of the future. The GPR is most willing to contribute to the solution of the current problems, the GPR Chairman concluded.

As the head of the City of Frankfurt, hosting not only the BFS but also the biggest German Airport, the Mayor of Frankfurt expressed his gratitude to the specialists who have helped to put Frankfurt to a top position in world aviation. Second biggest in Europe regarding passenger handling and aircraft movements, and leading in air freight handling. This development is very important for the city of Frankfurt, that has already at a very early stage recognised the advantages of air transport. It was recalled by the Mayor that the first German balloon ascent was performed in Frankfurt, also the first international air show and exhibition took place here, and Frankfurt Airport began operating in 1922.

The Mayor terminated in acknowledging the highly valuable, responsible and skillful services by individuals like pilots and controllers, as a significant contribution in the progress of the airport and the economy of the country around and including Frankfurt.

The Chiefpilot of Lufthansa identified himself on behalf of his company as the biggest customer and the biggest critizser of the German A TS Organisation. At the occasion of this anniversary, however, he would like to refrain from critizising the service - although there is much to do so - and join the ranks of those, who are proud of the achievements. He pointed out that in fact the BFS and Lufthansa started post war operations in the same year, and as sisters so-to-say could look back to two and a half decades of serving the public. He continued comparing the development of the two organisations and indicated that the steadily increasing operating costs is the most serious problem the company has to face to day. ATC delays add very much to these costs and should {of course, ED.) be avoided. He appealed to the ATS personnel not to force realisation of personal advantages at the cost of the public. Lufthansa would be most willing to support justified requests as put forward by the ATS personnel, and also would like to see more cooperation with a view to increasing the flexibility of the ATC system, and to fully using the system capacity.

The State Secretary of the MOD elaborated on the different development military and civil aviation took in Germany since the end of World War II. In the first years there were no problems at all, only after the introduction of civil jet aircraft areas of conflict evolved. Similar requirements of the airspace users were the reason. The need to use the higher flight levels by both military and civil jets requires close cooperation between both -38

authorities. The MOD Secretary confirmed that the concept as contained in the catalogue of measures to increase air safety is fully supported by his Department and that the MOD is most willing to cooperate to reach a compromise that will be acceptable by all parties concerned.

The President of AOPA Germany gave a brief description of the General Aviation Organisation in Germany and pointed out that 80 % of all civil air traffic in Germany is consisting of general aviation traffic. He appreciated the cooperation with the BFS over the past, and praised the many contributions and publications originated by the BFS in the interest of General Aviation. AOPA Germany is looking forward to many more years of cooperation.

As the last speaker the Chairman of the German Airports Association reviewed the status achieved and underlined the value of the airports to the national economy. More than 60,000 working places are provided, expansion and prosperity foreseen for the immediate future. The increasing amount of air traffic could only be handled by an effective system and motivated individuals that are forming part of it. He appreciated the input and contribution of the ATS personnel and concluded his speech with best wishes to the German ATS organisation in finding solutions to the problems that might handicap the further development of air transport.

At events like this, and this is applicable all over the world, words of thanks and appreciation come from all corners and promises to improve the situation are readily given because it is apt at the occasion. No surprise also that the recognition of the human being in the system mainly comes from outsiders not directly involved with ATS. Administrations appear to be very reluctant to express their appreciation about something well done. It's like expecting a tax office to pay back voluntarily and without application excess tax, you'll never get it. The lack of recognition of the individual contribution and service, however, is painful and frustrating at times.

With about 23 years of service in ATC Germany almost a veteran myself, I have seen a great development. From the onset there were truly motivated people, in ATC, maintenance, telecom, briefing, everywhere in the organisation, even in headquarters, who without many words improvised and gave their best to keep the system running. Who invested spare time and own funds to get or prepare the tools which never would have come through administrative channels, or if so, too late. Many times and at various airports the system would have collapsed, services ceased, if there wouldn't have been the full and active support of each individual at critical times. There was an interdependability between the system and the individual human being in it, and the personnel was to a much greater extent inclined to identify themselves with the system and its product. Every controller knows examples of good worksmanship at this facility, but he also knows a good number of cases where injustice, envy or displaced competition struck individuals who always have acted to the best of their knowledge and capability. Who has words of consolation or recognition for them, and compensation for their loss? There are still a considerable number of colleagues under the threat of disciplinary action awaiting them for something they'll hardly ever be able to understand.

More than 1000 people employed in ATS Germany are still waiting for improvements to be realised as promised over the past years by various high ranking personalities.

It is - to my great regret - with a scent of bitterness and unbelieve that I heard promises again at an occasion that should have made every individual proud of belonging to the ATS organisation. An appropriate gesture would have been not only to honour the institution but also the individual that makes the system work. And what would have been better than to cash back some of the credit the ATS personnel most readily was giving over the past 25 years?

In a somewhat lighter and more informal atmosphere the ATS personnel was celebrating the event. Close to 1000 people attended an open air festival organised by a bunch of individuals

- we still have them in the service -; a party that turned out to be a big success. Some consumation figures speak for themselves: 1,400 liters beer, 254 bottles of wine, 350 bottles of alcohol free stuff, 550 steaks, 1,100 Frankfurters and a lot of BYOs. From the incoming money more than 10,000 DMarks profit could be donated to a welfare organisation caring for crippled and disabled children.

This was far beyond expectations and a true indication of the spirit in ATS, the ability to improvise, to enjoy the enjoyable, and to help where help is needed.

Gu

Mexico - SERAM The following letters were recei,ved by the IFATCA Secretariat: The last labour dispute we faced in the recent days was solved in a favorable way for the Air Traffic Controllers in particular and all the workers of SERAM in general. The strike became effective at midnight of the 31st of July after the failure of all the efforts made to avoid it, but 15 minutes later a new Collective Working Contract was signed between RAMSA and SERAM becoming everything immediately to normality.

The highlights of this new Contract are: - RAMSA maintains its present status and consequently the threat for its workers to be included in the Civil Service in low working conditions is over.

- The employer will maintain an insurance for the Controllers to cover medical unfitness granting the payment of 100 0/o of the last salary for the rest of life.

12 0/oof basic salary increase.

Increase in annual leave.

Many other benefits.

On behalf of SERAM and its Executive Board I want to express to IFATCA our deep gratitude for the direct and moral support received from the Federation and its disposition to aid us in this situation. The telegrams sent by Harri Henschler to the President of the Republic, the Minister of Transports and the Mi'nister of Labour Affairs were certainly very helpful in the final resolu"!ion of this dispute.

We want to express also our gratitude to CATCA for their support showed in the telegrams they also sent to the same authorities in Mexico. We must mention that PATCO performed the same action and we are writing them by separate.

Some experiences were gained in this occasion; as you may know, the authorities tried to nullify our strike by implanting an emergency plan to provide the Air Traffic Control Services by non-qualified personnel. Naturally, the Mexican Pilots Association refused to accept this plan and IFALPA fully supported this position by issuing the proper recommendation to its affiliates in accordance with their policy in these cases. All these actions showed the professionalism and cooperation that exists among bodies involved in the Air Safety.

Thanking again IFATCA for its cooperation and support I remain· - •

Signed by the IFATCA-SERAM Liaison Officer

Update on the Situation in Mexico Although a new Collective Agreement had been signed between the employer (RAMSA) and the representative of the employees (SERAM) as reported in Special Newsletter 8/78, the situation deteriorated rapidly as of 8 August 1978.

On that date the Government of Mexico unilaterally declared that RAMSA had ceased to exist and that the Ministry of Communications and Transports had taken over its functions with the promise that existing agreements and the contracts of the employees would be honoured.

On 11th August 1978 the Government published in their official daily gazette a decision by the Minister of Communications and Transports which made no mention of the above commitment and offered to "employ those who are willing to work" without mentioning any conditions of employment.

RAMSA and SERAM have been in existence for thirty years.

SERAM considers the arbitrary take-over of RAMSA as absolutely illegal and is prepared to fight it with all legal means. These may include withdrawal of services.

Venezuela Information was received from Venezuela that the renewal of IFATCA Membership had quite some favourable impact on our new/old member ANTTA. Not only did it prove to be strong back-up in the current negotiations with the Civil Aviation Authorities of Venezuela on a number of professional questions, but also it helped to initiate a familarisation programme controllers have long been looking for. The programme, which is still subject to final approval by the competent authority, will provide for free flights, familiarisation visits to ATC units and training courses overseas, special allowances and renumeration of costs involved. In short, the sort of programme IFATCA considers essential for the controllers to keep up with their knowledge and to improve the quality of their control service.

In the interest of more safety and efficiency in aviation in Venezuela, and to improve the professional knowledge of our Venezuelan colleagues, it is hoped that the authorities concerned will not hesitate to approve and implement this useful and important programme at the earliest possible date.

The life they safeguard through better air traffic services may be their own.

IFATCA is standing by to give any professional support that might be required at the occasion, and looks forward to a mutually benefitial cooperation in the field of air traffic control.

a

GU

The European Airbus A 300 on the Airway of Success This most reliable and economic aircraft now has convinced operators and passengers alike. Within two years of airline operation the Airbus has made publicity to the extent that almost everybody concerned with aviation is familiar with the advantages of this modern wide body jet. Low fuel consumption, minimum noise, high passenger comfort, high payload capability, high punctuality achieved through little maintenance troubles and servicing time required.

More than 100 of this 70 mio DMarks aircraft are sold to date.

Two aircraft a month leave the assembly line, a rate that is currently increased to four aircraft a month to meet the demands.

To the various versions of the A 300 the somewhat smaller A 300 B-10 will be added until 1982. Work is intensified at the Airbus lndustrie factory to bring this 195-245 passenger short and medium range aircraft into the air as soon as possible.

There are indications that a considerable demand for such an aircraft will exist into the Nineties. Air France, Lufthansa and Swissair are the biggest promoters of this new Airbus family member. Iberia and Eastern Airlines are about to join the customer group.

Recent orders for the various versions of the Airbus are as follows: At the top, as an important break-through on the American market, Eastern Airlines (23), then Thai International with a total of 8, Air France (7), Air Inter (6), lranair (6), Olympic Airways (5), Pakistan International (4), China Airways of Taiwan (4) and Lufthansa (2). In addition there are more than 50 options in the books of Airbus lndustrie. The most promising option at press date being the one of Laker Airways with 10 A 300. Before the end of this year the total number of orders is expected to go above 200, thus making the Airbus the most attractive and successful civil transport aircraft of the year.

Overheard at IFATCA '78 UK Delegate: "Too bad your Association left this Federation."

Australian Observer: "What do you mean? We've been members since 1970 and we've a very large delegation here!"

39

News from Corporation Members

Cardion Electronics

COSSOR Electronics Limited

Bright Radar Alphanumeric Display System (BRANDS)

COSSOR Display System for Farnborough

The Bright Radar Alphanumeric Display System was developed and produced for the Naval Electronic Systems Command (NAVELEX). The equipment consists of a digital scan converter, a control unit, and one or more high-brightness, large-screen television monitors. It is used in conjunction with airport surveillance radars, video mappers, and a secondary surveillance radar target extractor to display combined radar, map, and IFF information in an air traffic control tower.

Compass 9000 advanced SSR display processing system is awarded major £250,000 contract

BRANDS offers the following existing systems: • • • •

state-of-the-art

advances over

16-inch, 945-line TV monitor for greater resolution.

Bonded narrow band pass optical filter for greatly reduced reflection of ambient light.

Digital Scan Conversion for elimination of registration error.

Five memory planes of 1024 x 1024 bits each.

The BRANDS scan converter is a result of Cardion's in-house development of a digital scan conversion system, and its extensive experience in all types of scan conversion techniques. It receives normal, mti, and beacon radar video signals, converts them to digital form, and process them through a digital video sweep integrator to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Using antenna position data in the form of synchro, ACP/ARP, or digital angle, and radar trigger, the video data is converted from polar to rectangular coordinates, and written into a 1024 x 1024 x 3-bit semiconductor memory. The three-bit code provides eight grey shades of video, and is expandable to 16 grey shades by addition of a fourth plane of memory. Similarly, internally-generated range rings and video, from a digital or analog map generator equipment, are converted and written into a fourth 1024 x 1024-bit memory plane.

Extracted IFF target data is received in FSK serial format, decoded, and processed into data blocks. Alphanumeric characters are generated, formatted, and written in random-access mode into a fifth 1024x1024-bit memory plane.

All five memory planes are read out in a high-resolution, 945-line TV format to be displayed on a television monitor. As it is read out, video is continually recirculated back into the digital memory. In the recirculation process, radar data is "decayed" by progressively reducing its amplitude in synchronism with the antenna rotation at a rate determined by the operator. Therefore storage and variable persistence of the radar data is effected independent of the persistance of alphanumeric and map data.

The alphanumeric data, on the other hand, is updated by the FSK input, and each data block is erased and rewritten as updates are received.

The digital semiconductor storage medium provides perfect registration between radar, map, and IFF data, within the limitations of the external equipment. No registration error is introduced by the digital scan converter itself.

The digital scan converter output is displayed in TV format on a 945-line TV monitor. The monitor contains a high-brightness 16-inch round cathode-ray tube with a bonded optical filter. The CRT phosphor emission wavelength and the narrow passband of the filter are matched so that reflected ambient light is greatly attenuated, while the display information is passed through to the viewer. Therefore, the display can be viewed effectively in the high-ambient-light environment of a control tower, even with direct light falling on the face of the CRT. 40

The Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough is to install a Cossor Electronics Compass 9000 SSR (Secondary Surveillance Radar) processing and display system under a contract worth almost £250,000.

It is the second major order for Compass 9000 within a month.

In March the company announced it had won the contract worth £170,000 to supply a similar system to Gatwick Airport.

The Farnborough system incorporates the latest technology and is based on Cossor's CMP 9000 microcomputer which is used extensively in the company's range of display and telemetry systems.

Six CRDS 2016 displays will be used in the system which will automatically show the identity and height of aircraft within a 60 mile radius of the RAE, Farnborough - one of the busiest areas of airspace in the UK. Remote digitised primary radar can also be selected.

In addition to serving the needs of the RAE, Farnborough Air Traffic Control provides radar service to and from Blackbushe, RAF Odiham and Dunsfold aerodromes and during working hours, has delegated control of a section of the London Terminal Control area up to an altitude of between 3,000 and 6,000 feet.

Congestion in the area arises from three main flows of traffic; outbound from Heathrow when prevailing westerly winds apply; light aircraft approaching the LTMA form the south-west who rely on Farnborough to route them both north and south-east round the inner London Control Zone; and helicopters which leave and enter the inner London Control Zone near Bagshot and use the route of the M3 motorway.

"Installation of the Cossor system will enable us to alleviate the problems caused by high congestion," says the RAE's Senior Air Traffic Control Officer Mr. C. Hudson.

"The provision of SSR information will ease the task of both air crew and air traffic controllers by reducing the amount of information that needs to be passed to and from the ground. The requirement to turn aircraft for radar identification will also be much reduced."

Compass 9000 will also enable Farnborough to identify transit aircraft and eliminate the need to take avoiding actions where aircraft have the required height separation. It will also improve hand-over to other radar units.

"From our point of view this is an extremely important contract," says Cossor marketing director, Charles Shelton. "Farnborough is the home of British flying and their choice of Compass 9000, against extremely strong competion, is further proof of our ability to provide comprehensive modular systems that can be tailored to the exact requirements of individual authorities."

"By winning both Gatwick and Farnborough we have established ourselves in the forefront of ATC data processing."

The Compass 9000 system accepts plot extracted primary and SSR signals from remote radar sites. After processing the SSR data is used to supplement the radars at Farnborough, also displayed on the CRDS 2016 displays. Character and vector generators and refresh and controller units are incorporated with each display.

The character and vector generators in each display will provide sharp highly legible character shapes and a high level of immunity from noise. By using a high synthetic data refresh rate,

brightness flicker is avoided and SSR label smear minimised.

Display interchangeability, without the need for internal adjustments, is also achieved by each display viewing unit being truly autonomous.

Additional display facilities, such as indications from automatic direction finders or computer-generated digital maps, can be readily incorporated into the systems.

High refresh rates of the alphanumeric information and display data are maintained by use of a high speed deflection system.

All equipment being used forms part of Cossor's standard range of products which has been designed to satisfy the needs of Air Traffic Control radar systems such as those already supplied to Hong Kong, Malaysia and the ADSEL Sub-System.

Compass 9000 can be expanded easily through software and additional memory.

Dannebrog Elektronik AS now B & W Elektronik AS Mr. K. V. S0rensen of the systems department in his letter of 18 August 1978 informed the Federation of the following: At the IFATCA '78 Conference held in Copenhagen our company became corporate member under the name of Dannebrog Elektronik AS. In the meantime the company has been taken over by one of the largest industrial groups in Denmark, viz. Burmeister & Wain, which has led to a change in company name to: B & W Elektronik AS System Department 4 Hovmarken DK-8520 Lystrup Denmark

Hollandse Signaalapparaten B.V. First-ever Export Order for Digital ASDE ,Awarded to Signaal of the Netherlands The Telecommunication authority of Singapore placed another order on behalf of the Department of Civil Aviation with Philips Singapore for an ASDE-radar system for new Changi Airport. The radar will help ensure the safety and efficiency of ground movements even under adverse weather conditions of tropical showers.

The installation consists of Ku-band radar, digital scan converters, also providing map generation and three TV-type bright displays. The displays can also be used to present the information from the TMA radar.

The radar transmitter receiver and video processor are duplicated. New video maps can be entered simply by means of a compact cassette, that is programmed at the main ATC data systems at Changi.

The order was won against competition from USA, Japanese and especially French firms.

It follows earlier orders form the Civil Aviation authorities in the Republic of Singapore for the LORADS ATC system; it also reflects the proven results of the Signaal ASDE radar at Schiphol, Amsterdam Airport.

Philips Philips Announces New AEROPP Switching Systems for AFTN Philips Telecommunications Industries have announced two new message and data switching systems designed specifically for aeronautical operations. Philips is a major supplier of telecommunications equipment to the AFTN, with message and data switching systems installed in over 40 locations in 27 countries.

The new AEROPP I and II systems are designed to permit gradual, economic growth from a small initial installation hand-

The background shows a OS 714 processor with 3 tape units for history tapes and a peripheral control panel. The operator sits behind a Visual Display Unit with keyboard for system control.

ling only AFTN traffic to a powerful, multi-user centre providing a full range of aeronautical telecommunications services. A basic AEROPP I package may be initially configured to meet very low throughput requirements, and extended in steps to traffic handling capacities of serval thousand messages per hour.

Within the AEROPP I structure, the low/medium-speed line termination facilities may be equipped only for the number of circuits required at the time of installation, and expanded by the addition of plug-in line control units to its maximum capacity of 64 low-speed and 4 medium-speed lines, or other low·mediumspeed combinations. Basic AFTN functions may be augmented with OPMET, METEO and Flight-Plan Processing services by adding software elements and core memory modules as needed.

When throughput requirements exceed the capacity of AEROPP I or when additional functions are desired, the basic system can be converted to AEROPP II simply by adding disc facilities and introducing the more powerful AEROPP II software. In addition to the services of AEROPP I, AEROPP II provides MOTNE loop control and bulletin compilation, system-supported air/ground services, CIDIN medium-speed data operation and subscriber station facilities on circuit-switching networks. AEROPP systems are offered together with complete system installation, maintenance and training services, as well as full network engineering support.

Voice Loggers Provide the Vital Proof in Air Traffic Control Proof of what is said and done in air traffic control can be provided only by a comprehensive, completely dependable voice logging system. That was the message given to members of IFATCA - the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers by Mr. Joep Peeters, Voice Logging Systems Marketing Manager of Philips, at the Federation's 1978 conference in Copenhagen, held from April 23 to 27.

These voice logging systems are now widely used all -over the world. They are designed to record all air traffic control communications with extremely high standards of reliability and security of recorded information. Philips voice loggers are market leaders in this field, and have become accepted as the 'standard' for communications recording at over 120 of the world's major airports.

A simultaneous recording capacity of up to 44 separate channels can be provided, and very high reliability is ensured by duplication of every vital unit by an identical stand-by ready to take over instantly in case of a fault developing. The chance of loss of information through a recorder fault is therefore almost completely eliminated.

41

Duplication of recording facilities also allows a change of tape reel - necessary only once every day - without interruption of recording.

Design lifetime of Philips voice loggers is 10 years in continuous service, although over 20 years of experience with installed units shows that actual lifetime is very often considerably longer. The result of this long operating life and high reliability is a very economic true cost of ownership, Mr. Peeters said.

As well as large airports handling scheduled flights, many smaller airports today also want to provide a high level of facilities, Mr. Peeters told conference delegates. Communications recording is a vital part of those facilities, and Philips has recently introduced a new range of 'transportable' voice loggers to meet the demand of smaller airports for the maximum possible costeffectiveness.

These new voice loggers are designed to provide the optimum compromise between cost and performance, and to bring the security of positive, continuous voice logging to every airport.

Concluding, Mr. Peeters declared Philips' intention to follow the IFATCA philosophy of seeking ever-increasing standards of safety and security in air travel. He pointed out that Philips saw its recent IFATCA membership as an important factor in allowing the company to keep in close touch with the demands of all those involved in air traffic control.

Designed specifically for use in air traffic control - both terminal and en-route - the 1S 1501 strip printing system has proven maintainability: one area control centre equipped with 20 printers, reports an average of three strips per minute over a twelve month period; in France alone, more than 30,000,000 strips have been accounted for to date.

Star Sensors The SODERN star sensors, designed for use in both the Spacelab's Instrument Printing System and the Exosat satellite, are now being manufactured.

The sensors can be directed at either one star, two stars, the sun, the moon or the earth within a 2° x 2° field of view.

Their accuracy is under 1 arc second for stars up to magnitude 8.

Other Sensors Following the delivery of 19 STR 03 Horizon crossing sensors for METEOSAT, SODERN is now in the process of delivering another 19 STR 04 sensors of the same class for Intelsat V. The STA 03 static infra-red sensor on board OTS has been performing perfectly since May 1978 when the satellite was launched.

Large Screen Projector

Sodern Flight Strip Printing Systems More than 200 of SODERN's 1S 1501 flight strip printers are now in operation in Europe, South America and, most recently, Saudi Arabia.

Flight and combat simulator designers are showing increased interest in SODERN's PGE large screen projector. Operating in image and/or calligraphic mode, the PGE gives flicker-free, bright images on screens of up to 50 square metres. It corrects optical distortion for projection on curved or oblique screens and offers local erasing/writing facilities.

Thumb Nail Sketches of some Corporate Members: Cossor Electronics Cossor Electronics produce a wide range of equipment meet both civil and military ATC requirements.

Decca Software Sciences Limited to

Cossor have delivered their outstandigly reliable SSR 700 systems to auhorities worldwide. The new CEL 850, offering many advanced features is proving to be even more successful.

The Compass 9000 display systems brings new standards of high speed radar processing through the use of Cossors own microcomputer.

Maintaining their world lead in SSR technology, Cossor are now developing the ground and airborne systems for selective address SSR known as ADSEL. Sponsored by the UK CAA, ADSEL offers substantial improvements in SSR accuracy and will greatly assist in maintaining the high integrity of ATC systems as the growth in air transport continues.

The company, combining the commercial and technical skills of Decca Limited and Software Sciences Limited, is featuring three advanced systems for airport authorities who seek to improve upon existing safety standards: 1. The Burroughs ARTS II Radar Data Processing and Display System for which DSSL exclusive distribution rights outside North America. It is the only system of its type in volume production and offers unique facilities for air traffic controllers working under increasing pressure.

2. Decca ASMI radars, proven for reliability and operational performance over 20 years.

3. A new, low cost ASDE equipment, based on Decca's established X band marine radars, and giving excellent definition in adverse weather conditions.

Ferranti Limited Datasaab AB - A new/old Swedish Corporate Member On January 1st, 1978, Stansaab Elektronik AB virtually doubled in size and changed its name to Datasaab AB. The growth was brought about by acquiring interests previously conducted by the Datasaab data processing division of Saab-Scania AB. The new company will continue operating as two Divisions, with ATC and Air Defence projects centred at Jii.rfalla, and the former SaabScania factories at Linkoping and Malmo responsible for data processing systems for commercial applications.

Datasaab's experience with ATC goes back to the 1940's, with the design of radar displays, and has continuously evolved up to the present-day turnkey systems capability. The company is virtually prime contractor for Sweden's new air traffic control automated system - A TCAS. 42

Ferranti has been in ATC since the 1960's, providing simulators and operational systems on a world-wide basis. Ferranti design covers not only computer systems and their software, but development of the actual computers. The latest of these, the microprocessor F100-L with 7000 components on a chip less 6 mm square, will see its first ATC application in the new Ferranti simulator for Italy, details of which were announced at the Conference. Meanwhile the first Ferranti operational computer system at Prestwick continues to provide separation data for North Atlantic traffic, the oldest working ATC computer in the world.

The IAL Group Immediately after World War II, when the world's major airlines were re-establishing services and expanding longhaul

routes, IAL was formed to provide technical staff and equipment at airports in many parts of the world.

Over the years the company has acquired unrivalled experience in the operation of airports of all sizes; from the largest international airport to municipal airports and small local airfields.

IAL's Aviation Group capability includes the provision of personnel and the supply and installation of equipment for the management, operation and maintenance of airports, air traffic control services, aeronautical telecommunications, radio and radar aids to navigation, security systems, meteorological, fire and rescue services and many more associated activities.

Marconi Radar Systems Limited Marconi Radar Systems Limited are demonstrating a labelled raw radar display driven by the highly successful Locus 16 distributed data processor. A notable feature of Locus 16 in this application is the use of Video Retiming. Optimum overall performance is achieved by devoting a proportion of the display time to different features of the picture - raw radar, video maps, synthetic markers, etc.

Radar Retiming enhances the performance and brightness of radar displays at high expansion setting, greatly improving the presentation available to controllers. This facility is part of the Company's wide range in the design, development and manufacture of radar systems and associated equipment for military, naval and ATC applications.

in Brussels, on 5th July, 1978. The session was presided over

by Mr Ernst HAAR, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Permanent Commission accepted the Sixth Report by the Study Group of Civil and Military Alternates concerning the future activities of EUROCONTROL as the basis for the drafting of a new Convention to replace the existing EUROCONTROL Convention when the latter is terminated in 1983. A few issues remain outstanding, particularly the basis of assessment of national financial contribution under the new Convention and possible transitional financial arragements before its entry into force, for which solutions have to be found before the new Convention can be signed by 1980, the latest date that would give Parliaments the necessary time for its ratification.

The Ministers, acting in their dual capacity as Members of the Permanent Commission and as National Authorities, have decided to raise to 90 %, on the basis of 1977 costs, the recovery rate for route charges to be applied with effect from 1 April, 1979.

The Permanent Commission approved the Report on the Activities and Financial Position of the Organisation in 1977 and sanctionned its distribution.

In pursuance of the Permanent Commission's Rules of Procedure, the Office of President of the Permanent Commission for the period 6 July, 1978 to 30 June, 1979, was conferred upon Mr J. CHABERT, Minister of Communications of Belgium; the Vice-President for the same period will be Mr Joel Le Theule, Minister of Transport of France.

McDonnell Douglas DC-9

Sperry Univac

To date McDonnell Douglas has sold more than 900 of all models of the versatile DC-9, making it the world's most popular twin-jet.

The most advanced and largest model of the DC-9 family, the Super 80 jetliner, is scheduled to enter airline service in 1980.

Featuring an enlarged, redesigned wing, new engines and an integrated digital cockpit, it will be the quietest commercial jetliner in production. The Super 80 will carry up to 172 passengers on medium routes with improved fuel economy and low operating costs.

McDonnell Douglas Corporation is discussing with airlines a short field version of the latest and quietest model of its DC-9 twin-jet transport, the Super 80.

John C. Brizendine, President of the Douglas Aircraft Company Division of McDonnell Douglas, said the Corporation is offering for sale the new version, capable of operating from 4000 ft. runways.

He added thakthe- initial reaction of potential customers to the DC-9 Supe:r 80SF (for short field) has been "encouraging" and said, "we expect to be talking to a number of potential customers Mexico joins Concorde's Supersonic Cities over the next several weeks".

MEXICO CITY will be just seven hours and 40 minutes away Brizendine said the new version of the DC-9 would be unique from Europe after September 20 when Air France inaugurates its in its low airport noise levels, short takeoff and landing distance, new Concorde service from Paris. and low operating costs.

The new service will be operated on Wednesdays and SunThe proposed new version will be about 20 feet shorter than days as an extension of the Air France three times weekly service the standard DC-9 Super 80, which, with an overall length of to Washington.

147 feet 10 inches (45.05 m), is the longest of the DC-9 family of Flights (no. 053) will leave Roissy-Charles de Gaulle at 2000 transports. It will accommodate 120 to 139 passengers in single arriving in Washington at 1755 and Mexico City at 1940 on the class configuration. same day.

The DC-9 Super 80SF will be similar in size and capacity to Inbound flight no 054 will depart from Mexico City at 0800 on the DC-9 Series 40, currently operated by Scandinavian Airlines Thursdays and Mondays to arrive in Paris at 2335.

System and by Toa Domestic Airlines in Japan, but will have Claimed by Air France to be the first-ever service linking the advanced wing, new integrated digital flight guidance and Europe and Mexico City in the same day, it offers a saving of six control system and higher bypass ratio engines of the Super 80. hours on the fastest subsonic service presently available.

Maximum takeoff gross weight for the SF will be 121,000 lb (54,885 kg), compared to 140,000 lb (63,503 kg) for the standard 51st Session of the ___ Super 80.

Eurocontrol Permanent Commission Along with its new technology and advanced systems, the new aircraft also will have a high percentage of commonality with the The Permanent Commission of EUROCONTROL, the European parts and systems of earlier DC-9s. Like the Super 80, it will Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, held its 51st Session

Sperry Rand Corporation, among the 60 largest firms in the USA, is composed of a number of divisions, many of which are heavily engaged in air travel and aerospace activities. Among its many products the firm manufactures cockpit, air navigation and aircraft control instruments, aerospace controls, hydraulic apparatus and computer systems. Sperry Univac is in constant communication with air traffic control authorities in the Americas, Europe, Near East, and Asia, who are planning and extending their air traffic control developments. In addition to its large number of projects, Sperry Univac carries on continuing research into air traffic control problems, such as conflict alert and automatic voice advisory services, in its development center. It is company policy to further the "state of the art" through international exchange of information, ideas and concepts.

***

Universal News

43

r

Larnaca

;,.,,.., Cairo Jeddah

It's been the same old story ....

Since time immemorial Cyprus has been called "the crossroads of the Mediterranean"such were the comings and goings.

So its hardly suprising that an International airline had root here.

And grew.

Today, CYPRUS AIRWAYS is pleased to announce, there are more comings and goings than ever. To more places than ever ...

15 major cities in Europe, Middle East and the Gulf States-and in splendid comfort, with fast comfortable jet liners.

Cyprus Airways THE AIRLINE OF CYPRUS

44

Bahrain

benefit from the design philosophy which has produced for the DC-9 family the record of lowest maintenance manhours per flight hour and highest dispatch reliability of any jet transport.

McDonnell Douglas News

More DC-10 Orders

future will acquire the practical experience called for in the radiolocation section of their course of study. The low system error (:S:±2°) and the high sensitivity (5 rtV/m) of the PA 002 go a long way to helping the students solve the problem of determining their own position from the bearings of known transmitters.

Condor Flugdienst has placed an order with McDonnell Douglas Corporation for two DC-10 Tri-jets for operation on its long-range charter flights.

Volkswirt Herbert Wendlik, Co-Managing Director of Condor, said in Frankfurt, Germany, the two Series 30 transports are scheduled for delivery in late 1979. He said Condor also has taken an option on a third DC-10. Condor, a charter carrying subsidiary of Lufthansa German Airlies, is based in Frankfurt.

The, Condor DC-10s will be powered by three General Electric CF6-50C2 high-bypass ratio turbofan engines, each producing 52,500 lb (233,520 N) of thrust at takeoff.

Almost 19 feet (5.7 m) wide, the spacious cabin of the Condor DC-10s will accommodate 370 seats in a single-class arrangement.

The Condor aircraft will be the first DC-10s to be equipped

by McDonnell Douglas with a lower-deck rest lounge for back-up crew members. Located adjacent to the galley, the lounge will be used on long flights or when the charter calls for a number of flights within a short period of time. Furnishings will include six reclining seats and a lounge table.

Two elevator lifts will link the main deck with the lower deck.

Carts containing hot meals will be transported via the elevators to the cabin for distribution of the food and beverages to the passengers.

With its powerful engines and a fuel capacity of 36,500 U.S. gallons (138,153 L.), the Condor DC-10 will have a nonstop range of approximately 6000 statute miles (9654 km).

Condor's charter services connect West Germany with the Mediterranean area, the Middle East, Africa, South America and North America. Its DC-10s will replace two B-747 transports on the long-range operations. Other equipment in the Condor fleet includes B-707s and B-727s.

McDonnell Douglas News

Largest Commercial Contract Ever Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Group has signed agreements with Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIA) for more than $120 million worth of engines - the largest order ever received from a single commercial airline in the company's history.

The agreement with SIA is for JT9D-7Q turbofan engines to be installed in 13 new Boeing 747-200B aircraft and JT8D-17 engines to power six Boeing 727 airplanes.

SIA will take delivery of two 747s by the end of 1979, six in 1980, and one each in 1981 and 1982. The remaining three 747s are option aircraft for delivery between 1983 and 1985. Two previously announced 747s will be delivered in August and September 1979.

Four of the 727s will be delivered next year with the remaining two designated as option aircraft for delivery after 1979.

SIA Chairman J. Y. M. Pillay said, "The primary reason for disposing of the carrier's present 747s is SIA's decision to standardize the fleet with the larger and more economical Pratt & Whitney Aircraft JT9D-7Q engine that will be installed on the newer versions of the 747." Pillay said the new engines will offer the airline flexibility in deployment and important savings in fuel consumption and maintenance costs.

United Technologies

News

Direction Finder as Teaching Aid A VHF radio direction finder from Rohde & Schwarz was recently put into operation at the German Armed Forces' Academy in Neubiberg near Munich. Using the Doppler VHF direction finder designated PA 002 the engineers and officers of the

Mounting the VHF DF antenna system on the roof of the Armed Forces Academy, Neubiberg, Germany, with the aid of a BO 105 helicopter.

Although the roof of the academy already sprouts a forest of other antennas for radar systems and the like, it was still possible to find a suitable mounting point for the OF antenna. With the aid of a BO 105 helicopter the antenna system was fitted to the top of an existing mast with no great difficulty. Even during the first tests, the OF system impressed with its precise, stable digital display of the bearing value and its large range.

Rohde & Schwarz News

UK Training for Libyan Students The Civil Aviation Authority has received confirmation of a Libyan Civil Aviation Department contract worth over £400,000 for the second phase of training at CAA establishments and two technical colleges of 106 air traffic control and telecommunications students.

The students commence their UK training in September 78 and will complete their studies in 1979. A third phase, for telecommunications students to complete their training, will commence in September 1979.

45

Publications Review

mentions a number of sources where VFR pilots may obtain relevant information (flight information service, aeronautical publications like NfL, Notams, AIC and AIP) and informs about the filing of flight plans. When and under what circumstances are departure, arrival and position messages required, and how are they composed? Samples of English .and German RT phraseology are given. What is a VFR pilot expected to know about the traffic regulation at aerodromes? Where to get a weather report? Plenty of questions, plenty of answers.

At the end of each chapter you have about 20 test questions to find out if you were just reading across pages, or if everything is understood. Some sort of self control, which may be of help if you take things serious. And you really should take it serious, this little booklet.

To keep your knowledge up to date is your. contribution to safe flying.

Regulations and procedures are changing every now and then. That's why the author plans to issue an updated version of "VFR Flying in Germany" each year, if required.

Inquire with your book shop or with VWK Verlag Offenbach direct. It's worth the effort and expense. t ec

Slchlflug iiber Deutschland (VFR Flying in Germany) by Hans U. Ohl, VWK Verlag, Postfach 6267, D 6050 Offenbach/Main, German Language, Paperback, 64 pages, DIN A 5, numerous illustrations, price DM 19.80.

PILOT ERROR, edited by Ronald Hurst, published by Granada Publishing, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 3468, New York, N.Y., and by Crosby Lockwood Staples, 3 Upper James Street, London W1R 4BP, 1976, Hardback (cloth), 282 pages, illustrated and indexed, U.S. Price $ 14.95.

The pliot is usually the first person to arrive at the scene of an aircraft accident, and there is a saying that if the accident doesn't kill him, the enquiry will. The ultimate aim of this book is to eliminate the words "pilot error" from accident reports. Its main appeal is to look for causes, not for scapegoats. Note that "causes" is plural-almost every accident results from a series of cascading causes, not just one.

The various authors are British, and much of the book is devoted to UK operations, systems, research and law. However, the text also includes many examples from the USA. We especially liked the material on approach decision problems and on human factors.

As air traffic controllers are human, too, much of the material on human factors applies equally to controllers as well as pilots. Examples: (a) human is a 24-hour-a-day person and has only one brain to cope with the stresses of working hours and nonworking hours; the stresses of home life can be just as devastating as the stresses of the job; (b) nobody has an erase button on his memory; in stressful situations, one may revert to an inappropriate action pattern that has lain dormant for years; (c) performance is best at moderate levels of arousal; on the motivation scale between daydreaming and panic, the brain is "switched out" at the low and high ends of the scale; (d) the brain's single decision channel is the critical bottleneck which limits the speed at which information can be processed. There are lessons here for pilots, controllers, human engineers and system designers.

Philip Martin of GATCO explains the ATG .system pretty well;. in ·.his chapter on ATC factors, laying bare the problems of the UK route -structure.

The book has a very complete index, and the editor has done a good job in cross-indexing every incident or example from chapter to chapter.

Pilot Error is a thoughtful, constructive, and - for the most part - a highly readable book. We recommend it for all who are seriously interested in flight safety.

TKV

Hans U. Ohl, air traffic controller, pilot and flight instructor with a number of years of experience, ably compiled all information pilots need when flying across Germany in accordance with the Visual Flight Rules.

In cooperation with AOPA Germany, of which Hans U. Ohl is a Board Member, an information booklet was edited that rightly may be called a useful advisor to the VFR pilot. You will find a complete description of the airspace structure of the Federal Republic of Germany. Some fine illustrations are of help to better understand the meaning of, for instance, controlled and uncontrolled airspace, . aerodrome traffic zones, and what dimensions these areas have. Various resUictions and special regulations for certain portions of airspace are outlined. The reader is briefed on the sense of VFR Restricted Areas, Low Flying Areas, Link Routes, etc. Special regulations concerning Controlled VFR (CVFR), Special VFR, VFR Flights above cloud layers and VFR at Night are explained in detail. Procedures for lost communication, the semi-circular cruising level system and VFR flights under simulated IFR conditions are also covered. The last of the four chapters

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Please send me THE CONTROLLER for one year by surface mall / airman (please Indicate). Rates are DM 6.- for members of IFATCA, DM 16,- for non-members. Postage will be charged extra according to the tariff in use, Subscriptions not cancelled three months prior to termination of a calendar year, will automatically be extended for another year.

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The important thing about this service is the airline which flies it.

TORONTO CALGARY EDMONTON WINNIPEG VANCOUVER MONTREAL OTTAWA LOS ANGELES AMSTERDAM

ROME MILAN MEXICO CITY LIMA NANDI ATHENS HONGKONG TOKYO HONOLULU SYDNEY

Forfurther details contact CP Air Reservations 62/65 TrafalgarSquare,London WC2N 5EB. 01-9305664.

~!!~!!B Canadian Pacific,CPAir. .. keeping the great name great.

Corporation Members of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations AEG-Telefunken, Frankfurt a. M., Germany Airport Lighting and Engineering Company, Birkerod, Denmark B & W Elektronik AS, Lystrup, Denmark Cable & Wireless Ltd., London, England CAE Electronics Ltd., Montreal, Quebec, Canada Cardion Electronics, Woodbury, USA Cossor Radar and Electronics Ltd., Harlow, England Compagnie lnternationale Pourl'lnformatique, LeChesnay, France Dansk lmpulsfysik A. S., Holte, Denmark Datasaab AB, Jarfalla, Sweden Decca Software Sciences Limited, London, England ELECMA Divisions Electronique de la SNECMA, Suresner, France Ferranti Limited, Bracknell, Berks., England Ground Aid Group, Esbjerg, Denmark International Aeradio Ltd., Southall, England International Air Carrier Association, Geneva, Switzerland International Technical Products Corp., Washington, USA Jeppesen & Co. GmbH., Frankfurt, Germany Lockheed Electronics Company, Inc., Plainfield, N. J., U.S.A. The Marconi Radar Systems Ltd., Chelmsford, England The Mitre Corporation, Mclean, Virginia, USA N. V. Hollandse Signaalapparaten, Hengelo, Netherlands N. V. Philips Division ELA, Eindhoven, Netherlands The Plessey Company Limited, Weybridge, Surrey, England Racal-Thermionic Limited, Southampton, England Redifon Computer, Ltd. Crawley, England Gustav A. Ring A/S, Oslo, Norway Selenia - lndustrie Elettroniche Associate S. p. A., Rome, Italy SEL - Standard Elektrik Lorenz, Stuttgart 70, Germany Societe Artistique Fran<;:aise,Paris, France Societe d'Applications Generales d'Electricite et de Mecanique, Paris, France Societe d'Etudes & d'Entreprises Electriques, lssy Les Moulineaux, France Sofreavia, Paris, France Software Sciences Ltd., Farnborough, England The Solartron Electronic Group Limited, Farnborough, England Space Research Corp. Inc., Montreal, Canada Sperry Univac Germany, Sulzbach/Ts., Germany Sperry Univac, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA Telerad S. A., Anglet, France Thomson - CSF, Paris, France Ulmer Aeronautique, Clichy, France The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations would like to invite all corporations, organizations, and institutions interested in and concerned with the maintenance and promotion of safety In air traffic to joi~ their organization as Corporation Members.

Corporation Members support the aims of the Federation by supplying the Federation with technical information and by means of an annual subscription. The Federation's international journal "The Controller" is offered as a platform for the discussion of technical and procedural developments in the field of air traffic control.

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