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Project management, techni cal and operati onal specifi cations, detailed planning, documents (technical and commercial) of invitatio ns to tender. assessments of bi ds.

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Plan ning . and organisatio n 0 f operat '.on, commissioning, superv1s1on of operation operating stati stics. pro-' posals for expansion. Training of personnel O r~~nisation and running of training courses for personnel. especially for the operatio n and maintenance of the systems. in the count of destination. at the ry supplier's factory or in Switzerland

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IFATCA JOURNAL OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

THE CONTROLLER Bern, Switzerland, March 1981

Volume 20

No. 1

Publisher: International Federation ot Air Traffic Con· trollers· Associations. P.O .B 196. CH-1215 Geneva 1 5 Aorport. Switzerland Officers of IFATCA: H H Henschler. President. Darnel Oud1n. Vice-President (Technical). A. Avgoust1s. V1cePres1dent (Protess1onal). Pat O'Doherty. Vice-President (Adm1n1strat1on). H Wenger. Treasurer. E Bradshaw. Executive Secretary Secretariat: 6 Langlands Park. Ayr KA7 4RJ Ayrshire. Scotland. United Kingdom Tel 029242114 Editor: A Avgous!ls 5 Athens Str Ay1os Dhomet1os N1cos1a. Cyprus Tel · (02 1) 4 87 86 Publishing Company and Production Service also Adverti sing Sales Office: 'Der Bund'. Verlag und Druckere1AG. 300 1 Bern. Etl1ngerstrasse 1. Switzerland Telephone (03 1) 25 66 55 Printed by: 'Der Bund'. Verlag und Druckere1 AG. Bern. Switzerland Adverti sing Sales Office: THE CONTRO LLER. 5 Athens st . Ay1os Dhomet1os. Nicosia. Cyprus Telepho ne (021) 48 78 6 THE CONTROLLER. 'Der Bund'. Verlag und Druckere1 AG (Address as to r Publishing Co )

The President of IFATCA. H Ham Henschler is seen here signing the contract w ith the new Prin ters ' Der Bund'. Verlag The Treasurer. Hans Wenger views fro m abo'e

Subscriptions and Advertising Payments to: Account No PK 72 8g2- 9 . Swiss Credit Bank. 8 alexen Agency. av Louis Casa1 2 7. CH - 121 1 Geneva 28. Switzerland Subscrip11on Rate SFrs 8 - per annum tor m embers o l IFATCA: SFrs 20 - per annum tor non-members (Postage will be charged extra) Contribu tors are expressing their personal points ot view and opinions. which may not necessarily coincide w ith those ot the International Federation o l Air Tratlic Controllers Assoc1a11ons (IFATCA)

CONTENTS

IFATCA does not assume respons1b11ity for statements made and opinions expressed. 1t d oes only accept responsibility tor publishing these contribu 11ons Contributions are welcome as are comments and criti· cism No payment can be made l or manuscripts sub· mitted tor publication in 'The Contro ller The Editor reserves the ngh1 to make any ed11onal changes m manu·

scripts. which he believes will improve the material w ithout altering the intended meaning Writ ten permission by the Editor is necessary tor reprin ting any part o l this Journal

Notice It 1s hereby noted th at M r Horst Guddat no longer represents THE CO NTROLLER as Manag ing Editor. A ll correspondence should therefore be addressed to the Edit or

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Editorial Airport Hazard s SIM CAT The Use of Airspace CONVEX ·so AT.S. in Africa Air Traffic Control Tomorrow Card1on Electro nics The EARTS Radar System 2nd African Regional M eeting Air Traffic Control Training

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ALIA The E1ght1es - A new Era 1n A.T C. Schmid Telecom munication Delay to Air Traffic Wh en Demand Exc eeds Capacity

32 35 39 41 44

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far and wide THOMSON-CSF has demonstrated its ability to design, devise, supply and install consistent! effective, high~ performance air traffic control and air space surveillance systems.

CONSISTENT - because THOMSONCSF, leading European group in the field of professional electronics, develops and manufactures almost all the components which make up th e completed

Countries which use THOMSON-CSF air traffic control, navigational and landing aid equipment:

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systems, including detection, transmission, communications and information processing units. EFFECTIVE - because the experience we ~ave ac.qui~ed over 20 years of profile design in the most varied contexts means that we can offer tried and true solutions for your every need, however complex or exacting. HIGH-PERFORMANCE - because THOMSON-CSF's research laboratories and technical experts are in the forefront of all important research into aero nautical and defence netwo rks. Our active development policy ensures that '.HOMSON-CSF prod ucts set the pace in their respective fields.

TI-IOMSON-CSF OIVl\ION DRS TVl

40, rue Grange-Dame-Rose - BP 34 92360 MEUDON-LA-FORET (F) TEL. (1) 630.23 80

EDITORIAL

Sorcerer's Apprentices by H. Harri Henschler H. Ham Henschler

I am sure we all remembe r the old story which tells of the sorcerer's apprentice who. after having learned a few tricks. found himself unable to control the forces he had set in motion. This tale vividly reminds one of the situation of Governments around _ the world which. through mismanagement. ignorance. or incompetence have created a situation which fo rces the air traffic controllers they employ to react. Initia lly. such reaction is directed along the prescribed paths. where they exist. to rectify injustices. But when Governments use brute force. such as dismissals without cause. suspensions. threats. physical and mental violence. to try to suppress controller reaction to abysmal working and social conditions. inadequate equipment. and procedures. then one must expect rea ctions in proportion to th e forces applied and the recent past has provided isolated instances of such reaction. However. it can be predicted with some certa inty that. unless Governments adopt an enlightened approach to the plight of their air traffic controll ers. provide them with the required recognition of the uniqueness of the profession. th e above mentioned isolated instances will become more common and. quite possibly. widespread. One is left to wonder why. eighteen months after t he publishing of the conclusion s of the Government/Cont roller representatives group. arising from the Meeting of Experts on ATC. called by the Interna tiona l Labour Organization (I LO) in Geneva. Switzerland. in May 1979. only very few Governments have ta ken positive st eps based on. and required by. these conclusions. Nobody questions the importance of aviation in th e commerci al life of almost any c ountry on this planet. Nobody questions the ta ct tha t sate aviation without air traffic control 1s impossible Why. then. do Governments insist on trying to make their controllers work under conditions whic h. predictably. cause dissatisfa ction to the point where ATC Systems become woefu lly understaffed . In the case of New Zealand a 1 2% shortage of controllers exists. caused to a great extent by controllers leaving the country for better condit ions elsewhere. In other c ountries not enough new controllers are being hired. or can be interested in the career. to even take care of natural attrition. let alone the inc rease in traffic. Condi°ti ons such as these must degrade t he st andard s of sa fety and efficiency of the system w hich t he user. th e passenger and airlines. have become used to and are ent itled to. But w hat about the airlines? They have historica lly been reluctant t o get involved in attempti ng to bring about req uir-

ed changes to one of the ro ot ca uses of their problems - the inefficient system. They appear to be comfortable w ith Government assurances t hat everything possible is be ing done that the system is sa fe - and o nly very occasiona lly w ill they address the major problem of controllers· conditions and equipment. All the whi le passengers are being told that delays are due to air traffic control. The airlines and the airc raft and engine manufacturers. and through them the passengers. w ill spend vast sums of money on the development and build ing of more fue l efficient airframes and pow er pla nts . In t hese days of scarce and costly fuel such effort s to reduce consumption should be applauded . However. the other major fact or which causes high fuel consumption - inefficient ATC systems in any. if not most. parts of th e world - must be addressed. Increased fuel con sumption c ould bring airlines from a financial profit to a loss posit ion . Two of this Federation 's maior aims are: increased safety and efficiency in aviation. Of o ur profess1on·s ma in customers. the IATA members. w hile stating that they are supportive of the achievement of th ese our aims. have shown no tangible support to IFATCA. Whi le our experts are welcomed. and even requested to part icipate. in technical study groups on ATC related matters IATA has not seen fit to provide any transportation fa cilit ies to IFATCA officers when travelling on Federation busi ness. The Federation 1s still relying on the assistance of a number of enlightened airlines in this respect wh o appreci ate IFATCA's work on behalf of the industry. It is past time that the internati onal body of the airlines reconsider their attitude. they are the main beneficiaries of the controllers· skills and dedication. Among th ose who know the aviation industry there is little or no doubt th at the ATC syst ems 1n many pa rts of the world are being made t o work only through the dedication of the air traffic controller. despite bureaucratic pettine::;s. th reats. and incompetence. as well as polit ical ignorance and lack of political wi sh to in 1t1ate required changes to improve the system One is left to wonder how much pressure this ded icat ion can endure before it will be replaced by an attitude of resignation. or a determination to make a stand . Neither possibility bodes w ell fo r the international aviation commu nity. air traffi c controllers are among the 1nternat1onal groups wh o have a potentially severe impact. The sorcerer's apprentices should look at all 1mpl1cat1ons before they dec ide to invoke more spel ls and find themselves out of Cont rol.

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Airport Bird Hazards and Controller Liability by A. P. Wilde Director-Professional GATCO (first written in TRAN SM IT)

Last Summer. headlines appeared in the Press concerning a court case in which a Norwegian aircraft operator claimed a large sum of money from the local authority responsible for the operation of a regional airport in England. The claim resulted from the loss of a Fan Jet Falcon following a multiple bird strike shortly after take-off in December 1973. The case focused sharply on the actions and responsibilities of the air traffic controller on duty in the tower at the time of the crash and is worthy of some study. The AIB Accident Report (No. 24/ 7 4) of the crash. published in December 1974. summarised the accident in the following terms: 'The aircraft flew into a large flock of seagulls JUSt after takeoff. and sustained multiple bird strikes. Both engines failed due to bird ingestion and the aircraft made a forced landing in a field beyond the end of the runway. The aircraft was substantially damaged and the three crew were injured; the six passengers were not hurt.· The reason for the case coming to Court in 1979 was the failure of the respective insurance companies to agree upon liability for the accident. The action by the aircraft operators claimed damaged of £ 1 Y2 million against the airport authority for damage to the aircraft and consequential losses. The basis of the claim was the alleged negligence of the airport authority in failing to take adequate steps to minimise the bird hazard at the airport and failing to warn the crew of the existence of a hazard. In particular. the plaintiffs alleged: a) that the system for discovering the presence of gulls on the airfield and dispersing them was defective; b) that the duty arr traffic controller cleared the aircraft to takeoff when it was unsafe to do so because of the presence of gulls; c) that parts of the airfield surface were invisible from the control tower; d) that in the prevailing weather conditions near dusk and in view of the

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condition of the control tower windows. no proper view of the airfield was available to the duty controller. The Al B report stated that no concentration of birds was observed by ATC or the aircraft crew prior to takeoff. but that a large concentration of gulls was either on the active runway or was arriving over the airport at the time of take-off. The airport bird-action coordinator believed the latter was the case. However. the plaintiffs thought otherwise. and much of the case revolved around this issue - for if the birds were not present at the time the aircraft was cleared for take-off. the airport authority could hardly be held responsible. It is impossible in the space of a few paragraphs to reflect accurately all the arguments and counter-arguments presented in Court. (NB The case lasted thr.ee weeks and Mr Justice Tudor Evans· judgement took several hours to deliver.) However. some salient points should be noted. The tower controller gave evidence that. o.n two separate occasions before the aircraft departed. he looked at the airfield and did not see any gulls. He was questioned in some detail about visibility from the VCR and the effects of condensation and raindrops on the windows. The issues of whether the controller could see the whole length of the runway and. if he could. whether he scrutinised it adequately for the presence of birds were fundamental to the plaintiff's claim that the birds were present when the aircraft took off and that the airport authority were therefore in breach of their statutory duty of care. In his Judgement. Mr Justice Tudor Evans rejected the evidence of the tower controller that. as condensation had been wiped off the tower windows. visibility from the VCR was adequate for him to check that the runway and surrounding area were clear of birds. Despite the controller's statement that he had stood on the platform outside the

VCR. the Judge rejected his claim that he had checked for the presence of birds. finding 'that he merely stepped outside briefly to glance at the state of the weather'. He continued 'I reject Mr... (the Tower Controller) evidence that on this occasion he surveyed the airfield and the runways looking for the presence of birds. I am afraid that I thought that Mr... was an unsatisfactory witness on this issue. I reject his evidence that he looked for the presence of birds on the second occasion. I find that he was watching the aircraft when it taxied out.· The Judge went on to consider whether the whole of the runway was visible from the VCR. Despite a dip in the aerodrome which severely limited visibility. and the very oblique view from the VCR. he found that if the tower controller 'had looked. c;ind looked carefully. he should have been able. with the aid of binoculars. to see the gulls which were on or near the runway. des.pita the difficulties of visibility and of seeing the surface of the runway'. Aft~r severely criticising the airport a~thority for the inadequacy of their bird control and bird scaring arrangements. despite a known bird hazard at the airport. the Judge went on to find in favour of the plaintiffs. saying the airport authority was in breach of its duty. of care - the duty not to clear an air~ra~t for take-off unless reasonably sat1sf1ed that it was safe to do so. The Court accepted that. even if the gulls appear~d after clearance had originally be~n given. the duty continued at last until the aircraft commenced its takeoff roll. In such circumstances. the controller oug~t to have instructed the pilot to hold his position and arranged for t~e gulls to be cleared before permitting the aircraft to take-off. . It. is of interest to note that. in considering whether there was contributory negligence by the flight crew. the Judg~ found that.. in view of the high cockpit workload. the state of the light and the weather. the colour of the runway the f~ct that the runway was wet and the size and colour of the gulls. they coul~ not have been expected to see them. I report the facts of the case without comment. Whilst many statements were made in Court which a controller may feel could be challenged legitimately. the case as a whole was long and complicated. However. the issues are of concern to all controllers. especially those at airports with poor visibility from the tower. or bird scaring arrangements which may not always be adequate. Since the accident. the airport in question has obtained new bird scaring equipment and has built a new control tower

SIM CAT: A modular air traffic control simulator

A broad flexibility in syste m config uration assures that any instructional need for ATC personnel can be satisfied .. .

The increase in air traffic during the last few years has resulted 1n the installation of a vast number of radar contro l systems throughout the world . At the same time. technica l progress - especially 1n the data processing field - not only has improved the performance of these systems but also has made them more complex . This. in turn . has

brought abou t an enhanced requirement to train new control lers and to provide continuous refresher training for operationa l controllers. Yet. the traditional methods of train ing 1n operat ional control centres create problems of safety and efficiency: safety. because of the risk of interference between the teaching and control functio ns; efficiency. because the confl ict situations. which are the most useful from a t rain ing aspect. are fortunately not the most frequent. The use of simulators capable o f realist ically reproducing a w ide range of s1tuat1ons provides a happy solution to these pro blems. And . of course . there are many appl1cat1ons for these simulators. As teaching aids. they can be used to train future controllers 1n the civil aviation

by Gilles Denance Engineer. DRS-TVT 0 1v1s1on Thomson -CSF (France)

schools or to prepare experienced controllers for t he introd uc tion of radar in centres whi ch have been operated previously on the basis of procedural data only. In add1t1on. they can be employed to provide continuous training fo r operational controllers so that. w ith the approach of pea k periods. they can become accustomed to high density traffic and to the handling of unusual situations and can familiarize themselves with new flight procedures. etc

Sox SI M CAT ATC simulators have been procured by ICAO under various Technical Assistance pro1ects fo r c 1v11 av1a110n training centres 1n M orocco N1ge1 Pakistan Rom ania Tun1s1a and Venezuela Equipment destined for the Bucharest centre is show n undergoing fi nal tes11ng before cfehvery

CONTROL

~ACILITY

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........................~ ...................................................I ........ Communications (Controller-Pilot and Controller-Controller) 1111111111111 Modification of Aircraft Flight Paths

==== "Raw" Video mzmam:ia "Synthetic" Video

S1mphf1ed diagram of SIMCAT subsystems and data flow.

As an instrument of study. a simulator can be used to establish new flight procedures and controls in complete safety. Thus in 1976. having had 20 years of experience with air traffic control systems. we developed a family of simulators called SIMCAT which meets all of these requirements. Whatever the configuration of these modular systems. they all have certain general characteristics: modular design. which allows for subsequent extensions and modifications; simple exercise preparation; realistic simulation. from all points of view; wide variety of exercises; teaching facilities; and prov1s1on of appropriate services. The extensive use of programming gives SIMCAT considerable flexibility. enabling 1t to simulate any existing system.

Modular design of SIMCAT The SIMCAT simulator comprises three main assemblies: the control consoles. equipped with radar screens used by the students: the 'pilot' pos1t1ons. where operators alter the aircraft's flight path in accordance with 1nstruct1ons given by the controllers; and the central unit. controlled by a universal computer equipped with disk data storage For the sake of realism. the 'pilots' and student controllers are accommodated in separate rooms All the operators are interconnected by a communication system which simulates the radio (air-ground) and telephone (ground-ground) links

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The modular design of the system applies at every level: • All the radar consoles are identical and there can be any number from one to eight. • The number of pilot position (i.e .. simulated aircraft) can be easily increased. • An extension of the central unit enables more student and pilot positions to be handled so that new functions can be simulated. The pilot positions are provided with a terminal keyboard and screen for controlling the flight path of aircraft. The characteristic parameters of these aircraft (flight number. piloting mode. type of aircraft. secondary radar code. altitude. rate of climb/descent. heading. speed. ETA) are permanently displayed on the screens. A work area allows for the introduction of changes. The keyboard comprises many programmed functions which allow the pilots to react very quickly to controllers· instructions. A radar screen can also be added to each pilot position. which enables the situation displayed to the associated controllers to be followed. The pilot. if he is an instructor. can therefore check the work of the student controller or take part if he is a student himself.

Simple preparation of exercises Although digital and programmable. the SIMCAT system was created for use by air traffic control instructors and not by computer specialists. It relieves the instructors of the usual data processing constraints. such as the use of special languages or the handling of punched tape or cards. The magnetic disks have sufficient capacity to store all the data required to make

up the exercises in the form of standard tables. most of which are common to all exerci-. ces. These include: a table for the aircraft or classes of aircra.ft .which lists the main useful characteristics. such as equivalent radar surface an~ performance (maximum. minimum cruising and approach speeds; minimu~ and average radius of turn. rates of climb an~ .desce.nt; maximum and economic cruising altitude. etc.): ~adar anten~a diagrams and the probability of detect1onthe ge.neral si~ulation parameters (meteorological. data. sectorization etc )· geographic data and video ~aps.' . a table of bases beac . . points. VOR. DME ~nd ILS~ns. reporting f fixed echo charts and are~ logical disturbances· s o meteoro'flight plan· table . h' flight levels and s.pe~d~c~ describe the track followed by an aircra~dif t~he ~ct,ua~ does not intervene· e p1 ot tables of standa;dized proced ures for take-off. approach hold. · · mg and fli h g t paths m the terminal area. From the~e d~ta. the instructor s elements which. in combination elects · . · make u the exercises. For this purpose h P simple language. composed of ~n= ha~ a and a conversational facility _ i.e monies 8 board together with a screen or ~· . keyThe computer is responsible for enpsnn~er. . unng that the d ata c h osen bY the instructor ar coherent. e Any error in the preparation results in message from the computer which specifi a the type of correction to be made A co es the tables. which reproduces the 1 ~ parti~Y,of format. facilitates the search for inco u ar data rrect

After preparation. the exercises can be stored on disk for subsequent use. Nevertheless. the instructor can retrieve a stored exercise for modification at anytime; a special compilation programme then checks that the new data are coherent (beacons mentioned in the flight plans and t he associated lists. etc.). Similarly. the instructor can create or alter stored tables by introducing new types of aircraft. changing the location of beacons and the radar cha racteristics or by simulating a new geographic environment. This enables the SIMCAT system to be used with operational controllers in various reg ions or to study the consequences on various control zones of changes made to traffic or routes .

Situations are realistic The SIMCAT simulators realistically reproduce the environment of the student controllers. So-called 路AIRCAT' systems comprise operationa l-type display equipment. strip printers and conversational fac1li11es. which are all housed in consoles s1m1lar to those used in actual centres. There 1s room for a controller. an assistant controller and an instructor.

can then be incorporated in the consoles; this allows for training under actual operating conditions in a non-automated centre. The SIMCAT system can therefore be used to imitate all types of control centres. from the smallest with manual operation to the most complex. which are almost completely automated. The sim ulator has a dual role. however: to create realistic situations and to provide a tea ching funct ion.

Multiple exercises handled Each simu lation can record up to 480 flight plans. which can be programmed simultaneously or successively. the instantaneous number of flight plans being determined by the capacity of the pilots to respond to controllers路 instructions or by the number of pilot positions provided for in the system. During a given exercise. each controller can monitor eight to 10 aircraft of 1 2 different classes whose routes can involve up to 2 5 6 reporting points (radio beacons. holding beacons. airports. VOR. DME and ILS) . The random effects on radar detection and on the route followed. such as the in-

clus1on of weather data by the simulator. make the situation even more realistic . Besides the aircraft which already have flight plans. others can be created during the exercise. And. simulated kerosene consumption can be added to the other parameters. The strip printers. whether centralized or integrated in the consoles. generate strips of the desired format in real time. either before or during the exercise. Lastly. the originality of the system lies 1n the fact that a set of exercises can be combined so as to represent a progression 1n training levels. Within a particular session. the exercises can be run through ind1v1dually. thus enabling each student to adopt the rate best suited to his learning capacity.

Teaching facilities varied The SIMCAT system 1s also equipped with many teaching aids and capab1li11es. The system can be extended to include a pos111on for a supervisor. who can select any of the radar pictures displayed to the controllers together with the corresponding pilot p icture. enabling him to modify the s11ua-

Three main assembli es comprise the basic SIMCAT simulator system: The audio environment is also faithfully reproduced . From four to 24 radio frequencies. complete with transmission. reception and the addition of noise. and eight to 24 telephone lines simulate the usual commu nications between pilots and controllers or between controllers in different sectors. All these communications can be recorded. which allows exercises to be analyzed . The SIMCAT system reprod uces aerial s1tuat1ons faithfully. Up to th ree sites equipped with primary and/or secondary radar with or without direction finders can be simu lated. the instructor selec ting the type of parameter (1.e .. en rou te. approach or PAR radar). The synthetic image includes the aircraft tracks. together with labels and pos1t1ons overflown. the charts and the m1crotables. Conversational facilities (keyboards. rolling ball) enable the controllers to manage the display in accordance with procedures similar to those of operational systems. A 路raw路 radar picture ca n be superimposed on the synthetic image. In this case. a particular processor included in the central computer console reproduces the effects of the raw radar video. such as primary and seco ndary echoes. MTI. video. noise. fixed echoes. and mobile areas of meteorological disturbances. Passive and active decoding equipment to which the simula tor will reply

A Student controller console

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B Pilot keybo ard and display.

t1on . Although one pilot position is normally assigned to each controller console. it is possible to interconnect several pilot positions to the same console to provide practice with a congested picture. lnd1v1dual exercises therefore involve a controller-pilot 'pair'. Nevertheless. they can also be intended for a group of controllers and pilots to give them experience with neighbouring sectors and to train them in transfer procedures. At the end of the course. all the tra inees together c an operate in a realistic atmosphere com prising several centres. each subd1v1ded into sectors. The exercises can be performed at rates different from real time (betwee n 1 I10 and X 10) so as to create the optimum exercise . The entire situation o r part of 1t can be frozen and one or more aircraft ca n be stopped and restarted so that. wit hout affecting the recorded data. the exerci se can be altered while in progress by creating or elim1nat1ng conflict situations. Simil arly. by removing or adding aircraft. the instructor can adapt the level of the exercise to suit the student. The instructor can also simul ate a radar. transponde r or radio failure . Since practice makes perfect. the exercises can be recorded (aud io signals and synthetic video) and repeated at the required speed for correction s. comments and subsequent assessment of the students' progress . SIMCAT represents an inseparable comb1nat1on of hardware and software. w hich is usually supplied together w ith all the operating equipment Nevertheless. cen tres wishing to use A IRCAT operat1onal consoles available on a part-ti me basis for training purposes can connect the simulator with out alteri ng the operational capacity of the centre The simulator can be delivered complete with a set of prepared exercises recorded on disk an d with detailed documenta tion. thus creat ing a typical infrastructu re for the ab tn1t10 tra ining of control lers This trai ning aid was developed by specialists and offers th e advantage of making the new simulator operational 1mmed1ately In add1t1on. exercises. specified by the clien t can be recorded 1n the factory during the final adjustments of the simulator Thus. we believe the SIMCAT simulator represents a comprehensive system wh ich comprises both the hardware and the software and the associated services; this contributes to its eff1c1ency and the speed wit h which 1t can be brought into use Its modular design enab les the system to be adapted to al l requi rements Fina lly. t he choice of well-known and w idely used batch-produced components ensures that the SIMCAT system 1s an economic. re liable and easily maintained tool for ATC si mulation needs.

C Ce ntr~I control unit and teleprinter

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The Use of Airspace one Way to Save Fuel Captain J. S. Savage, I FALPA Chairman, BALPA AGA/ AWO Study Group. Speech delivered at

CONVEX 80 You have already heard some of the operators views on the most efficient use of airspace. and will be hearing more later in this symposium. Broadly these views are shared by the pilots, who have similar aims. namely, safety. expediency and responsible economy. However. within these areas of general agreement. there are instances where the pilots' requirement are not entirely coincident wjth those of the operators, and it is those instances I would like to use this opportunity to discuss. I would like to start by summarising my requirements in terms of airspace and Air Traffic Services on an ideal flight: I will then discuss why my requirements cannot always be met, and finally, propose some solutions.

Briefly my requirements are: a) Air Traffic Control clearance to be passed to the pilot before he starts his engines. b) The take-off and climb-out to be unrestricted as far as possible by manmade impositions. for example noise abatement procedures and procedural height restrictions. c) Initial cruise at the optimum level for fuel economy. d) Immediate access to higher levels as weight is reduced. e) A ¡minimum time track' from departure to destination. f) Freedom to deviate from track to avoid weather build-ups. g) A descent unrestricted in terms of top-of-descent point. speed and height. as far as is practicable. h) Absolutely no restrictions in the last three miles or one thousand feet. Surprisingly. at least to some of you. I actually do achieve this ideal sector on numerous occasions: in parts of Africa and Asia where the traffic density is low and little consideration is given to people who live near airports. I am usually free to operate in what I see as the most expedient and economic manner. and simply keep Air Traffic Control informed of my position and intentions. Were this possible the whole world over. we would be unlikely to be gathered here today. We all know that in Europe. America and several other parts

of the world, the traffic density and the population density impose restrictions on the operations of aeroplanes. The restrictions. almost invariably, lead to increases in time. cost. fuel burn and frustration. Leaving, for the moment. the climb and descent phases of flight: the cruise is the real heart of the problem of congestion. And here is the first difference in emphasis between the airlines and the pilots: the airlines are concerned in obtaining the best route ¡from A to B in terms of time and height and. consequently, fuel. Thus they get the minimum average fuel burn. As a pilot. however. I am more concerned with the actual fuel used on my individual flight: it is of little consolation to me. as I land for a technical stop to pick up more fuel. to know that the last ninety-nine similar flights made it direct! This means that not only must I obtain my planned route and altitude. but also that I have the opportunity to change them if. for example, the winds are more adverse than forecast. I am asking for flexibility: flexibility to change my route. maybe in a small way by cutting a corner. or in a large way by routeing out of a strong headwind or into a strong tailwind. and flexibility to change altitude. generally upwards. but occasionally down. to improve my overall fuel consumption. There are some areas of the world where this flexibility is available and others where it definitely is not. Ironically the very areas where it is available because the traffic is sufficiently light to permit a climb at the optimum point. are often the same areas where communications are so bad that permission still cannot be obtained! However it is in the other areas where communications are good but traffic is so dense that there is no choice of level or route. that significant improvements must. and can. be made. I would quote as an example familiar to me the route from the Eurocontrol airports to the Middle and Far East where nearly all the traffic flies along a single airway through Bulgaria and Turkey Already some aircraft are flying on this route at penalisingly low levels.

some are flat out trying to keep ten minutes ahead of the following aircraft and others are nearly falling out of the sky attempting to lose two minutes in the next ten! With tomorrow's traffic levels. aircraft will be forced even lower and to perform en-route holds. This type of operation has more direct impact on the pilot than on the airline: flying lower is often faster than flying at the optimum level and flying slower generally saves fuel. so the airlines might not be aware of the sweat on the pilots' brow as he explores the extreme ends of the flight envelope and watches his fuel reserves fall below an acceptable minimum. I am sure that each one of you can think of similar bottle-necks. whether they are of a longhaul. overflying nature such as I have mentioned. or of a shorthaul. sometimes purely domestic. nature. Clearly on all these routes. and on others in the near future. more capacity is required. Two possible solutions that. I imagine. have been well thrashed out in the past are: reducing vertical separation and reducing longitudinal separation. Reducing vertical separation has its attractions. but it would have to be reduced dramatically (i.e. by half) to gain any worthwhile increase in capacity. Pilots could not accept a reduction to say. one thousand two hundred and fifty feet. measured as such. because of the potentially confusing flight levels that would result. The obvious choice of reducing the current two thousand feet separation to one thousand feet would preclude the concept. currently used by some Performance Management Systems of holding a constant airspeed and allowing the aircraft to drift up and down slightly in cruise to reduce fuel consumption. With one thousand feet separation. the accuracy of altimeters would become critical and the containment of vertical excursions in severe turbulence would pose serious problems of wing loading. both structural and aerodynamic.

Speed Reducing longitudinal separation 1s also not without problems: most aircraft have trouble with speed stability away from their normal cruising speed This leads to overact1v1ty with the throttles and a consequent increase in fuel consumption. In a further attempt to reduce fuel consumption. aircraft are beginning to be flown at 'minimum fuel speed' which will be different for each 1ndiv1dual aircraft depending on type. height and weight. With aircraft all flying at different speeds. 1t 1s d1ff1cult to see how airway capacity can be increased by reducing long1tud1nal separation 9

At this point I would like to mention the difficulty posed by such Air Traffic clearances as 'cross XVZ at time 20 or later'. The speed reduction a high flying jet can comfortably achieve is surprisingly small. It depends on height and weight and can be as little as ten knots. But taking thirty knots as an average, the pilot can only lose time at the rate of four minutes per hour. So to be asked to lose two minutes in the next ten. is clearly out of the question! Having defined the problem of lack of capacity. I would like to propose a solution. My solution is cheap. simple. quick and dqes not require any n~w equipment. It is to completely redesign the airways structure in the areas of high traffic density! Undoubtedly at first sight this sounds a daunting task. but I hope to show that this is not so. a~d that the resulting improvements in terms of expediency and cost would fully justify the effort involved. I do not propose to move hardware such as VORs. but only to change software such as charts. radar graticules and people's thinking (though th~ latter. I admit. may be harder to shift than a VORI). We start the task with two eno.rmous advantages that were not available when the existing airways structure was built up. and modified. over the years: namely that traffi_c patterns are fairly mature and establlshe?'. a~d that aircraft now have the capability. in INS and Area Nav. to fly other than simply from beacon to beacon. ~hilst it would be feasible to define an airway by a series of points with kn?wn coordinates (as the North Atlantic Tracks are defined today). it would be prudent to incorporate existing VORs every two hundred miles or so for three reasons: firstly to cater for those aircraft which do not yet have INS or Area Nav. secondly to provide a gross error_ check and thirdly to facilitate up-dating of INS. So far so good. but although the new airways system may be tidier and more rational than the existing one'. it would not offer any greater capacity. This can only be achieved by introducing a further development which is 'uniqueness of direction'. that is. to make them one-way only. I am not suggesting that every airway becomes one-way. only those arterial airways carrying the heavy traffic between ma1or centres. These could only be established following a careful study of traffic patterns. but could consist of such routes as northern Europe to the lberran Peninsular and to the central Mediterranean. between the ma1or capitals of Europe. and the route I have already mentioned from Western Europe to the Middle East I am sure you 10

can think of others. Because there is no longer a need to have frequent en-route beacons. and because there is no necessity to have the reciprocal airway parallel. or even close to. the original one, the establishment of these routes is not an insurmountable task. One-way airways One-way airways would roughly double the present capacity. a feature which would be welcomed by both Air Traffic Control and the operators. The advantages to the pilot are even more significant in his attempt to make the best use of his fuel. Firstly. each vertical step. in the same direction. would now be only two thousand feet. thus enabling the pilot to remain closer to his optimum height. Secondly, because capacity has been doubled 'at a stroke', and because all aircraft will be climbing 'little and often', it will be possible for the pilot to adjust his speed to suit his own requirements with little chance that he is getting in someone's way by doing so. Thirdly, because all the aircraft on the airway would be moving in the same direction. there would be less restriction on commencing descent. Imagine you are in the fast lane of a motorway and wish to turn off at the next intersection: how difficult it would be if the middle lane of traffic was coming in the opposite direction! Yet this is exactly what we are doing on today's airways. Similarly. it should be easier to obtain an uninterrupted climb to initial cruising height. At this point I would like to mention some approximate figures to demonstrate the importance of correct cruising height and top-of-descent point: cruising four thousand feet (at present one step) below optimum cruising height adds about sev~n pe~ cent to fuel consumption which 1s about ÂŁ 300 for a Tristar flying from London to Bahrain. Being held up for just three minutes beyond the ideal point for descent uses an extra thirty pounds worth of fuel and being forced to descend early is even worse: fifty pounds worth of fuel for the same three minute~ .. If these misfortunes befell just one British Airways flight in ten. they would add four million pounds to the annual !uel bill. To the pilot of an individual flight they might be sufficient to force a technical stop. So the benefit of one-way airways is apparent. but inevitably the route mileage from A to B would be marginally greater as lateral separation would have to be established (although the route mileage may well be less than on todays 'old fashioned' airways). However.

the extra distance required to achieve fifty miles lateral separation at one hundred miles out from departure and maintaining that until one hundred miles from destination is only six miles, less than a minute's flying time. I have already mentioned that there is no need for the two 'halves' of the airway to be parallel, indeed they can be totally in~e­ pendant in order to facilitate route~ng and intersections. The Tristar flying London to Bahrain would have to fly an extra two hundred and forty miles to use as much extra fuel as it does by flying four thousand feet lower than the optimum. My whole argument revolves round that fact: altitude is much more critical than distance. In concluding my remarks on cruise and associated fuel problems. I would like to mention the North American Routes. from the Atlantic Exit/Entry points down the eastern provinces and states to the population centres. These routes are not dis-similar to my concept of one-way arterial airways: they serve a particular route. that is the North American gateways to Europe, and the firstly enable the operator to select a best time track to suit his destination and secondly enable the pilot to adjust his crui.sing level to suit his requirements. Whilst their establishment was undoubtedly made easier by the daily pattern of flights (i.e. westbound in the afternoon and eastbound in the evening) and .the fact that they serve few intermediate destinations. the concept is good and I would like to see it extended.

I~ defining my requirements from Air Traff1? Control a few minutes ago. I mentioned wanting my ATC clearance before I start my engines. The reason should. now .be clear: if my flight plann.ed altitude 1s not available I must consider thr~e options: firstly, to accept the lower height having calculated the fuel penalt~ it will impose. secondly. to delay unt1.l the required height is available. and thirdly to re-route to achieve the desired height with no delay. I have shown how quite a large increase in route mileage has less effect on fuel consumpti.on than flying even one step ~elo~ optimum level, so the third option is likely to be my favourite. However. I can only sensibly exercise this option whilst I am on chocks. Once the engines are started. fuel is being used while the calculations are done. and once taxying out I am committed to take-off with no further delay. So I would make a plea for ATC clearances to be given to aircraft on chocks as standard practice. JUSt as it 1s done now in the USA and at several UK and European a1rf1elds

The unknown

I dont like the phrase 'request level change en route' to be included in a clearance as that commits me to the unknown, and that unknown, when it becomes known. may be totally unacceptable. Again there is. here. a conflict in priority between the operator and the pilot the airline would rather I took off anyway with flight planned fuel and used my best endeavours subsequently to get to my destination without a technical stop. But I would like life made a bit easier by knowing what to expect before I take off: then I can take any appropriate action that is required. However, the increased capacity and flexibility offered by one-way airways should almost eliminate the need for 'request level change en route' and, indeed, for slot times. I have spent a considerable part of my time talking about the problems of the cruise because it is there that the greatest potential fuel penalties exist. and it is generally the area that causes delays with the subsequent frustration among controllers. pilots. operators and. of course. passengers. However. from the pilots' point of view there are two other phases of flight where the way airspace is used can influence the progress of the flight: they are. of course. climb and descent. I will treat these by considering what I believe are the relevant points in the order in which they naturally occur. First the take-off: it is now. almost without exception. the practice for Air Traffic Control. maybe in co-ordination with the Airport Authority. to nominate the 'active' take-off runway. This is determined by the wind of course. and also by considerations of noise and traffic patterns. Again there is a difference in priority between the pilot and the operator. and. even. between the pilot and the controlling authorities. Whilst I am anxious to minimise the disturbance to those who live near airports. my first priority must be to the safety of my aircraft. and I don't like taking-off down wind. even crosswind. or towards a build-up of weather. when I can see an alternative. Indeed. in extreme cases. I won't do it. The airline and the airfield operator are equally concerned with the local communities. but again they are more concerned with the overall effect. Air Traffic Control are in the unfortunate position of being under pressure from both sides. while also having problems of their own. in that any deviation from the standard departure of the day is liable to conflict with arriving or passing traffic. The answer is. of course. a bit of give and take by all parties. but while this works well in establishing minimum noise routes. I feel there is room for

more flexibility 'on the day' to take account of exceptional circumstances. Speaking of minimum noise routes. and also Standard Instrument Departures: I would like to emphasise the pilots' objections to anything other than 'climb straight ahead to one thousand feet' being imposed for noise reasons or because of a restricted area or because of conflicting traffic patterns. I believe. purely for safety reasons. that the first thirty seconds of flight should be in a straight line. at a constant power and in a steady configuration. From the pilots' standpoint. climb procedures are mostly satisfactory. There are few prolonged intermediate height restrictions. and routeings are usually fairly direct. Any promulgated such restrictions is of more concern to the operator who is. of course. paying for it. But I would ask you to remember that in the absence of any notified prolonged intermediate level. the fuel flight plan assumes an uninterrupted climb to cruising level. Any time spent 'level at six zero. expect further climb in two minutes' is eating into fuel reserves. My only other point concerning the climb phase applies equally to the descent and. to a lesser extent. to the cruise. I am concerned that. on occasions. I do not have enough freedom to avoid penetrating heavy weather buildups and even thunderstorms. I am aware that I have the ultimate authority to deviate as I see fit. but hopefully that it should not come to that. I am also aware that ATC radar does not normally display weather for reasons of clarity. but an occasional look at the position of thunderstorms would anticipate the pilot's requests for track deviations and would permit a coherent solution. It is not just a matter of courtesy to passengers to avoid cumulo-nimbus clouds: it frightens the crew and. indeed. is downright dangerous.

Top of descent Last. I shall consider the descent and approach. again trying to pick out the points of particular interest to the pilot. The top-of-descent point has already been mentioned as having a significant influence on overall fuel consumption. The ideal point depends on aircraft type. weight. altitude. the wind profile and the runway in use. Soon aircraft may be descending earlier and at a lower forward speed. close to the minimum drag speed. in order to further economise on fuel. It behoves the pilot to give Air Traffic Control a few minutes notice of his required descent point. but there is little benefit in commencing descent as the correct time 1f a certain point has to be crossed at a

certain height which is way off the optimum descent profile. This is understandable if it is the result of conflicting traffic (although this could be minimised by the use of one-way airways and advance notice of descent point) but unfortunately is all too often a feature of control procedures. I don't like mentioning countries. but I'm afraid I have to say that the USA is very poor in this respect. I know they have traffic density and airport density unequalled anywhere else in the world. but nevertheless it is quite unacceptable to have to be below ten thousand feet at a time when I would prefer to still be at cruising level. Similarly the pleasures of a conducted tour of the American countryside or coastal waters. often with flaps extended. do not justify such wastage of fuel. It is almost impossible to compute how much fuel will be used between the initial approach point and touchdown. and consequently far too easy to arrive over the threshold with less fuel than expected. The dangers inherent in this during bad weather are obvious. Without wishing to be patronising. I think the Continuous Descent Procedures used here at London are an excellent use of airspace and are worthy of wider consideration. They work extremely well in some cases. for example from Lambourne to two-three and the two-eights. where seven thousand feet and sixty knots or so are to be lost rn twenty-five to thirty miles. In other cases. where aircraft are landing in the 'wrong direction' I would prefer to leave the holding point at a suitably higher level and adjust the top-descent point accordingly. This type of intermediate approach lends itself readily to the introduction of two technical advances: Microwave Landing System and the Advanced Flight Deck. The horizontal situation display of the Advanced Flight Deck together with M LS guidance will help not only the pilot by enabling him to adjust his vertical profile and airspeed according to his positron. but also the controller by giving him the capability to sequence aircraft more accurately using pre-determined multi-segment (horizontal segments that 1s) and even curved approaches. However. there 1s a ltmrt and pilots will not accept multi-segment approaches 1n the vertical plane and will insist on at least a three mrle strarght-rn final approach. free from artificial speed constraints. These tools should optimise the capacity of the runway to the pornt where the lrm1trng factor 1s the separation required between consecutive aircraft to avoid wake turbulence The crrterra used at the moment are only iust adequate and until 11

This means collecting, processing and ~ . . We can a~so do the other kind of simulation- for displaying it. tra!ning, validation and evaluation-som th¡ h We are not in the data acquisition business but we will doing for many years. e 1ng we ave been take data from whoever has it- from civil for military, from If you are in the air traffic man . Ferranti can help. And the peo le whagement business mil itary for civil and from the country next door where radar 0 will almost certainly apprec¡iatep pay your route charges coverage overlaps an FIR boundary. Data doesn't have to be on your using us the spot. It can be extracted and fed over large distances and best a~aklt~~~?elf, are you using the data av~ilable to the then co-ordinated with the data from your own sensors. If the data is not available, we can synthesize display Contact Fer~a.n~i Computer Systems limited Bracknell D1v1s1on, Western.Road Bra k Ii'• information from flight plans and position reports. Berkshire RG121RA Telephon~: 0~4 3232

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some vortex reducing hardware becomes available. I don't see any chance of reducing the current figures. In any case it is important that an aircraft is completely clear of the runway (and. theoretically. the runway strip) before the succeeding aircraft crosses the threshold and starts to flare. The present separation ensures this, any reduction would have to be monitored very closely, if unnecessary overshoots (missed approaches) are to be avoided. Which leads me to overshoot procedures. Because overshoots are few and far between. they are a relatively unfamiliar manoeuvre. so it is essential that the pilot is free to concentrate on flying the aircraft to establish a positive rate of climb. an increasing airspeed and such configuration changes as may be necessary. He should not be distracted by having to initiate immediate turns or by having to tune and identify beacons. So. as in the case of the take- off. the initial part of an overshoot must always be straight ahead to one thousand feet. My final point on descent and approach concerns holding. As fuel has become so predominant in the cost of operating an aeroplane. so the practice of carrying enough fuel for an hour's holding. or even for a few minutes holding has largely disappeared. The airlines prefer an occasional diversion to the frequent uplifting of holding fuel. Again they are looking at the overall picture and. in effect doing a cost/benefit analysis. while I am concerned only about my own particular flight. and using what fuel I have to the best advantage.

Holding What I need to know is where I will have to hold and at what height. in order to properly plan my descent. Then I must know how long I must hold to formulate a plan of action. Clearly. the higher I can hold and the less time I spend in turning flight (i.e. long holds) the longer my fuel will last. Linear holding is a promising development and would be much easier with one-way airways. My previous remark about the difficulty of losing time in a straight line was specified as applying only to high flying 1ets. On a descent I can happily lose ten minutes by descending early at a low speed. and save fuel by doing so. But I must. of course. be told in good time. which would be at least five minutes before the normal descent point. Again I will mention the need for all holding to be done at. or before. the holding point: not. as is sometimes done. by protracted vectoring after leaving that point. Before summing up. I would like to mention the use of airspace by other than civil air transport carriers. i.e. the military and general aviation. Or rather.

I would not like to mention it. but I must because of the impact these two users have on air transport operations. Sometimes this impact is lateral. and so there is definite need for a major improvement in this area. I don't want to get involved in a political discussion about who has what rights. so I will content myself with saying that I believe the answer lies not in segregation but in co-ordination. Of course a minimum amount of segregation is necessary. for example TMAs for the civil user. bombing ranges for the military and aerobatic aeras for general aviation. In the rest of the airspace. the important thing is not what the purpose of the flight is. but what rules it is following. All aircraft in the same airspace must be flying according to the same set of rules and if this means extra equipment or further qualifications. then so be it. I just cannot understand why some lessons take so much learning! To sum up: I have tried to highlight some aeras where airspace can be used to better advantage. particularly to the pilots' advantage. I have not. I hope. ventured into the realms of fantasy but have offered some solutions which are both practical and practicable. None of them require the development of new equipment. or even the resiting of existing equipment, although to take full advantage of my proposed one-way arterial airways. I have assumed the use of INS. Area Nav and ground radar. What I do ask for. however. is some real positive thinking and the abolition of parochial national prejudices. Given these. I am confident we can keep aeroplanes moving in a safe and expeditious manner. and at a reasonable cost. for the foreseeable future. The price of failure is to see aviation go the same way as the great steamships and railways of the past.

FAA Orders SVSS The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Litton Industries' Amecon Division a $ 4 75.000 contract to build an alldigital voice communications switching system for low density air traffic control facilities that is faster. more versatile and more reliable than systems using conventional telephone switching techniques. The new system. called a small voice switching system (SVSS} by the FAA. will be functionally similar to Amecom equipment operational since 1 9 7 5 at the Dallas-Ft. Worth Regional Airport. largest in the USA. and also installed at major airports in Saudi Arabia. The SVSS has been specifically designed for the 300 to 400 FAA air traffic control facilities.

Wind Shear Monitor and Scat Systems Safe Flight's Wind Shear Monitor and Scat {Speed Command of Attitude and Thrust) Systems have been certified {Supplemental Type Certificate} by the Western Region of the Federal Aviation Administration {FAA) for further evaluation on a United Airlines Boeing 7 4 7 aircraft. During the past four years. Safe Flight and United personnel have worked closely conducting a data collection program on a United Boeing 7 2 7 aircraft and extensive tests on the United Boeing 7 4 7 flight simulator. The 7 4 7 simulator program was based on a standard wind shear model. This model has been used on many flight training simulators since the accident at John F. Kennedy Airport. when an airliner was forced down by a severe wind shear during landing approach. Other wind shear related accidents have occurred prior to and since that time. emphasizing the need for an airborne detection and warning device that would alert the flrght crew of a critical wrnd shear condition. Upon completion of the Boeing 7 4 7 simulator tests. Safe Flight's Wind Shear Monitor and SCAT Systems were installed and certified for further evaluation aboard United's Boeing 7 4 7 aircraft. The Wind Shear Monitor System detects and warns the pilot of a wind shear cond1t1on and SCAT provides thrust commands for maximum aircraft performance in wind shear flight cond1t1ons. The first flrght test. conducted at United's San Francisco facility. was sat1sfactonly completed on June 4. 1980. In recent years. Wind Shear has been a leading safety concern of heavy Jet aircraft operators. manufacturers. and regulatory agencies. The FAA has been 1nvestigat1ng vanous types of wind shear detection equipment and 1s expected to issue a NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) shortly. The Safe Flrght Wrnd Shear Monitor Systems is an airborne detection system that warns the pilot of hazardous levels of horizontal wrnd shear and severe vertical winds (downdrafts) dunng landing approach. If a wind shear cond1t1on is encountered. the flight crew will be warned through a voice alert Once the alert 1s activated. the pilot will then 1nrt1ate a go-around Using the SCAT computed pitch attitude guidance. the pilot will obtarn the optimum flight profile for the cond1t1on which prevails. Scat 1s designed to give precise attitude guidance for rotation and climb durrng takeoff and go-around. plus thrust guidance for landing approach The Safe Flrght Wind Shear Monitor and SCAT Systems have been installed and cert1f1ed on many a1rplanes 1ncludrng the JetStar II. IAI 1124. Leaqet 35135A. 361 36A. Gulfstream II. Brrt1sh Aerospace HS 1 25-700. and Boeing 707 and 72 7 These systems have also been spec1f1ed for the Canada1r Challenger and Gulfstream Ill air craft

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CONVEX '80 by P. O ' Doherty The Theme for this year's CONVEX was 'Chaos or Control - ATC into the 80s'. GATCO. 1n formulating such a theme had set the scene for a most 1nformat1ve. topical and at times con troversial meeting . The meeting was d1v1ded into various sessions. seven in all. ea ch session having from two to four speakers and an 'informal ' forum was held after the first four sessions and again after session seven CONVEX was opened off1c1ally by Mr Norman Tebb1tt. MP. Parhamentary Under Secretary of State for Trade His address was most interesting and made some salient points regarding the U K altitude to Eurocontrol and to ROUTE CHARGES As regards Euroco ntrol he was looking forward to the November meeting of the Commission and hoped at that meeting the terms of the Protocol extending and amending the Conven tion would be agreed On Route Charges the U K beheves that the air traveller should not be subsidised by the Taxpayer and in order to rationalize this. a new basis for Route Cha rg es must be found He wished the meeting well 1n its del1berat1ons over the succeeding d ays and formally declared the CONVEX open

Business The delegates then got down to business The first speaker was Dr Wilkinson of British Airways. Deputy Chairman 1n fact. who spoke on 'The Direct Approach' mainly co ncerning the fac t that Direct Negotia tions by the A1rl1nes with the relevant ATS authority helped to ease the problems He was followed by IFATCA with 'The ATC view· - present ed by th e V P Admin This paper covered the various fau lts as seen by controllers e g poor equipment. poor manning levels and poor co-ordination w1th1n Europe on the Air Traff1c System 14

Mr. G.G. Gill of IAL followed with 'INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH' - a paper which concluded by suggesting that unless all those involved 1n aviation immedia tely came togethe r and entered into di sc ussion to solve the problem there would be suc h a high level of Aircraft Accidents by 1990 that load factors would start to decline 1n considerably greater numbers than was caused by the fuel crisis of the past decade. Mr H P Stanton of the Bri11sh Guild of Flight Operations Officers spoke on 'Deregulat1on - The Challenge· and the IATA view. entitled 'The Airline View'. was presented by Mr. P. Cunningham. He was critical of the Air Traffic System as a whole, but was confident that Ai r Traffic Controllers would do their utmost to overcome def1c1enc1es by their ded1cat1on. He also asked that ATC management 1nvest1gate the ca uses of ATC delays 1n as great detail as was already done by IATA

'Capacity - The Airport Dilemma'. was the titl e of the paper delivered by M r F.E. Douwes Dekker of ICAA. Confident that the airports in general wi ll overcome their c apacity probl em s w ithin a few years. but he was also apprec iative of the fact th at the 197 3 fuel crisis had to some extent alleviated their problems and gave them a breathing space to catc h up. He also suggested that he would. on behalf of ICAA. be interested 1n informal talks wit h a number of those Organ1sat1ons wl!h which they already had 'formal' contact - IFATCA was mentioned in this context and Mr Douwes Dekker was given the necessary contacts for such a meeting. Mr. J R Adderly (a man not unknown to IFATCA) gave a d1ssertat1on on 'Airspace Ut1l1zat1on· His conclusion was that rat1onalisat1on of procedures and greater co-ord1na t1on of Radar services gave some hope for the future.

Leslie Au stin happy as always

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M ini-Rotorcraft Competition - 82

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The Royal Ae ronautical Soc iety announces the Mini-Rotorcraft Compet ition. A prize of £ 1 OOO w ill be awarded to the person or grou p w ho build and fly a small remotel y contro lled rotorcraft which demonstrates in competition the longest cont1nous flight enduranc e. It 1s expected to exceed the current FAI reco rd of 3 hours. 35 minutes and 6 seconds. A further pnze of £ 500 wi ll be awarded for ingenuity 1n meeting t he object of the Competition. The Compet1t1on is expected to be held on the weekend 3 and 4 July 1982. but early application for entry wi ll be in the interest of t he competitor. No appl ication will be accepted after 3 1 July 1 981 . The Compet1t1on 1s sponsored by Organisa tions w ithin the UK Helicopter Operating and Manufacturing Industry. and 1s restricted t o pe rsons holding UK Citizenship. An entry form and a copy of the Competition rules are available on appl 1cat1on. enclos ing a stamped addressed envelope to: The Secretary (Mini-Rotorcraft Compet1t1on) The Roya l Aeronautical Society 4 Hamilton Place London WlV OBQ A fee of £ 3 wi ll be charged for registration Cheques should be made payable to the Royal Aeronautical Society.

The Technical Exh1b1t1on was at its best

Mr. H.J . Blanks of the UK Department of Trade spoke on 'Government Policy for Airport Development" . He outlined the importance of ATC in such development Mr D.W . Blythe of Cable and W ireless spoke on Commun1cat1on Systems. Mr A Pugh of British Caledonian spoke on the 'Mixed Econom{ and urged greater cooperation between ATS. Aircraft Operators and Industry 1n th e planning of the Systems of the future . He also stressed the need for co-operation between National Air Traffic Services.

Eurocontrol Mr J. Leveque. Director General Euroco ntrol. spoke on 'Eurocontrol - a Prac11ca l appli ca tion of International Co-operation· . All this was foll owed by a'n open Forum and th is was wide ranging in its scope. A considera ble time was. na turally. spent on the prob lems that particularly affected the U K . and one airport in particular came in for heavy c riticism . IFATCA. through the Regiona l VP EUR made the point that ·Air Traff1c Management" should not be allowed to c loud the problems of 'Air Traffic Control '. M r W . Bamberg of th e FAA opened Friday morning 's session with a most 1nterest1ng address an d of course presented the S Approach· . The IFALPA paper 'U se of Airspace - One way to save fu el - and others· was given by Captain J S Savage.

·u

21 st Century Mr S Ratc liffe of the Royal Signal and Radar Establishment spo ke ' Into the 2 1st Century· and the presentat ions were corn-

pleted by Squadron Leader C.J. Stock of t he Guild. their Direc tor Tec hnical who outlined 'The requirements for the 80·s·. Th is was the Guild's view on the problems and the solutio ns. CONVEX concluded with a final "Forum· and once again the grassroots controller and airline personnel gave vent to t heir very varied feelings on the wh ole issue. i ieel t ha t the general view of the airlines as expressed was that they would be w illing to pay for a proper and eff1c1ent Air Traffic System but felt that at the moment they were not getting the best value for their money. The general consensus was that the System cou ld do with some improvement and that sometimes Bureau cracy was holding up speedy progress. Once again. the Bnt1sh Guild has done con tro llers a great service in the organ1zat1on of such as CONVEX. All wl-io attend are facil itated in putting a point of view and t he Panellists are quite willing to take crit1c1sm . 1f jUSt1f1ed. of their various presentations . IFATCA"s presentation was by the Vice President Adm inistration and the paper was compil ed w ith the able assistance of M r J Saker and Mr A. Field. W ithout their contributions. th e paper would not have been possible. The organising Committee for CONVEX was headed by Mr E.G.H. Green and assisted by a most able committ ee. The sessions were chaired by Mr P W ilde and Mr G Doggett. both of w hom kept us all on the straight and narrow path of st icking to the sub1ect

The Compe11t1on 1s spo nsored by· Alan M ann Helicopters Ltd British Airways Helicopters Ltd Bristow Helicopters Ltd Dollar Helicopters Ferranti Ltd Management Av1at1on Ltd M L Av1a t1on Co Ltd Rolls-Royce Ltd Sh ell Av1a t1on Ltd Smiths Industries Ltd

Get-Away Competition for schools The Royal Aeronautical Society launch ed its space compet ition for young people The compe11t1on ca lls for the submission of ideas for experiments which cou ld be conducted 1n space aboard the US Space Shuttle A reservation has already been obtained from NASA by the Society for a Get Away Special 1n which 1t 1s hoped the winning competi tors can have their experi ments flown . subject to adequate sponso rsh ip being found The Society 1s pleased to announce that the following eminent persons have kind ly agreed to serve on the compet1t1on·s panel of judges - Prof Sir Hermann Bondi. Prof R L F Boyd. Sir Monty Finniston. Sir leuan Maddock. Dame Margaret Weston Interest 1n the compet1t 1on has been considerable Plenty of time remains for schools and ind 1v1duals to submit an entry before the c losing date of 2nd February 1981 Full details are availabl e from - The Sec retary Get-Away Special Compet1t1on The Royal Aeronautical Society 4 Hamilton Place. London W 1V OBO I :,

A.T.S. IN AFRICA by D.E.Y. Klaye Regional Vice-President !FA TCA (AFl-West)

The following article is based on a speech delivered on behalf of /FA TCA at the 2nd International Seminar on Civil Aviation Training at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre (NCA TC), in Zana, 2 7-24 October, 7980. It involves itself into the unsatisfactory situation that exists in the Afncan Continent focusing in particular on '/FATCA's CONCERN'. INTRODUCTION This paper is presented not in an attempt to malign or accuse any particular government but it is presented in our desire to highlight the problems facing controllers in the Region and perhaps 1n doing so draw the attention of appropriate authorities to them for possible solution. The objectives of the Air Traffic Services as laid down by ICAO put on the controller an onerous task which can only be fully accomplished in the right working environment and with the right type of equipment. The problem as 1t exists today Although rt is appreciated that a few countries like Nigeria have been doing a lot to improve their ATC systems quite a number of countries still operate their Air Traffic Services with the barest minimum of equipment. Some States still use NDBs as approach aids and only a few have been able to comply fully with the ICAO Regional plan.

1. PERSONNEL Inadequate staffing 1s a problem facing most ATS establishments the world over. but the s1tuat1on 1n the African Region 1s rather acute. stemming mainly from the poor conditions of service under which controllers work. The great demands of the profession and the poor renumerat1on that goes with 1t do not make 1t attractive to the right type of personnel Air Traff1c Control 1s a relatively new profession and when 1t was first introduced 1n this part of the world 1t was 16

As reported in the local press

solely handled by expatriates. After independence. however. most of the countries embarked on training programmes with the aim of replacing these expatriates with their own nationals. but due to the specialised nature of the JOb progress is very slow in some cases. It is pathetic to point out that in places where nationals have taken over or are working side by side with expatriates most governments tend to discriminate against their own nationals. Governments are prepared to pay the expatriates as much as two or three times the salary paid to their nationals. Other privileges enjoyed by the expatriates are denied the nationals with the excuse that any special attention given to the controllers will spark off demands from employees in other fields. Albeit. these same governments demand the same standard of safety from both groups. IFATCA is vehemently opposed to this policy and demands equal pay for equal work. Sooner or later it becomes quite clear to the Controller that he is virtually 1n a closed shop and that the uniqueness of the profession does not make it possible for hrm to transfer his aquired knowledge and experience to any other field. The annual medical checks. the shiftwork and unsocial hours are other

peculiarities of the profession which most governments in the Region fail to take into consideration when determining conditions of service for Controllers. Controllers are classified differently from country to country - in one country he is clerical staff. in another he is a technician and yet in another he is a sub-professional. This lack of recognition of our profession is unacceptable. the high level of training. safety. and responsibility makes our work comparable only to that of the airline pilot. The attention of Governments and Civil Aviation Authorities is drawn to the Report of the International Labour organisation resulting from the Meeting of Experts on problems concerning Air Traffic Controllers (Geneva 1 979) these conclusions are IFATCA policy and outline the minimum standards required to achieve an efficient Air Traffic Service. Poor conditions of service coupled with the exacting nature of the profession are responsible for the drift of those already in the profession to less responsible jobs with better levels of remuneration. The lack of recognition and the insufficient publicity given to the profession do not attract new entrants either. The result is the shortage of staff being experienced by ATS establishments in the Region.

The obsolete and inadequate radio discussed earlier is his work environment. Most controllers work in ATC navigation._al aids and communication Centres or Control Towers which are facilities add to the already stressful naequipped without any consultation with ture of the job and make air traffic conthose who use them. No sooner does trol within the Region a burdensome the Controller start using the equipment duty. The service provided with the equipment available is hardly able to that he finds its use limited because of poor accessability. The Centres and cope with to-days volume of traffic and the sophisticated type of aircraft involv- Towers are built with only the equipment in view and without any regard for ed. the personnel who use them. and in Most of the ATS routes established within the Region stretch for long dis- the end it is realised that after spending tance without any navigational aid to huge sums of money in building and help determine positive positions of equipping these places they become flights - the result is that most of the deficient in no time due to lack of routes have remained Flight Informa- planning and consultation. tion Routes or Advisory Routes. For the sake of safety and the reguWith the advent of the INS. aircraft larity of the aircraft he controls the Conso equipped tend to fly direct routes as troller's work environment must enagainst others that fly the established hance his professional performance as routes. under these conditions aircraft¡ well as providing for his personal comin opposite directions maintain the fort. same flight levels and indeed present 3. CONCLUSION potential air traffic hazards. Radio communication facilities are It was in the light of these shortcomin most cases outmoded and inade- ings th~t when the first African Regionquate. The serviceability state of these al Meeting of IFATCA met in Khartoum. facilities is rather appalling to the extent Sudan. in February 1979. a resolution that Air Traffic Controllers in some was passed calling on all States within States are forced at times to control air the. Region to take the necessary steps traffic from the cockpit of an aircraft on to improve the situation. These States the ground. This is indeed a most un- need to be told again that safety should safe way of providing the services re- not be compromised for financial reaquired of the Air Traffic Controller. sons or budgetary restraints. these are Although the ICAO Regional Plan the causes of staff shortages. the use has recommended SSB links between of outdated equipment and low remunATS Units. most of these have yet to eration of ATCOs. be implemented. this has led to the alIn asking for these considerations ready congested aeromobile frequen- we are not unaware of the magnitude cies being used for ground to ground of the problem and the fact that the communication and co-ordination. economy of a greater number of indiCommunication does become difficult vidual States cannot accommodate it. and frustrated pilots refuse to call until Some form of international co-operathey are within VHF range. Situations of tion is therefore needed. Regional cothis nature make the work of the Con- operation and massive international troller extremely difficult and put the financial assistance in the fields of aircraft and its passengers in grave dan- equipment and manpower training will ger. go a long way in helping to remedy the A number of near-misses have been situation. reported as a result of these deficiencies - in fact the situation has deterio- 4. RECOMMENDATIONS rated to such an extent that aircraft IFATCA calls on all Member States have resorted to blind broadcasts to of the Region to do all in their power to warn other aircraft in their vicinity of ensure safety and to improve the prestheir presence. This is most uncompli- ent situation by mentary to the service and to those a) giving priority consideration to the whose duty it is to provide the service. Air Traffic Services. Flight Plans, flight plan messages. and b) Providing the necessary equipment messages concerning the safety of to enable the Controller to do his flights have also suffered because of JOb. the unreliability of the communication c) Accord the ATC profession the due facilities. Such messages are at times recognition and make the Controlreceived two or three days after the lers¡ remuneration commensurate flight concerned has been executed. with their responsibilities. Traffic planning thus becomes a prob- d) Improve the conditions of service of lem for the Controller. the Controller and provide a working environment that ensures efficiency. 2. WORK ENVIRONMENT IFATCA appeals to international Closely related to the controller's Av1at1on Orgarnsat1ons and the develcond1t1ons of service which have been oped countries interested in safe. eco-

nomic and regular air transport operations to come to the aid of member States of the Region in their attempt to improve the situation and modernize their ATC systems.

Eurocontrol's Future Member states of Eurocontrol have agreed in principle that the organisation should play a more important role in co- ordinating plans and research. It will also have a central role in the development of the air traffic flow management system recently initiated by ICAO. These proposals are reflected in a new draft Eurocontrol Convention to take effect when the current Convention expires in 1983. The draft Convention also aims to rationalise the legal basis for the provision of air traffic services in the Upper Airspace. Although the existing Convention formally gives Eurocontrol legal responsibility for the Upper Airspace. in practice countries like the UK. France. the Netherlands and the Irish Republic provide these services themselves. acting as 'agents' for Eurocontrol. Under the draft Convention the Member States would resume legal responsibility for the functions which. in fact. many of them already carry out. Where it is desirable for Eurocontrol to provide air traffic services - e.g. in the BENELUX/Federal German Republic airspace covered by Maastricht the draft Convention recognises that in these cases the Member Governments concerned can ask Eurocontrol to carry out these services on their behalf. In practical terms. therefore. the draft Convention does not propose to change the existing air traffic arrangements. Eurocontrol' s function 1n collecting charges for en route navigation services will also continue. A final decision to adopt the new Conve'ntion must await the meeting of the Eurocontrol Permanent Comm1ss1on next November. If 11 rs adopted. the way will be open to enlarge the membership of Eurocontrol and so extend its coverage of European airspace

1 7

Air Traffic Control Tomorrow Where Are We Headed? by WJ Robertson

President. Canadian A ir Traffic Control Association

Address delivered at The First Biennual Convention, Civil A ir Operations Officers' Association of Australia

Generally. during panel discussions with this theme. the participants are heady about upcoming technological developments and the utopia that will fill the remainder of this century. I am going to depart from this format and rather address the reality of today. and where it will lead us if it proceeds unabated . In my opinion the current sta te of air traffi c control world wide 1s an abysmally black picture. Yesterday you heard the President of IFACTA relate current conditions in the Sudan to equalling those generally found in 1 943 (HF radio. etc.). World-wide the ATC equipment status vanes from th at level to the most modern tec hnology possible. ATC systems that have achieved state-ofthe-art technology are. however. few and far between. I am not aware of any iunsdict1on 1n North America th at has achieved this leve l. however. it would be fair to say that th e United States leads Canada and Mexico. Even 1f some iurisd1ct1ons have achieved state-of-the-act technology there are two other c ru cial area s that will det ract from anyone receiving 'fu ll marks' for their system . First. inadequate staffing is a maior worldwide problem that plagues all ATC systems. The ca uses of understaff1ng vary but genera lly speaking the root cause may always be traced back to the same source - inept Administration and the interferen ce of the poltt1cal master At present 1n the South Pac1f1c you are all too well aware of the affects of understaff1ng . Not only 1s th ere a 1 2% shortage of qualified personnel in New Zealand b ut an equ ivalent or worse situation here 1n Australia What good does 11 do to have terms and cond1t1ons of employment that allegedly guara ntee adequate days of rest. vacation periods. and meal and relief breaks 1f there are not enough personnel available to accomplish the task/ The use of excessive 18

overtime duty to accomplish these requirements must be viewed as an addit ional penalty on the controller. even though some Administrations consider overtime to be a 'bonus' . Which brings me to my second point in this category. that being terms and conditions of employment . There is a great variance internationally in the terms and conditions of employment for air traffic controllers and it will undoubtedly be a long time yet before we can generally say that the role of the air traffic controller is adequately recogn ised . In the meantime shortfalls in adequately compensation and pension schemes for controllers will only continue to exacerbate the understaffing problem. Who can blame a controller w ho has the opportunity to go afield to earn better recognition of his skills and responsibility? You would think that our employers would want to protect their investment in our training (in Canada. approximately three years total time at an average cost of CON S 180.000 per successful graduate). however. their cavalier attitude towards system administrati on would belie that objective. Over the years I have been involved in A TC. CA TCA. and !FA TCA and have had the opportumty to observe A TC operatt0ns m various parts of the world. Today. however. I would like to confine my remarks to the Canadian context and believe that conditions in Canada are illustrative of the attitudes of the various Admmistrations world wide whether in 'developed' or 'developing' countries. W ith tongue in cheek I would like to start by saying that so long as Governments are responsible for ATC systems controllers have to fear of being displaced by technological advancement. A classic:; illustration of this is presently evident 1n our system. In 1968. the Government decided to introduce a computeri zed radar display system into t he Canadian ATC system . At fi rst 1t

W J. Robertson

was considered that we would buy 'offthe-shelf' from a foreign manufacturer and build the equipment under licence in Canada . The reason was simple - no Canad ian manufacturer had expertise or experience in build ing an ATC radar display system . There were severa l foreig n manufac turers who at the time had state-of-the-art technology available and who could have delivered a functioning national system by 19 7 4 . These included the NAS and ARTS systems from the United States. Datasa ab from Sweden. and Thompson CSF from France. Instead. the polit icians became involved in 1 9 7 2. in the dec ision making process and it was decided to award the con tract for what became to be known as the JETS project (Joint Enroute Terminal System) on a 'buy Canadian ¡ basis. to CAE Electron ics of Montrea l. Although CAE had an excellen t reputation for avionics and aircraft simulators th ey had never before been near an ATC system. The obiect1ve of th e project was to have a 1 00% Canadian produce that would also have market potential overseas. Well. this is 1980 and so far we have one functioning JETS system (Moncton ACC) w ith the oth er six ACC's due to come on line between now and 1983 . At completion the project w ill be almost ten years behind schedule and will give us 'new¡ equ ipment that is technologically twenty to twentyfive years old . Agreed. we w ill have access to som e add 1t1onal radars we couldn 't use before on a re mote basis. and we will have data block printouts on th e displays. but th at's about the limit. On the negative side of the ledger. the list of def1 c1enc1es inc ludes:

the fact that the equipment will not automatically transfer data from one canadian ACC to the next - incompatibility with NAS and ARTS equipment in the United States; we will still have to do all handoffs by voice communication lack of conflict alert or collision avoidance information - lack of minimum safe altitude warning no positive means of indication to the controller that his display has failed - an acknowledged three to five mile error in target tracking - the fact that the central computer is now out of production and we have no spares ... and more.

Earlier this year the Administrator of the Canadian Air¡Transportation Administration. Mr W. Mcleish. finally publicly agreed with CATCA that in attempting the JETS programme the Canadian Government and industry accepted a challenge it couldn't handle. We are now saddled with an inferior piece of equipment for a long time to come. As always. the controller will make the system work in spite of the shortcomings designed by management. and as always the user will be the loser. Having just gone through the JETS fiasco you would think that the Administration would be loathe to repeat their mistakes. Not so. Despite the fact that a joint CATCA/ DOT Technical Committee was formed late in 1979. as a result of the 120 recommendations from the 'Experts' meeting that year. the Government appears bent on disregarding our advice again. and this time purchasing inferior radars under our current radar modernisation programme. Without going into too great detail. suffice to say that although our Joint Technical Committee agreed to state-of-the-act operational specifications they have now been unilaterally downgraded by the DO.T. to allow for single antenna drive (versus agreed to dual). use of magnetrons (versus agreed to klystrons) and reduced coverage and detection areas. If this inferior equipment is purchased then the controllers¡ problems of ghosts. splitting targets. and holes. will be just as bad with new equipment as it is now. Once more the controller will bear the load of making a system work. and the user will be the loser. Like all other jurisdictions. understaffing is a serious problem in Canada. We are presently experiencing an annual separation from the controller workforce rate of 7 9. Despite some recruiting on the part of the Government. over the last year we have had a net loss of 100 controllers. Unless a massive recruiting pogramme is soon undertaken our loss rate will continue

to worsen. Recent Government studies have shown that in order to successfully graduate one air traffic controller an average of 254 recruits must be hired. At our present separation rate. that would require the hiring of a minimum of 3 56 recruits per year just to hold an attrition rate of zero. If we are to achieve system expansion then upwards of 1.000 recruits per year would be necessary to get us on the road to recovery. And. as we all know. even if you start recruiting today. it will be three years before todays' recruits will be licenced controllers. In the meantime. system delays can be expected. How did we arrive at this position? Basically because we are employed by the Public Service. Over the last few years austerity and cutback programmes have been very popular with the politicians and the public without regard to their future effects. Now we are approaching a staffing crisis and these same politicians wonder why? This cycle of peaks and valleys in hiring were seen in earlier years in Canada and are the same the world throughout. Until our political masters realise that a sporadic 'shoot from the hip' approach to ATC hiring does not work. we will be plagued with the problems we now face - excessive overtime. system delays. and a declining workforce. At some point controllers may lose their dedication to make the system work 'despite the master' (i.e. no overtime duty) and the aviation community will lose once more. Lastly, adequate financial and pension recognition of the controllers' responsibility is required if we are to maintain and upgrade our ATC systems. Unlike the flight deck side of aviation where seniority brings the 'left seat' and the rewards for responsibility. seniority in ATC brings reduced compensation and unsatisfactory pension penalties. Unlike all other occupations ATC is a young man's game. The skills of the psychomotor athlete (which is how numerous medical and psychological studies have described the air traffic controller) begin to degenerate at the point where other prof3ssionals are reaching the zenith of their careers. Instead of looking ahead to high income years towards the end of this career the controller can only look forward to reduced income if he must leave operations at approximately 45 years of age (by which time the vast majority have) and move to an administrative or support function. Any controller who finds himself medically unfit or technically unqualified. is also faced with the same pension provisions as though.he were a Government clerk who was faced with retirement at forty-five. In other words. nil.

A controller's compensation during his earning years also falls far below that due the responsibility he must bear. On the flight deck of an aircraft. only the Captain bears command responsibility, while his crew is subordinate. In ATC each and every controller is responsible for his own actions without exception and as such each bears the responsibility of command-type decisions. However. to date few Administrations have recognised this fact. In summary. I would conclude that the outlook for ATC tomorrow is not as bright as the technologists would have us believe. I do believe that significant advances world-wide can be made in ATC but it will require enlightened Governments and freer Treasuries. The technology is available for us to have the best equipment. ifs a matter of the Governments providing the funds. A comprehensive and adequate national ATC system is an expensive undertaking for any Administration. particularly where the territory is large (such as Australia and Canada) but it is possible. Instead of building impressive passenger terminals good equipment would be a better investment. But passengers only see terminals. It's only their life which depends on ATC. Staffing problems must be resolved. and can be resolved. but the politicians must learn not to interfere with the staffing process every time it becomes politically expedient. Finally. adequate terms and conditions of employment must be resolved. Again. administrations are capable of it. it's a matter of their will. If they don't choose to protect their investment then they not only lose employers. they also lose any incentive for employees to perform to the highest level. As a group. I believe we air traffic controllers are crazy. We are asked. cajoled. and in some cases intimidated into making a system function that never should work to start with. And we do 1t in spite of the upper level mismanagement of the system. When we seek our due rewards for this responsibility and service we are rebuffed at every turn. Yet. we don't let that deter our professionalism. In this regard I am concerned for the future. Over the last few months 1t would appear that the universal response of administrations to satisfying the legitimate claims of air traffic controllers. has been to use the massive influence of Government to bludgeon the controllers into submission. The results of such tactics can only be catastrophic. When a controller 1s on duty he must be able to devote 100% of his

Continues on page 43

19

CAIR0'81 Modern, ancient, cosmopolitan. Surrounded by an ancient world of wonders with kings seated in majestic dignity.

, 2 - 6 May1981 at the Cairo Hilton and7th May for an optional tour to Luxor

Make the Cairo Conference your Rendezvous for1981 No Quiz from the Sphynx

20

cardion .1T A

UNIT CIF

ELECTRONICS Ol!Nl!AAL lllONAL

MANUAL SSR SYSTEll (SINGLE CHANNEL) OllDtlLAR APPROACH)

Presented by Frank lewis. Manager. International Marketing. Cardion Electronics (a corporate member). to the Technical Panel of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Association. May 10. 1980. during I FATCA 19th Annual Conference. Toronto. Canada.

In these times where costs are skyrocketing. we can no longer afford the luxuries of 'over-sophistication· in Air Traffic Control Systems. We must spend our funds on equipment and systems that meet today's requirements and are compatible with our future needs. Too many developing countries have procured ATC Systems. that are capable of tracking and handling up to 250 (or more) targets when their operational personnel either don't require nor want such sophisticated equipments. There are developing countries that have installed at great costs sophisticated computerized systems (i.e .. ARTS II. ARTS Ill. and TPX-42) that are capable of tracking hundreds of SSA targets. but have as few as five targets to control in one week's time. This is a gross under utilization of these sophisticated systems. It is like using a sophisticated IBM computer to solve a simple mathematical equation. This may appear to be an over-dramatization; however. I believe it is an appropriate analogy. Now. to address my theme: ·An Acceptable Alternative - Manual SSA Systems. The Modular Approach.·

Figure 1

SIMPLIFICATION 1

SSR - Simplification/ Over-Sophistication•

S IKGLE CHAllJIEL lrrTERROGA'tOR STSTEll

~ 0

RF/VIDEO TEST SETS (OPTIOllAI.)

DECODER t----:__wl-ACT-IV_E_READO __ trr_.

• ltOT RllQUIRED IF PRlllAln' RADAR SET IS AVAlt.AllLE wm1 DUAL ROTARY JOlllT (OR SIKGLE WITH AVAlt.ABLE SLIP RIKGl AKD SSR AKTDCKA CAK BE EASILY llOIJllTED ON '?OP OF PRlllAln' AKTEllllA AKD PEDESTAL •• WITH LIGHT PEN/JOY STICK 'TRACKBALL FEATURE

Figure 2

SIMPLIFICATION 2

Simplification 1 (Figure 1) Figure 1 illustrates a very basic and cost effective SSA System. This system can interface with any primary radar system that has an additional (spare) rotary joint•. and a primary radar antenna structure and pedestal that will enable it to support a standard SSR antenna. Should a primary radar system be incompatible (no spare rotary joinn with SSA integration this simplified system. the SSA System shown. would require a separate SSA antenna pedestal. All targets are 'Bracket Decoded' with the use of an active readout. Light Pen/Track Ball/Joystick Feature.

MANUAL SSR SYSTEll (DVAL CHANNEL) (KODVLAR APPROACH)

!!! iiii'EiliiOOA'roii ! ::;<;!JA.~J:l'. ..A.;:::'

Simplification 2 (Figure 2) In figure 2. we have simply added a dual channel capability. Note that the previous systems components (Figure 1) are compatable with expansion to a dual channel system. This enable~ the user to only procure the additional elements that he truly requires for a redundant system. When selecting such a system one should also strive to insure that the electronic 'Subsystems· (Interrogators. Interference Blankers. Decoders. etc.) are all modular (i.e .. PCB's/ Modules. etc.) to insure ease of maintenance and quick repair of the 'Subsystem·. Over-Sophistication 3 (Fgure 3) The system illustrated in figure 3 1s necessary when the air traffic increases and the demand on the controller 1s overstressing and fatiguing. However. not every country or every airport has the identical workload or air traffic. Therefore. the solution to air traffic SSA needs will differ from airport to airport and country to country. The presentation of (1) and (2) above are truly 'S1mplificat1ons'. Note that the previous systems components (2) are compatible with expansion to a totally automated Secondary Surveillance Radar system capable of handling 250 (or more) SSA targets. One other feature should be pointed out. The Bnght Radar Alpha-Numerics Display System (BRANDS) 1s for use in ambient light. The three SSA Systems I have presented here today are designed to allow for the degree of soph1st1cat1on required by the user. providing acceptable alternatives necessary to fulfill each airport's or country's requirements. both technically and economically. Perhaps the economies aspect could help to provide the ATC controller with a wage increase to offset inflation. making both the controller and the procurement people happy.

·or single available shp ring

IKTERROGATOR C!IANllEL 8

..

DECX>DER W/ACTIVE READOllf

-

RF 'VIDEO TEST SETS OPTIONAL

• ICOT RtQUIRED IF PRlllARY RADAR SET IS AVAILABLE WITH DUAL ROTARY JOlllT (OR SIKGLE WITH AVAILABLE SLIP RING) AKD SSR ANTDCKA CAK BE EASILY IXllJllTED ON '?OP OF PRlllARY ANT!lfKA AKD PEDESTAL •• WITH LIGHT PEN/JOY STICltiTRACKBALL FEATURE

F111ure 3

SOPHISTICATION 3 AUTOUATED SSR SYSTEM (MODULAR APPROACH)

INT~ltllOGATOA

JHTt;RflOGATOR

CHANllEL D

CHAll!IEL A

r-----1

I

I I

+ DEcODER

ACTIVE READOUT

000000000 000000000 I 000000000

•SOT RtQUIRED IF PRlllARY RADAR SET IS A\'AILAIJl.I: WITH DUAi. ROTARY JOINT !OR SINGLE WITll AVAILABLE SLIP RING) AND SSR AllTEICIA CAN BE EASILY l«lL""1"11l ON TOP OF PRIMARY ANTIJ(NA AMTI PEDESTAL

21

The EARTS Radar System Today and Tomorrow by J. R. Sharpe, of Anchorage ARTCC

In 197 6 the FAA announced plans to install radar systems in Alaska. Hawa11 and Puerto Rico w hich would bring these areas air traffic control automation comparable to that in the conterminous Un ited States. The system was called EARTS - Enroute Automated Radar Tra cking System . In conjunction with EARTS in Alaska. a new rada r site woul d be operating in the Anchorage. Alaska area by 1978. and by 1980 several military radar sites would be added to the system. providing radar service to virtu ally all of Ala ska . Not until mid-August. 1980. was the new radar site in the Anchorage area certified for use. Military radar site adaptation has been delayed. probably until 1 9 8 3 . The EARTS system. which now processes radar data from three radar sites 1n Alaska for Anchorage A RTC Center. also became operational in August. 1980. Billed as a 'state-of-the-art' computerized system. EARTS has proved to be nothing more than a radar processing and t racking device . The 'system' label 1s misleading . For th is 'stateof-the-art system' int erfaces with no other computer but itself even th ough several automated term inal radar systems are operati ng in Alaska . It has no associated flight data information processing and updating functions. so data transfer between controllers and facilities remains a human respons1bil1t y It has no Con fl ict Alert program to assist controllers 1n detecting separation problems . It has no track prediction program tor planning assistance . It has no Minimum Sate Altitude Warning System It has extremely limited automatic data input; the controller must input virtually all data from operational pos1t1ons It ha s only one data entry device per position. although two or three controllers are assigned to each pos1t1on It has no prov1s1on for combining. 1e mosa1 cing. radar data from severa l radar sites at one pos1t1on. When FAA off1c1als were asked about these m1ss1ng features in their 'state-of-the-art system' . controllers were assured that many of the features are planned as ' piece-meal' add-ons. as budgetary constraints allow for them .

22

J. R. Sharpe

Their projected schedule indicates that the 'system ' will not be complete for at least ten years. Meanwhile. controllers find they have an inadequate. labor-intensive primary tool wi th which to work w hich provides minimal benefits for maximum effort. compromising safety. Controllers are using the 'system' because they have to. but they are not at all pleased wit h it . To help pilots and the general public understand this 'system '. its history. development. and capabilities. a parable follows. DEVELOPING DC- 10 SERVICE THE FAA WAY It was springti me. 1976 . 'Sourdough Airlines' announced to a wai ting world their plans to begin comprehensive international passenger service with the latest and best equipment available. the incom parable DC-10. This was news. since 'Sourdough ' was at that time a non-scheduled operation with three C-46s in their stable . Their Board of Directors. however. was supremely confident they could expand their horizons. And plans began to develop and materialize . By June. 1978. one crew had completed training on a special simu lator at

Anaheim. California . Although the simulator didn 't seem to have many working parts. the shiny newness and the instructor's confidence were impressive. That crew became instructors for other 'Sourdough' crews. On long flights to and from Deadhorse they pulled out training manuals. looked at the pictures. and taught their buddies all they knew. carefully logging each flight as training time. Airframe parts arrived by barge in August. 1978. 'Sourdough ' pilots watched the construction process from behind the security fence with uninh ibited excitement . What a beautiful aircraft! By January. 1 980. a noted local artist completed the picture of a giant stylized Sourdough Pancake on the tail. Impressive I Finally the great day for the inaugural flight came. A special gate had been constructed. all seats were sold. and the Gove rnor invited to speak. On July 17. 1980. the Board of Directors basked in the warm th of the Governor's remarks about this being a great day for aviation in the great State of Alaska. and in the applause of other dignitaries. 300 passengers and assorted curiosity seekers. The Director of Operations then cut the symbolic ribbon of golden sourdough stretched across the gate. and as th e passengers enplaned th e crew was ushered into the coc kpit for the first time . In spite of all the pent-up eagerness. Ralph . the flight engineer. wasn't there. 'No. he's not late. Actually, he isn't necessary anymore'. th e Director of Operations (D.0 .) enthused. 'because this aircraft 1s so much more simplified and efficient tha n the C-46 .' And . sure enough . in place of the usual Second Officer's panel was a desk complete with a reference set of Tech orders. math books. sextant. slide rule. maps. and a 30-cup coffee pot. A refrigerator next to the desk was filled with precooked goose dinners. The First Officer was surprised to see he had neither instruments nor control column in front of his seat . He was assured by the D.O. that the company was aware of the problem . and a problem study grant would be requested in the Fiscal Year 198 1 budget. barring unforseen complications. The Captain noticed a single throttle instea d of the usual three . The D.0 . noted that Operation al Specifica tions allowed one engine operation. As funds became available add itional engines would be added. probably after 19 83 . Next thing the crew noticed m issing was engine instrumentation . A state-ofthe-art link from engine to cockpit has not yet been developed. they were told. and gauges mounted on the engine can be read from the cockpit with binocu-

lars stored in the desk. Any necessary adjustments can be made through a tunnel in the wing to the engine pylon. The First Officer found a long screwdriver and flashlight in the desk next to the binoculars. 'Where's the INS?' t he Captain wanted to know. staring at an empty console. ·Due to weight/balance limitations imposed by absence of the center engine. all INS gear is mounted in the tail'. responded the D.O. 'We know you won't mind a pleasant walk back there now and then to look it over. When the center engine comes we'll have to move the INS up front.· Trying to check control surfaces. the Captain found the control column almost impossible to move. The D.O . suggested that the First Officer lean over and help him pull on it and noted that a hydraulic system was planned as part of the Fiscal Year 1985 budget request. The First Officer found t he fuel gauge. noted the reading - 9000 - and wondered if a zero was missing. 'No. it's state-of-the-art gauge. absolutely accurate'. the D.O . replied. obviously miffed. 'To get it we had to economize by cutting out some fuel tanks. They will be part of our Fiscal Year '86 budget requests. Until the tanks come you will have a range of approximately 150 miles.' Wanting to call for a clearance. the Captain could't find the radio equipment or even a headset. 'Don't worry'. said the D.O . 'Towers aren't about to phase out their light guns and I've heard you complain about Center frequencies being out of service so often that not having radios should be a blessing in disguise.· 'At least there's plenty of coffee and food'. the First Officer sighed . 'That's really for the First Class passengers'. responded the D.O. 'We've reduced our stewardess complement and feel certain you. with your lightened workload. can handle First Class. Just think how special the passengers will feel!' Incredibly. they taxied out. took off. and got as far as McGrath that day. At last word. the 'Sourdough' Board of Directors was planning to request a grantin-aid from the government to extend the McGrath runway by several thousand feet. They also were seeking a subsidy for developing long-term fuel hauling contracts for their C-46s. Cynical McGrathians have petitioned the State to purchase the DC- 10 and develop its potential as a museum and tourist attraction . Meanwhile. passengers with carpentry experience are constructing permanent-looking log cabins near the airport and stocking up on firewood. It's going to be a long. cold winter.

G Fournier worki ng the EARTS at Anchorage Center.

It does not always snow at Anchorage.

Editor's Note Anchorage Center airspace includes approximately 3 . 5 million acres of fantastic geography and ocean. Boundaries extend from the North Pole along Canada to an east-west line half way between Anchorage and Honolulu. to roughly half way between Tokyo and Anchorage and

along the US/ USSR boundary. E1ghty-ftve Controllers control an average 7. 700 flights per day. Fifteen mternat10nal air earners use the airspace. There 1s such a mix of air traffic control eqwpment and procedures available. from a 7930-era plottmg board to satelltte commumcatton that the factl1ty has been dubbed. 'The Air Traf fic Contro l Museum of t he FAA'

23

2nd African Regional Meeting by Andreas Avgoustis

In the presence of observers from IATA. The Board of Airline Representatives. the Kenya Airline Pilots Association and others from the technica l and aviation fields. the Director of the Kenya Civil Aviation Mr Kahuk1 representing the Minister of Transport and Communications officially opened the 2nd IFATCA Reg ional Meeting in Africa on Monday morning the 1 Oth November. 1 980. More than 1 00 delegates attended the opening ceremony with controllers from Botswana. Burundi. M alawi. Mauritius. Swaziland. Tanzania. and Zambia attending an IFATCA Regional Meeting for the first time Controllers from Kenya. Uganda and Ghana also attended the meeting . All IFATCA Exec ut ive Board members - except for the President who was attending the North. Central and South America Regiona l Meeting held in Costa Rica during the same week - participated at the meeting. The Direc tor of Civil Av1at1on welcoming delegates 1n his opening speec h said that 'although we are reasonably advanced in Civil Av1at1on. conferences hke this are a necessity since they provide a forum for the exchange C1f ideas and experiences. thus enabling part1c1pan ts to become more acqua inted with the latest developments in the Air Traffic Control field' . The Direc tor. cont1 nu1ng said that 'the Government of Kenya 1s aware of the delicate. demanding. difficult and indispensable work of the Air Traffic Controllers They play.· he said. 'an important role in the development of C1vtl Aviation worldwide' Concluding. the Director said: 'The 1mporlance of air safety cannot be ove remphasised The constant and meti culous attention to the promotion of safety and eff1c1ency in ai r travel is the goal that every Civil Aviat ion Ad ministration should strive for I am confident that t he Adm1n1stra11ons represented here and also those not represented will consider seriously the recommendations that you r conference wtll make par11cularly on the question of ATC Tra ining. Modern Methods. Safety and Air Traffic Control equipment · Guest speakers at the opening ceremony were t he IATA Regional Tec hnical Director for Africa Mr David J Olsen. the President of the Kenya A irline Pilots Association M r M K1nyam1u1 . the Chairm an of the Board of A1rl1ne Represe ntatives. M r Riccardo Baldini. the President of the Kenya Air Traffic Con trollers· Associat ion . Mr Ralph K1m1 lu. IFATCA V1ce- Pres1dent Adm1 n1 strat1on. Mr Pat O'Doherly. Of parti cular interest to the delegates was the short speech given by the IATA represe ntative. M r Olsen. who is an ex-co ntroller from Canada ' Problems.· Mr Olsen said. ·ot Air Traffic Services and Communications

24

in the Region. outlined in Pat O 'Doherty's . address to this meeting are those which have concerned IATA for a long time . In pursuit of 1mprov1ng the situation I spend as much as 80 hours a month flying around Africa of which about half is usually on the flight deck. so t hat I can get first-hand knowledge of the situation. As far as safety of Air Navigation is concerned IATA and IFATCA have the same goals and we are pleased to be able to work with you to this end ' . ' Coincidentally as I prepared to leave my office this morning I received a telex. one of many similar ones which this office receives. which highlights the problems that have been mentioned. A few hours ago.' Mr Olsen continued. ' in an African FIR a DC 1O and a 7 4 7 found themselves head-on at the same point at the same altitude. As has so often happened 1n t he past. possible disaster was averted by the use of the IATA Blind Broadcast procedure on 1 2 6 . 9 MHz. The reason was almost' that the AFTN and Direct Speech Circuits between adiacent ACCs were not working thus no co-ordination was possible More than a hundred such inciden ts took pla ce in th is region last year and the airlines are greatly concerned at this state of affairs. Unless steady improvements are made then the statistics tell us that eventually there will be fatalities.·

Captain Kinyanju1. Chairman of the Kenya Airline Pilots' Associa tion in his address to the meeting claimed a number of shortcomings in the Region of Africa and called upon IFATCA and the Kenya ATCA to assist IFALPA in its efforts to enhance safety of aviation in the Region. 'One of the aims of our Pilots Associations.· Captain Kinyanju i said. 'i s the continued development of a safe and orderly system of air navigation. I feel safe to assume that your Federation pursues the same aims. In our efforts to fulfil these aims. we shall continue to meet more and more difficulties as the volume of air traffic conti nues to grow all over the world . The main challenge is to find ways and m eans of absorbing the increasing air traffic without lowering the degree of safety. Due to the international character of the Aviation Industry.' Captain Kinyaniu1 stressed. 'I feel we should strive for even more co-operational character of the Av1at1on authorities. Air Traffic Controllers. Pilots and Air Operators through the Interna tional bodies. i.e. ICAO. IFATCA. IFALPA and IATA in order to effectively meet the challenges of today and those of the future.· Highlighting briefly a few problems that pilots encounter particularly in Africa. Captain K1nyan1u1 obiected to the use of NDBs as navigation aids other than as locator beaco ns associated with ILS and recomme nded that these should be replaced by staticfree aids such as VOR/DMEs. On Communications. Captain Kinyanjui said that pilots face numerous problems in the African Region and urged for more relay sta ti ons. With regard to AFTN in the Region he illustrated the situation with a flight from Nairobi to Cairo. where. he said. the 'flight departs Na1rob1 Airport on a four-hour flight to Cairo only to find that the captain is eagerly awaited by the controllers on arrival to explain why he came in w ithout a f11qht plan· .

Captain Kinyaniui went further to put emphasis on standard phraseology to be used by both pilots and controllers and claimed against the use of two languages at the same time by the same air traffic control unit.

The Meeting The Meeting was planned to take the full three-and-a-half days. from the morning of the 1Oth to the morning of the 1 3th. when again the Director of Civil Aviation was scheduled to officially close the Meeting. The venue was the Hotel Millimani. situated just ou tside the town in its own environmental gardens with tropical greens. In the absence of th e Reg ional VicePresident for the African East Region. the Regional Vice-President for the African West. ¡ Dev Klaye chaired the Meeting and assisted by the individual members of the IFATCA Executive Board when items of their field of act1v1ty was on the agenda for discussion. The Meeting discussed in sequence Administration. Technical and Professional matters of interest to the members of the African Region. Considerable time was devoted to the Sudanese ATCA and the dismissal of controller colleagues for alleged Union activity. Due to the lack of definite information as to the fate of Sudanese controllers the Meeting avoided to resolve on strong action but

was confined to a telegram of concern to the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authorities until more information was forthcoming. The agenda on the Technical issues of concern to the Region covered co-ordination between and within the FIRs. navigation aids. Search and Rescue. The Professional issues covered a wider range from Training of controllers. licencing. the ILO Meeting of Experts Report. Accident and Incident Investigation to professional status. Finally the Meeting progressed with the following recommendations that delegates were urged to. pursue implementation with their respective Administrations:

RECOMMENDATIONS Administration 1 . It is recommended that : Kenya Association accept temporary responsibility for the affairs of the AFI/ EAST Region. 2. It is recommended that: 'Where matters having a direct bearing on air-traffic control are discussed by Airport or State. Administrat ions. joint consultation should always take place with the ATC Sta ff association and/or the pertinent local ATC Administrator.'

Technical This meeting recommends that: 1 . A review of the equipment within the reg ion should be undertaken to assess the capabilities of the equipment to its suitability for the work involved . 2. Review the compatibility of equipment in adjacent states. 3 . Review that tra ining is adequate both for controlle rs who use the equipment and the engineers who service the equipment and that staffing levels are adequate to provide the service. 4 . Meeti ngs should be arranged between the adjacent FIR's to work out ATC procedures to solve co-ord1nat1on problems and make recommendations to appropriate authorities. 5 . In these recommendat ions to authorities. effort should be made to ensure that act ive controlle r representation is permitted in negotiations on 'Letters of Agreement' between states. 6 . Priority should be given to the prov1s1on of adequate navigational aids to enable. (a) Safe control and sepa ration of airc raft. (b) To assist 1n the provision of SAR procedu res within the region. 7 . That governments set up national Search and Rescue committees whose compos1 t1on should include at least the following personne l.

Contmues on page 34

The members of the IFATCA Executtve are seen together with represen tatives from Afncan Asso c1at1ons and the Kenya Dorector of C1v1I Av1a11on Mr Kahuko (cemre1

/5

Air Traffic Control Training By Adrian Enright Chairman SCV /FA TCA

Presented to The Second NGA TC International Seminar on Civil Aviation Training Nigerian Civil Aviation Training Centre. 21-24th october 1980 by D. E. Y Kia ye. Vice-President. Africa (West) Region IFATCA. Introduction: The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Associations (IFATCA) lists among its objectives - 'to promote and uphold a high standard of knowledge and professional efficiency among Air Traffic Controllers'. To this end I FATCA is deeply concerned about the training of Air Traffic Controllers and in particular that the training received conforms to internationally recognised standards. The quality of training will be reflected in the safety and reliability of an Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. This paper proposes to look at ATC training as a 'total' concept so that selection. theoretical and simulation training at an ATC college and On-theJob Training (OJT) at an ATC unit may be considered as a whole. An efficient training system can in the long term derive benefits from the initially large financial input. A safe and reliable ATC system attracts and maintains a high level of air traffic bringing trade and prestige to the country concerned. It is not possible. nor is it intended in this paper to go into great detail over training methods or techniques. Rather to observe ways in which the 'total' concept of training may improve the overall efficiency of some of today's training systems so that the IFATCA ideal for worldwide standardisation of training for Air Traffic Controllers may become reality. In this paper we shall consider the selection and training of ab initio controllers recruited from school-leavers. Although controllers in this paper are referred to in the masculine sense this is only for grammatical ease. There are many female controllers and IFATCA 1s opposed to discrimination. Discussion: Select/On: In looking at the 'total' concept of training for Air Traffic Controllers 1t is necessary to include the se26

lection process. Training is an expensive business and the return on initial capital expenditure may not be realised for some years. Some failures and dropouts during training can be considered as inevitable because of the high standard of proficiency required in the profession. Careful selection can reduce the likelihood of failure to an acceptable rate of say 1 5%. If the selection process is unable to consistently produce candidates who possess the ability and aptitude to become good Air Traffic Controllers then it will be the ATC system and ultimately air safety which will be compromised. There is a side effect here in that the motivation of established staff can be adversely affected as they experience what they believe to be a lowering of standards. The quality of training must remain high but a craftsman cannot produce a masterpiece from poor materials. Most countries recruit candidates from the age of 18 years who are expected to have attained a good level of secondary level education. preferably up to University entrance standard. The training of young people for air traffic control should be regarded as training for a profession. As his contemporaries may be obtaining law or medical degrees so the young controller after some years of study will obtain an Air Traffic Controller's licence. The licence attests to his proficiency and acknowledges his competency in a very responsible profession. That candidates should possess a knowledge of aviation is desirable since one could reasonably expect that someone who wished to make a career in air traffic control would make aviation a basic interest. However. many candidates present themselves before a selection board knowing nothing about air traffic control. Do Administrations make available to schools' Careers officers sufficient information about air traffic control? The motivation of candidates needs to be carefully analysed if drop-outs during training are to be avoided. A well motivated candidate who shows an interest in aviation and especially in air traffic control will more readily accept the challenge before him and go on to complete the arduous

training. The candidate must also show adaptability and flexibility yet be able to do so within the framework of a fairly rigid set of rules - not unlike playing a game of chess on a three-dimensional board. Quick. sound decisions have to be made based on a minimum of available information. Social skills are equally important as the controller is part of a close-knit team and the lives of hundreds of people are dependent upon the right decision at the right time and the correct co-ordination being made. T~e­ re is no room for ambiguity and misunderstandings iri air traffic control. ~o do his task effectively the Air. Traffic Controller must be in good physical and mental health with obviously no speech or serious sight and hearing defects. The selection board needs then to look at motivation, adaptability. flexi~ility. decisiveness. sound judgment. soc1ab 1 ~­ ity. aptitude and attitude. The last. attitude. is important in determining ~ow the controller will accept the restraints of the job, first during training and .later with shift-work and working unsociable hours. The members of the selection board - and we might consider the presence of a senior operational controller plus a psychologist or psychiatrist who 1~ .familiar with air traffic control in add1t1on to the administrator or government representative usually present - should undergo training in interview and a~­ sessment techniques if the best in terms of suitable candidates are to go forward for ATC training. A qualified and experienced selection board. ~an only contribute benefit to the training system. The process of selection usual_ly commences by students making a written application from which can be deduced age, educational qualifications. etc .. IFATCA is opposed to any discri~­ ination in selection because a candidate is female. Administrations are· wary about providing expensive training facilities and then having women drop out in order to start families. There should be no reason why. as in many other professions. women cannot be readmitted to the ATC service as controllers. A short refresher course and revalidation may be necessary but the expensive training will not be wasted. However. as in all candidates. they must possess good motivation for selecting air traffic control as a career. The next stage of the selection process is usually the interview. In some countries there is held a preliminary interview on an informal basis between the candidate and one member of the selection team. an operational controller. Since these candidates will be leaving. or will have just left school. this

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students at operational ATC units on a interview is on an exploratory basis to self-study basis is not to be recomassess the canditate's motivation and basic suitability for the job. During the . mended and should be discouraged. More scholarships should be made formal interview before the selection available to those students who find board the candidate will be expected to themselves in this situation so that they show indication of his motivation. will be able to attend approved training knowledge of aviation. aptitude'. etc. The success of the interview will de- courses. The standardisation of training is the one way in which the basic qualpend to a great extent on the skill of the ity of air traffic services throughout the selection board in being able to accurately assess the candidate's worth as a world can be actively promoted. It cannot be denied that there are variances potential Air Traffic Controller. in the quality of. the services provided. Some Administrations employ tests Some of these may be caused by lack designed to discover a candid~te's aptiof funds failing to produce modern tude for air traffic control. Although many such tests are being used and are equipment; conditions of service of under evaluation. they have to be very controllers may mean that air traffic carefully designed and very carefully in- control is just one of two or even three terpreted if the results are to be mean- jobs that the controller is holding purely ingful. Until such an aptitude test has in order to survive; career advancement been successfully developed and evalu- is non- existent and motivation suffers. IFATCA is working for the controller in ated as being valid for the selection of all these areas. But improvements in Air Traffic Controllers. desirable as such tests are. they can only be used as these areas alone are not sufficient if there is lacking a standardisation of guidance material. Involving candidates in group exerci- training. If IFATCA can help to raise the basic standard of proficiency of the Air ses may outline the social skills and possibly indicate the potential for Traffic Control Services. through a real supervisory and management posts lat- improvement in the efficiency of the training systems. then the safety of air er in the career. The final stage in the selection proc- traffic throughout the world will be all ess is for the so far successful candi- the more assured. dates to pass the medical examination. Nearly all countries accept the ICAO FAMILIARISATION: Before commencing the formal recommendations laid down in Annex1. It must be emphasized that only se- training at an ATC college we might lection by qualified people who have re- perhaps consider the merit of giving ceived suitable training in interview and some familiarisation training to stuassessment skills. assisted by experts. dents. After selection the student could will ensure that the candidates thus spend some months (perhaps six or selected stand the best chance to suc- nine months) at an operational ATC cessfully complete the training prog- unit. preferably the one at which he ramme and substantially contribute to would eventually work. carrying out the the maintenance of the high standards tasks of an assistant Air Traffic Controlof the Air Traffic Control Service and air ler. During this period the student safety. would gain invaluable background College: Training will benefit from knowledge in the overall operation of prepared objectives. It is helpful and an air traffic control system and in flight mot1vat1ng to a student to know. in plan processing. If the ATC unit is basterms of time and knowledge. the goals ed at. or close to an aerodrome then inahead which must be achieved in order structive visits to all departments; e.g. to qualify as an Air Traffic Controller. MET. AIS. airline operations. fire serThat there 1s a definite period of train- vice. etc .. can be organised. At the end ing. say three years. and each year's of this period the student could take a work 1s outlined. helps the student to general knowledge type test. The studetermine his learning rate and note his dent's progress during these months progress as each goal is passed. From would be monitored and a report prethe final goal of qualif1cat1on as an Air pared. This familiarisation scheme. and Traffic Controller. ob1ectives can be set it is just that. requires the close cofor each type of training. for each phase operation of the unit training officer and of training and so on down to each will better prepare the student for forlearning unit. With the objectives in a mal training. It may give the student inlogical progression the student is able sight into his chosen career - better to to see his achievements and so in- change his mind at this stage. It can crease his mot1vat1on. also afford the opportunity for student IFATCA advocates formal training and training staff to assess his aptitude courses for ATC students at ICAO ap- for ATC in the light of practical experiproved training colleges as a way to ence. Other forms of familiarisation. which achieve the standardisation of training throughout the world. The training of are usually spread over the two or three 28

years of training. may include flying training to Private Pilots Licence (PPL) standard. route experience flight with an airline or simulator flying. Whilst most students enjoy learning to fly. not many are able to keep their licences valid once their training has ceased. A PPL gives basic knowledge and skills in flying but little experience in flying high density airspace. Such experience can be gained from regular route flying with an airline. Whichever system is chosen is for the Administration to decide but some form of flying or in flight experience is desirable for student controllers. As the controller needs to know something about flight operations so pilots need to know something about ATC operations. Good understanding goes a long way toward solving problems.

Formal Theory: This paper does not propose to go into any detail regarding the duration of courses or course content. The ICAO Training Manual Part D-2 Air Traffic Control in conjunction with ICAO Annex 1 and the relevant Technical Assistance Guidelines provides instructors and training officers with all this information. Local conditions such as airspace structure. air traffic requirements. climate. etc .. may dictate some slight variations in course length and content. In all cases emphasis should be placed on the practical application of the training given and the importance of developing the qualities. as distinct from the qualifications. required in an Air Traffic Controller. Students need to acquire knowledge; to develop understanding and to demonstrate proficiency in skills. Objectives should be set for each learning unit. for each aspect and subject. for each stage of training and for the overall training period. These objectives will state the amount of knowledge to be learnt. the degree of understanding to be developed and the standard of skill at which to be proficient. By setting these objectives in a logical sequence the student is able to progress successfully from learning unit to learning unit and from stage to stage of training. Awareness of established objectives by students and instructors aids learning and motivation and progress can easily be monitored. Formal training courses provide students with qualified guidance and the benefits of group working. A sense of competitiveness aids learning and the social skills required within air traffic control can be developed. There is no room in air traffic control for the pure individualist who cannot work either with or alongside his colleagues and is

intolerant of their behaviour. Students gain a sense of identity with their group which increases motivation often to the extent that they strive to produce the best overall results as compared toother student groups. A good instructor will identify this characteristic and by identifying himself with the group he can increase the learning process of the group as they work to do their best for him. During the training there bec~~e? noticeable a subtle change in the behaviour pattern of the group as they mature and become more aware of the responsibilities which lie ahead of them.

INSTRUCTOR: Instructor technique in the classroom should favour an informal atmosphere where students are encouraged to ask questions and where the instructor leads discussions so as to develop the students' understanding of the subject. In generalisation. most facts and thus knowledge can be studied from suitable textbooks. The instructor can be best employed in explanations rather than quoting from the book. A few minutes spent at the beginning of each day can determine whether or not the previous day's work has been studied. Active participation of the whole class is important which means that the instructor will have to use his skill in restraining the know-it-alls and ecouraging the more introvert and under-confident. It is vital for the instructor to establish a good working relationship with his students if his teaching is to be effective. Regular tests. which force students to learn. can have meaning and be acceptable when followed by review sessions and assessment of progress. Students are always very keen to know how well they are doing. Such tests can help to identify weak points in the instruction or in the learning and revisions can easily be made.

SIMULATION: Practical training on simulators will probably occupy about two-thirds of the training time on a course. It must. be remembered that at the ATC training college basic procedures and techniques are going to be taught. The finer points will be taught during the On-Job Training (OJT) phase. Using simulators. aspects of safety can be drilled until for the student all thoughts. all spoken phrases. all actions mirror safety in air traffic as second nature. Expedition follows later. There are advantages if all the students on a course come from the same country or even the same ATC unit. Practical simulation can be set up based on the

student's own area and procedures. To be effective the simulation does not have to faithfully reproduce every detailed procedure but the area. navigation aids. traffic samples and basic procedures would be as realistic as possible. Basic principles of air traffic control and techniques in handling a limited number of aircraft in safety are being taught at this stage. Exercises are graded progressively toward an agreed examination standard. It is important for On-Job Training coaches to know what the students have been taught and the level they are supposed to have reached before joining an operational unit. For this reason the assistance of operational coaches. under the supervision of college instructors. during simulation training can greatly assist the student in familiarisation and thus make the transition from college simulator to ATC unit a smooth one. Basic principles become related to known environment making their acceptance and understanding easier. Because of the sophisticated equipment required and a one-to-one instructor/student ratio simulation training is very expensive - but a lot safer and pedagogically more intensive than operational training. There is a limit to the amount of time that students will accept on simulators before the realism and challenge wears off and gives way to boredom. By careful planning of resources and structuring of exercises linked to classroom theory great benefit can be derived from simulators in a short time and students can achieve high standards of proficiency in the skills of air traffic control. Briefing and especially debriefing sessions after each exercise are invaluable times during which instructor and student together go over the exercise analysing and correcting. The student probably learns most during the debrief.

EXAMINATIONS: Examinations set at the end of a training course indicate the level of competency of students. Written examinations test knowledge. oral examinations - understanding and practical examinations - skill. To be effective an examination must have at least validity i.e. it measures what it is supposed to measure - reliability i.e. it gives consistent results. and objectivity 1.e. 1t should not depend upon the sub1ective belief. opinion. interpretation or Judgment of the examiner. Smee most students approach examinations in almost a state of fear it is important to make the students understand the reasons underlying the use of tests and assessments if such tests are to remain truly objective. Briefings to students on the conduct

of examinations and on the various aspects at which the examiners will be looking will reduce the 'unknown' and help students to be more relaxed and less likely to make uncharacteristic and needless errors. An examination system which has validity. reliability and objectivity should enable accurate information to be obtained about the student's achievement of the objectives set for the course. In addition the information thus obtained could also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training system. A point to mention here is that the task of examiner is one that requires specialist skills. Tests and examinations should be as objective as possible and valid and realiable) and instructors and examiner can be trained in the use of techniques and principles of examination to reduce subjectivity. As with the instructors. trained personnel. skilled in their specialist tasks can only benefit training and help maintain standards. After successfully completing an approved course at an ATC college the students return to their operational unit to embark on the next phase of training - On-the-Job (OJT) Training.

ON THE JOB: At this stage the student really begins to feel like an Air Traffic Controller. crammed with knowledge and full of confidence. Yet for many this can be a very daunting time. The full impact of the ¡responsibilities of the Air Traffic Controller' begin to become apparent. Few mistakes can be tolerated and then only minor ones. The situation 1s live. dynamic - no longer that cry of old 'stop the clocksl' and time to sort out the problem. More knowledge has yet to be learnt new skills and techniques to be acquired and practised. An important factor for the trainee controller. at this stage. is his acceptance into the team or watch by the other controllers. Unless the trainee feels settled and to a degree accepted in his new environment then there could arise problems during On-the-Job Training (OJT) The task of the on-the-Job coach 1s a demanding one. Not all controllers make good coaches nor do all want to be coaches. The controller who coaches must want to teach. He must be proficient and confident in his own skills. He must be able to handle a traffic s1tuat1on through another person. at the same time teaching skills to that person and still have overall command of the s1tuat1on. There are principles and techniques 1n coaching which all who coach should be aware of so that the coaching 1s efficient and the standard of air traffic services maintained An eff1c1ent training organisation at an operational ATC unit employs qual129

tied coaches and training officers specialists. Close links are maintained with the ATC college so that the previous level of knowledge, understanding and skill of the trainees is known and there is neither gap nor overlap as the trainees progress from simulation to On-the-Job Training. Regular assessments are made and trainees informed of their progress. Should progress not be satisfactory then the reasons why must be researched and remedial action taken immediately. We have seen earlier that simulation exercises can be carefully graded so that students achieve maximum learning benefit. This situation is not entirely possible during On-the-Job Training. However. known traffic flows and peaks can be effectively used for the trainee controller. Initially working periods of light traffic until the basic routine skills are mastered. e.g. stripmarking. phraseology. local procedures. the trainee controller progresses to medium level traffic (planning and analysis) and then on to heavy traffic (consolidation and experience). At times. when the traffic level is unsuitable for training, classroom instruction or discussion session can be held dealing with local procedures. new equipment. traffic analysis. etc. Ideally, the use of a simulator or off-line computer facility could supplement live traffic training for teaching unusual situations and more complex procedures. When the trainee controller has reached a standard regarded as being proficient and has satisfied requirements that he is able to work without supervision he is normally granted a licence permitting him to carry out the duties of an Air Traffic Controller for a specific task (aerodrome. approach control. etc.} at a particular unit. But experience has still to be gained and the prudent supervisor would permit the newly qualified controller only to work on those sectors where the traffic level is expected to be well within the capab1lit1es of one lacking experience. Gradually. as experience and confidence increase. the new controller works on busier sectors until considered to be fully integrated. No controller should be expected nor permitted to act as a coach until he himself has _gamed sufficient experience on the sectors concerned. For a newly qualified controller this period may last three years. The first summer peak gives an awareness of hm1tat1ons and confidence 1s gamed. During the second summer experience builds up and perhaps by the third summer the controller may feel able to accept the extra respons1b1hty of coaching a trainee m light traffic situations - having followed a course on coaching technique. 30

CONCLUSION: Theoretical and simulation training may appear to be totally divorced from On-the-Job Training but they are only parts of the whole training which will be experienced by today¡ s controller. It is important that the various objectives set during the different parts or phases of training do. and are seen to relate to the overall objective. (which is) to consistently produce Air Traffic Controllers trained to the same high standard, thereby maintaining the high level of safety and quality of service expected from our profession. The theory learnt by the student in class is immediately taken into the simulation so that it can be fully understood. applied and the skills mastered. The effective instructor will combine his classroom work and practical exercises¡ in this manner building up the student's knowledge. understanding and skill from learning unit objectives. step by step. as one builds a house brick by brick each supporting the other. The assistance of operational coaches during simulation training and the use of the student's own area and procedures reduces training time. eases the transition from formal (college) to informal (On-the-Job Training) training and assists students in settling into live traffic situations. All this requires close cooperation and co- ordination between all those involved in training but if the result is a shorter overall training time for the same high standard and consistent successes are achieved then the effort must be considered as being worthwhile. Two further points may be mentioned here. The first is the need for feedback at all stages of training and the second is that all those involved in selection and training need themselves to have received some guidance and 1nstruct1on. For feedback to be effective in a training organisation and particularly where one considers the training of Air Traffic Controllers as a total concept. the information must flow backward so that comment made about a previous stage of training or reqwirement for future phases can be directed to those concerned and suitable modifications made - and forward so that all concerned with subsequent phases of training are aware of what the student has learnt i.e. the objectives achieved and how well achieved and of any weaknesses that remain to be corrected. Such a flow of information ensures that students derive the maximum be-

nefit from the training available - no gaps. no overlaps; training progresses logically in the optimum time; the training system is constantly monitored and improved and universal standards can be achieved. The second point. training for trainers. supports the first. The quality of training will depend upon the skills and expertise of all involved, selectors. instructors. examiners. coaches, training officers, etc., and their close co-operation with one another. They must all be aware of the objectives relevant to their involvement and that of their predecessors and successors. These tasks rightly belong to controllers but they are specialist tasks and therefore require specialist skills. Those who accept the challenge of training should first and foremost want to do it. They must naturally be reasonably experienced in ATC but this should not preclude the younger controllers. Training need not be the prerogative of the old and medically retired. All should undergo specialist training courses to equip them with the skills required for their new tasks. An efficient training system ensures that after careful selection the successful candidates are given formal and informal training by expert staff at ATC college and operational ATC unit to reach the required standard, demonstrating a ¡ thorough knowledge and comprehension of air traffic control. in the most economic time. It is the task before all those involved in training in air traffic control in today's rapidly developing world to make this ideal a reality and to be able to say in all honesty that we have a world-wide standard in training.

FAA Closes Air Safety Loophole

Owners of aircraft capable of carrying 20 or more passengers or 2. 722-kilogram payloads will be compelled to adhere to same air safety rules required of scheduled airlines under new FAA program to take effect February 1981. Rules-stiffening is aimed at aircraft-leasing firms. aviation service companies. corporations using large planes for employee transport. air travel clubs. Heretofore such operators were subject to lessstringent general aviation regulations applied to small private planes. Accident rate of past eight years (62 including 19 causing fatalities). revealed 'wide range of deficiencies.' FAA said. Among them were defective engines. improper flight planning and failure of crew to hold proper certification. New rules (prescribing stricter maintenance. reporting. requirements. flight crew testing. training in emergency evacuation) apply to 2.280 aircraft including 635 owned by leasing, aviation service firms.

Briton wins light plane design award An Award w hich wi ll hopefully signal a resurgence in light aircraft manufacture in Britain. was made at th e Royal Aeronautical Society in London on Wednesday. 8th October 1 9 80. to Briton A. J . Greenhalgh for his Brookfield BA 1 (see picture below) . In 1978. t he Society's Light Aeroplane Group announced an international competition for a new light cl ub and traini ng aircraft of advanced design. simple to build. and offering an opportunity for the rekindling of the o nce extensive British light aircraft industry A prize of ÂŁ 2.000 was offered by a group of leading British aviat ion organisations. including the RAeS. (The Royal Aeronau tical Society - RAeS - is the old est professiona l aviation body 1n Britain and the world . The RAeS will not be involved in manufac ture of the winning design.) The competition has been won by a British en trant. Mr A . J . Greenhalgh. CEng. FRAeS. for his entry. t he Brookfield BA 1. Of metal construction. the BA 1 is a sing le eng ined. highwing. Vee-ta iled tractor aeroplane wi th a tricycle undercarri age and

promises to be extremely quiet. an aspect of considerable environmental importance and one for which in fact a special prize was offered . More than 40 entries were received from countries as fa r apart as Australia and Norway. In choosing the winner. the dist inguished pane l of judges locked not only for the more usual aspects of performance. struc ture and efficient aerodyn am ics but also at ease of production and aircraft cost and operational economics. At a time of escalat ing labour and fuel costs. the winn ing design thus offers a timely opport unity for British industry to regain some lost grou nd in the light aviation world . Picture RAeS

Competition Sponsors: British Aerospace. British Airways. British Caledonian. British Island Airways. Dowty Group. Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. C. F. Hughesdon. RAeS. Shell (UK) Ltd .. Smiths Industries. Airfield Environment Trust (qu ietness award).

Technical Details

Wing span 30 ft Length 22 ft 2 in 7 ft H eight Engine RR Continental 0-240A of 130 hp driving a Dowty Rotol 3-bladed ducted propulsor. 166 mph maximum Speed at sea level 155 mph cruise 50 mph stall Range 628 miles Flight Duration 4Y. hrs Weights 927 lb empty 1492 lb gross Take-off ru n 470 ft 930 ft (to clear 50 ft) Landing run 870 ft (fro m 50 ft) Rate of climb at sea level 1320 ft per minute Service cei ling 25.000 ft Time to 5000 ft 4 minutes Fuel capac ity 20 Imp gallons.

'O\llNAl 0, 1Hl INtltN ..TIONA.l ffOtU.tlOM o,~ A! l TU,,IC CONUOlUU AUOCIA110NI

CAIRO '81 PLEASE NOTE DATES OF '81 CONFERENCE 4/79

Each Quarter of the year in THE CONTROLLER you will find a range of departments to such diverse subjects as Technical, Scientific, Law, Conference Table News, Medical, etc., all focusing on Air Traffic Control.

2-6 MAY '81

31

ALIA T he Royal Jordan Airline by A . Avgoustis Introduction

The birth and Growth

Jordan. the land of Canaan and Phoen1c1a. a compa ratively sma ll country of less than three million people and covering an area of 37.302 square miles most of which is desert. without any v1s1ble resources. 1s slowly but steadily approaching the threshold of economic growth and prosperity. desp ite th e strife and turmoil that predomi nate in the Middle East - 1t has m anaged to pull through its recent and most painful catastrophes and looks into the future with opt1m1sm and hope . Through the wars and pol1t1cally unstable times of the Middle East. Jordan. and the world. has seen the birth of an airline that was destined to play the most impo rtant role 1n the econom ic growth of the country and nourished the challenge of King Hussein. when in 1 963 he summoned a yo ung engineer named Ali Ghandour to cre~te an a1rl1ne that wou ld be the count ry's ambassador of good will around the world and the bridge ac ross w hich we exchange ~ulture . c1vil1sat1on. trade. technology. riendsh1p and better understanding w ith the world '

These lines are not intended to be publicity for yet another airline. but facts wh ich I have observed and experienced during my seventeen yea rs as air traffic controller at the N1cos1a Area Control Centre (ACC). Facts which become more important to me as they coincided with my professiona l career. Geographically. the N1cos1a Flight Informa tion Region (FIR). which covers the

The challenge of the flyer king meant more than what his words could obviously reveal - 1t meant. for young Ghandour. the development of a reputable a1rl1ne that w o uld be the transporat1on and commun1c at1o ns link between Jordan and the rest of the w o rld and the key to the country's economic developme nt itself Ali Ghandour was c hose n by hi s king to get his country's first na ti o nal airline 1n the air: he got ALIA a1rho rne o n the 7th day from the day of the royal decree

32

grea test part of the eastern Mediterranean. would normally take most if not all air traff-ic from the Middle. Near and Far East with destinations in Europe and North America and vice versa - ALIA being an airline of the M iddle East with a great proportion of flights manoeuvring to and from Europe and North America could be no exception. During these past seventeen years I have witnessed its growth to its present form and structure. its turbulent experiences. obstacles and problems unavoidable in a disturbed area that affected t he movement of people and changed the faces of nations. The Middle East 1s the area where no airliner can overf ly the territory of an Arab country and of Israel on the same route. One has to look at a map of the area to confirm that the route from Amman to Ca iro would under normal circumstances take a

Mr A/1 Ghandour

maximum of forty-five minutes. yet it takes three times this. For a period of two years the thirty-minute flying time to Beirut was stretched to four hours when ALIA was forced to divert by way of the Arabian Peninsula. to Egypt and the M editerranean. These are but two illustrations of the uncomfortable experiences that marked and hindered the speedy growth of ALIA involving increased fuel and maintenance costs. It was in December. 1963. when King Hussein of Jordan decreed the establishment of the country's first national airline. the result of which was the birth of ALI A. The Royal Jordan Air/me. with Ali Ghandou r (the Airline's present President and chairman undertaking the responsibility to ensure that the k1ng·s and his government's wishes materialise. The country's geographical location. tourist attractions and primitive communications system offered the potentialities of a worthwile project. Unfortunately. tourists were discouraged by the events in the area but the prosperity of the neighbouring states eventually balanced the loss. ALIA - Arabic for 'high' and the king's eldest daughter's name - offered the ideal 1dent1f1cat1on (ca ll sign). During seven days of excitement and act1v1ty. pilots were hired. workshops were set up and ALIA made its first flight on December 15. 1963. from Amman to Beirut . The first two planes in ALIA's fleet were two ex- Roya l Air Force Dart Heralds w hich were given to the new a1rl1ne . Shortly afterward capital was raised to buy a used DC- 7 and the earner was flying from Amman to Egypt and Kuwait 1n add1t1on to Lebanon. As a growing airline. ALIA 's president. Ali Ghandour. placed emphasis on extending its international network in order to take care of the country's fast developing rela-

t1ons with other nations. This aspect of development was of special importance to ALIA due to the economic activities in the area and the increasing importance of J ordan as a strategic position and the importance of Amman as a travel gateway of the Middle East. The schedules were designed to provide the required capacity by increasing flight frequency to existing sectors and new destinations added in the meantime. With the development of additional tourist facilities in Aqaba. the domestic traffic multiplied. In 1965. ALI A added to its fleet its fi rst jetliner. a Caravelle 1OR which served what was then called the 'Holy Rou te'. AmmanRome-Jerusalem . The following year saw the purchase of ALIA's second Caravelle which joined Amman with Paris and then London. 19 7 7 is looked upon as the turni ng point 1n ALIA's growth. Having established its services in the Middle East with a network connecting Jordan with 30 capital cities. ALIA pioneered in the Arab world the transatlantic route flying 7 4 7' s with two flights a week. later (1979) to be increased to four flights a week and extending its leg to Houston. Texas - an oil related travel route. And 1n May 1981 ALIA will add two weekly flights to Chicago. making a total of six weekly. US flightsl The new service will begin upon delivery of ALIA' s third 7 4 7 jumbo jet . From a very modest beginning - one aircraft - ALIA has come a long way ahead. The airline operates an all-Boeing fleet of 1 3 aircraft: seven 707's. three 727's. one 720-B and two 7 4 7's.

ALIA's other activities ALIA's activities. naturally. could not be confined to international air transport. The country's geographical location and its

closeness to Arab oil rich countries demanded some kind of executive service. Consequently. in 1975. ALIA's first subs1d1ary. 'Arab Wings'. came into being. This subsidiary has really achieved its basic aims satisfying the growing demands of executive transport 1n the area by its two Learjets and one Sabreliner. The year 1 9 7 9 registered another first for ALIA. Through its 'Arab Wings· it established the Jordanian 'Flying Ambula nce· aiming to serve the Middle East in ambulance service: any profits deriving will be used for charity and medical research. Meanwhile. ALIA's Cargo Department has capitalised on an ant1c1pated export boom to the Arabian Peninsula. Subsequently. Amman 1s becoming a cargo d1stribut1on centre. with all its ancillary advantages. ALIA's management could under no circumstances dream of a fruitful future without 1nvest1ng in training fac11it1es for crews so essential in preserving safety. The airline has spent three million dollars on flight simulators for Boeing 727 and 707 with a 7 4 7 1n order. These training simulators may be used for type conversion. 6-month base checks and recurrent training. CAT I and II precision approaches. etc . All flight trai ning is at FAA-approved standards. and many other Arab earners are now training at ALIA's Facll1t1es. Now that ALIA has entered into the arena of international compet1t1on 1t ai ms to begin soon services to South America where there 1s an ethnic market due to the fact that more than five million Arabs live in South America . This w ill be facilitated greatly with the arrival in November 1 981 of the first of five recent ly purchased Loc kheed Tri stars. ' Arab Wings

33

Frompage25

(d) Member from the Police Forces and/ or Regional Administration. (e) Member from Accident Investigation/Operation department. Draw up letters of agreement regarding SAR between all adjoining FIR authorising automatic entry into each others country by an aircraft on SAR mission. Request all member states to offer training to all personnel involved in SAR duties. 8. Investigate and make recommendations to SC1 and the IFATCA conference on the application of the ICAO semi-circular rule within the African region. 9. To ensure that all relevant information is available under the foregoing items. liaison should be made with other relative organisations. i.e. IFALPA IATA. ICAO COMMUNICATIONS ORGANISATIONS MILITARY MANUFACTURERS OF EQUIPMENT. etc. The foregoing should be undertaken and all associations within the Region use the collected information. agreed procedures and Regional policies to ensure their respective Governments fully implement the ICAO Regional plan and continually improve such plan through input ICAO via the Federation.

Professional Professional Recognition and Working Cond1t1ons 10. It 1s recommended that all Associations within the Region study the Conclusions of the I.LO. Report. and actively pursue its 1mplementat1on through negotiations with their respective national Administrations. 1 1 The Regional Vice-President should be kept aware of the progress of the negot1at1ons and any further action required of the Federation co-ordinated through him. Training 1 2 Controllers should be trained and licensed to the standards laid down by ICAO. incorporating the Conclusions of the I LO. Report. 1 3 It is recommended that later licensing training should continue in accordance with IFATCA Policy on Manual pages. 4.3.4 1. and 4.3.4.2. Instructor Courses 1 4 Following a suitable penod (3-5 years) of on-the-1ob experience. Controllers to become el1g1ble to apply for the post of Instructor. such Posts to be advertised. The successful applicant should receive an Instructors Course on teaching practices before taking up his duties as an Instructor Breach of Procedures 1 5 Adm1nistrat1ons should be discouraged from requiring a Controller to be employed on operational duties tor which his license 1s not rated or validated

34

TENERIFE- ls ATC partly to be blamed? Recent British Press reports (FLIGHT International 14/21 June. 1980) bring into the fore some doubts as to the pilot's absolute responsibility for the crash of the DANAIR. Boeing 727 near Tenerife's Los Rodeos Airport on April 25. this year. killing 146 people. despite the fact that the official report of the Spanish Commission of Inquiry has not yet been published. Informed sources. the British reports say. are considering the possibility that the pilot of the 727 was not absolutely to be blamed for the accident but Air Traffic Control Clearance to execute a non-published manoeuvre may have caused the pilots error to come close to high ground. From our investigation. we are convinced that these sources have been encouraged by the British Department of Trade. Accidents Investigation Branch Bulletin issued on the 11 th June. 1 980 which records some facts of the clearance given to the pilot by the Air Traffic Control. The following is the text of the AIB Bulletin No. 8/80:

mander. for reasons which are not clear. turned the aircraft to the left towards the south east. into an area of high ground where the sector minimum safe altitude is 14. 500 feet. During the descent to 5. OOO feet. the Ground Proximity Warning System operated and the crew immediately commenced an overshoot procedure. With high engine power being applied. the aircraft was put into a steep turn to the right. but it struck the mountainside before it had climbed above 5. 500 feet. The radio navigational facilities at Tenerife North Airport were checked after the accident and were found to have been operating normally. The Spanish Commission of Inquiry is continuing the investigation into the causes of the accident and will. in due course. produce a report.

FLIGHT lnternatiorial's report of the 21 st June says that 'by the time the crew had received the information' (about a ACCIDENT TO DAN-AIR BOEING 727 standard hold over the FP). 'there would G-BDAN, CALLSIGN DA 1008. AT TENEhave been about 40 sees to go to the FP RIFE ON 25 APRIL 1980. . overhead. The detail of the ATC message First radio contact with Tenerife Air Trafreads: "The standard holding over FP is infic Control was made by DA 1008 when it bound heading 1 50°. turn to the left ... This pattern is not on any of the charts that airwas 14 nautical miles from the VOR/DME beacon 'TFN'. The flight was then cleared crew normally carry. and the DAN-AIR crew 'to the "FP" (radio beacon) via "TFN". had no visual aid to help them work out enflight level 110. expect runway 12. no try to this pattern which was presented at delay·. The flight up to this time had been such short notice. Since the crew was not without incident. Some three minutes later expecting to hold the aircraft may have it was instructed to descend and maintain been flying faster than the standard 220 kts IAS recommended for hold entry at that flight level 60. height.· The crew reported overhead 'TFN' some The critical ATC words are naturally con35 seconds after passing that facility. Air Traffic Control then informed them that 'the sidered by the 'sources· to be: 'turn to the standard holding over "FP" is inbound left.· which could have been taken by the heading 150°. turn to the left'. This indic- crew to mean: 'you are to fly a left hand patates an anticlock-wise pattern. This proce- tern·. dure was not published and was not includUnless we are aware of all the facts. we ed in the appropriate radio facility charts cannot give our own version of the case. carried on the aircraft. however. it was however. it is interesting to note here the accepted by the pilot. 'WABUSH' accident (Canadian case) in The aircraft did not pass over the 'FP' which the ATC were sued for not giving the but flew to the south of the beacon calling information to the pilot to a new 'let-down 'entering the hold' and passing abeam procedure· which came into force on the about one minute after the previous trans- very day of the accident and for which the mission. About half a minute later it was pilot had no knowledge. The High Court Canada had found against the pilot who cleared to descend to 5.000 feet. Although he had expressed his intention 'had not queried ATC clearance'. of entering the holding pattern, the Com-

Pilot Rebellion over Engineer Seating Issue Spreads Incorporation of sideways-facing engineer's panel in new aircraft such as A31 0 is pressed by units of Europilote. federation of European airline pilot's associations. to point of strike action. Belgian pilots halted all Sabena flights for four hours. Dutch and Austrian pilots planned similar action but desisted when airline managements agreed to put cockpit configuration controversy under discussion. Action by French pilots in two- man crew dispute caused Air France to cancel options on 15 73 7s. Several calls for strikes were is-

sued by unions of both pilots and engineers protesting authorization given Euralair. French charter operator. to fly newly-acquired 737 with two- man crew. French pilots also continue opposition to two-man crews on the A310. British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) officials insist sideways-facing engineer's panel provides safest systems control and best crew effectiveness. according to Flight International. Members of their group are visiting Boeing's Seattle plant to examine mockup changes made in 7 5 7 at Eastern Airlines request. to enable integration of third crew

THE EIGHTIESA new Era in Air Transportation By H. Harri Henschler On the 6th and 7th August 1980. the Eighth Abbotsford International Aerospace Conference was held in Vancouver. British Columbia. Canada. bringing together many of the world's aviation leaders from the manufacturing industry. the air lines. air traffic control. governments and the academic field. The Conference is sponsored by the Abbotsford Airshow Society and deals with important aspects of aviation: economic questions. technological developments. industry/government relations. and the like. Papers are presented by experts in many facets of aviation. The formal presentations are normally followed by questions from the floor. sometimes by heated discussion. The quotes in this article are taken from the papers of most interest to Air Traffic Controllers as published in the 'Proceedings of the Conference'. edited by Dr. Karl M. Ruppenthal. Director of the Centre for Transportation Studies. University of British Columbia. Vancouver. Canada. The publication of these Proceedings was made possible by the financial support of Pacific Western Airlines whose co-operation also enabled the participation of the IFATCA President at no transportation cost. The opening speaker was R. T. Eyton. President and Chief Executive Officer. Pacific Western Airlines Ltd .. wo said: 'Since man first dreamed of being able to take to the air. aviation has attracted its share of dreamers. visionaries. and forsighted individuals. Indeed such persons are vital to an industry that is dynamic. that is relatively young. and whose potential is still great. In an industry of this kind. it is important to take a forward look. It is important to make some realistic assessments of the cur~ent statuts of the industry. to contemplate its problems. and to make some judgement as to its future. While there are some elements of air transportation that should see little change in the decade ahead. 1n other areas the changes may be dramatic indeed.' He then addressed economic developments with regard to deregulation. and fuel costs: 'The days of mismatch of market to capacity are gone. Load factors need to be increased and the number of flights between any two points needs to be rationalized on the basis of the most efficient use of fuel to achieve the highest possible ratio of payload to fuel consumed. For arr transportation. there is no substitute for fossil fuel. Alternate sources such as liquid hydrogen. liquid methane and ethanol are being researched but most authorities discount their practical use until the end of the century.· Mr Eyton concluded: ·Air transportation provides essential underpinning of our commercial structure. Those air carriers that are able to operate fuel efficient fleets. match capacity to

the marketplace. minimize resistance to fare levels. move with the latest technology. develop competent manpower. and finally produce adequate yields will find themselves the shining lights of the eighties.· 'Flexibility. adaptability, innovation and imagination should be the bywords for the industry in the 1980's.' The next speaker gave some stunning insight into ·Airline Financing in the Eighties' and stated: 'It is widely recognized that an inappropriate aircraft selection can plague airline earnings for a decade or more. The effects of inflation are clear. The capital cost of a widebodied jet at the beginning of the 70's was around $ 50.000 per seat. Today. essentially the same aircraft costs about $ 150.000 per seat and the annual rate of price escalation is currently running well over 10%. The break-even passenger load factor for the major American carriers is now hovering around 65%. compared with 50% just a decade ago in 1970.' Air Traffic Controllers. used to having governments refuse needed improvements costing much less than one seat on a widebodied jet. may be shocked by the magnitude of these figures. Obviously airlines are less timid when it comes to facing realities. 'The Air Transport Association has estimated that U.S. scheduled carriers must spend $ 90 billion in this decade for replacement of inefficient aircraft and for growth in demand.' A representative of the Federal Aviation ·Administration (FAA) of the U.S.A. then spoke at lenght in defence of the deregulation policies of the U.S.Government. policies which are watched with apprehension in many parts of the world. and he concluded: 'In summary. it is our judgment that the efforts toward more competition and less regulation in both our domestic and international markets have had a beneficial effect in expanding some services and reducing some fares. Some problems and many opportunities have emerged.· Dr. Richard R. Shaw. Assistant DirectorTechnical. IATA. a man not unknown to those who have attended recent IFATCA Annual Conferences. spoke on the subject 'IATA in the Eighties'. 'The airlines enter the 1980's in very serious economic difficulties - indeed the year promises to be the worst in thirty years. International fuel prices have increased by more than 100 per cent since the beginning of 19 7 9. Severe inflation has dramatically forced up non-fuel costs.· Dr. Shaw noted three other influences which have contributed to make matters worse: ( 1) Markedly higher fares have depressed traffic growth due to pnce elasticity effects.

(2) Economic recession in some major traffic generating areas has further depressed traffic. (3) Low or even negative traffic growth has severely reduced load factors leading to an increased use of discounted fares. He continued: ·Fares have to play a vital part but I am sure we cannot resolve the massive problems of the industry if we do not devote more and more time and energy to "CONTROLLING THE COST BASE". You might well ask can a significant role be played by modest improvements in operating efficiencies in solving financial problems involving billions of dollars. The answer is. perhaps surprisingly - yes. they can. Profits (or losses) in a marginal industry like the airlines is an example of what the mathematicians call a "badly conditioned" equation - where the result is a very small difference between two very large sub-parts - in our case. revenues and costs. A very small percentage change in either revenue or costs can double. triple or. for that matter. eliminate profits.· Dr. Shaw then addressed a subject which has been written about a number of times in the editorial section of this Journal - the improvement of Air Traffic Control systems through 'pressures' by the Airline Industry on the political decision makers. IATA sees 'deficiencies' in the ATC system in the light only of possible savings in operating costs. as follows: 'Over the past eighteen months IATA has launched a massive public campaign in Europe to create a political will at the highest. ministerial level to attack and correct the serious deficiencies in the ATC system in that continent. In that campaign we have focussed primary attention on the air route structure solely because politicians need simple explanations and what can be simpler than pointing out that if an air route 1s straightened and 20% is saved on distance flown. then costs and fuel consumption also come down by roughly 20%. But we professionals know that the vertical profile can be equally important. Airport departure and approach procedures (SIDS and STARS) can also be very significant. Detailed maintenance and flying techniques can make large contributions to cost saving.· However. Dr. Shaw continued: 'We in IATA already have a number of programs under way to. pool our mutual knowledge on matters which we. as airlines. can do at the nittygntty level. We are working hard at getting the same type relations with government services. Many of our ideas can only get results 1f we can get the active interest and co-operation of government staff at the local working level.· Here. one may hope. IATA refers. when they speak about the ·rntty-gntty level' and the 'local working level' to those who actually make the system work. the Air Traffic Controller - and pos1t1ve developments with regard to co-operation with the representative body of the world's controllers. IFATCA. should be a logical conclusion The future of the airlines. as we know them today. may be in question. as Dr Shaw ended his presentation on this note

35

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'The job can be done and I am sure it will; for air transportation it is a matter of survival - or going the road of many railways - bankruptcies for most and massive government subsidy for those who remain.· During the panel discussion following the IATA paper the IFATCA representative stated that in the view of the Federation many of the deficiencies of the worldwide ATC system. the lack of adequate equipment and manpower. both with respect to required training and numbers. must be blamed on the fact that these ATC systems are part of the government bureaucracies who cannot. or will not. accept the operational nature of air traffic control and its responsibilities. and who attempt to impose their 'civil service' philosophies on Air Traffic Control. The following speaker gave some very interesting insights into the field. recent and future developments. of business aviation. To the Air Traffic Controller. of course. there is. with few exceptions in a small number of countries. no difference between 'scheduled' and ·ad-hoe' (business or pleasure) type air traffic. ·By definition. general aviation includes all non-military and non-commercial airline activity. In 1977. general aviation represented nearly 46 million flight hours globally. 53% of which was spent on business and pleasure flying. In that same year 81 % of all general aviation hours were flown in North America. Let us look now at the U.S. air carriers fleet in comparison to the U.S. general aviation fleet. The air carrier fleet between the years 1960 and 1979 had not grown significantly. In 1 960. the fleet consisted of just over 2 200 aircraft with an FAA forecast of just under 3200 by 1991. We see approximately 3900 by the year 2000. Contrast this growth rate with the turboprop fleet which grew from 1300 in 1975 to 1800 in 1979 and has been forecast by the FAA to be 4200 in 1 991 . We see nearly 8400 by the year 2000. The turbojet fleet essentially. the business or executive jet fleet. has grown from 800 in 1 9 7 5 to 1 400 in 1979. The FAA feel it will reach 3500 by 1991. with a Canadair prediction of 7600 by the year 2000. This growth has been nothing less than spectacular. Of the over 4000 aircraft. over 2900 are registred in the U.S. with 160 in Canada.· The speaker then went on to outline some of the difficulties faced by the manufacturers of general aviation type aircraft. namely the cost of fuel. environmental concerns. in particular. noise levels. and development costs of new business aircraft. He concluded: 'One major response that we can make is technological. However. no major breakthroughs. such as occurred with the introduction of the jet engine and the swept wings are foreseen. Improvements will be gradual. The promise of composite materials in weight reduction will soon be tested in such aircraft as the Learav1a "Learfan". Aerodynamic improvements will also be slow but major efforts will go into reducing aerodynamic drag with such approaches as laminar flow. super-critical wings and winglets. We have a

real expectation that the decade should see the virtual elimination of fatigue and corrosion. A good deal of this technology will flow from commercial airline types to the general aviation fleet. It remains for our sector to meet the requirements of the future in terms of the comfort. dispatch reliability and equipment reliability that will be demanded of us.· A representative of an air cargo operation then presented an optimistic outline of future developments in that market. which is another addition i.e. the overall traffic picture controllers are faced with: 'International air freight will continue to have a bright future in the 1980's. With efficient equipment. like B 7 4 7 freighters. carriers can find many markets which will justify dedicated airlift.· A third factor which will increase controller workload is the commuter airline market. A paper presented on that subject states. although directed mostly at North American markets. similar developments can be expected everywhere. as follows: 'Commuter service is a fairly new concept in Canadian aviation. It is growing very. very rapidly. We estimate that commuter service in Canada is growing by about 1 5% per year. In the United States yearly growth has remained at about 25%. We're not going to be in the big airplanes. we're going to be into smaller airplanes with more frequent service.· Another component of Air traffic well known to most air traffic controllers. the charter airlines. was represented by Edward J. Driscoll. President. National Air Carriers Association and First Vice President and General Counsel of IACA (International Air Carrier Association) which is a Corporate Member of IFATCA. Mr Driscoll gave an outline of the history of charter operations. the battle of charter vis-a-vis scheduled service. He then turned to the present and the future. Now that 'the restrictions that heretofore governed and precluded the charter carriers from developing low-cost service for the travelling public or entering scheduled service are gone. the charter carriers have the freedom to conduct charter operations almost without restriction and they have the freedom to engage in scheduled air service. The only contest left is that competitive battle for the passenger and cargo dollar. The last three years would indicate that the charter carriers' battle although now they are scheduled carriers. as well as having authority to conduct charters. has jUSt begun and that battle is a battle in the marketplace and may well be a battle for their very existence. Over the past two years. scheduled service in the North Atlantic. the largest charter market. jumped 54%; Charter traffic fell 30%. During the first nine months of 1979. scheduled service to the United Kingdom climbed by 14% while charters plummeted by 50%. Consider now what had happened between 1977 and 1979. in what have historically been the six largest charter markets New York/London. a 73% drop; New York/ Frankfurt. down 44%; New York/Pans. down 14%; New York/Rome. down 64%; Los Angeles/London. down 86%; Los Angeles/Frankfurt. down 88%.

So the question is: Where do we go from here? There is a general softening in both passenger and cargo traffic. Regulatory reforms will continue. The European charter carriers are seeking to expand and. like their U.S. counterparts. seek entry into scheduled service and also seek to reduce restrictions on charters. The EEC has published a proposal and requested comments. The independent airlines of Europe are at work pressing their view on the EEC and the European parliament. Charter operations will continue on a World-wide basis. The volume of charter service will be related. of course. to demand: and demand for such service will be governed to some degree by the volume of low-cost service on scheduled flights that is offered.' Donald Lowe. President. Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group. spoke on ·Aircraft Engines in the 1980's'. He said: ·Over the past ten years. fuel costs have increased from 25 per cent to almost 50 per cent of airline direct operating costs. Fuel efficiency is even more significant when we consider the impact of fuel consumption on new aircraft design. Since introduction of the first commercial jet engine in 1956. fuel consumption has improved by about 30 per cent. We expect that by the 1990's we will be able to achieve another 30 per cent reduction in fuel consumption through the introduction of advanced engine technology. Although fuel improvements will be primarily engine oriented - potential aircraft improvements hold considerable promise as well. These improvements will lower fuel consumption by reducing aircraft weight and lowering aircraft drag. Air transportation 1s vital to our world community- its health is essential. I believe that the efficiency improvements that will be made available in advanced engine and airframe technology will be a key factor in solving these problems.· The Director. Air Traffic Services. Transport Canada. Peter Proulx. whom many of our readers will remember from past IFATCA Conferences and the I LO Meeting of Experts Concerning Problems in Air Traffic Control. said: 'From the feedback that I get. it seems that almost everyone has a favourite solution to improve the efficiency of the ATC system. These solutions range from more equipment to more procedures or increased motivation of the air traffic controllers. Many of us are concerned that there may be a conflict between safe and expeditious and that our controllers may. because of certain perceived pressures focus on the expeditious portion of the ob1ect1ve. We have alerted them that providing an adequate level of safety is the primary ob1ect1ve. Now I would like to look at some major 1mped1ments to the prov1s1on of a more efficient air traffic control service. First 1s the current congestion that occurs at peak periods. commonly called "bunching". I know that this 1s a "sacred cow". but 1s 1s nevertheless our maior problem Demand management and peak spreading can reduce delays at peak hours - delays which are often blamed on air traffic control

37

Two other restrictions also substantially affect our efficiency; noise abatement procedures and wake turbulence separation standards. Until a vortex avoidance system is widely available. delays will persist. Another is the mix of non-compatible aircraft that create horrendous problems for controllers. Although controllers are reluctant to implement restrictions to non-compatible aircraft during peak periods. they do accommodate the compatible aircraft on a priority basis to minimize delays to high energy consumption aircraft. This is normally done without too much inconvenience to other aircraft. Runway occupancy time. airport design and capacity continue to prevent the provision of a more efficient flow of air traffic. This leaves one area that has not been addressed: increased controller motivation for energy conservation. Controllers in Canada. from my observation. consistently exert great effort in providing for an expeditious flow of air traffic. They do this by providing the users with optimum altitudes and direct routes on request. But remember. controllers are magicians; if ten aircraft taxi out at the same time. someone will have to be number 10. and if the number of arrivals during one hour exceeds the airport or controller acceptance rate. there will be delays that are costly. I believe that regardless of all of the innovations in other areas. without the air traffic control system operating at peak efficiency. efforts in these other areas will regrettably not yield the energy conservation benefits expected.' Mr. Proulx's words on 'bunching' emphasize a concern long expressed by IFATCA which should not be forgotten by those responsible for airline scheduling. The infamous phrase ·Air traffic control delay'. too often heard by passengers. is a distortion of facts. controllers do not delay aircraft. other aircraft cause the delays. The Honourable Jean-Luc Pepin. Minister of Transport. in his 'After Dinner Address' touched on a number of aspects of political concern and pressures. On the subject of air traffic control incident investigation procedures Mr. Pepin said: 'I nc1dents or near-misses involve the loss of separation. What happens when there 1s a near miss? We have had fact-finding boards to investigate near-misses since the m1d-1970's. Pnor to that. 1t wa difficult. but terribly important to convince controllers to report incidents involving losses of separation between aircraft which were controlled by air traffic services. Controllers tended not to report. Consequently. people were happy there were few near-misses. But 1f you observe the statistics well. this 1s terribly interesting; the number of incidents since these fact-finding boards were created has increased. So some people will look at that and say. ··My God. pilots are not as careful as they used to be" But most of the increase is believeved by my experts to be due to more incidents being reported. which in turn. 1s attributable to more specific directives on the part of the department. And secondly. to an increased confidence into the investigation process

38

How does this investigation work? The investigation is done by these fact-finding boards which consist of air traffic controllers from headquarters in Ottawa. and from the regions. other than the one involved. This group of specialists tries to determine by listening to air traffic service tapes and interviewing the involved controller. the facts which caused the loss of separation. So it is a fact-finding thing. It is not there to establish the guilt of the controller. The courts do that. It is just there to find the facts in order to improve the system itself. Now this may be very difficult for the rest of the population to accept. Why is it that the report of the fact-finding board is not made public? Partly because it is produced rapidly and it is of a technical nature. But more than that. if the fact-finding reports were to become public and disclose the names· of the controllers and air carriers there is no doubt that the reporting of loss of separation would decline possibly to the near zero level that we had before. In other words. what the public finds difficult to accept - that all these things should be kept secret - is. in fact. a condition for the efficiency of the system itself.· A fair fact-finding process is of vital interest to air traffic controllers since. if done properly. it will result in the detection of system errors and thus improve the overall system. Attendance and participation of the Federation at gatherings such as the International Aerospace Conference is important since it exposes the controllers' representatives to the concerns of the other components of the aviation industry. and gives IFATCA the opportunity to voice the concerns of the controller to others who. often enough. concentrate on their area of expertise only. without taking into account the fact that improvements in airframe and powerplant engineering cannot be the total answer: without at the same time ensuring the establishment of the safest and most efficient possible ATC system many of the O other efforts will turn out to be wasted.

Captain's Brief to Passengers by 'much travelled passenger'

The manner in which air line captains greet and brief their passengers varies considerably. and within certain limits. is largely a matter of personality. Following are two. fortunately hypothetical. examples of the even greater differences between methods employed by Bnt1sh and American captains. Somewhere in between. there is a happy medium. have you any ideas?

Reluctant British Brief 'This 1s your captain speaking. Good Morning.· Enthusiastic American Brief 'Hil there folks. this 1s your friendly captain welcoming you to Rinky Tinky Airlines. My name 1s Cyrus T. Cornpone Junior. I am married to the sweetest little bride. and we have two cute kids. Richard Spiro and Shirley Temple guess you sure don't need me to tell you what our politics are - Yessir. true blue Republican all the way.

We live in the San Fernando Valley in a humble little dwelling about 40 miles from LA. 'Course we have a heated swimming pool. come to think of it. we got two. one for the wifes and me and one for the kids. You know what kids are these days - gotta have their own pool. My wife insisted we got the kids a car each too. so I had to have two more garages built. we got five garages now. My wife is sure determined to keep up with the neighbours - specially for the kids - she says without their pool. the cars. their own colour TV each. a rumpus room each. and a credit card for every store in town. what have they got to live for? Guess she knows best. Course I dont't get home too often · cause my base is in New York. My wife she don't like the East Coast though so we had to buy in California - you know how determined the good old American bride is. Incidentally folks. we are flying at - let me see now - 33.000 feet. that's about 6 miles up. and at 550 miles per hour. That would be awful fast if we were on the ground. We are going to Las Vegas. just in case any of you are on the wrong airplane. and if we don't get lost. we should get there in about 2 hours. Guess that's all for now folks. if I see anything interesting on the ground. that I recognise that is. I'll surely give you another call. Just sit right back and relax and with luck. we'll get there real soon. Hope you enjoy your flight.·

Seven Nations Agree to Cooperate on Terrorism Seven nations drew up a seven-point plan of cooperation against terrorism providing sanctions against other nations aiding terrorist activities. Points included: condemnation of all terrorist acts: broader mutual cooperation among bordering states to speed-up anti- terrorist action; prosecution and extradition of accused terrorists; study of application of ·suitable measures. on a footing.· coordinated and permanent against states providing direct or indirect assistance to terrorist activities; prevention of spawning of terrorist sanctuaries or staging areas in national territories. Seven-point program was drawn up by Spain. Britain. Italy, Portugal. Turkey. U.S. and West Germany were other Western nations cosponsoring plan which was presented to 35-nation conference reviewing implementation of 1975 Helsinki accords. New proposals will be studied when group reconvenes after Christmas recess on January 2 7. In most recent act of aircraft terrorism. an Av1anca 7 2 7 with 137 people aboard was skyjacked by gunmen in attempt to disrupt a Latin American summit hononng Simon Bolivar.

Schmid Telecommunication A new Corporate Member from Switzerland

Schmid Telecommunication

is a privately owned medium-size firm located 1n Zurich (Switzerland). Since its founda tion 1n 1 9 6 7 it was c ontinuously expanded. and to-day 11 counts between 50 and 60 employees. 1 4 of w hom are graduated engineers o r engineers. Right from the begin ning. Schmid Telecommu nication specialized in developping and manufacturing high quality. modern tec hnology equipment for telecommunicatio n applications. This firm is well introduced at the Swiss PTT adm1nistrat1on. th e civil air traffic control authorities and the Ministry of defense. The know-how of the development div1s1on . comprises the transmission and processing of analog signals in the audio frequency band (voice). o f digital signals (data). the design of measuring equipment and connectors as well as the programming and application o f microprocessors for control and monitoring eq uipment (development o f multiprocessor systems). All equipment manufactured by Schmid Telecommunication is characterized by its modern design and its extremely high margin between the actually attained and the guaranteed technical data. Careful work 1n the manufacturing div1s1on (no piece work) and many intermediate tests during production guarantee from the beginning a very high quality of the prod-

ucts. Every piece of equipment passes extensive testing prior to its delivery. All employees of Schmid Telecommunication are anxious to produce high quality equipment which optimally fulfills the customers· requirements at a reasonable price.

Distribution amplifiers Announcements via the telephone like news bulletins. weather forecasts. traffic bulletins. exact time. sports news. menu proposals. etc .. originate from centrally located automatic answer-only machines. The spoken texts are distributed via modulation lines to the maior exchanges. and from these via the regional modulation networks to the automatic services. which give the subscriber the required information. Simultaneous supply of a large number of modulat1on lines or telephone subscribers with the same announcement is effected through a distribution amplifier. This has a low-r_esistance output which prevents subscribers listening to the same announcement from disturbing each other by possible_spe_aking. It also has a leve l monitor. which in the event of modulation failure prevents the call being charged and triggers a fault alarm . 1 One distribution amplifier can supply to 50 lines or 1 to 300 telephone subscribers with automatic announcements.

Radio transmission via t he telephone network

On maior occasions it will not always be possible to provide a sufficiently large number of modulation lines. Whenever there is a shortage of these. reports must be transmitted by telephone lines. However. the mean load capacity of earner systems and the dynamics of amplified AF lines are lower than the corresponding values for modulation lines . Accordingly reports may be transmitted via telephone lines only 1f their level is lowered. At th e interface from m odulation line to telephone line therefore. pads are connected in. and at the interface from telephone to modulation li ne ampl1f1ers. The equipment thus includes both pads and amplifiers. Both are adjustable over a wide level range . Also mounted on the same sub-rack assembly are the bows for levelling the connections and sw1tch1ng-on the circuits. Four-wire circu it s

Four-wire circuits transfer the ca lls from two- to four-wire connections and vice versa. They thus serve to connect two-wire lines to sta tions with fou r-wire sw1tch1ng. One four- wire circuit 1s allocated permanently to each line. Thanks to this arrangement the variable balancing of the line impedance can be matched optimally. and t he two-wire line can be equalized fully by means of adiustable amplifiers. Both the balanc ing and the t ra nsm1tt1ng and receiving ampl1f1ers are integrated in the four-wi re c1 rcu1t. M oreover the module includes a s1gnall1n g set. wh ic h converts the 50 Hz s1gnall1ng (dialling pulses. etc .) into de signalling and vice ve rsa

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Signalling sets designed for low levels allow the transmission of charging pulses during the conversation.

Monitoring telecommunication networks In order to monitor telecommunication networks. equipment and transmission alarms are collected and evaluated. i.e. the number of available connections is compared with the number necessary at the particular hour of the day. and depending on the result a non-urgent or urgent alarm is given. At night. only the urgent alarms are sent out. and these only when they have been present 1 5 minutes. Outside working hours. a remote control system with dialling module transmits the alarm reports to the responsible persons at home. Alarms from exchanges which are unmanned during the day are relayed to the nearest exchanges which are normally manned. They are displayed with an indication of the location on the same monitors as the alarms from the manned exchanges. Transmission is effected by means of remote control systems. each of which can transmit up to 480 alarms over one pair of conductors. Automatic measurement of telecommunication networks and equipment The quality of the transmission paths can be assured only by constant metering. In telephony these measurements are performed on the AF level. i.e. from channel input to channel output. Measuring instruments with symmetrical inputs and outputs are needed for this. Our instruments designed specially for this duty enable the following parameters to be measured: level. frequency response. distonion. crosstalk. noise. quantization noise. dial pulse length and symmetry. These measurements may be made both manually and automatically. for the instruments are capable of storing measuring programs and running through them automatically. No computers are necessary for compiling the measuring programs; the controls provided on the instruments anyhow are used for this. Signal transmitters and receivers are intended fa ¡ . . while h r. sem1-automat1c operation. f t e combined measuring module is ully automatic. It can select channels and form mean values from the various measuredd results for the channels tested. Any exce. e ing of limits is d etected by the measuring module as well as b y the simple signal receiver The properties of these instruments enable them to be use d f or measuring . . radio networks too ¡ Th e transmitter . . supplies to a load of 1 5 all frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz ~P to a level of+ 21 dB. with less than 2 o/oo distortion. It is also capable of giving any desired frequency with a resolution of 1 Hz in c ontro 11 ed operation or two wobble continously over the . entire frequency band.

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Air traffic control Radio and intercom control 1s a special switching installation for air traffic control centres It links up coordination talks between traffic controllers. radio conversations between aircraft and control centre 4()

and talks between pilots. who communicate with the same controller on different frequencies. The system capacity allows 42 air traffic controllers to control 7 different radio stations each comprising 2 5 transmitters or receivers tuned to different frequencies. or to call each other. For this control function the controllers have operating units which exchange data with the central control station via remote control systems. Remote air traffic controllers too. at neighbouring airports for instance. can carry on radio and intercom conversations through this system. Microprocessors fitted in the operating units not only allow tidy and simple operation but also verify that input commands are properly executed. AF amplifiers. equ~lize b?th the incoming lines from outlying air traffic controllers and the lines to the various transmitter locations. Signalling sets fitted in the AF amplifiers transmit at the ~ame time t~e keying criteria for the transm1~te~s and a signal for monitoring the transm1ss1on paths. If the controller has selected more than one transmitter. the system switches over automatically to the one wh~se re~eption signal has the best signal-to-noise ratio. 1n order to ensure maximum security the, equipment is ?u~licated and proyided with extensive monitoring. Faults are signalled to the air traffic controllers concerned on the operating units and displayed to the service

technicians on a monitor: they are also logged with a printer. For this purpose also the alarms from the transmitters are transmitted to the central control station both by leased and dialling lines. by remote control systems. For fault localization the switching or memory status of every system component can be displayed on the monitor. An integral measu~in1;1 modul~ automatically checks the transmission quality of all possible paths. including the amplifiers.

Summary of export product range: Measuring instruments and automatic measuring systems for maintenance of telecommunication networks. Equip~_ent for evaluating. transmitting and giving alarms for extensive telecommunication networks. Remote control systems for leased circuits and dialling lines. Fo~r-wire circuits_ wit~ and without sign~ll1~g set for all hne diameters and pupimzat1ons. Distribution of automatic announcements and transmission of reports. Projects _an~ engineering of special telecommunication systems for high demands. R_adio ~nd intercom control systems for air traffic control. Simulators for operator training.

Air Traffic Controllers in Brazil The following is a letter received from PhD. Holland. giving a grim picture of controllers iri Brazil: When in Rio. last March. I ~et some c~ntroll~rs are constant. that is. they Brazilian contro~lers. and. I am sorry ~o will receive the same amount of money say that their s1tuat1on 1s the ~orst. in throughout their career until retirement the world. Who would ever_ imagine when they will get only 80% of that that one of the faster developing coun- amount of money. tries in South America. with ultra moAll Controllers are kept in the dark dern equipment - Brasilia and Rio as far as technical and professional de~ offers most primitive opportunities to the air traffic controllers and limited or v~lopments are concerned outside Brazil. _Contact through ATC Associations is non-existent future? f~u1tl~ss because the national AssociaFirstly. Air Traffic Services in Brazil tion 1s only permitted to discuss sport come under the Air Force; there are some 1OOO controllers of which only and cultural matters. Controllers in Rio 1 40 are civilians performing exactly the do not know what is happening in Brasame tasks. The civilian controllers are. silia and vice- versa. however. very badly paid with a The majority of the controllers study monthly salary .of 17.000 Cruzeiros hard in order to search for another ca(about $ 242 US). A salary much lower reer outside ATC as they see no future than that of an Air Force Sergeant. in the profession locally. Dissatisfaction Cost of living in Brazil is comparable in professional prospects may mean imto any European country. e.g. to visit a pairing air safety, Brazilian controllers private doctor will mean 1. 700 Cruzei- insist. They are aware of the fact that ros ( 10% of the controller's salary). and little can be done by the world's cona letter to Europe will cost 1 50 Cruzei- troller community, at this present staros ( 1% of the controller's salary). In ge. They are denied the right to strike. comparison. the salary of flight deck b~t should they do so. immediately they personnel. for example a co-pilot of a will be replaced by Air Force personnel. VARIG 727. reaches 160.000 CruzeiThrough this letter. I am confident ros. that is ten times the salary of the that the problems facing colleagues in controller. Brazil are finally revealed to the world. The educational requirements for hoping that IFATCA and THE CONeligibility for someone to become a TROLLER embark into a campaign of controller are the same as those of enlightening world aviation and in partimost other countries; Salaries paid to cular operators flying into Brazil.

Delay to Air Traffic-The Controller's Point of View There is a similar variance internationally A paper presented on behalf of in the standards of training provided for con/FA TCA by P. O'Doherty, Vice-Presi- trollers. their conditions of service and in the dent, Administration at Convex '80. levels of manning provided. National lan-

This presentation is made in response to the Guild's invitation to IFATCA to participate in the scene-setting section of the CONVEX programme. Our brief from the Guild is to speak to the following subject:

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'The effect upon the Controller of the demand exceeding available capacity. including how. with their existing airspace. procedures and equipments. controllers struggle to satisfy the demand.¡ This is a challenging and demanding brief and the Guild must be complimented on the manner in which it has been able to condense almost the entire operational ATC scenario into one single sentence. IFATCA apreciates the opportunity afforded to present the controller's viewpoint to this CONVEX. Whilst we would dearly like to be as brief as the brief itself in our presentation it must be realized that the problems are many and complex and this paper attempts to present them so that they are understood by the whole attendance. and not Just by controllers. The crux of the so-called 'Chaos' problem has been. is. and seems likely to continue to be. shortcomings in the ATC System traffic handling capacity of one sort or another. The System capacity problems generally occur only during peak traffic periods or when technical facility outages or adverse weather conditions reduce normal capacity. They generally also occur only at a relatively small number of airfields and enroute system congestion points. Nevertheless. within any given area of the world the total ATC system can only be as efficient as its weakest link. In some areas such as the USA. Canada and Australia the problem 1s virtually selfcontained and solutions can be determined and implemented on a purely national basis. Because of the venue of this CONVEX this presentation concentrates on the particular problems encountered in the European area

Equipment How different the problem 1s in Europe and how much more complex. The total system in this area comprises a host of interacting. nationally administered ATC subsystems. As far as technical equipment is concerned the degree of soph1st1cat1on vanes between ad1acent States - and between ind1v1dual ATS units within those States. It could be said that 1t goes from the sublime to the ridiculous or from the m1cro-ch1p to the Ald1s Lamp and Verey Pistol.

guage differences further complicate the exchange of data and co-ordination between adjacent national ATC organisations. These language problems are not confined to the Air Traffic Controller - indeed any pilots have some difficulty with the language (English) if there is a major deviation from Standard Phraseology. The only truly common denominators in the total European ATC System may indeed be said to be the Regional ATS Route structure and the basic ICAO procedures and separation criteria applied. Having said all that the fact remains that capacity problems in Europe occur at relatively few and widely scattered airfields and route convergence and crossover points. Nevertheless. particularly during peak periods. these have a knock-on effect throughout the Region and impose a requirement on virtually all other naional ATC organisations in the area to restrict the flow of trafic outbound from their airspace heading for the trouble spot. Let it be quite clear that this situation is just as frustrating for the controllers as it is for passengers. pilots and operators. Let us therefore consider the pos1t1on of the controllers directly responsible for providing ATS to aircraft using the trouble spot airfields and route congestion points who have. as the Guild puts it. to 'struggle to satisfy the demands placed on them'. In general their basic difficulties stem from combinations of various deficiencies in areas such as airport layout and passenger handling. route structure and technical facilities (including radar coverage. and display. automation and communications).

Airports Let's deal first of all with the trouble spot airports. Runway and Taxiway layouts ultimately dictate the traffic handling capacity of any airport and. regrettably. many of those used by the ever increasing hordes of European sunseekers were frankly never designed to cope with the volume of traffic now on offer. These airfields have single runways and lack fast turn-off facilities. Their taxiway systems do not provide the degree of flex1b11ity needed for the control of ground movements to ensure maximum runway utilisation. These defic1enc1es combine to reduce the landing and take-off rates which can be achieved in any weather cond1t1ons. Inadequate apron and passenger handling facilities also lead to congestion on the ground and increased aircraft turn around times. There 1s nothing the controller can do about 1t but make the best of a bad JOb and do his utmost to dispose of his traffic as speedily as possible

To achieve optimum utilisation of runway capacity by both arriving and departing aircraft the accurate positioning and spacing of aircraft on final approach is vital. The quality of the Radar surveillance facilities provided for this purpose is in some cases inadequate. while in other cases no radar of any sort is provided. These deficiencies further reduce the achievable landing and takeoff rates at some heavily used airports and add to the problem for ATC in maintaining an uninterrupted flow of climbing and descending terminal traffic and effecive handoffs to and from the controlling Centre. The end result is that the volume of traffic seeking to land at certain of these airports and at certain times of the day greatly exceeds the ability of ATC to dispose of them. Without some form of strategic regulation of inbound traffic flow rates holding delays would build up and stretch back to the enroute sectors. the ATC system would become clogged and the controllers would slowly become submerged. Scheduling as such can ease. but by no means eradicate. this quart into pint pot situation. As we all know. what happens is that stringent acceptance rates are established for certain trouble spot airports and the buck 1s passed back from Centre to Centre to departure airfields and this is where the aircraft and passengers all sit aroud and wait for their ration number and time to come up.

En-route Let us turn now to the enroute trouble spots. Firstly airspace utilisation aspects there 1s plenty of airspace about - but unfortunately the need to protect passenger carrying aircraft from each other and from other airspace users. in particular Military aircraft. results 1n the channelling of Civil controlled aircraft into narrow corridors which criss-cross each other both within TMAs and in the enroute ATS route network. Traffic heading for the Mediterranean sun spots can be likened to water flowing along a number of tributaries Joining into a main nver. As the volume of water increases 1n the nver. however. it expands and widens and speeds up - Airways don't. Airways also cross each other. which of course rivers don't. The capacity of any airway 1s determined basically by the number of useable cru1s1ng levels and the spacing provided between successive aircraft at each level There is therefore more capacity on oneway only airways (of which we dont have nearly enough) as all levels can be used. The vast maiority of aircraft want to cruise at levels above FL 250 and the doubling of their vertical spacing above FL 290. apart from being 1llog1cal. 1s becoming an ever increasing embarrassment because of the very small number of allocatable levels this makes available. We welcome ICAOs efforts to develop a more rational and less wasteful level allocation system - but regret the lack of pos1t1ve progress so far made. The long1tud1nal spacing of aircraft 1s dependant pnmanly on aircraft nav1gat1onal capability coupled with the technical f ac1li-. ties provided for the controller's use at the enroute centres The standard 10 minute spacing can only be reduced at Centres provided with good Radar coverage. and whose traffic handling capacity 1s proportionately

Contmues on page 42-43 41

4th Pacific Regional Meeting The Harbour Bridge. the Opera House. kangaroos and koalas - Sydney. Australia. Not an antipodean production of la Traviata but th e venue for the Fourth IFATCA Pacific Reg ional Meeting held in the Carlton Rex Hotel in the centre of Sydney. The Regional Meeting for 1 980 was to have been held in Port Vila 1n the New Hebrides. now called Vanuata. but with ironic coincidence with the problems over IFATCA ¡so. civil unrest in the New Hebrides prior to gaining independence caused the venue to be unsui table primarily due to the disruptton to local commercial interests who were sponsoring the ve nture. At the request of our hosts. the New Hebrides A ir Traffic Controllers Assoc1a11on. an informal meeting w as arranged in Sydney to be held just prior to the CAOOAA Convention . This was organised because 1t would reduce the amount of travelling to a minimum as many of the delegates were expected to be 1n Sydney already and this included the president. Harry Henschler In the event the meeting proved smaller than expected even for a hurriedly organised informal meeting. This was primarily due to the old recurring retardent 1n the Pac1f1c. travel problem~ . The Pac 1f1c 1s somewhat unusual compared to most other regions 1n that there are only three fully fledged ATC Associations. two small newly formed emerging associations and th ree sma ll parts of other associations New Zealand. F1J1 and Australia are the established ogan1sat1ons. Vanuata and Papua-New Guinea have new assoc1at1ons and then there are branches of APCA in New Caledonia and Tah1t1 plus a further small group of PATCO members in Pago Pago This small number of controllers relative to the area involved hm1ts act1v111es and It may require ad1ustment to the boundaries to make the area more effectively self-contained In Sydney. New Zea land and PATCO were represented and th ere was a fully brief-

ed proxy from Fiji who were unfortunately unable to attend at the last minute due to the ub1qu1tous travel problems. However. the full Regional Executive was able to attend and there were observers from ROCATCA (Taiwan) and CAOOAA (Australia) Regrettably observers from Japan who had wished to attend were unable to do so as a connecting fl ight could not be arranged to facilitate an arrival early enough to attend the meeting. The work programme was large and varied covering su bjects from internal finance to Pac1f1c Airspace organisation. Thanks mainly to the small size of the meeting. all items were covered in full in two days of deliberations. Resolutions were passed making the stance of the Pacific Region of IFATCA clear to outside organisations and governments on such sub1ects as cooperation between governments and controller organisations on technical matters. staff shortages. industrial action on the part of controllers and the abhorrence controllers in the Pacific felt on hearing of the maltreatment of the contro llers in Uganda. These resolutions were transmitted to the appropriate authorities following the meeting . This being an informal meeting the social programme was not along organised lin es but rather arranged each day to suit those at the meeting. Perhaps lacking in t he prestige of formal lunches and dinners there was nevertheless a spm t of friendship in the social gatherings that will long be remembered! Next year ( 1 981) the Regional Meeting will be held in con1unct 1on with the NZATCA"s Conven11on. ATC ¡s 1. which is to be held in Auc kland Hopefully there will be no last minute changes which will l1m1t the number attending or of 1t being a fully fledged meeting. Surely there cannot be another year like 1 980 - the year of the vanishing venues!

Pac1f1r. Regional Mce11ng Left 10 right (standing) Neil V1lder. Charles Campbel and James Jen. (seated) Alan Roberts Grant Moller Ro bin Soar and Ham Henschler

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From page 41 increased by the provision of sophisticated data handling and display fac11it1es - including. spec ifically. SSR derived labelled radar displays and automated assistance of va rious sorts. Unfortunately it's no good if one Centre provided with sophisticated equipment can increase the flow of traffic on a particularly heavily used route 1f the next receiving Centre 1s operating w ith Iron age facilities and requires increased separation and a lesser flow of t raffic. This situation. though pe rhaps a mite exaggerated. is qu ite w idespread in Europe to day. Achievable capacity on any route 1s therefore constrained to that of the weakest link in the chain of Centres controlling that rou te.

Bottle- necks The m ain practical effect of all this is that certain sections of the European ATS Route structure become bottle-necks. These occur at a few route convergence points. at certain ma1or route cross-over points (at wh ich the capacity of both ro utes is drastically reduced) and at some inter-centre transfer points. To ensure that separation can be mainta ined betw een the flows of traffic 101ning or crossing. and to ensure that the capacity of the con trollers manning the sectors to safely handle the traffic is not exceeded. strategic regulatory action is necessary. So once again the buck 1s passed ba ck down the line to successive Cent res and departure airfields. restrict ions being imposed on the number. spacing and allocatable levels of aircraft heading for the enroute system trouble spots. In many cases the Sta tes concerned have very limited f1nanc1al resources and are either unable o r unwilling to allocate sufficient funds in their national budgets to put things right. This in itself is frustrating to the controllers employed but frequently results in their cond1t1ons of service and professional status being lower than those of controllers 1n other someti m es adJ01n1ng European States. Th is low ering of sta nd ards in regard to Professional Statu s and cond1t1ons can lead to a somewha t reduced commitment from the controller. He becomes frustra ted w it h poor equipment pa rtic ularly when he 1s only too well aware that the onboard equipment of t he aircraft he 1s controlling 1s far superior to his own . Poor Professional Status will also mean that recruitm ent to the profession will be d1ff1cult. A nother resul t of this s1tuat1on may w ell be inadequate levels of m anning and consequent1al controller overloading. Inadequate manning levels are caused by many factors. among which are salary. cond1t1ons of service and of course Recruitment Standards and requirements It will normally be required that applicants for a post of con troller or Trainee Controller w ill have a good knowledge of English Those who have this knowledge might find more lucrative employment and outlets for their talents as teachers or 1n their D1plomat1c Services M ult1-na t1onal compan ies will also be 1n t he market for mult1-l1ngual personnel. Pay and cond1t1ons of service also raise thei r ugly heads The profession is sometimes made unattractive because many States insist on p1tch 1ng controllers into scales of

salary directly comparable to the General Civil Service. A recent meeting of Experts. convened by the ILO. came to the conclusion that the only relativity for controllers should be with the pilot of commercial aircraft. Other conditions of service like pensions and retirement ages cause equal frustation to the controller and he is engaged in a constant battle in an attempt to convince his employer of the need for early retirement a need borne out by medical opinion. Unattractive conditions means inadequate manning and even when extra recruitment does take place there is then the need for training. This further reduces the number of staff available for operational work and further slows down the system while such training is taking place. Even the installation of new and improved equipment sometimes leads to a slowing down because all ATCOs must be made familiar with the operation of such equipment. Overtime is often forced on the controller both because of manpower shortage and in order to supplement an inadequate pay. The cumulative effect of all this is a frustrated. dissatisfied and overworked controller. who is after all a very vital element in the ATC system. While such a situation persists. neither the controller nor the ATC system as a whole can be totally efficient. There is a saying that the bad workman blames his tools. Having listened to the foregoing that may indeed be your initial reaction. It is. however. our contention. if I may here paraphrase a recent BBC programme on aviation entitled 'Diamonds in the Sky', that you can't cut a Diamond with a blunt instrument. and some of the equipment around today definitely qualifies as a blunt instrument.

ATC Systems To a lesser degree frustration is also experienced by controllers at nearly all the other ATS units in Europe. The reason is that though their own national ATC systems may well have the capacity required to let aircraft on offer set off for the trouble spots without significant d~lay they have to impose restrictions on the flow of such traffic. The restrictions are ngid and so complex that many Centres have found it necessary to establish and man special Departure Flow Regulation cells to implement them efficiently. The controllers employed get little sat1sfact1on from the jOb which is a thankless task involving them in a continuous hassle with traffic generating airfields. adjacent centres. pilots and operators. Such frustration is compounded when delays to aircraft are long. The pilots become annoyed because they know that the problems are ground based and possibly a thousand miles away - many pilots would prefer to get off the ground and take the delay in the air. The controller can't let the pilot off because the problem 1s not his to solve. 1t may not even be the problem of an adjacent Centre but may be four or five centres removed. The controller must explain this to the pilot. who in turn must convince his passengers. Such explanations sometimes lead to at least Ribald comment and occasionally to letters to 'The Times¡.

The European Parliament and EUROCONTROL Speaking at the 25th Anniversary of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC). held in Paris early last December. Madame Simone Veil. the President of the European Parliament referred. among others. to the European cooperation in air traffic control and said: The organization of air navigation is another area in which the Europeans are obviously destined to cooperate. The fragmentation of airspace between adjacent States. the utilisation of jet aircraft flying at high speed. and the build-up in traffic have made a coordinated air navigation control system extremely desirable. This was the requirement the International Cooperative Convention for the Safety of Air Navigation. which set up EUROCONTROL in 1960. endeavoured to meet. But although the EUROCONTROL enterprise bears eloquent witness to the need for cooperation felt by Europeans. it also testifies to the extreme difficulties in the way of their unity. After the signature of the Convention. many State acceded to it. illustrating wide awareness of the need to organize air navigation on a European scale and demonstrating the value of EUROCONTROL being set up for the purpose. However. the development of EUROCONTROL soon ran up against the sovereignty of States. which is exercised in the air particularly on the basis of military considerations. For that reason. EUROCONTROL has not produced all the results that could be expected of it. Twenty yaars after the creation of EUROCONTROL. it must be admitted that air traffic control management is still affected by serious shortcomings that are obviously due to the divided state of Europe. These gaps in coverage are so many obstacles to the development of our air transport services. I have no need here to dwell at great length on the effects that the state of air traffic control can have on the safety. the reliability and the cost of transport. Even although the air traffic controllers work out of sight of the publtc - who are really aware of their work only when 1t stops - 1t is upon them that safety depends to a very large extent. This is all the more the case now that air traffic in Europe is becoming increasingly dense. Whatever we expect from air transport by way of a contribution either to the expansion of commerce or to regional development. that contribution can only be made if air transport offers its customers the required reliability. Now. without dwelling upon the indispensable feature of regularity. it appears to me that one of the principal weaknesses of air transport today. in particular on the short and mediumhaul flights which characterize our European network. is still due to the uncertainty affecting flights because we have not yet mastered the weather. Lastly. in a period when fuel represents over a quarter and perhaps soon a third of the cost of transport. the pursuit of energy savings must in particular lead us to optimize air routes from the point of view of fuel

consumption. And from that view point. we must consider as irrational a situation where air routes can be and are. usually for military reasons. much longer than the distance as the crow flies. or are not flown at the best altitude. Thus the strengthening of European cooperation in air navigation matters is an urgent necessity. and the uncertainty affecting the future of EUROCONTROL 1s not of a nature to dispel the fears which the European Parliament made a point of expressing at our last session. by raising the EUROCONTROL problem under emergency procedure. Yet there is no other way out than a European system for managing air traffic movements. along with closer coordination between civil and military air navigation. Although experience. and changing technology. may now lead us to seek adjustments in the way EUROCONTROL operates. for the institution to be called in question would be a serious setback for Europe and would be deeply felt as such. In so taking stock of EUROCONTROL we have perhaps the opportunity to draw a more general conclusion. We should take care not to live our Europe and run 1t in a passive way. on the basis of pattern set up twenty years ago and accepted as 1t were from force of habit. without the 1ntent1on of forging ahead. In time this attitude would drag us down: the process of European construction 1s not in itself irreversible. for 1t assumes an ongoing effort by the Europeans. based on a ioint purpose.

From page 19 attention to the JOb of separating aircraft. If external factors apart from the stress of controlling traffic. begin to distract the controller (threat of firing. inadequate income. etc.) then trouble lies ahead. Gladimir Tas1c was distracted from his duty by similar factors (equipment. staffing. compensation) when in 19 7 6 he was the controller on duty in Zagreb at the time of the tragic mid-air collision. No single factor in itself contributed to that accident. only a combination of circumstances. In my opinion. those same general circumstances exist today in most ATC systems around the world. It 1s only for us to wonder. who amongst us will be next. It is my conclusion then that s1gnif1cant advances must be made in all of the areas I have described 1f we are to look to an improved ATC system At this time I have little reason to be hopeful for any improvement.

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When Demand Exceeds Capacity by Bernhard W. Heinz

Air traffic demand frequent ly exceeds the capac1t1es of air traffic control systems and ma1or airports in many parts of Europe especially during the tourist seasons. This interferes w1th the overall flow of air traffic causes inconvenience for air travellers with delayed or cancelled flights and results in inefficiency and mounting costs for aircraft operators Apart from unpredictable events such as. industrial action by ATC personnel o r equipment and syste m failures t hese air traff ic flow problems are mainly the result of serious deficiencies both 1n the technical infrastruct ure as well as in the fields of proced~ral arrangements. principally caused by t e different levels of technology between the l~arious national ATC systems in use. past years seasonal flow control ;neasures have been developed especially ~r these peak air traffic periods to resolve t e ca paci ty problems in the European airspace such as. the establishment of schemes for the assignmen t of routings and 11 ~gh t levels which help to distribute the flow 0 air traffic more evenly between the d1fferehnt places of origin and dest1nat1ons Furl ermore pe 路 rmanent week-end or temporary air routes have been also established to reduce trail 1 'b c unching路 and densi ty of the regular air of route system or to allow by-pass a~ea s of frequent congestion. man~~ ~~h the continuously 1ncreas1ng deures h~ve ese seaso nal flow control measthe h become insuff1c1ent because of wh ~n erent inflex1bil1ty of the schemes 01 ;~e restricts the aircraft to the availability der th assigned air routes. as re-routings unfic ult ~o conditions of dense air traffic are d1f1ty Potenct~a~rd1nate Furthermore . full capacalternate air routes may not b e availablesaof th es in th s is depends on the increase capac ities of part icula r ATC-units or o n the mea trol serv c ns in which the air t raffic con1 es are provided As air routes b lays bee ecome sat urated and deflow co n~~~ excessive. national air traffic 0 路c e ll s' acilities. or at least flow control in ma1or air traffi c control centers assist their ATC b 路 -units Y 1mplem ent1 ng 1f necessa ry add1t1onal flig ht acceptance. restric11o ns wh ic h red h uce t e vo lume of air traffic Co ord 1nat1on and ad vance notice are required 10 enabl e o ther ATC -units and operators o nc-erned 10 p la n alternate co urses of I< i1ori hu1 lhese add111ona1 restrictions are 1fte11 1ss11erl without sufl1c 1ent prior notice 14

due to unforseen traffic developments o r they are inadequately coordinated and fragmented between the many 'islands' of flow cont rol facilities and 'cells' involved. which interferes severely with the overall flow of air traffic and reduces other ATC capacities significantly. That portion of air traffic which constitutes t he overload proble m must normally be held when in fl ight as re-routings are limited . and a re lease for take-off can be gran ted only when suff1c1ent capacity is available aga in to accept the flight o n its assigned air route through the congested area to arrival at the dest1na11on airport. Attributed 'timeslots'. which allow take-off or a 'pass-over' of specifi c po ints. wi ll control strict adherence to the fltght pa th assigned assu ring acceptance and further fltghl progress. However. one of the prerequ1s1tes prior to the 1mplementat1on of any flow control measures is the assessment of system capacity in o rder to determine wh ich sectors or ai r routes are overloaded. While the capacity of m aio r airports has been established and schedu ling of departures and arrivals arranged accordingly. little has been achieved on t he determ1nat1on of sector and route capac ities. This importan t eva luation 1s sub1ect to na tio nal cons1derat1on and to different meth ods of calcu lation So. 1f flow control measures are impl em ented. they generally do not reflec t ac tual traffic s1tua t1ons and. the refore. do not normally recog nize the consequences for other ATC-units and operators concerned. Considering th e present tech nica l def1c1enc1es. 1ncompat1b11it1es and administrative problems of the various ATC systems in Europe. an improvem ent of this situation 1s Bernard Heinz

Jetltners queueing up - an everyday event at ma1or airports around the world. basically within direct governm ent control. As ' islands' of flow control as well as ' islands' of automa tion can no longer be accepted. governments m ust first take necessary action to improve the situation by ensuring that their ATC systems are worki ng to optimum ell1c1ency especia lly d uring periods of peak air traffic demands.

European Air Traffic Flow Management Center Howeve r. 1t 1s apparent that the overall fl ow of air traffic would sti ll req u ire management to el1m1natt: or reduce excessive delays. and that the rule ' first come first served ' ca n no longer be applicable when ATC systems or airports are overloaded. An effective solu tio n would be the establishment of an European air traffic flow management center Th is center would aid and support ATC decisions in the regulatio n of the overall flow of air traffic. either on the air route system so as to reta in its rate within the ATC system s capac1t1es available. or 1n balancing th e demands against the capac ities of the airports so as to avoid airport ove rloads This wou ld not entail new ru les or procedures which int erfere with the sepa ration of aircraft. but wou ld rather utilize those flow control measures which exist 1n a more flexib le. coordinated and effec tive manner covering as large a volume and area of air traffic act 1v1ty as possible to maintain safety. efficiency and economy Based o n detailed forecasts of expec ted traffic along the preferred air routes and o n advance planning of the traffic flows based on such forecasts. this European ce nter wou ld be able to determine the overall and the spec1f1c traffic demands Being sufficiently aware of the present stat us of the different fac il111es and capaci ties provided. 11 would . alte r appraisal of possib le capacity problem s regarding the planned ope rat ions. 1nd1cate to those ATC -u nits concerned potenti al overload s1tuat1ons w ith suff1c 1en t advance notice To assu re optimum util1za t1on o f th e airspace and of ai r traffic handling capac1t 1es 1t would propose and coordinate those flow control m easures required whic h co uld be applied best For example scheduling of

planned aircraft operations could be coordinated and a flexible assignment of optimum air routes and/or flight levels could be used between the different places of origin and the destination araes for those flights which constitute a congestion problem. Furthermore. based on the continuous assessment of the actual overall traffic situation on the preferred air route system. those ATC-units would be advised. in addition. to take executive action in those cases where the original measures proposed would be insufficient. as for example. by suggesting known alternative routings to the optimum routes. or by issuing 'timeslots' on oriented routes to individual flights. Finally. based on contingency plans. unpredictable events such as. industrial action by ATC personnel and equipment or system failures. could be coped with assuring that these do not interfere with the overall European system capacity.

National Air Traffic Flow Regulation Interchange System Besides the necessity of a flexible distribution of the overall flow of air traffic to avoid traffic accumulations within the European airspace. there is the need to establish 'liaison links' with those ATC-units for which this European air traffic flow management canter would provide its services. These links. which form among one another the national air traffic flow regulation interchange system (NATFRIS}. would maintain continuous interchange between their ATC-units served and the European flow management center. They must report latest information on the actual traffic situation within their area. or advise their units on those executive actions proposed as to how the specific flow control measures received could best be applied. But delays are also imposed on the¡ air route system when airports are overloaded due to 'bottlenecks' in the terminal areas at both ends. if the interrelationship between the distribution of flights on the air route system and the acceptance rates of the terminal areas is inadequate. Therefore. NATFRIS would also be responsible to adjust the traffic flow rates in the terminal areas to airport capacity during periods when demand exceeds capacity. In those cases. NATFRIS would either issue arrival time reservations for the terminal areas in response to the European flow management canter or. after coordination with this center. departure time reservations 1n response to operators requests. While the terminal areas would receive these times issued by NATFRIS in form of traffic list information. they would return actual runway utilization rates back to NATFRIS. In this way the runway utilization scheduling process would work dynamically in that the rates issued for scheduling could be adiusted to those actually achieved in the terminal areas or on the air route system Available capacities could be used to a maximum and. therefore. airspace overloads with lengthy 'in-flight' holdings would be avoided Finally. NATFRIS would offer a flow control 1nformat1on service. This service would provide information to operators affected re-

garding flow control measures alredy implemented. and on short term prediction or on general delay situations in the air route network. and it would. at the same time. assist in the planning of alternate courses of action. It is understood. of course. that each air traffic control center will continue to monitor air traffic density on the sector basis. and that local flow regulation will be done within these units taking into account the many local factors involved.

Conclusion It has been recognized that air traffic flow management in the European airspace is necessary. This. however. can not be accomplished by a multitude of national flow control facilities or ¡cells' requiring their ATC-units to distribute flight restrictions which are uncoordinated with those issued in adjacent areas or with affected operators concerned. European air traffic flow management would not be involved in the separation of aircraft. which must always lay in the hands of air traffic control. but a centralized organization is required which would receive details on demand and capacities and. after overall assessment. would advise on how a maximum of efficiency could be maintained. The present air traffic control situation in Europe is safe. but the price which has to be paid for its incompatibilities in terms of punctuality and fuel consumption is high. And soon or later the continuous increase in air traffic demand will eventually exceed that point where a further increase in the capacities of ATC systems provided will only be obtainable through enormous costs which would no longer justify those improvements achieved.

ICAO Panel develops outlines for future Area Forecast System Following three years of study and factfinding. including v1s1ts to some 90 States by experts from ICAO Regional Offices. a further significant phase was completed last January in the review of the ICAO Area Forecast system. The most important result of the first meeting of the ICAO Area Forecast Panel (Montreal. 7-25 January) 1s a blueprint for a new area forecast system intended to meet the needs of operators and pilots dunng the coming years through a new and imaginative approach. combining the successful features of the ICAO Area Forecast System with some of those of the World Meteorological Organization's World Wheather Watch. Panehsts agreed that creation of two to three world area forecast centres and some eight regional area forecast centres would meet the requirements for global computer data. in particular by the increasing number of airlines which prepare flight plans central-

ly by computer as well as the more limited needs in this respect of air traffic control computers. It also would provide the basis for meeting the needs of many pilots and operators who probably would continue to prepare flight plans centrally by computer as well as the more limited needs in this respect of air traffic control computers. It also would provide the basis for meeting the needs of many pilots and operators who probably would continue to prepare flight plans manually. as well as fulfilling the needs of pilots for flight documentation. Full implementation of such a new area forecast system would take considerably time and its ultimate success hinges primarily on the availability of efficient communications. especially those communications required to enable the transmission of the large volume of meteorological data required for global flight planning. A comprehensive report on the Area Forecast System (comprising some 120 pages of text. tables. examples of area forecast charts and of flight documentation for pilots based on area forecasts) has been consolidated. reviewed by all States and international organizations concerned. and updated in the light of the corrections and comments received. The final version will be published in the near future as a new ICAO circular. Based on this backgroud material and. in particular. on contributions by the States which provide the existing 1 7 area forecast centres and by States using their outputs. the ICAO Area Forecast Panel was able to study the future requirements to be met by the ICAO Area Forecast System and to 1dent1fy problems and improvements needed in the present network. The meeting was also able to prepare an outline of solutions for these problems aimed at creating a more eff1c1ent. uniform and economical system. Seven elements for the 1mplementat1on of an updated system were of particular concern to the Panel: adequate route coverage. especially for long-distance routes; avoidance of unnecessary duplication of area forecasts and rat1onalizat1on of the number of area forecast centres; uniformity of chart content and format use of plain language and of coded forecasts; dissemination of area forecasts by means of facsimile and other communication methods; use of area forecasts as flight documentation; and provision of area forecasts as gnd-point data 1n d1g1tal form for direct computer use The panel established two working groups to carry out further work on these sub1ects. transforming the outlines of solutions into proposals for amendments to regulatory documents. for new or amended guidance material and for related spec1t1c recommendations The outcome 1s expected to be reviewed by a second meeting of the Panel. tentatively foreseen for January 1981. appropriate parts will be submitted to a world-wide D1v1s1onal Meeting currently expected to be convened 1n Montreal in the third-quarter of 1981. 1n part con1omtly with the World Meteorological organization

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Letter to the Editor Dear Mr Avgoustis. I am referring to the publication of articles on 'Aeronautical Information Data Subsystems (AIDS)' in THE CONTROLLER (issue 3/ 79) and in the ICAO Bulletin and kindly ask you to publish the following general comments relating to the subject.

Aeronautical Information Data Subsystems in Air Navigation (AIDS) An operational study on aeronautical information data. their sources. users and characteristics was performed in 1979/

1980. The study contains information on operational reasons of users for aeronautical information data (AID). on 54 different users of information data. on the possible integration of AIDS into air navigation services systems. a description of 1 6 7 different types of information data. their classification into static. semi-dynamic and dynamic type as well as 7 operational categories. on airspace user. air navigation services and other av1at1on personnel requirements. This information includes the sources of the data and reasons. why end users need them for fulfilment of their operational functions. An AIDS should finally become the motor and data carrier of the whole air navigation services system. Many air navigation services organizations face an extension or upgrading of their present data communication subsystem. including AFTN. Most of these ask for some AIDS functions already. They. however. do not realize their own full requirements. AIDS involves the construction of an air nav1gat1on services internal information data base for internal and external use {viewdata. airspace users before flight) of internally and externally produced information data. Its maior component 1s a data bank. which holds all current information data. Such a data bank allows the proper functioning of the data switching and processing machine in the operational sense. which constitutes the data communication subsystem motor of the whole system. The advantage worldwide will be that AIDS allows data exchange from system to system and from country to country ICAO worldwide without data conversion. The air nav1gat1on world becomes well aware that an AIDS like function 1s a maior requirement today and tor the future. These requirements can be taken from IFALPA and ICAO recommendations. The different users groups have. however. different requirements. Fuel consumption. prices and growing user charges for air nav1gat1on fac1llt1es are pushing the airlines to calculate more stringent budgets in the coming years'. Airlines require more service. because e>f higher charges. e.g. a better air nav1gat1on service with more information available to them. On the other side an AIDS connection for flight planning purposes could cut airline personnel costs in data compiling functions. An AIDS function within the air nav1gat1on services system 1s also overdue. The s1tuat1on within this field has deteriorated in

46

the last years in such a manner that even air navigation services administrative personnel became aware of the problems. whereas before only operations personnel complained about the lack of current. conclusive and correct data. Air navigation services system planners try to fulfil internal operational requirements for data handling. correlation and presentation with 'centralization' by use of automated data processing machinery to make the systems路 operation more efficient and economic. The requirements within the system for current. reliable and conclusive information data will further grow. It has a great affect on controller capacity and a direct bearing on the possible control load of airspace sectors. Information data are presently not handy. not conclusive. often not current and are mostly not compiled in one place. Data are derived from different cources. not centralized and will be amended by hand. An AIDS function could speed up this process and make it reliable. Some organizations try to solve these problems in a humble way. e.g. by using diapositive projector slides and similar equipment (CCTV). A special aspect is the flight inf~rmation service. They are obliged to relay information to aircraft in flight and therefore need operational data immediately. Other aviation facilities hke rescue coordination centres and air defense un.it~ urgently require pre-sorted data from c1v1I system sources for their own operat~ons. . Air traffic management and air traffic flow control units cannot function properly without current data. Air traffic flow control today is only of a passive type and can_not predict fast enough into the 1mmed1ate future with current and correct data on the progress of flights in the various systems. General aviation operators are to be considered the largest user group besides the airlines. since they do not maintain common data bases to fulfil the same requirements than the airlines. They need an externally usable tool like AIDS to save time and money. Therefore AIDS type developments already took place in many countries. MAPS and AWANS as well as JETPLAN in the USA and OIDS in Canada are just a few examples with great potentials to grow into an AIDS. These developments. however. constitute only partial realizations of an AIDS because they do not use a common data bank. make their data only available to a certain user group. do not allow data correlation and receive their data from various sources. Development of AIDS should begin now. because pure AFTN switching systems will not fulfil air navigation services operational requirements in the future. Also isolated handling of data in air navigation services subsystems. like flight plan and flight progress data or Radar subsystems. will not allow eff1c1ent operation of the overall system Centralization of air navigation services subsystems路 operation and data handling is new to almost all air traffic control systems. 1.e. subsystem interfacing and thereby data correlation. but is required for the fulfilment

of present airspace user and future DABS/ ADSEL requirements. The argument should be 'more data. current. conclusive and reliable in a quicker way and by saving money for other subsystems. such as notices to airmen and weather'. One can say that all air navigation services systems require operational AIDS capabilities in one form or another depending on the system generation. Especially future operational capabilities of discrete address beacon systems (SSA) like DABS/ ADS EL could be greatly enhanced by an AIDS. AIDS in its ultimate form as data carrier and motor of the whole system would form the basis for a functioning and efficient DABS. because it would make all data available for internal and external transmission to users before and during flight. People in air navigation develop a feeling for this necessity. but do not yet realize the real value. necessity and potential. Yours sincerely. L. Abelshauser Member

1980 Worst Aviation Year: Hammarskjold Knut Hammarskjold. director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). told airline executives gathered for the organization路 s annual meeting in Montreal that 1 980 is expected to be the bleakest year economically in international aviation history. He called 1979 a 'profitless growth' year. claimed 'there is worse to come'. The trade executive pointed to a combination of recession. inflation. rising fuel costs. and a market 'distorted' by uncoordinated regulatory policies and erratic currency developments. as causes in his report on the state of the industry. Goal of a 1 3% investment return set by airlines in 1979 was reduced to 2. 1% before interest charges were paid. the report disclosed. This cut return to -1.6% on investment and -1 % on revenue. IATA President Claude Taylor. Air Canada chief executive. pointed to the possibility of some private carriers going bankrupt and state- owned carriers requiring larger subsidies because heavy losses have 路overburdened' them with debt. Taylor said the major problem was one of satisfying passenger demand for cheap travel while costs were going up. and price-cutting to retain or improve market share. He said airlines from developing countries (more than half of the world's carriers) feared losses due to developing competition which. in combination with recession. is strong 'impediment' to U.S. open competition policy. Newly elected president of IATA is Pierre Giraudet. chairman of Air France.

Membership

Benefits

SEE REVERSE SIDE

NOT TRANSFERABLE

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATIONS

List of Hotels granting discounts to IFATCA members upon production of their valid membership card AUSTRIA Parkhotel. Graz Hotel Maria Theresia. Innsbruck Hotel Europa. Innsbruck Hotel Tyrol and Touringhaus. Innsbruck Holiday Inn. Innsbruck Hotel Tourotel. Linz Hotel Sportklause N iederau-Wildschonau. Tirol CYPRUS Amathus Beach Hotel. Limassol Appolonia Hotel. Limassol Paphos Beach Hotel. Paphos Dionyssos Hotel. Paphos CANADA Seaway Hotels: Montreal. Toronto. Ottawa. Halifax. Kingston Hyatt Regency: Montreal. Vancouver. Vancouver Airport Hilton Canada: The Oueen Elizabeth Montreal. Airport Hilton Montreal. Toronto Airport. Harbour Castle Hilton Toronto. Quebec Hilton. Vancouver Hilton Hotel Loews La Cite. Montreal DENMARK Hotel Mercur. Copenhagen Hotel Richmond. Copenhagen Hotel Du Nord Greena. Greena ENGLAND The Churchill. London The London Ryan Hotel FIJI Fiji Mocambo Hotel. Nadi lnt'I Airport FRANCE Holiday _Inns: Paris Orly Airport. Roissy Airport. Avignon. Lille Lesquin. Lille Macq en Baroeul. Lyon. Strasbourg HOLLAND Hotel Krasnapolsky. Amsterdam Hotel Ibis. Amsterdam-Airport ICELAND Loftle1dir Hotel. Reykjavik IRELAND International Airport Hotel. Dublin The Gresham Hotel. Dublin Blooms Hotel. Dublin The Killarney Ryan Hotel The Limerick Ryan Hotel The Galway Ryan Hotel The Yeats Country Ryan Hotel The Westport Ryan Hotel KENYA Hotels & Lodges of African Tours and Hotels Ltd. South Coast Hotels Two Fishes & Trade Winds North Coast Hotels Mombasa Beach. Mnarani Hotel. Whispering Palms Satan Lodges Kilaguni. Ngulia. Voi. Meru Mulika. Mountain Lodge. Marsabit. Hunters Lodge M1limani Hotel. Na1rob1 Grosvenor Hotel. Nairobi Sunset Hotel. Lake Victoria Tea Hotel. Kencho Mt. Elgon Lodge

MEMBERSHIP-CARD VALID UNTIL

JUNE1983 THE HOLDER OF THIS CARD IS AN INDIVIDUAL MEMBER OF IFATCA

LUXEMBOURG Holiday Inn. Luxembourg Hotel Empire. Luxembourg MEXICO Hotel Las Hamacas. Acapulco Acapulco Imperial NETHERLANDS ANTILLES Holiday Beach Hotel. Curacao NEW CALEDONIA Hotel le Nouvata. Noumea Noumea Hotel. Noumea NEW ZEALAND Hotel Chateaux Commodore. Christchurch Colonial Inn Motel. Christchurch Ambassador Travel Hotel. Wellington South Pacific Motor Inn. Lower Hutt The City Hotel. Dunedin Angus Inn Motor Hotel. Hastings Bungalow Tourist Hotel. Rotorua Travelodge Australia Ltd all Travelodges and Parkroyals throughout the South Pac1f1c PERU Hotel Crillon. Lima PORTUGAL Lisboa Penta Hotel. Lisboa Balaia Penta Hotel. Albufeira. Algarve SEYCHELLES Reff Hotel. Mahe SPAIN Penta Club. Ibiza Sun Club Bungalows. Playa del Ingles & Maspalomas SRI LANKA Hotel Lanka. Obero1. Colombo SWITZERLAND Hotel d'Auteuil. Geneva Holiday Inn. Zunch-A1rport Holiday Inn. Zunch-Regensdorf TUNISIA Hotel Les Orangers. Hammamet TOGO Hotel De la Pa1x. Lome USA International 6 Motel. Disneyland Anaheim Detailed information as to rates and hotel addresses are available at the IFATCA Secretariat and will be provided to interested members on request

47

THE

CONTROL OF AIR TRAFFIC

Now. at last. a book has been written which describes in fascinati ng detail the story of Air Traffic Control and how it works. Few are better qualified to tell this story than the Author-Arnold Field. Following wartime service in the Royal Air Force. Arnold Field spent his en tire career in Air Traffic Control and laid down the very foundations of the modern system. To many people in aviation Arnold Field is the father of British ATC. eventually becoming the Director General responsible for the operational efficiency of the United Ki ngdom Air Traffic Services. The Author served also as president of IFATCA for two years (197011971) and chaired many technical meetings at IFATCA's Annual Conferences. He cha ired IFATCA's Standing Committee I. which deals basically with technical matters. from its inception until his retirement from active Civil Aviation Service. Since retirement the Author has remained closely in touch with the world of ATC and is cu rrently a consultant to a major electronics company specialising in the manufacture of air traffic control equipment. The step by step narrative approach of this book commends it as compu lsGry reading for all engaged in the aviation profession and supporting industries. It will be of particular help to the student pilot. both military and civil. and provide a grounding in the subiect that wi ll be useful throughout a career. It wi ll also serve as a useful reminder of many details for the older pilot who can become just a little bit wiser after reading this book. The Author ha s displayed his deep appreciation and understanding of this complex subiect by an in terpretation 1n understandable English and with an absence of technical iargon. This has resulted 1n a book which will have equal appeal to the aviation enthusiast and the curious passenger. It wi ll also inform and entrance the armcha ir trave ller who has never really understood how aeroplanes can fly all over the world 1n all kinds of weather safely and with little apparent effort.

Important Notice to Subscribers All subsc riptions will have to be renewed w ith the new printing house. If you haven't done so as yet thro ugh the Managing Ed itor. fill the below form 1mmed1ately and matl it to th e Subscription Service, THE CONTROLLER,

5 Athens St. Ay. Dhometios- Nicosia, Cyprus. Please send me THE CONTROLLER for one year by surface mail I airmail (please indicate). Rates are SFr 8 .- fo r m embers of IFATCA. SFr. 20 .- for non-members. Postage wi ll be cha rged extra according t o the tariff in use . Subsc riptio ns not c ancelled three months prior t o termination o f a calender year. will automatically be extended for another year Name

48

Corporate Members of IFATCA AEG-Telefunken, Frankfurt a. M., Germany AM ECON Division. Litton Systems. College Park, USA ANSA. Advisory Group Air Navigation Services, Westerngrund, Germany Cable & Wireless Ltd., London. England CAE Electronics Ltd., Montreal, Quebec. Canada Cardion Electronics, Woodbury, N.Y., USA Computer Sciences Europe SA. Brussels, Belgium Cossor Radar and Electronics Ltd .. Harlow, England Dansk lmpulsfysik A.S., Holte, Denmark Datasaab AB. Jarfalla, Sweden Decca Software Sciences Limited, London, England Dictaphone Corporation. USA ELECMA Divisions Electronique de la SNECMA. Suresnes. France E-Systems. Montek Division, USA Ferranti Limited, Bracknell, Berks., England Goodwood Data Systems Ltd., Ontario Canada Ground Aid Group, Esbjerg, Denmark International Aeradio Ltd .. Southall. England International Air Carrier Association, Geneva, Switzerland ITT Gilfillan. USA Jeppesen & Co. GmbH., Frankfurt, Germany Lockheed Aircraft Service Company, Ontario, California 91 7 61. USA Lockheed Electronics Company, Inc., Plainfield. N.J .. USA The Marconi Radar Systems Ltd., Chelmsford. England M.B.L.E., Brussels. Belgium The Mitre Corporation. Mclean, Virginia. USA N.V. Hollandse Signaalapparaten. Hengelo. Netherlands N.V. Philips Division ELA. Eindhoven. Netherlands Philips Telecommunicatie lndustrie B.V., Hilversum. Netherlands The Plessey Company Limited. Weybridge. Surrey. England Racal Recorders Limited, Southampton, England Raytheon Canada Ltd., Canada Gustav A. Ring A/S. Oslo. Norway Sanders Associates, Inc., Nashua, USA Schmid Telecommunication. Switzerland Selenia - lndustrie Elettroniche Associate S.p.A., Rome. Italy SEL - Standard Elektrik Lorenz. Stuttgart 70, Germany Societe Artistique Fram;aise. Paris. France Societe d'Etudes & d'Entreprises Electriques. lssy Les Moulineaux. France Sodern, Limeil Brevannes. France Sofreavia. Paris. France Software Sciences Ltd .. Farnborough, England Sperry Univac. Sulzbach/ls., Germany & St.Paul, Minnesota. USA TERMA Elektronik AS, Lystrup, Denmark Thomson - CSF. Paris. France Ulmer Aeronautique. Clichy. France VWK - Ryborsch GmbH. Germany Westinghouse Electric Corporation. USA The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers¡ Assoc1at1ons would like to invite all corporations. organizations. and inst1tut1ons interested in and concerned with the maintenance and promotion of safety in air traffic to iom their organization as Corporate Members. Corporate Members support the aims of the Federation by supplying the Federation with technical 1nformat1on and by means of an annual subscnpt1on. The Federation's 1nternat1onal 1ournal 'The Controller' is offered as a platform for the discussion of technical and procedural developments in the field of air traff 1c control

STILL USING FIRST GENERATION ATC EQUIPMENT? Pron•dural

Watch supervisor. trying to decipher recently arrived flight plan

CtJntrol (no r.idar l

Preparing flight

:-.!OTA:Vb MET n·rort-

-

progress strips

(strip printer)

-

Briefing desk with All'&NOTAMs

ATC centre in the old days7-0f course not - it's a printing office in the 16th century.

No reason.

Automated Air Traffic Control systems used to be some thing for big airports and resourceful administrations only. Only they had the knowledge and money to specify a nd buy them and the skilled staff to operate and keep them running. Not so any more. In these days of soa ring aircraft opera ting costs you will be surprised to fi nd that prices of modern . reliable ATC systems-probably the most efficient tool for reducing flying times - are in fact going down . And they are as easy to maintain as to operate. Reason: standardization.

Introducing Datasaab's AIRWATCH Automated ATC systems Oatasaab's new series of AIRWATCH systems-based on many years' experience from tailor-made centres-are designed to suit a ll types of traffic and environment. AIRWATCH standardization also means modularization, a llowing adaptation to specific needs and ensu ring system expa nsion at low cost as traffic grows. Ail{ WATCH systems ra nge trom a single l'PI syst.em

to l ar~e centres. They feature raw . synthetic or mi x·

cd presentation of !'SR and SSI{ signals lrom one or more ra<lar stations and numerous controller faci lities . including full labels. • AIRWATCH 1000 is an autonomous. low-cost rau ar Ji splay system with a built-in micro-processor. It is designed tor small ATC centres and control towers.

• AIRWATCH 2000 is designed for small and me-. dium sized centres. Dual computers. operating m 4

parallel . provide very high reliability . . • AIRWATCH 3000 is desig ned for medium to largesizcd ATC centres. System architectu;..r•:_i_:_s_ex_t_re_m_e_,ly'--- - - - - - - . , fl exible. Outstanding operational tea tures include tra cking ot all

l

~~- -~

J

types ol Hight and mosaic presen....,..~ ta t ion Crom mult iple radar sources. '--- - -:-- - - - -- -- - joint ly owned b y the Swedish Government and Saab-Scan ia AB

For more information con tact: Da lasab AB , Interactive Data Systel)ls, S-17586 Jarfal la, Sweden. Tel. Int

+ 46 8 36 2800 •Telex 17892 datsaab s