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IFATCA JOURNAL OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

THE CONTROLLER Bern, Switzerland, September, 1985

Publi sher: International Federation of Air Traffic Controll ers· Associations. P 0. Box 1 g6. ·CH- 12 1 5 Geneva 15 Airport. Switzerland

Volume 2 4 · No. 3

In this issue

Officers of IFATCA: HH. Henschler. President. Lex Hendriks. Vice- President (Technical) . E. Sermijn . VicePres1den t (Professiona l). U. Windt. Vice- Presiden t (Administration). B. Greze t. Treasurer. P. o·Doherty.

Executive Secretary Ed itor: A . Avgousti s 5 Athen s Street 1 72 Nicos ia. Cyprus Telephone (72) 44 87 86 Management and Advertising Sales Office: The Controller . P.O. Box 1 g5.

CH-1 21 5 Geneva 1 5 Airport. Swi tzerland H.U. Heim . Subscriptions and Publicity Tel . (022) 82 26 7g .

M . Henchoz. Account ing. Tel. (022) g2 56 82 8 . Laydevan t. Sales Promotion . Tel. (022) 82 7g 83

B. Rut hy w rit es o n IFA TCA's 2 5 yea rs

page 2

Production 'Der Bund· . Verlag und Druckerei AG Effingerstrasse 1. CH -3001 Bern .

Telephon e (031) 25 66 55 Subscriptions and Advertising Payments to : IFATCA/ The Controller . Union de Banques Suisses P.O. Box 237 CH - 1 21 5 Geneva Airport. Switzerland Acc . No. 602 254 .MD L Subscription Rate: SF rs. 20.- per annum (4 issues). plus postage and package : Surfacemail: Europe and Medit erranean countries SF rs. 4 .2 0 . oth er countries SFrs. 5.40.

Airm ai l: Europe and Medit erranean countries SFrs . 6 .20. other countri es SFrs . 10.60.

Spec ial subsc ripti on rate for Ai r Traffi c Controllers. c.ont ri but ors are ex pressi ng their person al points of view and opinions. w hi ch .may not necessarily coincide w ith those of the Intern ational Federation of Air Traffic Controll ers· Associati ons (IFATCA).

IFATCA does .not assume responsibility for stateme n.t s made .and opinions .expressed. it does only acce pt respons1bil1ty for publi shing th ese c ontribution s. c.ont ributions are welcome as are c omm ent s and criti cism . No payment .ca n .be made for manuscripts submitted for publicati on in ·The Controller'. The Editor reserves .the rig ht to make any ed itorial cha nges in manusc ri pts. whi ch .he beli eves will improve the material w ithout alt ering the int ended mea ning .

Writt en perm iss ion by the Editor is necessary for repri nting any part of thi s Journal.

Advertisers in this issue: Ericsson. Ferranti. Thomson CSF Marconi. Selenia. · Photos: A.A. Archives. Hiro Tade Cartoons: M artin Germans THE CONTROLLER /S EPTEMBER 198 5

Frank M . H e in write s on the German Air Rescue Corps page 16

Editorial 25 years IFATCA . What does thi s Silver Anniversa ry of our Federation signify. what does it mea n to th e profess ion . to t he Member As sociation s. to th e individu al members?

No doubt all of us have our persona l m emori es and th oughts for thi s past qua rter century . in Federati on term s it means a great number of ac hi evem ents.

Th e growth of I FATCA. fo r in st ance. from twe lve Found er Mem bers to five times th at number: t he support by I FAT CA and its M ember Assoc iat ion s to controll ers in sm aller. less deve loped countri es in

constituting and sustaining the ir ow n nationa l associatio ns: the ever-increa si ng acceptance of our Federation as the only international voice of the air tra ff ic controller profession : the accepted cooperation w it h other international aviat ion bodies from ICAO through IFALPA t o IATA and others: the success in ma king known and understood the unique feature s and requ ireme nts of the profession: th e dee pening exchange of views between controllers and the equipment manufa ct urers. the Corporate Members .

How cou ld all this developmen t and growth be su stained . how could t he aim s and objectives laid down by IFATCA' s founders. and the assoc iated ta sks. be achieved?

This was and is only possible t hrou gh the committed and unselfish wo rk of a great number of volu nteers who. thro ughout the years. have accepted tasks of va rious natures on beh alf of I FATCA. All position s in t he Federation are filled by air t ra ffi c con t rollers and t hey all. past and present . deserve ou r thanks. The position s range from t he elected. such as members of th e Exec utive Boa rd and Coun c il th rough th e appo inted such as the Execut ive Sec retary. Editor and the various Liai son Offi cers. Togeth er w ith t he Chairmen and members of the IFATCA Standing Committees. with individual controllers w ho voluntee r t heir expertise on ad-hoe Comm ittees . t he IFATCA structure has evolved into a very effecti ve m ach inery w hi c h . rel yin g o n vo lu nt ee r m anpower and experie nce. is able to tack le and provide answers to any pro blem of concern to air traffi c controll ers.

A s always. however. the strength and success of the Federation is determined by its M em be r Associat ions who direct I FATCA' s efforts t hrough th eir involvement and co ncern for its we ll-being.

If a hope may be expressed for the next 2 5 years of I FAT CA it is that the number of M em ber Assoc iat ions wil l cont inue to grow. t hat we w ill be able to remain clear of po litical interference and dedicated to our profession . that this profession will be properly recognized in the very near future everywhere in the world. and that dedicated control lers wi ll continue to offer their services . time and effort for the betterment of all the world. s controllers and the international aviation system.

H. H. Hensch ler . PreSident

25 Years IFATCA The Story of a Childhood and Youth

by B. RUthy * The following article is the first of four parts that will review the history _of the first 25 years of IFATCA. It will be continued over the next 3 issues of The Controller '.

B. Ruthy Inception Although some air traffic se rvices organizations around the world can look back on many more years of tradition it is safe to say that before the second world war they basically operated a communicat ion s service providing information to pilots and receiving reports on the progress of flight to be forwarded to the operator. Pilots took decisions as to the route of flight. the levels to be fl own at etc. without referring to ground services.

They main ly used these services for approach in margina l weathe r. M F direction finders were the most advanced means of assista nce from ground .

· Bernha rd Ruthy is one of the ·1athers· of IFATCA. Born in 1931 he started work first as a radi o operator in aeronautical telecommunications in the Swiss Air Nav19at1on Services (Radio-Su isse Ltd .) in 194 9 after graduating from a specia lized School for Public and Transport Services. In 1953 he became assista nt cont roller in Zurich ACC and in 195 7 obtained his li cence as TWR and APP controller at Zurich airport. In 1966 he was transferred to Radio-Suisse head· quarters where. in 19 70 he was put in cha rge of training for operational staff. In 1 gso he was promoted head. operations division of Radio-Su isse·s Air Navigation Services Branch . Sin ce 1959 he has always been active in one function or another for IFATCA and is therefore 1n an excellent position to review the first 25 years of the Federat1on·s history

2

in th e worldwide air transport system . They were so busy negotiating on the national level that it took some time until they thought of talking to each other international ly. In fact it took almost 1 5 years _A few indi vidu_a ls. however, had bee.n tryin_g_ for some time to explore the poss1bil1t1es of an international organizat ion One of them was Jakob Wachtel of lsraei who corresponded with many national assoc1at1ons and found a lot of sympathy for the idea . Wha_t was missing was the 1 Patform from wh ich to start.

Th en, in aut umn 1 959 the pr .d the German Air Traffic Co~trollere~~ ent of ation (VD F) invited the German ss ss oc1ne1ghbors, the Austrian and S .Peakin g WISS co tro II ers, to sen d observers to the VD annua l assemb ly. The Sw iss 'As . Fs of Rad io-Sui sse Staff answered ~~ciat1on wo uld _welcome the opportunit at they chang ing views with their neigh~ of exsug_ g ested th at al l Europea n ATCors and 1zat1on s_ be 1nv1ted to discuss the _org_ci_nof forming a professiona l organf-~;s 1 b1 l1 ty that level. Th e suggestion w -". io n on as take ~n up and t h us 38 represe ntatives European ATC associations m . Of 14 furt/Main, Germany , on 251 ~~in Frankber 1959 to discuss the found _NovernEuropean Federation of Air T ation of a trol lers' As soc iation s (E FATCA)raffic ConTekstra. Pres ident of the 0 · L. N · (T ek) . . utch Ass . oc 1a t ion was un animou sly elected a_s cha1 rman of the meeting. He was K.I. Pearson, UK. and H.W ~~si sted by many. · au, Ger-

r:-

It was rea lly only after th e wa r that th e air traffic control service in its modern fo rm was crea ted. Th e establ ishm ent of ground control units had become a necess ity wi th the· rapid grow th of air tra nsport and the den sity of air traffi c in some areas, together w ith th e fa ct that modern tec hnology provided the techni ca l means for 'bl ind flying'. Flying in c louds and darkness made it imposs ible for pilots to see and Goodwill avo id ot her airp lanes. Th ey needed someone on the gro und mak ing sure th at the re How do you go about settin . was always a sa fe distance betwee n airternat1onal professional or g_ up .an 1ncraft ope rating on in strument s (IFR) . everyone attending pr 1·ga_n 1zat1on if . e 1min ary d.1 Air transport grew at an unbelievable . scuss 1ons has lots of goodwi ll and un fo resee n ra t e. Th e organ1za t1on on t ent1on s but none of the and fin e 1ngroun d was - for _thi s reason - always lagknow-how th at is needed? ~xpenence and gin g beh ind. While the number of _fl igh ts Germ an assoc iation h ortunate ly th e doubl ed eve ry 5 yea rs in most region s of prepared the meeting very well a d a the wo rld , air traffic se rvices almost nopapers that we re ba~edwa s ~b l e to submit where managed to keep pace _as far as basic documents on t e examp le of staffing an d training of air traffic con troleration of A L of th e Int ernation al Fedlers was co nc ern ed . Since the provision of (IFALPA) wh~r ine . Pilot s' A ssociations the services in most cases was paid by th e had been verys·ecoporeps1dent. Capt. J ackson , N erat1 ve. taxpaye r, national admi nistrat ions normal ly we re less than keen to make ava ilever od~~ed atttenhding the m eeting , how0 t ink of a la .

I · able the necessary financial means fo r organization, such as I FALP~ge wor dw1de much needed equipm ent and staff . M ost It w as co n d . at th at time. countries obvious ly had other priorities a Europea~1 Fered more re ali sti c to aim for after the war . luc kily be th ede rat1 on th at lat er on might ti on. e nucleu s of a large r organ izaPrewar Functions In line w ith th e prewa r fun ction s of wa~~he of th e _ea rly topics of discu ss ions . e question whether a Europea n or ground services most ad ministration s t oo k ~~en1 za t1 o n should be stru ct ured and aper~ rather long to recog nize the impact an d as a trade union or not. M ost of the importa nce of ai r traffic services in th is r :presenta t1 ves att ending th e meeting new environm ent . Contro ll ers were st ill t e~e in . faGt members of th eir nati ona l rega rd ed as communicators that transra e uni ons. Some ·of t hem co nsid ered it mitted and rece ived messages to / from as a m atter of co urse tha t only an interai rcraft. In fact many thought that th e job na ti_onal trade union co uld help th e co nhad become mu ch eas ier w ith the adve nt trollers to ove rco m e the problems they of VHF RTF commu ni cations w here had. lack of recogni tion . sa lari es not in line peop le did not even have to be profic ien t in wi th act_ual_profess io nal requ irements and mo rse te legrap hy any more but simply respon s1bil1t1es. et c. Oth ers considered cou ld speak - even though they in most that an intern ati onal trade union wo uld cases had to use a fo reign language . In never be in a posit ion to negotiate wo rking practica lly eve ry count ry th e new ly c reated cond 1t1ons w ith national ad mini st rat ions profession of ·a ir traffi c co ntroll er' had to and therefore it was more reasonable to fight fo r its re cog nition as an important lin k st ri ve for higher professiona l aims -wh ic h

d

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eventually would bring about recognition and better standing more or less automatica lly _ In the end it was the second lin e of thinking that received most support. A working group was formed of Belgian.

Dutch and German representatives whose terms of reference were to prepare the final drafts of the Articles (Convention).

Con stituti on and By- Laws of a Europea n Federation of Air Tra ffic Controllers· Associations (EFATCA)_ On the second day the following resolution was unanimously accepted:

The meeting further agreed to re commend for adoption by the national organizations: a) An annual subscription of 701- ( 70 shillings. or 50 p for those who have already forgotten) per individual national member. payable during the first half of the financial year_ b) An affiliation fee of 51- per individual national member payable upon affiliation in the Federation of the respective association.

Delegates also agreed on a recommendation to their respective associ-

RESOLUTION of the European Meeting of Air Traffic Controller's Associations at Frankfurt/ Germany on the 25th and 26th November 1959 WHEREAS, air ~~affic control promotes and maintains a safe, ordderly, and expedmous flow of air traffic throughout the world; an

W~EREA~, ~he objects,_ fll:nctions, and problems of this essential service to aviation are of similar nature in all countries 1"rres · 1b oun d anes; · an d pecuve · o f nationa WHEREAS, these objects, functiom, ~nd problems can be mastered only by the common effort of all nations which should b b d · · 1 co-operation · and on a continuous ' on c Iose mternauona exch e ase f "d d · ano-e o 0 i eas an experience; NOW THEREFORE, it is indispensable that Air Traff· c · be umte · dm · a world-wide . profession l 1c tro 11 ers o f a11 nat10ns F d on· f h f h f f d ff. · a ed eration or t e urt erance o sa e an e ic1ent air navigati"o f f h · f · n an or · t h e protection o t eir common pro essional interests.

THE REF 0 RE, and as a first step toward this aim and pu h representatives of the following European nations rpose, t e Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Iceland

Ireland Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom

declare their intention to found a EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS' ASSOCIATIONS subject to ratification by the respective Associations and Guilds.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the representatives of the parties hereto have hereunto set their hands.

(Signacures of all nacional represencacives)

4

ations to pay ·about 1 shilling · per individual national member to the working group as foun der member fee which. in case of affi liat ion. would be deducted from the affiliation fee and which. in case of non-ratification. wou ld be forfeited.

Th e news media. even at that ea rly stage of the Federat ion. showed so me interest for the prob lems of air traffic control. To demonstrate th e truly international side of the affair. one of the Swiss representatives had the opportunity of speaking one sentence in front of the TV camera.

He sti ll remembe rs it: ·1 am confident th at we wi ll succeed in setting-up a European professional organ ization that will prosper_· The interview took place on the lofty outs ide terrace of Frankfurt TWR and. on the 26 of November. was a rather chi lly experience_

Birth Already in March 1960 the workin g group was ready to send out amended draft documents that had been discussed at the Frankfurt meeting _Th e papers were add ressed to the national associa t ions of Au stria . Belgium. Denma rk. Finland .

France.

Germany.

Ice land.

Ireland.

Luxe mbourg.

Netherland s.

Norway.

Sweden. Switzerland and the United Kingdom who had been re presented in Frankfurt. The national assoc1at1ons were 'kindly requested to state. in accord ance with the re solution of the European Meeting . their approval or any amendments to the present drafts (and digest of reas_ons). together with 20 cop ies thereof until the first of April 1 960' __ _ 1 2 of the 1 4 associations not1f1 ed the ir w illin gness to ratify the submitted draft documents by mid-1 960. Th e UK Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers and the Swedish Flyg leda re Fbrening adv ised th at they were not ready yet. Th eir approach to a European Federation was caut ious mainly becau se they did not want to beco_me invo lved in an international trade union. or rather could not do th at in accordance with their national constitution.

Neverth eless the working group went ahead with prepa ri ng th e basis for the Constitutional Conference . wh ich was held in Amsterdam in October 1961 About 60 people met at the Amsterdam Centraal Hotel on October 19 I20. 1 961. for th e Const ituti ona l Conference . Th ey represe nted the 1 2 founde r members mention ed above plus all th e major c1v1 I aviation organizations at that tim e (ICAO. IATA. IFALPA. Eu rocontrol). also observers from Greece and Israe l. The confere nce was very well prepared by th e Dutc h Guild. but- as was to be expectedthere we re of course a number of last-min ute exc iteme nts. Eve rybody. however. was ve ry keen to get the whole thing going_ During the final discussion s of the papers to be accepted at th e forma l Constitutiona l Sess ion the !CAO representati ve. Mr. H.E. Pujade. rem arked that if th e Fed erat ion wanted to be hea rd and recog nized by hi s organization it had better change its name to Internation al· rather th an 'European·. For thi s reason . and due to the fact that a certa in number of controll ers· associations from outside Europe THE CONTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

had already sign alled their wi ll ingness to joi n th e Fede ration in the near future .

EFATCA became IFATCA in a matter of a few minutes. short ly before it was consti tut ed. To that end the fo ll owing Resolution was spon taneously and unanimously accepted: Whereas the objects. function s. and prob lems of air traffic control are of similar nature in all countries irrespective of national boundaries. and w hereas during the Constitutiona l Conference it became apparent that a number of national Associations outside Europe are interested in joining an internat io nal air traffic co ntrol federation . and whereas the foundation of a reg ional European Federation wo uld unnecessarily re strict such federation from accepting affili at ion s from outside Europe. and whereas confining the activities of the federation to a certain region cou ld unduly hamper the establishment of worldwide intern ationa l re lat ion s: now therefore the Constitutional Conference re solved to change the orig inally intended name of the federation from ·European Federation of Air Traffic Controllers· Assoc iation s· into : 'International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations' The Con stitution . Conven tion and ByLaws have bee n amended accordin gly.

In th e wo rking sessions before the inaugural ceremony all basic papers prepared by the work ing group we re accepted .

Th e fo ll owing representative s we re elected as Officers of the Federation: L.N . (' Tek') Tekstra (Neth erl ands) Presi dent . Hans W . Th au (Germany) Honorary Sec retary. M aurice Cerf (France) First Vi ce-President. Rog er Sadet (Belgium) Second Vice-President. Henning Thrane (D enm ark) Treas urer. W alter H. Endli ch (G erm any) Edit or of The Controller.

Th e IFATCA Headqua rt ers were to be estab li shed at Co logne / Bonn. whe re Hans Th au was working as an active control ler. Ag ain several working groups were establis hed to start work on the immediate problems. They we re to report to th e 1st Ann ual Con ference. to be held in Pari s in April 1962 .

Eve rybody of course was a bit nervous whe n it came to th e cruci al moment of the in aug ura l sess ion . wha t w ith spotlights be ing switched on. the VIPs arri vin g and eve rybody wo rryin g w heth er th in gs wou ld re ally wo rk as planned. They did!

It should perhaps be mention ed here th at by that tim e practically all parti c ipants new eac h other by name and origin. We we re almost a fa mily. eac h of us felt some how responsib le for w hat was going on. · In hi s ope ning address Mr . J .W .F. Backe r. Director-General of th e Department of Civi l Aviation in the Net herl and s. gave a brief hi storica l background of th e air traffic control ler' s profession. He th en sa id 'With t he jet age bein g rea li zed. automat ion going to be indi spen sa ble an d supersonics at th e doorstep air traffi c contro l is fa cing a number of complicated problems I. th erefore . we lco med the creation of the Neth erlands Guild of Air Traffi c THE CONTRO LLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

Controllers. w hich . as its fellow organizations in other co untries. can undoubtedly do constructive work for the development of air traffic control. It is. however. in my opinion. of the highest importance. that the objective of a g uild is kept clean cut and not mixed with trade-union interests .

This is the only way to really and objectively pursue the perfection of air traffic control.·

operate and what could or could not be expected of this organization.

I beli eve Te k made many friends that afternoon. He said exactly what had to be said. i_ n controller's language . His speech was warmly w elcomed by all attending the in augural ceremony.

Furth er speakers were Mr. Pujade for ICAO. Captain C.C. Jackson for IFALPA and Mr. J .L. Gilm ore of IATA. They all welcomed the founding of a professional organization of the air traffic controllers. conveyed their best wishes for a successful start and explained what they expected of th e Federation.

W el l. after all the baby was born .

After the inaugural ceremony of cou rse all attending were happy and re laxed. The proud 'fat hers' and ' m idw ifes· gathered on the steps of Vondelpark Pavil ion to have their pictures taken . before sitting dow n to an excell ent meal offered by t he City of Amsterdam . (Thi s w as the first and probably only occasion that t he majority of people attending an IFATCA Conference were united for a group picture. It would have been difficult at recent conferences to do this. ) It was. however. only after the Constitutional Conference that the work really started. Led by Te k Tekst ra the Elective Offi cers (later to become the Executive Boa rd) did an exce llent job. The ir main objective obviou sly had to be the organization of t he Federation and its work. It was only gradually that the baby learned to wa lk and produce results on the professional level.

Only 6 months after the Constitutional Conference the 1st Annual Conference was convened in Paris.

Logical Step ·Aviation is since long no nati onal matter . especially not in Europe. The establishment of an intern at ional federat ion of air traffic contro ll ers· associations is therefore a logical step. if - and I would stress this again - it is the aim to enable the nationa l associations to wide n their range of vision to study jointly the problems of interest for the development of the air traffic control art and. last. but not least . to create a better understanding and good fellowship amo ng cont rollers serving international aviation.· In his ina ugural speech the newly elected Presi dent of IFATCA. Te k Tekstra. thanked all the nationa l and internati onal autho riti es/ organizat ions for their support in setting-up th e Federation. He again stressed that · 1FATCA does not intend to interfere with the national relationship emp loyer-emp loyee. wh ic h in our opinion should be left to the national trade union s. w hose prime int ere st is the soc ial we lfare of their members.· He went on to say: ' Until this moment . air traffic control ha s been a kind of " Secret Service ". The public in general . and the flying public in particular. are hardly aware of the sa fety services rendered to aviation. One of our greatest concerns is th e publicity given to our profession . We would like th e public to Childhood know that it is. afte r all . a quite remarkable Since the time between Am sterdam fact that. th anks to ai r traffic control . and Pari s had been ve ry short President thousand s of aircraft are fl own sa fel y every Tek Tekstra suggested in his opening day around our gl obe. Th e sa fety reco rd of speech on April 26. 1962 . that the 1st aviati on compared to other means of Annual Conference shou ld be seen ·as a transporta tion ranks quite high . Nevert he- cont inuation of the inaugural meeting . less the yearly toll of victi m s of ro ad traffi c where some questions were left open·. is small news com pared to an air crash . It Th e Conference was held in a confermu st indeed be hard for the public to ac- ence room of the Aeroport de Paris' cept the fact that aviati on is compa rative ly downtown headquarters A meeting of the sa fer than road traffic. as long as this one- Elective Offi cers took place on April 25. track-minded publicity is continu ed on a t he next day was reserved for working large sca le . Th erefore . we welco me this sessions. and on April 2 7 the French asoppo rtunity to ask th e profe ssional sociatio n (APCA) had organized a visit to publicity men to leve l th e balance by givin g ATC faci lit ies at Orly Airport. On the afte rth e public reli able informat ion on th e nu - noon of that day there were lectures on merou s cares t aken for fli ght sa fety by th e technica l and profe ssiona l subjects.

Discussions we re conducted in pleair traffi c se rvices.· Tek th en we lcomed all the air traffic nary. th e majority of th_e work_ing session controllers w ho were present at this meet- being dedicated to adm1n1strat1ve subjects ing . ' It is their voice on professiona l prob- such as organization and f_1nance.

Some of the items di scussed must lems which IFATCA intends to make hea rd at a international level. W e know that they sound very familiar to participants even at are daily doing what is possible and very recent IFATCA Conferences: a sl1d1ng often eve n that w hi c h appea rs to be im- scale for annual subscriptions. spec ial possibl e. " to sa feg uard . expedite and rule s for Member Association s for whom maintain an ord erly flow of air traffic '·. This paying of subscription s might constitute is a very conc ise defi nition of the control- ·undue hardship '. etc.

This first Annu al Conferenc e was again lers · ta sk. and th is bri ngs me to my mai n task of thi s afte rn oon. namely to exp lain to attended by a number of guests and obyou why we founded our Federation and servers: ICAO and I FALPA had sent obwhat we intend to do with it .· . . W ell. he servers as we ll as the International Airline did exp lain rathe r in detai l what the aims of Navigators· Council (IANC ). Controllers the Federatio n were. how it intended to were present from Ethiopi a. Portugal.

5

J D . Mon in (Switzerland) in discussion with A.

Gradv~ I

F.A. Lehto (Finland) and A. Feltes (Luxembourg) con tinue talks into lun c h break.

(Norway).

Spa in and . last. but not lea st . the US Air Traffic Control Associat ion (ATCA). The latter were anxious and willing to join the Federa tion . but somehow never managed to find a solution for the financial consequences. even after t he sliding sca le subscriptio ns w ere introduced.

Two New Member Associations Two new M ember Associa tions w ere accepted: the Swedish ATCA an d the UK Gu ild of Air Traffic Control Officers (GATCO). An application had also been received from the ATCA of Israel. The representatives of this associat ions were however. prevented from attending due to transpo rtation difficulties - agai n a phrase we were to become fa miliar with - an d therefore the application was not discussed.

The venue for the 2nd Annu al Conference was agreed upon in a matter of a few minutes: as none of the member assoc iatio ns had volunteered before the confer-

Secreta_ry Hans Thau(!) and Len Vass (U. K. Guild) do drafting work w hile Directors en1oy a break on th e sunny terrace of Aeroport de Paris Building .

•

Maurice Cerf (France). 7st Vice- President. seems to take things easy during coffee break.

6

L, R. M . Soward (Eurocontro!) (!) with J Orr and P. Berger ot !CAO THE CONTR O LLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

Delegates climb aboard the De Havilland Tristar to have a closer look at the advanced navigation equipment. ence. the Immediate Past M aster of the UK GATCO . Arnold Fi eld. g racefull y accepted th e tas k of organizing the next conference ' in the vicinity of London · .

As usu al. in the earl y days of the Federati o n socia l fun ctions we re at a bare minimum. Since the number of pa rti cipants was _rel ati vely small th is was not rea lly a requirem ent: eve rybod y knew eac h oth er. th ey norm ally met in th e hotel lobby and we nt to a nea rby restau ran t . Mostl y several groups met at th e same place . Evening s were lots of fun . perso nal con tacts were mu c h c loser than tod ay . Sometimes the nights were rath er short ...

Th e 2nd Annual Conference. held in London from Apri l 29 to M ay 2. 1963. was rea ll y th e first 'ful ly fl edg ed' co nference of IFATCA . In his report on this event in th e US J ournal of Air Traffic Contra/Tirey K: V~ ckers w rot e _the foll owin g: ·England d1d n t have a Guild of Air Traffic Control Office rs during th e Middl e Ages But th ey have one now. and it still observes many of the colorful old guild ha ll tradition s and ceremonies.· Th at was exact ly th e impress ion t.h 1s young ·continental' controller had. There we re process iona ls. recess iona ls. Grand Wardens. Past M asters. ribb ons and m eda illon s ga lore. And whe n th e Toastm a~.te r in hi s lon g crim son coat boomed out Pray Silence I .. at the sta rt of the meeting. even Mr. Halaby (then FAA Admin istrato r) would have been impressed . We all were. very much so. . For the first tim e con ference org aniza-· t1on was more or less as we know it today: Opening Pl enary. work in two sub-committees (only the 's ub ' was lost somew here enroute) and Fin al Pl ena ry . Subcommittee A dea lt w ith admini strative matters. sub-committee B took ca re of the techn ica l an d professiona l subjects. 14 M embe r Associat ions were in attendance : Israe l. in the meantime accepted. was again unable to attend. for the same reasons. Two new members were accepted Greece and Cent ral Africa (Rhodesia) THE CO NTRO LLER / SEPTE MBER 1985

The latter was a member for two yea rs only. later to join again in 1967.

Proced ures were not as smooth as nowa days: Th ere was a lengthy di sc ussio n in Pl enary ove r t he election of sub-committee chairmen and sec reta ries . Eventual ly W alte r Endli c h and Arnold . Field we re elected chairmen of sub-committees A and B respective ly: Len Vass and D . F. Hendon fo und them se lves being elected as sec reta ri es. based on the Netherl ands' proposa l that th e secretary sho uld be somebody who mastered the Eng lish language as his mother tongue ..

Sub-committee A accepted th e reports of the sec retary. th e treasu rer and Standing Comm ittees Ill . IV. VI and VI II (esta bli shed at the Pari s Conference). The treas urer was able to report that all Member As sociations and Corporate Members had paid their dues for th e year 1 962. The acco unts from October 20. _1961 to Decembe r 3 1. 1962. c losed w ith an excess of in come over expenditu re of £563 ! Total in come had been £128 2. About half of the profit wen t in to the Reserve Fund.

Finances SC VIII ' Fin ancial Affai rs· had st udied the question of sliding scales It came up wit h a proposal against introducing such sca le. Th e Conference accepted a proposa l. however. 't hat as a matter of princip le al l individu al members of the_Fed erati o n should pay the same per capita subsc ription to the Federation. excepting_ th at the an nu al subscription paid by any single M ember Association shal l not_ exceed 99 % of the total an nual subscrrpt1on incom e recei ved from al l the other member assoc iati ons .. Th is policy was accepted in view of a possible affiliation of the US ATCA The confe rence also accepted a proposa l submitted by the Elective O_fficers 'to prepare a Lette r of Agreement with the UK GATCO in order to estab li sh a

provisional common headquarters for both organizations in the London area and engage a combined full time executive secretary'.

Sub-committee A then accepted a first draft of a ' Manual on Policy and Admin istration· wh ich was later to become the IFATCA Ma nual.

Sub-committee B started work on profess iona l subjects. There were several papers on subjects that were on the agenda of a forthcoming ICAO RAC / OPS Meeting. They included ·control of all flights wit hin controlled airspace·. definition and rules of application of ' Essentia l traffic information'. development of 'Criteria for the determination of lateral and longitudinal separating minima·. 'Cruising level systems'. ' Airspace organization '.

'Terrain clearance·. and 'Civil/military coordination ·. All working papers had been prepared by the UK Gu ild. responsible for SC I (professional environmental problems in ATC ) and SC VII (cooperation betwe_en civil and military ATC). with an expertise we were later to expect as a matter of course. Without this Member Association's input work in the technical field wo uld never have reached the high standard that led to the recognition of I FATCA

by ICAO During the Final Plenary reports of subcommittees were accepted . The Conference then decided to reduce the number of Standi ng Committees from 8 (!)to 3: SC I: Technical and Professwnal Matters SC II. Publications and Public Relations SC ///:Finance.

De Havilland Chief Test Pilot. John Cunningham. explaining Tristar details to a group of delegates and observers.

The UK Guild accepted responsibility for SC I and has managed work throughout the 25 years of IFATCA's ex istence. SC II went to Germany and Denmark took over SC Ill .

Nominations The El ective Officers were asked by the Directors to ·remain in office in the interest 7

The forme r Editor ofThe Controller. Walter H. Endlich in serious shop talk with representative of De Havilland's. of continuity' . In the meantime Norman A lcock of the UK Guild 'wou ld draft a procedu re for nomination. to be circu lated by the secretary for commen t and handled as a ·· draft release'· in accordance w ith Art.

Vl-1 of the Constitution' . This system of draft releases was used quite regu larl y in the eady days of the Federation. Although 1t 1s still foreseen in the M an ual it has not been applied further in rece nt years.

IFATCA 25 years from Member Associations

EUROCONTROL GUILD OF AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES

Dear Sir. Being an association of an international nature. comprising members of various European nationalities. together with military members, our applica tion for membership of IFATCA provoked some interesting discussion during the 79 70's.

Th e fact that /FATCA. in spite of political and other pressures. could finally accept us as full members. constitutes a milestone not only for our own EGATS development but also for the future expansion of the international A TS society.

Th e results of this recognition have indeed been mutually beneficial: our association has gained a valuable status and the federation has received some interesting contributions of EGA TS. including a considerable input of material to 'Th e Controller '.

Although the Eurocontrol Guild has only been actively associated w ith /FA TCA for just over a decade. we are proud to be a par t of the International Federation which has achieved recognition by progressive governments and by our fellow professionals with in the aviation world.

We look forwa rd to a continuation of this relationship in the years ahead.

Jan Gordts, President Happy Anniversary!

Dear Sir. It is with great pleasure that I join my international colleagues in celebrating the 25th Anniversary of /FATCA. As one of the founding 'fathers ·. we are proud of the contribu tion that members

8

Th e seco nd part of the Fin al Pl enary was taken up by a Pub lic Meeting wit h Gu ests of Honour. the Rt. Hon. Hugh Fraser , MB E. M P. Secretary of State for Air Transpo rt . Unit ed Kingdom. and Air Vice-Marshal Si r Laurence Sinc lai r, Controll er NATCS. On the last day of the Conference. May 2nd , there was a choice of four visits. arranged by the confe rence sec retary: M arconi Resea rch Laboratories at Great Baddow. Essex. demonstration flights of the HARCO system in a Valetta from London Airport (Heathrow). a visit to th e Lond?n ATC faci liti es. and a visit to De Havill and s.

Hatfield . whe re co ntro ll ers took a close look at the Trident and the OH - 125 (later HS- 125). Th e chief t est pil ot. Mr . Cunningham. explained the Trident's autoland syst em w hi c h was the first in ope ration al use.

With th is 2nd IFATCA Conference the baby had carefu lly made its first few steps and happily fo und ou t it was able to wa lk.

In th e next issue of The Controller we w ill show how it even learned to run. went to sc hoo l and eventua lly became a young man (or lady?). with all the prob lems ch ildren . and their pa rents. norma lly go through.

of our associa tion have made to its development. from such small beginnings. to the strong organization that we see today. . . A 25thAnniversary is always a time for nostalgia. and so at this time I would like to remember with special regard those members of our association who made their contribution in the early yearsMr. G. M cCudden and Mr. P.J. Flanagan who are no longer with us. Mr. P. Linehan. Mr. D. Eglinton, Mr. M . F. McCabe. Mr. J. D. Grey, Mr. J. Murphy, Mr. J. Kerin and M r. J. Power. More recently Mr. J. O 'Farrell was a Vice-President for several years . . Some of the above mentioned have by now been. elevat.e d to high office in our service and outside it which is an tndicaflon of the attraction that /FA TCA has always had for the best in our profession.

At present we are also proud of the contribution being made~ IFA TCA by its Secretary and recent V1 ce- Pres1dent. Mr. P. ·

~•llllCA

ODoherty who we hope will continue for many years to enhance the professional image of the controller by his work for I FA TCA. The last 25 years have not been all work however. th e annual conferences held in the various countries have been happy occasions for all those who attended and they have succeeded 117 spreadtng a feeling of solidarity and cam araderie among th e many natt0nalities that have participated in them Our Irish delegat.es have always been well to the fo re if not in the lead in the festivities which have taken p lace after the days deliberations. I can personally remember some very pleasant times in Athens. Reyk;avik, Lyons. and of course. Dublin . I have no doubt that some of the gentlemen mentioned above can remember even happier occasions!

At a time of international tension this contribution to international fellowship is probably no less important than the gatns that IFATCA has made for the working controller 117 the professt0nal technical and environmental fields Looking forward to the next 25 years I would like on behalf of the members of IATCA to wish /FA TCA well and I hope tha t it continues to attract the same level of enthusiastic commitmen t that it has in the past-and does not lose the spirit of enjoyment that has been its 'leitmotif' over the years .

Best wishes.

James P Lambert. President, IA TCA. THE CO NTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

Mid-air! The mere mention of th e w ord itself is enough to glaze ove r th e eyes of most pilot s and se nd a shudder down the spine . Of all of aviati on' s cla ssic hobgoblin s. th e inflight co llision of tw o airc raft must surely rank at th e top .

By th eir ve ry nature. mid-air co lli sion s are quite frequently fat al acc idents: In c idents of aircraft clipping or bru shing one another in flight. and then landing safely. are rare . Mid-airs generally leave one . if not both. ai rcra ft mort all y di sa bled and . oft ent1 mes. unco ntroll able .

So how is it th at mid-air co lli sions occ ur w ith alarmi ng regul arity. and oft en in un con gested airspace on bri g ht. c lea r VFR days ?

Despite we ll publi c ized mid-airs. suc h as th e San Di ego co lli sion between a Boeing 7 2 7 airlin er and a Ce ssna 1 72 on a training fli ght a few yea rs ago. most mid-airs occ ur betwee n tw o sm all gen eral aviati on airc raft.

Generall y. th ese acci dents occ ur during dayli ght (when th e va st maJOri ty of general aviati on fl ig hts are fl own) and . usually nea r an airport (w her.e traffi c density is hi gher and pil ot s att enti on di vert ed). . Too m any pil ot s. acc ide nt stati sti cs indi ca t e. fal.sel y believe th at cont act w it h air tra ffi c co nt rol _ either a t ower or en route ce nter _ so mehow pu t s t hem 1n s1de a protect ive en velope . where sepa ration from oth er tra ffic is g u a r~ nt eed bec ause 'ATC ha s me on rada r . . But.w hil e ATC m ay be of assistance 1n ass ign ing routes and alt itudes to vect or VFR pil ots t hrough a con trol area . and in poi nt ing out know n t raffi c. th ey are not und er positi ve co nt rol .

Th e 'see and avoi d ' responsib ili ty belong s t o the pil ot. w ho. as we all kn ow. is ultimate ly respo nsible for the sa fety of th e fl ight .

THE CO NTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

Your best prot ection in V FR condit ions against a mid-air is a good pair of hi gh-visibility eyeball s. Develop an effecti ve eye sca n ro utine - some sugg est a horizo ntal ' fi gure 8' - th at permits yo u t o observe th e gre atest expan se.

If you stare into space w ithout moving your hea d . th ough . you greatly reduce your potenti al fo r seeing traffi c. So keep your head moving . too. and ma ke sure yo ur sca nnin g tec hnique is co m fo rtabl e and rela xed .

Don 't strain yo ur eyes and let your neck stiffen .

Th e va lu e of scanning is more importa nt today th an ever before. The high degree of sop hi st ication and reli abil ity of airc raft and systems today ca n lull pilots into assuming that everythin g is A-OK in t he ir littl e realm of fli ght.

It' s JUSt too ea sy to become en grossed in cockp it c hores - pun ching up a coord inate on t he RNAV or sw itc hin g t hrough rad io freq uenc ies an d to fail to keep a watchful eye on bu siness outside the airp lan e. 路1 never saw t he oth er guy' has bec ome th e c lassic . post-mi d-a ir phra se th at survivin g pilots often te ll investigators.

Conce rnin g visibility. it helps to kee p yo ur w indshi eld fr ee of dirt . bug s and sc ratc hes t hat wo ul d interfere wi t h you r vision.

If t raffi c is ca lled out to you by a contro ll er (' 58 W hi skey. you have traffic at 9 o 'c loc k eastbound '). acknowledge th at you see t he t raffic. If you don 't spot t he traffic. te ll t he contro ller 路 58 W hi skey. no co ntact on t he traffi c :路 Don路t hesitate t o advise the con troll er about your sit uat ion If you' re fl ying now here in part icular. avo id areas of high-density traffi c . suc h as airports and practi ce areas.

W hy unnecessa ril y improve your c han ces of an un expected encounter w ith anoth er aircraft?

Beca use a high percenta ge of midai rs occ ur in the vicinity of an airport. extra alertness is required in this flight phase . If you' re shooting a practice IFR appro ach inbound to an airport. be careful t hat someon e isn 't outbound on t he same course. The same cau t ion applies w hen flying over a VO R station - all t hose radia ls converge on one point. and you want to be aw are of any airplanes inbound to the same VO R at or nea r yo ur altitude.

On you r approa c h to landing . use your landing light - even in broad daylight . Th e light can be an excellent aid to oth er pilot s in spotting you say. the ai rplane about to take the act ive w hen you're 100 yards from touc hdown .

Al so. know th e traffic pattern th ey' ll va ry - at t he airport you're usin g. and ad here to it. The standard patt ern . of co urse. dictates entry to th e downwi nd leg at 1 .OOO feet above th e gro und and standard left turns.

Some runways. however. have righthand traffic. A nd before entering the ai rport area . co m municate over the Uni com freq uency to determine the run way in use and patern information.

Fl y t he t raffic pattern at prescribed alt itu des and make your turn s as squ are as yo u can. don't wander all over t he sky. Keep the pattern safe ly c lose in. so other ai rplanes don 't turn base leg wh ile you ' re out on a twomi le final approach.

The pi lots of low-wing airplanes should avoid steep descents on final . because they can 't readily see beneath the airplane Conversely. pilots of high-wing airplanes shou ld try to avoid long . shallow approaches : co nverging traffic may be dropping down . unseen . from above.

Be courteous - read . give way - to pilots who don 't observe sta ndard pattern practices. You ' re far better off setting up a new approach than 9

throttle-jockeying with somone anxious to get on the ground. Remember. too. that some aircraft are likely to fly faster or slower approaches than yours. so allow for these speed differences.

Beyound all this. get into the habit of turning on your transponder for every flight. and make sure your transponder is in good operating condition and within safe tolerances . Consider.

too. investing in an encoding altimeter which provides controllers with your altitude. as well as your location on their radarscopes .

By following these common. simple guidelines - keeping a close watch out for traffic. avoiding areas of congestion. flying standard traffic patterns. and keepi ng your radar equipment operational -you ca n help minimize the threat of mid-air col-

lisions. Lik e the a uto body shop ad reads : ¡ Let's not meet by accident.'

Th ese art ic les are prese nt ed by AVEMCO in the interest of flight sa fety and m ay be rep roduced w ith crednto AVEMCO Insurance Company . They are purely advisory in nature . You r own CFI. th e FARs pi lot's operating handbook and va ri ous updated transm ittals from the FAA or you r airc ra ft manufac turer may .alter or affect the information publ ished AVEMCO neither assumes any responsibi lity for the acc uracy of these articles nor any lia bility ari sing out o f reli ance upon these articles.

'NE

MAkf OUR feEl Cb/.JTRO WR-5

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10

THE CO NTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

picture of a definite uphi ll stru ggl e wi ll emerge .

Our 25th Ann iversary is surely cause for celebration . The growth of I FATCA from one dozen to five dozen Member Assoc iations, the worldwide acceptan ce of it as being t he on ly representati ve voice of the profession, the understanding by the publ ic at large of

by H. H. Henschler, President I FA TCA the air traffic controller, t he contri bution and respon sibilities , t he fact th at we now have members in all parts of the w orld - all t hese co ntribute to the positi ve feeling of achi evement w hi c h a great number of dedicated indi viduals and Member Associations, Depending on the context and one's point of view, twenty-five years can be a all w orking in con cert tow ards a comvery short period of time, after all there have been wars which lasted longer, or a mon goal, ha ve broug ht abo ut.

There have been in the recent years respectably long period.

For an international body such as IFATCA based solely on volunteer work of - the time in IFATCA' s existence w ith determmed members of our profession and the financial contributions of the w hich I am m ost fam ili ar - many positi ve developments. The suc cess of the membership, the Quarter Century surely is a respectably long life. regionalization to bring about cl oser contacts and cooperati on betwee n Member Associ ation s in all Regions ; In perspective, the United Nations the Meeting of Experts on Problems and ICAO are only this year celebratConcerning Air Tra ffic Control lers, ing their 40th anniversaries, civilian con ven ed by the Intern ational Labour air traffic control, in any organized Organ isation , w hose Re port and man_ n er has only been with us for apConclu sions have in ma ny cou ntries proximately forty years, and even the had a positi ve impact on the coninvention of radar, now one of the dition s of the contro ll er; t he accepmost appreciated aids to controllers , tan ce of IFATCA by, and our ever only occurred fifty years ago, while its deepeni ng invo lvem ent with , im portintroduction into civil air traffic control ant and respected international avi H. Harri Henschler took place much later . ati on bodies, most pa rtic ula rly t he InOn the other hand, many air traffic tern ati onal Civil Aviat ion Organiza tion, controllers on active duty at the members ' only common bond w as to in all aspects of air traffic contro l from founding of IFATCA are now retired be part of a profession which had only t he tec hnical through the working fro_m the_ Profession, having parfairly rec ently be en defined , w ith all its co nd ition s to the med ical and legal; t1c1pated in the growth of their own inherent responsibilities, liabiliti es and t he fact t hat t he Federatio n continues national associations and of the Fedduties, by the International Ci vil Avi- to grow in numbers and is on a sound eration , while many of our present day fin anc ial ba sis; the close cooperation ation Organi za tion . members were not yet born on that w ith the Corporate Members; the inal so that there we re Consider day_ in O_c tober 1 960 . As I say, length c reased ass istance and cooperation almost no other interna t ional orga nof time is a matter of perception. good number of ai r carri ers. by a izations in existen ce to model IFATCA While, no doubt there are many No doubt the re were , over the on, and it becomes all the more others better qualified to describe air amazing and gratifying that th e ori- yea rs, set-bac ks and di sappointtraffic control in the 1950s let us atginal aim s and obj ectives have not re- me nt s, frustration s over th e fact that tempt to visualize what it, was like quired updating , and they still form t he many controller associations who where it existed at all. Overwhelmof IFATCA' s existence - main ly wo ul d have liked t o join th e Federation basis ingly, air traffic control w as using prowe re prevented from doing so by the cedural , manual, methods, both for the improvement of sa fety and efinabi li ty to affo rd t he fina nc ial burden ficiency of international c ivil aviati on, enroute and approach I terminal opsafeg uarding th e profession , and in- of membership , bec au se of extremely eration s. Radar was slowly coming low remun eration in their co un tries , or onto the scene , use of computers in ternation al cooperation. by poli ti ca l con stra in ts . Fru strations An additi onal hurdl e to t he young air traffic control w as not even being IFATCA was th at most of its members such as th ese w ill, I am afraid, be with di scu ssed simply bec ause computers w ere , as th ey still are, emp loyed by us for a long t ime yet . them sel ves w ere novelty items which However, as we ce lebrate the 25th gove rnm ents w ho, frequen t ly, are retook years to lose their mystique. InA nni versary of our Federat ion let us lu ctant to acc ept t hat 't hei r' em tern ational cooperati on in c ivil avicont inue towa rd ac hi eving the aims pl oyees are part of an intern ation al oration matters w as in the very early and obj ecti ves determined a quarter ganization w ith an independent opinstages, air t ransport of passen gers ion. Add furt her t he fact t hat even fre- cent ury ago, let us continue to work to 1mpl1ed eith er pressing necess ity or qu ent air travell ers had li tt le or no overcome financia l and po li tical conw ealth , and air transport of goods was un derstand ing of t he in frast ructu re st raints, let us thank t hose who have quite infrequent . req uired , even no kn owledge of th e all contributed to I FATCA' s success.

Imagine, th en , th e fo resight and ex ist ence of air t raffi c cont rollers , to and let us be proud to be members of determin ati on of I FATCA' s founde rs t o all ow airc raft to fl y in safety. Take into our unique profess ion and of the great bring t o life our Federation , a volunacco unt t he very restri cted incom e of family , the International Federation of teer org an izat ion c harging mem bershi p du es, an org ani za ti on w hose th e Federat ion in it s early days and the .A.ir Traffic Controllers ' Associations.

A Quarter Century IFATCA Some Personal Thoughts

THE CONTROLLER / SEPTE M BER 1985

11

Recent Developments in Search and Rescue

Events over the past decade in the North Sea ha ve cau sed an accelerat ion in the improvement of rescue faci lities and equipment available to civil hel ico pter operators and oil companies.

Rescue equipm ent is now available wh ic h w ill vast ly enhance the recovery and surviva bility of pe ople in the sea in the event of a major inciden t offshore .

The Nort h Sea . quite rightl y, is desc ri bed as th e most inhospitable op erat ing area in th e w orld . The subject of t he purc ha se of rescue or safety equ ipme nt is a high ly emoti ve one as it is hoped t ha t th e equipment w ill never be needed.

The equa ti on t herefore is cost versus likel ihood of use .

It is an indisputable fact th at in ind ustry. as a whole. it ta kes a di saster to g enerate change.

Rescue eq uipm ent and fac ili ties are items whic h are diffi c ul t to j ustify large expendit ure on but w hi ch. if onl y used once. can pay fo r themselves many times over.

Night Rescue The aim of t his paper is to bring to the atte nt ion of the rea der the eq uipme nt that is ava il able now or in the ve ry near fut ure . Hopefully, th is w ill provoke di sc ussion and at least bring the su bject to t he fore w here it oug ht to be.

Th e most sign ificant innovation in the North Sea has been t he successful introd uct ion of t he nig ht I bad wea ther rescue capab il ity of the helicopter Eve ryone has acknowledged fo r years that heli copte r rescue crews ha ve been asked to perform rescues in c ond iti ons w hich were beyond the ca pab ility of the ex isting helicopter In 1 980. Bri stow Helicopters dec ided to look at the possibility of giving re sc ue crews greater protection by inc reas ing the ope rati ng capab ili ty of

Not e ¡ This paper was presented by the UK at the 12th Meeting of the Commonwealth Air Transport Counci l

12

their helicopters during search-andrescue (SAR) missions .

The helicopter chosen for this project was the Bell 21 2 as it was already the type being used by Bri stow s to provide an in-field search-and-rescue facility for Shell / Esso in their Brent Cormorant and Dunlin fields.

The four Bell 21 2s ba sed offshore on the 'Trea sure Finder' are not solely dedicated to SAR . but are an integral part of the offshore helicopter support of these fields. For most of the time . the helicopters operate in the shuttle role . transporting workers to and from their place of w ork.

With so many people employed in and around the Ea st Shetl and basin, there are bound to be accidents or illness w hich require urgent medical assistance.

In 1979. an SAR facility wa s initi ated from th e support vessel the 'Treasure Finder' which helped to develo_p the quickfit capability of rescue equipment for helicopters.

During the next 1 2 months there we re many innovations such as the qui c k fit capability of the Nitesun sea rc hlight. the Skyshout loudspeaker system and modified co nnections for long range auxilliary fuel tanks . which en abl ed auxilliary fuel tanks to be changed in min_utes. thu s increa sing th e range ca pab1l1ty of the heli copter .

Th e obj ect of all these innovation s was to enable a helicopter in the shuttle configuration to be changed into _a full y equipped SAR helicopter w ithin 20 minutes. With experience. thi s tim e has been reduced to less th an 6 minutes .

Th e next developm ent came in 1 98 0 w hen th e night / bad wea ther research and development program began. Tri als w ith th e CAA beg an in 198 1. After 2 yea rs and 230 te st fli ght hours. full CAA certifica tion o f an all weather system was gained for the Bell 2 72.

A co mbi nat ion of Loui s Newmark .

Raca l Decca. Bendix and Flir equi pme nt has produced a uniqu e capa-

bility w hich is the most important step forw ard in S ea rc h and Rescue helicopters.

'Bristow System' No longer mu st a helicopter crew grovel around at sea level at night trying to locate a survivor in the sea.

It is now po ss ible to search. locate and rescue a person in the sea without the pilot ever needing external references.

Thi s Bri st ow SAR System is the most comprehensive facility in the w orld and has attracted enquiries from civilian and military organizations all over the world.

In a further development for the Department of Transport o~e of ~ris­ tow' s S61 sis being fitted with a flight director coupled to an auto pilot to provide a fully automatic flight control system with an automatic hover capability . This development is under a contract with the Department of Transport to provide a dedicated 24hour all-weather helicopter to meet the Government's requirement for SAR coverage for marine and aeronautical SAR in the northern part of the North Sea and Shetland basin.

CAA certification is anticipated within a few month s.

Another piec e of rescue equipment which has been accepted as filling a gap in re scue capability is the EMPRA . rescue ba sket.

In the North Sea. people in the water mu st be re c overed quic kly_before they succumb to hypoth ermi a. _ The author landed on the sea in October 1977 in an S61 N whil st returning to Aberde en after lifting an injured worker from an oil rig . Unfortunately the helicopter capsized 1_ n heavy seas in a very short time leaving myself. my copilot and the inj_ured worker in the sea. I can state quite c ategorically th at even had a life raft . been ava il abl e aft er onl y 1 5 minutes in the sea. I would not have had th e strength to climb into it.

Imagine a major di saster sy c h as the ' Alexander Keilland' or the Oce an Ranger' in Canada wh en large numbers of people are in the sea. Conventional methods of reco very such as w in c hing into heli c opt ers o r by surfa ce vess el s are far too slow for m aj or 1nc1dents of thi s kind. The EMPRA basket has been deve lo ped to enabl e large numbers of peopl e to be rec ove red in on e lift . Th ere are three sizes of basket. th e M6 . M 1 2 and M 18 - th e numbers relating to th e ca pac ity of each .

Th e bas ket s are underslung from th e heli co pt er eith er from an underslung loa d hook or fro m another new developm ent. a load slin g. Th e cost an d Continues on page 32 TH E CO NTRO LLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

AIR CAT At Thomso n-CSF, we are a step ahead when it comes to designing air traffic control systems : we have been doing it for the last quarter of a century o n every continent under th e sun.

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At Thomson-CSF, we know how to adapt breakthrough technology to existing materials and procedures and can thus improve, complete or update air traffic control systems.

When it comes to air traffic control, our perfect mastery of applied systems has been demonstrated every day for the last 25 years.

DIVISION SDC SYSTEMES, DEFENSE ET CONTROLE 40, rue Grange-Dame-Rose BP34 92360 MEUDON -LA-FORET Tel.: (1) 630.23.80 FRANCE Telex : 270375 F.

Nevvsbriefs Swiss Buy Cessor Monopulse SSR for Geneva A Cossor monopulse secondary surveillance radar (SSR ) system has been bought by the Swiss Civil Aviation Authorities for Geneva airport.

The £250.000 contract covers the Cossor monopulse SSR system and a large vertical aperture an tenn a (CRS 512).

Trials have been going on since Apri l 1984 at Geneva. which due to its topog raphy, is probably one of the most difficult radar sites in the world.

Cassar Monopulse SSR System at Claxby Cassar Elec tronics has recently c ompleted the installation of its m onopulse (Secondary Surveillance Radar) system at Claxby. one o f the sta tions in the Civil Aviation Authority 's new ra dar netw ork. The equipment comprises a Cassar 9 5 0 in terroga tor and 250 m onop ulse plot extractor. which will op era te in conjunction with a Signaal LAR primary ra dar system .

The antenna is the new Cassar LVA (Large Vertical Aperture) antenna. It is seen in this picture mounted on the primary antenna.

14

Th e Swiss authorities are very satisfied w it h th e results they have bee n ach ieving since the comp lete Cassar Electronics system was insta ll ed. .

Wh en the monopulse SSR was first instal led rt was operating with a li near array (hogtrough) antenna and the re were more than t he usual effects of multipath and reflections to contend wit h due to the surro un ding mountains and the building s at Geneva itself. .

In September the LVA an tenna was in stalled and in th e words of the Swiss report on the trial s. 'the improvement was spectacu lar· .

Init ial exam ination of recorded data showed th at processed reflections reduced from app ro ximately 1 OOO per hour to 20 per hour and ground bounced replie s. reduced from more than 10% of all replies to less than 1 .5% ..

The res ults in Geneva are part icu larl y 1nterest rng because they indicate that the new generation of monopulse SSR using th e interrogator I receiver. the plot extractor and the LVA antenna together. as a comp lete system . can assist the air traffic cont roll er in marntaining f safety in difficult radar sites.

The Gen eva contract follows successfu l sa les 0 monopulse SSR systems to Bah rain. to Saudi Arabra fr.r King Khaled airport and to Canada fo r a coast to coast re rt of their air traffic control radar. Cassar El ectronics. who are ba se d at Harlow. Essex. have also so ld systemsw.our own Civil Aviati on Authority for air t raffic contro l in Brr tarn and to the RAF and Royal Navy .

. 'Kolloquium' on Flight Navigation Systems Th e Deutsche Forsch ungs- und Versuchsanstalt. h.ir Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V . (DFVLR) is a Germ an 1nstrtut ion. doing research wo rk and evaluations in th e fie lds of.avratro~ and space operations. Th e ln st itut fUr Flu gfUhrung .1s o.ne 0 the branches of t he DFV LR and the task of this instituti on is the research and t he respective t ria ls on flight navrgationd the development of components of future ATC-systems an the development of future cockp it design s.

Wh en testing new avionic systems ve ry accurate refe~­ ence tracks are req uired and therefore the DFVLR devek~ aped an Avioni c Fli ght Eva luation System (AFES). A trac ing rada r and a lase r tracker on the ground and an inertia 1 navigation system on board th e test aircraft are used to measure the flight trajectories. Al l elemen ts of this measurement system are linked together by an eHec ti v~ data transfer system . In order to be ab le to eva luate in rea time . compute rs are used at different locations. The grou nd stations are located at the Braunschweig airport. a Dornier DO 28 and a BO 105 helicopter are used as flying te stbeds . Eva lu ating the reference t rack showed th at th e fault is less than 1 meter if all compo nents of the AFES are used and it is less than 1 00 meters if on ly the IN S is used.

Th e DFVLR eva lu ated the Litt on Laser-Gyro-StrapdownSystem LTN -90 on board of the DO 28 and BO 105 as well as the DME-P-System on board the DO 28 Th e DMEP-System is part of the MLS-System . which will subst rtut.e the .ILS in the nineties. ·p· stan ds for prec ision and thrs equ ipment wi ll be necessary for M LS-operation s during .the range from the thresho ld up to a distance of 7 nautica l m il es from th e threshold . Th e eva luation s showed th at the LTN -90 as wel l as the DME-P-Equ ipment developed by SEL meet the prescribed li mits and the accuracy of these systems are even better than these li mits.

Refections may ca use ghost targets or false ind ications on nav1gat1on systems. Th ey are caused by bui ldings '. fences or any other objects on the ground . Therefore the DFV LR started a prog ram to detect such objects and rt would be desirable to develop a simulation program that cou ld show reflection diagrams before buildings are THE CONTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

Eurocontrol Permanent Commission's 66th Session The Perm anent Commi ssion of Eurocontrol . the European organization for the safety of air navigation. held its 66th Session in Brusse ls on 9 Ju ly 1 985. presided over

by Mr . A. Baye r. State Secretary in the Ministry ofTransport of the Federal Republic of Germ any .

The Permanent Commission took note of a report on the statu s of the ratificati on of the Protocol amend ing the Euroco ntrol International Convention of 1 3 December 1960 and of the Multilatera l Agreement relating to Route Charges which were sig ned in Brussels on 1 2 February 1 981. Six sta tes signatory of both th ese accords. namely erected in the vic inity of airports. radar antennas and the Federal Republic of Germany. Belgium . France . the United Kingdom. Luxembourg and Portugal. had deposited ground na vigat ion aids. thei r instruments of ratificatio n with the Belgi an Govern Th e eva lu ation of avionic systems for helicopter low ment. whi le Sw itzerland . a non signatory of the Protoco l. leve l operations (250 ft GND or less ) during darkness was had ratified the Multilateral Agreement. Of the existing anot her target of th e DFVLR. Therefore a combination of Eurocontrol member states. two states had not yet comnight visio n goggles. an electronic display of flight instru pleted the ratification procedure. The Permanent Comments an d a Do ppl er navigation system was te sted and the mission noted that 1 J anuary 1986 might be regarded as eva lu at ion showed that such flight s could be done by we ll the li kely date for the ent ry into force of the amended contrained . pil ots w ithout major problems . However. the ve ntion and of the multi lateral agreement. eva lu a_t1on also showed. that such flights cannot be done Th e Ministers li kewise noted a report on the progress by a single pilot and t he coordin ation between the memachieved in implementing the Eurocontrol Conven ti on as bers of the cockp it c rew must be ve ry accurat e. ame nded . viz. the preparatory steps taken in the various Werne r Fi sc hbach fields in which the organ ization w ill require to exercise reVerband Deutscher Flu gleiter spo nsibility un der t he amended Con vent ion .

The Comm ission approved a draft bilateral agreement 2nd IFATCA Joint Asia/ Pacific Regional Meeting with France relatin g to the establishment by the EuroconDate: 17 I 1 8 October 1 985 trol Central Route Charges Office of the bill ing of approach charges w hi ch are to be levied at certain French ai rports.

Venue : Chri stchu rch . New Zea land.

Registrat ion: $ 2 5 .00 The Commission received communication of a special agreemen t drafted by the Study Grou p of A lternates relatTh_e 2nd Joint Asia I Pacific Regional M eeting wi ll be held in co njun ction with the 2 nd NZATCA National Con- ing to the operation of the Maastricht Cen ter at a level conve ntion wh ich wi ll take place on 19 I 20 October. Due to sistent w ith the principles of sound long term management heavy bookings expected for the National Con ve ntion . an in t he framework of the amended convention. The ministers ea rly indi cat ion of inte nti on to attend either or both func- asked that th e results of ao exam ination into this matter be tion s wou ld be appreciated. Correspondence shou ld be submitted to them not later than th eir next session.

The Permanent Commission approved the proposals readdressed to: lat in g to the procedures for the adjustment of the remunerThe Conve nt ion Secretary. P.O . Box 14163. Chri stc hurc h ation of Eurocontrol agency staff and referred the question Ai rport. Christchu rch . New Ze aland of pen sions to an in-depth study by t he committee of management.

Th e Permanent Commi ssion's next session will be held at th e headquarters of the Organizat ion in Brussels on TuGUILD OF AIR TRAFAC CONTROL OFFICERS esday. 26 November. 1985 .

CONVENTION AHO EXHIBITION

@nvExjS] Wessex Hotel, Bournemouth, 17-18 October 1985 . Wi th ju st a few weeks to go the 'Countdown to Convex¡ ~-on sc hedule. Convex '85 w ill be the Guild 's fift eent h iennia l convention. A unique event wh ich ha s become a ~u st in th e UK Aviation Ca lenda r. It offers a regu lar oppor. unity for all airspace users ATC agenc ies and bu siness interests to _meet and di sc u.ss common pr~b l ems. d An organized Techn ical Program and Trade Display provi e th e supporting platform from w hic h new idea s and cont act s can be deve loped w ithin the ATC and Avi ation world . h This year. the popular location and attractive program ave_blended parti c ul arly we ll . and Convex '85 is already offering de legates: fi ve full Technical Sessions and assoc iated forums; large Trade Exhibiti on; first c lass hotel accommodation at spec ia l rates : low cost regi stration ; free part1c 1pat1on in the Convex social scene; accompanying persons program ; full media coyerage.

THE CONTROLLER /S EPTEMBER 1985

Ferranti Air Traffic Service Simulators for Australia Ferranti has been awarded a contract. worth over ÂŁ4 .4 mi ll ion . by the Australian Department of Aviation (DoA) for the supply of two Air Traffic Service Simulators. The simulators . one to be in sta lled at the DoA Central Training College and the oth er at M elbourn e Airport. will provide comprehensive trai ning for Au stralian air traffic service officers.

Th e Melbou rne simulator wil l use th e same type of displ ays as those curren tly in service w ith the DoA whereas the Central Training Coll ege simu lator w ill use _hi gh resolution raster displays . driven by Ferranti VARS display generators.

Eac h simulator will incorporate a number of 'pilot control units' ('blip driver' consoles) from which operators. using tou c h sensitive screens. will control the simulated ai rcraft as directed by the trainee air traffic service officers .

Th e faci lities available at the bli p driver positions are believed to be the most comprehensive ever incorporated in a simulator.

Bot h simulators will be assembled and commissioned

by Ferranti Computer Systems (Australia) at its premises in Sydney and are planned to enter service in 1988 .

15

1

Flight number CAA ... 'means a human fate is involved

The Work of the German Air Rescue Corps

by Frank M. Hein. ORF *

When there is a crac kling in the earphones and a voice requ est s clearance for flight number 'CAA .. .'. neither businessmen nor to urist groups are sitting in the ca bin behind the pilot. CAA the abbrev1at1on for ·civil Ai r Ambulance', is the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) offic ial identification code for the aircraft of the Germ an A ir Rescue Corps (O RF ) in internationa l airspace.

The statutory object of th e private organization is - to put it briefly- the saving of life with the aid of aircraft.

The association uses its resou rces wherever the life or health of civilians can be saved by means of rescue . transport or ambulance flights.

Nothing is earned by this - the non-

profit organ ization helps without checking the financial status of the injured and irrespective of soc ial rank . nationality. race or creed .

Only the fact that someone is in di stress is the deci sive factor for the takeoff of the Merlin IV C, the Learj et 3 5 A or of a rescue helicopter. If the persons involved can be tran sported an d the craft are available, then an operation is mounted . Concealed behind the matter-of-fact code on the flight plan sheets or the pilot's announ ce ment are not sc heduled fl ight s. Fli ght number 'CM .. .' mean s a human fate is involved.

On boa rd eac h ambul ance aircraft are pilot and copil ot, a doctor and an experienced medical attendant. Up to 6 stretc hers and pa ti ents ca n be transported in th e Merlin - but they also fly for only one casua lty. if necessary.

Inadeq uate medical ca re. lack of medicine. in suffi cient train ed medi ca l experts or excessive strain on the local fac ili ties - these are often the reasons for so~called repa triati on flight s. which consti tu te th e . bulk of foreign m1ss1ons. In add1t1 on to thi s, however. othe r factors may play a decisive role

Between a map of the world and a data information terminal. a ORF employee supervises an aircraft operation.

16

in determining the transport of a ca sualty back to hi s home . country : mental and emot ional 1so lat1on. ignorance of th e loca l langu age and unacc ustomed hygi eni c s·tand ard s are oft en the cause of a particularly negative psychosocial state in seriously injured patient s abroad . If th is s1tuat1on is improved, then this is frequently the first step on th e road to recovery. Th e World Health Org ani zat ion (WHO) also takes these aspect s into acco u~t in its definition of the term 'h ea lth · deliberately includ ing the necessity for soc ial we ll-being.

Within th e framework of such flights. w here several co ntin ents are sometimes crossed. the airc raft of th e German Air Resc ue Corps- its own as we ll as c hartered airc raft - in 1 984 alon e flew m ore th an 2 .29 1.733 kms. t ransported 1 1 1 8 person s and comp leted 4552 flight hours.

International Aid ' Bring th e hospi tal to th e di saste ~ and not th e di saster t o the hosp ital . sa id Leon Star. Chi ef Ph ys ic ian of • This artic le is submitt ed by the Int erna ti ona l Advisory Group - Air Naviga tion Services ANSA .

A whole battery of telephones enable a parallel connection with hospitals. rescue control stations and with the relatives of casualties.

THE CONTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 198 5

Messenger is a high technology secondary radar system evolved from Marconi' s 35 years of experience in the field.

Using a new design technique the wide-aperture planar antenn~ combines excellent radiation patterns and a high gain without compromising other parameters.

Gap-free cover and absence of reflections have been coupled in Messenger with the high accuracy and minimum 'fruit' inherent in monopulse to provide an important new sensor for ATC. As the first stage of a 2-step approach to Mode S, Messenger involves no change to the ICAO SSR system yet can be updated to provi~e selective addressing and dat.a lmk when required. The allsohd-state inte rrogator has the high duty cycle capability which Mode S demands.

Messenger's decoder/plot extractor uses advanced bit-slice processing to simplify the architecture a nd reduce the component count while extending the system's ability to disentangle garbled replies.

Marconi RadarSyste

/\WHOLE

* 29dB gain planar antenna * * * *

optionally stand-alone or onmounted with primary radar.

All -solid-state interrogator/ responser.

Very fast bit-slice processing for efficient degarbling.

Add-on update for full Mode S capability.

Programmable output plot format.

For more information about Messenger, please write, telephone or telex to: Marconi Radar Systems Limited, Writtle Road, Chelmsford, England CM l 3BN. Telephone: 0245 267111.

Telex: 99108.

~arconi

Kennedy Airport. New York. as ea rl y as 1982 with reference to coping with large-scale catastrophes. The ORF was able to offer its assistance internationally in some cases. After a fire catastrophe on a Spanish camp site in Tarragona in 1978. the ORF sent doctors and medical assistants. The plane was chartered. In conjun ction w ith the Swiss Air Rescue Corps (REGA). patients we re flown back to many European cities. thus assisting and relieving the Spanish hospitals .

After an earthquake in El Asnam (Algeria) in 1980. the ORF erected an emergency hospital near the scene of the disaster together with the German Red Cross. Barely 2 days la ter. 14 doctors.and. 23 assistants could begin treating patients. Almost 200 injured w ere thus helped in the first few days after the catastrophe. Algerian medical teams continued to use the hospital for months afterwa rds .

There was a further earthquake in 1 9 80 in the Italian town of Lioni . Dog ha ndlers and their animals . flown in wi th two large size jets. helped in the se a.rch for and recovery of those buried by the earthq ua ke. An HF radio station . which was also sent to the scene. not only enabled coord in ation w ith headquarters in Germany but was also used as a mean s of communication by th e Italian authorities : all the regio nal systems had broken down . In 1984 t he ORF t ransported su.ppl1es an d medicine to Afghani stan . In coope rat ion with Pakistan Internationa l Airl ines. more than ten Afg han chi ldren w ere brought to Germa n hospital s. treated and flown back.

The History W here did the idea ori gi nate for an organ izatio n w hi c h provid es an ' air ambula nce· wi th eleven hel icopters in land and two fi xed-wing ai rcraft beyon d the sta te front iers?

Credit for first introduc in·g an air resc ue service goes to Sw itzerl and .

Afte r vari ous successfu l attempts to resc ue peopl e from em erg ency situations in Alpin e terrain w ith th e aid of

Orto Wiswe. himself a helicopter pi/or for decades. 15 m charge of f/1ghr operarions.

18

Dr. Alexander F. Kohler has been rhe managing director of the German Air Rescue Corps for many years.

same year the number of ORF members. whose subsc ripti ons cover maintenance of the equipment and finance a proportion of the operations. rose to over one million. In 1982. the ORF already cond ucted its 20.000th flight. of more than 35.000 to date.

Nowadays air rescue ha s become an integral part of the resc ue system s in the Federa l Republi c . From sunrise to half an hour after sunset. pilots. doctors and medical attenda nts working on a shift system are on call. Cooperation with local authorities. hospitals and oth er organizatio ns run s smoothly and a procedure is determined in the Fed eral Lands by statutes and guidelines.

aircraft. the REGA (Swiss Air Rescue Crops) was founded in 1952 . The value of thi s idea was to be proved in the USA only four years later when two passenger planes collided over the Rocky Mountains and crashed. The A Glimpse behind the REGA dispatched a special party to Scenes assist in the recovery of bodies in the How does the ORF work. what Grand Canyon district. steps are necessary to fetch people The ORF was initiated by Siegfried home by plane from . say. Dj aka rta?

Steiger in 1972 . It is than ks to his ORF headquarters are located near friendship with the late President of Stuttgart airport. All important adthe Board of Tru stees of the REGA ministrative facilities. aircraft control .

Dr . med. h.c. Fritz Buhler. and to hi s contact with th e emergency call syspersonal commi tm ent that the ORF is tems and the central store for techniso healthy today. At first inland air cal medical equipment are all located rescue was to the fore. The loss of life here. as a result of traffic accidents had beTh e ob jects of the association as come great: rescue by road veh icles specified in the statutes are carried proved more and more inadequate. out here by 91 employees. In the The ORF orga ni zed a service wh ich th e forefront and working in c lose coopstate and authoriti es at that time 1972-were unable to do. It provided eration with th e founder and chairman helicopters for cent rally located of the board. Siegfried Steiger. is the bases. coordinated their operation managing director. Dr . Alexander F. Kohler. He directs the wo rk of the inw1t.h the Red Cross and hospitals. trained staff and stationed eq uipment dividu al departments and represents at t he airports. As we ll as in the field of the organizat ion.

Th e following principal sectors are prima ry rescue. i .e. first aid trea tment of import ance: of patients. the ORF became increasFli ght operation management. Two ingly act ive in secondary rescue: experienced pil ots supervi se the tran sfer flight s with the aim of flight hours of pi lots and aircraft . optimizing medical ca re of the sick They take ca re of correct shift rotas . and injured . Th is could be for example en sure that maintenance interva ls to enable an important operation to be fo r the aircraft are observed and performed . of which not every hospita l deal with the ava il ability of crews 1s capable. Not on ly its own aircraft are and equipment By purchasing fi xused for these tasks - the helicopters ed-wing aircraft and in crea sing its should rema in as far as possible within helicopter fleet. the ORF itself bea range of some tens of kilometers came an independent aviation enfrom the hospital to which they are alterpri se - in the first few years it located - but some ai rcraft were also wa s sufficient to employ aircraft c hartered . Since the ORF was founded. the equipment has been con new landing stantly improved . grounds have been designed for helicopters and international coope ration has been furth ered .

As interregional flight s increased . the spe cial identification code CAA w as all oc ated in the year 197 7. One year later the ORF headquarters in Stuttgart obtained its own connection to the Aeron auti ca l Fi xed Telecommunicati ons Netw ork (AFTN). The Perer Oiim er is head of the medical deparrmenr.

AFTN address is ·eddsyfaa '. In the THE CONTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 198 5

AFTN. SITA and two of the usual general telex systems are permanently installed.

AFTN (address . eddsyfaa )provides a connection to the air traffic telex network. SITA to th e international network of th e airline companies.

under contract from outside aviation companies. Work regulations were drafted. employment contracts concluded and international statutes converted into specific instructions.

The medical department. Its staff supervises training and teaching of the doctors . medical attendants and assistants.

The . department for technical / medical equipment. The rescue aircraft a_re exten sively equipped with spec ial fac ilities. It is not only necessa ry to provide the helicopters with all the modern resources for emergency mea sures at the sce ne of the accident. but also important that fi xed-wing aircraft suc h as the Learjet for in sta nce are properly equipped for long-di stan_c e op_erations. The problems which arise. such as supplying patients with oxygen. w hen flight time extends to one or two days. or at high altitudes. are co nsiderable .

In _ the . case of large-sca le operations it is first essential to select and charter suitable aircraft. Thi s often ha s to be done in a ve ry short period of time. Th e comp il ati on of material for a field hospi tal in an epidemic area is. for example. ju st as much part of the work of thi s department as is th e allocation of mobile emergency equipment for doctors to some of the major Germa n airports. Compared to thi s the upkeep of the ORF ve hi c le fleet w ithin the co untry appea rs a minor affa 1r Th e cen tral wa rehouse. Stoc kkeeping goes hand in hand w it h the departm ent. above-mentioned Re sc ue sets for eq uipping ambulance aircraft. intensive ca re wards or medicine sets for hospita ls are held in readiness here as is special THE CONTRO LLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

A look at radio equipment in the alarm headquarters.

equipment for the treatment of burn casualties.

The patrons department . Anyo ne becoming a member of the ORF is automatically entitled to free air transport if medically necessary.

The cost of primary air resc ue in Germany is mainly borne by the statutory medical insurance sc hemes. The patient himself is respon sible for the cost of foreign operations. unless he is a member. or - if not otherwise possible - thi s is covered by contributions from donations and by other members .

At the same tim e the money of the DRF sponsors enables foreign operations to be carried out in the first place.

The alarm headquarters. Everything needed to contact pilots and crews in Germany and throughout the world . everything wh ich has to accompany a mi ssion in the way of logi stics and fli ght planning. conve rges here. This equipment fills nea rl y a w hol e storey with maps. tape recorders. electronic data storage . telex and radio equipment . In addition to the short-wave transmitter. VHF set s and of course te lephone lin es are avai labl e. Th ere are ·ordin ary' public te lex mac hines for foreign alarms and connection s to the SITA netw ork- th e aviati on co mpanies· te lex network - and to the air traffi c control AFTN network . Control officers monitor th e equipment and medi ate between the informant as to the acc ident and the medi ca l direct ive as to a possible resc ue fligh t. If the t ransfer of a patient is in question . th en th e opin ion of a docto r is obta ined before sta rting.

Un fort un ately. incoming information is often incomplete - scrambled telex texts and c ut-off te le-

phone connections are all a pa rt of the tedious obstacles which make the provision of aid for saving life more difficult . ·Rath er a cowa rdly dog than a dead lion. · Otto Wiswe . ORF flight operations cont rol ler in Stuttga rt. makes it clear w hy some difficulties cannot be overcome from beh ind the desk .

Dealing with unexpected problems is a much more concrete affair for the ORF pilots than for the men at headquarters.

Whereas in domestic missions diffic ulties are generally limited to bad weat her and technical imponderabilities. the huma n factor becomes much more important outside Europe.

The Merlin IV C and Learjet pilots have a different job from the captains of scheduled flight s ' In some southern countries . fl ying regularly develops in to an adventure.· commented one of the pilots. Whi ch is true: flight routes ha ve to be newly specified and approved by the authorit ies for each operation and technical standards vary grea tly at internationa l airports.

Should the coordin ati on by the tower be inadequate. it does happen that colleagues in the cockp its of the various planes come to an arrangement amongst t hemse lves. Occasionally the on-site airline company helps out. but sometimes t here is nothing to be done w ithout spontaneous ·generosity '. w hen paying kerosene or deal ing with takeoff formalitie s.

This turns the cockpit crew· s job into a race aga inst time t he patient's condition requires the greatest possible care and fast transport. It is not unusual for it to take long enough for the passengers at the point of destination to be found and taken on board If the pilots now have to wait a long time for consent. they run increasingly the risk of exceeding the maximum 19

permissible work ing period wit hout a break. It is no wonder that the crews of the ORF planes are grateful for any assitance on site. The ORF therefore exten ds a 'Th ank yo u ' to all Air Traffic Controllers and c ivil aviation officia ls worldwide whereve r they have assisted a CAA flight to be conducted safety. efficie ntly and expeditious ly.

It is the greatest wish of the ORF manag ing director to see formalities for aircraft w it h the 'CAA' code receive priority handling and flight schedules altered according ly. When the captain asks for permission to take off. you can be sure he is not out for a joyride. The ORF aircrah only fly whe n human life can be saved.

The Merlin /VC transports a maximum of 8 stretch ered patients up to 3550 km nonstop.

Letter

Book Review International Air Traffic Control - Management of World's Airspace

by Arnold Field OBE Pub lishers: Th e Pergamon Press Ltd .

Price £ 1 5. 00 - $ 2 5. 00

A rno ld Field

This book is one of the very rare opportun ities that come ones way. more pa rticul arl y on this subject of aviat ion In the foreword. H. Hai;ri Hensch ler. the Presi dent of the International Federat ion of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA) very correc tly says t hat ' this book all ows t he non-air traffic controller a fascinating look. in easily read language. at a profession practiced by a compa rat ive ly sma ll number of dedicated individual s an d it wi ll improve the understanding of the 20

effo rt by air traffic cont roll ers working in a great variety of technical environments. · Arnold Field is a well known person ali ty among the air traffic control lers of the world w ith w id e experience in thi s spec ialized fi eld of the aviation indu stry. having worked for the greatest part of hi s life in air traffic cont rol. He presided over IFAT CA. served in the Roya l Air Force and retired as a di rector general of the UK Air Traffic Services . It is no exaggeration to say that he is one of th e most qua lifi ed to write on the subject.

Th e book. perfect ly illustrated and divided into 1 6 comp rehe nsive chapters fill s the gap that existed in avi ation literature on air traffic con trol.

Th e author. though he gives an in sig ht of the UK ATC system. deals generally with the subject interna ti onally wi th emphasis been given to the professiona l role of the air traffic controll er in th e high technology environment of pre sent day civil and military operations. The most recent advances. such as app lic ation of autom at ion . airborn e threat alert. colli sion avo idance systems. th e Mi crowave Landing System . etc .. are di sc ussed in addition to the ve ry co ntroversial iss ue of military I civi l coord ination . Thi s book w hi ch in cludes also a forewo rd by Air M arshal . Sir lvor Broom.

KCB. CBE . DSO. DFC . AFC is a must for eve ry air traffic co ntroller and eve ry av iat ion library .

The Edito r.

Ma int ain RWY HOG

Sir. A point which was brought to our attention as a result of an article in 'Professional Pilot · of February. is the difference of meaning of the term 'Maintain runway heading ·.

7. According to ·Professional Pilot'. the pilot maintains the heading indicated when lined up on the runway and does not make a correction to stay in the extended center line of the runway.

2. According to us. the flight instructors. the pilot takes a heading after lift off to keep the aircraft travelling on the extended center line of the runway.

This difference can lead in certain situations to a conflict between two aircraft after takeoff during a crosswind situation.

We would like to bring this dangerous misconception to the attention of ATC and pilots Sincerely.

S . De Weerdt Secretary, Association of Belg ian Fli ght Instructors 2 7. 1985

Important for Corporate Members It is reg retted that articles written by Corporate M embers for the spec ial 25th IFATCA-Ann iversa ry issue of 'Th e Controller' could not be published due to lack of space Th ese. howeve r. together w ith technical presentations made at the 24th Annual Conference of the Federation in Athens last March. wi ll appear in the next issue wh ic h is devoted alm ost complete ly to Corporate Members. This issue wi ll be an opportune occasion for your advert isements.

THE CONTRO LLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

IF T

- The Good Moments in the ast 10 Years (1975-1985)

By Philippe Domagala (Vice-President EGATS)

What have we done in the past 1 0 years? We have lost MA's and gained some new ones. USA went and came back. then went again. Australia went out and is talking very seriously about com ing back. France also left. when w ill they come back? Seen from this ang le IFATCA cou ld look like a teenage boy count ing his girl friends. But it on ly shows one thing- I FATCA li ves. it 1s not a passive association only existing once a year for a drink.

Those of yo u remembering the 197 6 Lyons' conference and the amount of vitality and arg uments that "'."'er~ there : · 11 y avait du Franc;ais dans I air were shouting the Ouebecans. It w_as Just before the price of gasoline tripled and the economic crisis began.

The IFATCA yea rs that fo ll owed were also influenced by thi s economic crisis. but there were nevertheless some good moments. . Like the wine expeditions of Cypru s in 1 97 7 where few came back in good shape . and like in Copenhagen in 1978 where we proved to the world that a 4 00 person conference could be _held in a hotel with its personnel on st rike; in 1979 . in Brusse ls where we had a spec ial lecture on how beer was made. the on ly thing I remember th e next day was that some hundreds of look-alike peop le we re ringing bell s and dancing w ith huge ca ulifl owers on their heads · · . Never tou c hed Belgian beer ever sin ce !

And in 1980 we all lea rn ed the famous so ng : 'Parama rib o. I love yo u. I love you not ... I love you ... · and ended up in Toronto where during a party: a huge middl e-aged man . wea ring a tu xedo . a red ti e and dark sungl asses entered th e room between two bodyg uards I th ought it was Marlon Brando. but was later told it was Robert Poli . president of PATCO bringing the money In 19 8 1 we all w ent t o Cairo. some of us w ithout our lu ggage . some wit hout hote l room s. and w here. during a Comm ittee A session people were THE CON TR O LLER /S EPTEMBER 1985

Ph . Domagala

before Commi ttee BI Unheard of! As an excuse it mu st be added that day 4 was a na viga tion familiarizat ion exerc ise on a cruise shi p and that Committee A delegates very conscientiously parti cipated in the exercise.

Yes there we re some good moments to remember but the technica l and professional matters discussed during that last 10 years' conferences are invaluable work that has been used by all. including ICAO and your Administration in order to promote our profession trying to make our lives better.

The social contacts made during these conferences are also a very important part of the game. they show the real brotherhood of people where co lor. race . religion do not matter .

Only one th ing w e did not achieve yet: Equ al w ork = Equ al pay. It still makes me mad to see colleagues doing t he same job. having the same ed ucati on. the same age. the same sort of kids as me. earning sometimes 1 50 US$ per month and having to work at anot her or sometimes 2 other jobs in order to feed their families . ..

Long li ve IFATCA! But with our unfortun ate co ll eagues. and I hope God w illing . that I w ill be able . to write another article in 1995 adv1s1ng you that the problem no longer exists.

It is also up to you to make it true .

flashing complete hotel doors to show the prices that were printed on them (that were slightly different from the ones we had to pay) and where Amin . our host. wi ll be remembered by all of Preventing Fires after a wheels-up landing is the us forever. by dec laring to a w hole assem bly: ·Do not wo rry my fri ends. if subject of a proposed advisory circular it' s OK. it' s all right. if it' s not al l righ t; on the protection of fuel system and other flammable fluid components on it's OK! ' In 1982 we came to Amsterdam to large ai rcrah. which the FAA feels eat ra w herring on th e canals and in shou ld have additional damage pro1983. in Split the past pre siden t of tection during wheels-up landings.

CATCA. Bill Robertson made history Advisory Circular 25.994-XX . is by dec larin g. in a di sc ussion on how to intended to provide guidelines for incope with adm ini stration bosses. · If stallation practices that will minimize you wa nt to play wit h the big boys you the potential fire hazard caused by the need big toys! · an d then left us a few release of fuel and other fluids during gear-up landings. Comments_are bemonths later to wo rk in a post office.

In Estoril in 1 984 . w hil e taki ng a ing sought on the publ1cat1on and shower. I di sc ove red th at 1 2 jet air- should be submitted to the FAA c raft were attempting to enter my Northwest Mountain Reg ion. 1 7900 room through the balcony door. After Pacific Highway South . C-68966 . in vestig ation we found out that the Seattle. Wa 98168. Contact James Org anizing Committe e did not want us Walker at (206) 43 1-2116. bored and had org an ized a fu ll aerobati c air show in front of the hotel Eve n President Reagan did not get such treatment whe n he visited Portu ga l.

And in At hens in 1985. a Greek co mi c made jokes in Greek to a crowd of 3 00 non-Greek-speaking air traffic 1 cont rol lers who were laughi ng at the wrong moments . and whe re Committee A fini shed bu sin ess in 3 days.

It Pays You to Advertise in The Controller'

21

national requirement s. and suc h an investigat ion was carri ed out in Peru in

Twenty-five Years of I LO Collaboration with IFATCA

In September-O cto ber 1960. the very year in which IFATCA was created . the Intern ational Labour Organisation held its second tripartite Ad Hoe Meeting on Civil Aviation .

A request by t hat meeting fo r an I LO study on co nditions of employment and service of air na vigation services personnel led first to the publica t ion of an article entitled ' Conditions of employment in air traffi c service路 in t he September 1 963 issue of the Internatio nal Labour Review. It was w ritten by Professor J. Schen kma nn. an air t raffic co nt rol expert . on the basis of co nt ributi ons fro m several professional bodies. among which was I FATCA . Subsequent contribut ions from I FATCA we re used to present th e problem s of contro ll ers to the 19 66 Session of t he ILO Inland Transport Committ ee and ILO ' s co llaborati on w it h IFATCA received a further impet us in t he prepa rat ion of a study on Con ditions of Employment and Service of A ir Traffic Cont ro ll ers. produc ed by th e I LO w ith t he assistance of ICAO路and p ubli shed in 1 97 2 .

Here aga in . IFATCA m ade a significant co ntribut ion to t he study by providing in fo rm at ion on working conditions of con troll ers in severa l coun tries .

The need for a more c on crete approach to th e problems of air traffic contro ll ers was put forward by I FATCA at the I LO Preparatory M eeting for Civi l Aviation in 1974. A s a result of I FATCA' s efforts. on e of t he M eetin gs路 recommendat ions ca ll ed on the ILO to hold a m eetin g of expert s to discuss prob lems co nce rnin g air t raffic co ntro ll ers. IFATCA was also present at the ILO ' s fu ll Tripart ite Technical M eet ing for Civi l Aviat ion in 19 77 . where it was instrum ental in th e adoption of a reso lution reiterating the ca ll for such a meeting of experts.

IFATCA' s efforts were not in va in. for the Governing Body of the ILO ap-

22

proved the holding of a bipartite M eeting of Experts on Problems conce rning Air Traffic Controllers in 1979. Thi s deci sion resulted in a period of intensive collaboration between the two organization s. as IFATCA embarked on an extensive program of collecting the comprehen sive information needed by the I LO for drafting the working document serving as a basis for the experts' disc ussions. With the assistance of IFATCA. t he ILO speci ali st w as granted access to many ATC facilities and was abl e to gather first hand inform atio n and insight on the nature of th e con troll er' s job and hi s working condi t ions.

Th e ILO' s biparti te m eeting of experts was held in M ay 1979 . IFATCA played a dec isive role in guiding th e air traffic cont roll er experts and co nsolida ting their positions. The meeting 's 5 2 co nclu sio ns on all topi cs pert aining to t he contro ll ers' con ditions of employment and servi ce co nstitute th e first specifi c I LO document on matters co ncern ing air traffic control lers w hic h has bee n used by air traffi c controll ers all ove r th e world in neg ot ia t ing t heir terms of employment .

But unless appli ed and impl emented. all prin c iples wo uld remai n mere ink on paper. so after th e meet ing th e real wo rk for IFATCA had only just begu n. W ith ILO ' s en couragem ent. IFATCA di ssemin ated th e conc lu sions among all air tra ffi c co ntro ll ers' associations. w heth er or not t hey w ere members or not. It has regularly provided t he I LO w ith up-t o-date informa ti on on th e progress made in applying the meeting 's con c lu sions in the vari ous coun tri es. and incorporated some of th em into it s po licy guidelin es. Some of its member assoc iat ions have requested t he I LO to undertake on th e spot investigat ion s wi t h view to giving effect to th e I LO meeting' s con clusions ac cordin g to

1 981 .

How ever. the above eve nts are only the highlights of a close rel ation ship which IFATCA and th e ILO have developed over the years. Thi s relation ship includes regul ar con sultation s w ith the ILO on all the social and labor aspects of th e w orkin g condition s of controllers w hich m ay be affect ed by technical and legislative developments. For its part. the I LO has particip ated regul arly in all IFATCA's annual conferences th at dea lt with matters of ILO concern . and ha s contributed to the debates. On the one hand . IFATCA's input has helped the ILO to direct the focu s of its acti vities in air traffic control to the major social and labor problems affecting air traffic controllers. On the other hand . the ILO provides the only intern ational forum where air traffi c controllers. through their representati ve org anization s. may discu ss su c h probl em s w ith their employers on an equ al footing .

The ILO beli eve s th at thi s relationship ha s been of benefit to both organi zations and is confident that its collaboration with IFATCA w ill develop yet further in the future.

Avishai Gil Transport Specialist Basic Industries and Transport Branch International Labour Office Geneva

Proposed Noise Rules wo uld affect bu siness airc raft at two airports. John W ayne Airport in Orange Country.

Californi a and Tweed-New Ha ven Airport in New Haven. Conn ecti c ut . Orange Country offi c ial s have propose d low erin g the single eve nt noi se exposure limi t (S ENEL) from 8 9 .5 to 8 6 dec ibels. whi c h w ould preve nt all bu sin ess jets except th e Cessna Citat io n an d Canadai r Ch all enger fr om using th e ai rport at night . Under th e proposed restri ction s for Tweed-New Have n. airc raft co uld not excee d c ert ain noise leve ls. ran ging fr om 6 3 dBA to 7 8 dBA. depending on w hen a fli ght occurs. Th e NBAA has labeled th e proposals 路discrimina tory' and ' unrea sona bl e' . and has suggested altern ati ve measures t o he lp c urb noise. In related news. co nsiderati on of a nig ht curfew at Chi ca go 's Mi dway Ai rport w as post poned after comments w ere subm itted by a nu mber of aviation interest s THE CONTRO LLER / SEPTE MB ER 1985

R/T - The Vital Linl<

by Geoff L. Gillett Vice-President. EGA TS

Th e Eurocontro l Guild of Air Traffic Services organized a two-day pilot I cont roll er I industry forum event on the 24 - 2 5 April. 1985 . in Heerlen Th e Netherlands . ¡ Th e theme of the forum was R / T _ Th e Vital Lin k. wh ich had as its objectives: to highlight problem areas of a tech_nical and operationa l nature in Rad io Telephony and to identify deficienc ies. particularly whe re safety might be involved to provide a platform. for the exchange of ideas and in formation on the use and abuse of R/ T in the air and_on th e ground; to provide indu stry w ith an opportunity of giving advice and information and demonstrating current and future deve lopments in air I ground and ground/ air communicat ions.

A lt hough R I T ha s been the major means of communication between aircraft and ATC for a lon g time. it has c hanged li tt le over the years and has generally proved adequa t e for th e ta sk. Neve rthele ss. w ith th e increasin g density of air traffic and an increased use of radio com m uni cat ions for a va ri ety of purposes. the s1tuat1on _1s c hang ing . Indeed. misundersta ndings can occur in c ommuni THE CONTROLLER /S EPTEMBER 1985

Panel of experts discuss problems of RI T frequency blocking under chairmanship of Geoff Gillett. Vice-President EGATS.

cat ions between ATC and aircrew. which have perhaps. in part. contributed to fatal accidents. Th e Eurocontrol Guild felt therefore. that it was timely to review thi s subject for its 1985 forum event .

Approxim ately 1 30 persons attended the two-day forum. represen ting a w ide spectrum of the aviation industry. but the majority of representation came from th e pilots of more th an 30 airlin es both from Europe and beyond. Th e forum event comprised a series of mini-presentation s and discussion on various aspects of R/ T problem s. wh ic h had been identified by means of repli es to a questionnaire . previou sly circulated

by EGATS among approximate ly 100 ai rlin e. control ler and communicatio ns industry organizations.

Among th e many important conc lusion s arrived at during the event we re: many co ntroll ers do not use standard ICAO phraseo logy thereby making it sometimes difficu lt for

pilots to comprehend accurately and fully some ATC instructions clearly a potential ly dangerous situation; the rate of delivery is frequ ently too fast. An exa mple of an ATIS broadcast w as quoted where 90 wo rd s were spoken in 28 seconds ; some controllers and pilots use R/ T as a veh icle for their own ego. making witty original remarks. no doubt brought about by the boredom derived from the generally routine nature of ATC communi cations; the phenomenon of ¡selective hearing' frequently occurs (you hear only what you expect to hear); the use of more than one language on the same R/ T channel disadvantages the pilot. in that he cannot maintain a mental picture of the traffic situation in his vi cin ity. Some pi lots described this as the greatest problem in R/ T communications and would prefer the excl usive use of English for ATC purposes; information of doubtfu l value 1s often passed to pilots in situations whe re a more definite action might be appropriate. for example . wake turbu lence w arnings gi ven instead of increased spacing and the giving of unidentified traffic information at considerable range when a pilot would not be able to see such traffic.

In addition. many other problems of a worldwide nature were identified and some recom mendations made: - a number of proposals for the solution of the callsign confusion problem we re discussed. including one w hich had its origins in the USA. Th is problem exists partly because co mputer limitation s dictate parameters withi n which the ATC system must funct ion; a trend which should be reversed; the problem s of stuck-on microphones causing the blocking of ATC frequencies and the dangerous situations brought about by simultaneous transm issions were examined in depth sin ce these are daily occurren ces. It was found that most company manuals appear to provide no guidance for th ese spec ific situations and the provisions in ICAO document Annex 1 0 relate more to the radio failure situations.

Both pi lot and controller are therefore left to improvise to a certain extent. accord ing to the ir experi ence and the particu lar circumstances preva il ing. A possible technical solution to these problems was presented to the forum by an avionics engineer from Singapore. who gave a convincing prac -

23

tica l demonstrat io n in wh ic h he proved that t he device. known as t he Contran Unit (Elimin at ion of CONfl ict ing TRA Nsm issions and UN Intent ional Transmissions) could el iminate th is ongoi ng problem in ATC; the presence of a high level of ambient noise was fo und by m edi ca l experts to ha ve an adverse effect on the human dec ision-making process. although am ong hu mans w ith a higher t han average IQ leve l. noise has been foun d to increase mental performance by having a stimulating effect; t he lack of V HF comm uni cati ons fac il ities w orldwide and th e overloading of R/ T chan nels in ma ny countries still not eq ui pped w it h radar fac ilities ca me in for m uc h criticism. It is qu estionable w heth er the insta llation of pu blic telep hone facilities in some airc rah ca n be justified w hen these same aircra ft m ight st ill have no possibil ity of voice communication wit h an Air Traff ic Contro l Center; it was conc luded that in spite of t he advent of Mode S data link tec hniques. the ( Vital) Vo ice Li nk. betwee n pilot and contro ller w oul d be a continuing requ irement for t he next decade at least.

It was genera lly agreed tha t both pilots an d c on t rollers co uld improve the quality of communications by stricter adheren ce to procedu res and more se lf- im posed discipl ine on R/ T channe ls.

Finally. alth ou gh th ere had been c rit icism of some aspect s of R/ T communicat ion s in the USA it was acknowledged th at the European ATC system had greatl y benefi ted from the pio neer work and system deve lopment. w hi c h had its origins in th e United States and that we owed a great dea l to t he st andards defined by the FAA. It was a rare. if not unique occasion that spec ialists from airc rew. ATC and the co mmunicat ions industry co uld exchange views of commo n probl ems both in the panel sessions and during the mo re inform al soc ial moments du ri ng t hese two da ys.

Now t hat many of our problem s have aga in been identifi ed. we hope that those w ho have the authority. will and understanding to bring about some highly overd ue c hanges wil l be moved to action . However. it w ill on ly be by the co ntinuing efforts of pilots and co ntrollers. both on an individ ua l basi s and through t hei r va riou s nat io nal and international organizat ions. that the searc h for an ever-improving safety re cord in aviation ca n be successful ly pursued.

24

Simpler Airspace Urged

Obituary

Johnny Saker The death of Johnny Saker ea rli er th is yea r ca me as a grea t shock t o so many of his fr iends through o ut th e worl d. t hat it is ha rd to real ize th at t hey w ill no more hea r hi s soft spoke n vo ice or see hi s shy littl e smi le as he cha tted amongst hi s co lleagues at intern at ional ga th erin gs. He was indeed a great intern ati onali st and as one of his m ain forums for thi s talent was I FATCA it is fittin g t hat we pay tribu te to him on the 25 th anniversary of t hat insti t ution . He w ill. however. probably be best rem em be red by th e member assoc iati ons as t he hardworkin g and ded ica ted Chairman of Committee B. the Tec hn ica l Committee of t he I FATCA An nu al Co nferences.

Those of us w ho were fort un ate enoug h to observe him in act ion in thi s capac ity. w ill reca ll the charm in g manne r in w hic h he always encouraged debate by incl udin g de legat es from member assoc iati ons w ho he suspected might otherwise have been overawed by th e presence of well info rm ed and art ic ul ate de lega tes of the larger assoc iation s. Hi s ability to ach ieve results. of acce ptable comprom ise to th e Fede rati on. often involving co mplex tec hnica l issues. are a tri bute not on ly to hi s qu aliti es as a c hairma n but also to hi s un derstanding of the needs and req uireme nts of an internation al membership A furth er qua li ty. of w hic h hi s fr iends of many natio_ns w ill be aware. was hi s ability to mix soc ially. both on for mal and inform al occasions. In doing so . not on ly did he have the attrib ute of be in g a good li stener but was also able to co nvey his ge nuin e inte re st in t he subject matt er of the con versa ti on. Whi lst it is acce pted th at these are qu aliti es w hi ch can be acquired by stu di ed practi ce. it is certai n that in th e· case of Johnny Saker t hey were a nat ural extension of t he interest in hi s profession and hi s des ire to extend and sha re hi s knowledg e t hroughout t he worldwide membership of the Federati on.

Th e fact t hat IFATCA is now an establi shed force in world aviat ion affairs owes a grea t deal to men of hi s ca libe r who unse lfi shly ded icate their time on a vo luntary basis and w it hout tho ught of rewa rd s. towa rd s th e objective of enhanc ing t he profess ional standing of air traffi c cont rol.

Intern ationa l. pipe-smoking Johnny wit h the shy li tt le smi le. you w ill be sa dly mi ssed by us all.

A lpha Foxt rot

In its offi cial response to FAA's airspace rec lassifi ca ti on proposa l (April · News lett er'. pages 1 and 4 ). AO PA ca ll ed upon the age ncy to consider intern ati onal sta ndard s and avo id unn ecessa ry co mplex ity before mak in g c hanges .

Th e Assoc iat ion's respo nse was in answe r to an FAA plan to sim plify airspace designa ti ons and revise some rules of fli gh t and also make US airspace co nfor m t o intern at ional sta nd ard s. AO PA pa rti cipa ted in a joint indu stry- FAA airspace review an d ag re es wi th t he co nce pt of si mplifi ca tion . but does not accept some aspects of th e proposa l.

Jo hn J. Shee han. A OPA se ni or vice pres ide nt fo r Gove rnm ent and Pu bli c Affa irs. told th e ·News lett er'. ' It appea rs th e net effect of impl eme nti ng th is proposa l would be t o overlay c urre nt airspace designati ons w ith yet anoth er layer of ide nti fi ers. co nfus in g rath er th an s1mpl1fy1ng th e ce_ ca t_egoralrea dy complex mix of airspa_ ies. · He emphas ized th at th e el1m1n at1on of presen t subca tegories and ex1st1n g airspace names and ac ronyms m ust accom pa ny any rec lass ifi ca ti on_effort ..

Shee han ag reed th at an int ern ati onal standa rd is needed and noted th at an ICAO (Inte rn at io nal Ci vil Aviati on Organizati on) pane l alrea dy. has . deve loped_ a draft m ode l for world-wid e airspace designa t io ns. It in c ludes a li st of standardized airspace definiti ons keyed t o alp.habeti ca l ide nt ifi ers so eac h co untry ca n pic k and choose· those c lass ifi ca ti ons of airspace it uses. Th e res ul t wo ul d red uce con fusion for pi lots ope rati ng in count ries oth ~ r :ha n th ei r own - fo r in st ance. ca t egory A airspace wo ul d have t he sa m e phys ica l and ope rat iona l c rite ri a in w hat ever co untry 1t is used.

Sheehan said t he next pr iority sho ul d be give n to ac hi evin g st anda rdi za ti on whe rever possible w it h newly 1mpleme n_ted Ca nadi an airspace def1n1t1 ons. physica l c haracte ri sti cs and ope rat ional req ui remen t s.

An accompa nying proposa l to rec lassify t erm in al airspace likewi se drew co nce rn fro m AO PA A plan to combine t he req uiremen ts of Grou p I and th e lessrest ri ct ive Group II Term in al Co ntro l Areas (TCAs) was object ed to becau se the greater restricti on s in Group I TCAs are not i ustifi ed by the lesse r t raff ic 1n Gro up 11 areas. Another reason is th e econom ic bu rden to many airc raft owners_ and ope rators w ho wou ld have t o add alt 1tud eencod ing alti meters (req uired now in Group I TCAs) for ope rati on in all TCAs. Th is cou ld cost upward s of $ 1 1 2 . m tll1 on for insta ll at ion in about 70.000 airc raft.

AO PA would not object to a combinat io n of Group I and II TCAs t ha t_wou ld apply t he hig her traff ic count c riteri a present ly used to estab li sh Group I TCAs combin ed with t he lesse r equ ipment and pilot qua lifica ti on cr ite ri a of Group 11 TCAs The Assoc iat ion also rec omme nded standardization of the d imen sion s of Airport Traff ic A reas (AT As) . Contro l Zones and the su rt ace are a of A RSAs. especia lly if the FAA also standardizes th e tops o f t hem at 3.000 feet THE CONTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 19 85

CDA - The Efficient Approach

by M . L. Burlin, A TCO at Muscat

To the five objectives of the air traffic services as defined in ICAO Annnex 11 two further objectives might perhaps be added as an updated requirement - '_to maintain a (i) quiet and (ii) economical flow of air t.raffic'. To this end the introduction of the CDA Continuous Descent Approach - has contributed greatly, as local anti-noise groups and airline operators wi ll confirm.

CDA techniques are in use at a number of US , European, and other airports. three locations in Europe being Frankfurt. Gatwick. and Heathrow Airports. Currently Gatwick utilizes CDA procedures during westerly operations only, due to airspace restrict1o_ns and limitations when runway 08 1s in use. . . The CDA procedures which are design ed to permit a low-drag. lowpower descent profile. enab le an arriving aircraft to be flown in a clean configurat ion until a much later stage of the approach. thus reducing noise and fuel burn. Th e usual descent profile approximates to a three degree gl1des lope from descent points normally some short distance after stack departure In the case of Gatwick and Heathrow this is at about 23 track miles from touchdow n.

Objectives Whilst the provision of the CDA is more genera ll y a feature of the busier TMA located airports. the re is no rea so n why th e system ca nnot be ut1l1zed at those terminals with lower traffic leve ls. if required on an ad-hoe ba sis. Under these circumstances the objectives of the CDA can still be achieved. The more efficient use of adjacent lower airspace can also often be permitted by rel easi ng these lower altitudes for use by other airspace users. general aviation perhaps. since the arri va ls mainta in an overa ll higher desce nt profile than under co nve ntion al approac h procedures Airspace lowe r limits ca n thus be som etimes revised upwards for examp le.

Certain long-established precon ceptions ha ve to be re-exa min ed for th e introduct ion of CDA procedures .

THE CON TROLLER / SE PTEMBER 19 85

in particular the accepted ILS glideslope capture from below in-level flight . Thi s is not a feature of the CDA since it obviously follows that as the requirement is to maintain a descent profile at all times. this wi ll apply both before and after establish ing on the ILS or VOR/DME radial.

In areas of high traffic density the need to direct arri va ls along nominal approach paths which permit a descent equated to the required glideslope - three degrees being the normal angle - the use of pure radar separation is essential since all aircraft w ill be descending after stack departure. Thus the use of speed control is closely associated with the CDA in order to stream arriva ls and to ensure the maintenance of correct spacing w ithin the approach sequence. The choice of predetermined speeds is necessarily tailored, to suit the overa ll speed range of aircraft types operating at a particular airport. but is genera lly of the order of 21 0 knots intermed iate approach speed reducing to 1 70 knots on base leg and 1 60 knots on final approach to a four to fi ve mile fin al. after which no ATC speed restri ction may be applied.

Th e intermediate approach speed is usually required to be flown within a ten knot tolerance and this does allow some limited flexibility, for example th e later variations of th e Dougl as DC9 flown by some airlines are operated at 220 knot s in preference. The majority of turbo-prop ai rlin ers and higher performance corporate aircraft can comp ly with the se speed requirements. The Concorde airc raft howeve r require s an intermed iate approach spee d of 250 knots reduc ing to 2 1 0 kn ot s 011 base leg.

Less R/T Whilst speed contro l in the co ntext of the CDA is 110 subst itute for acc urate radar vecto rin g, close attention has to be maintained to rel ative speeds and sin ce thi s may enta il frequent updating of informat ion to ATC there is a co rresponding in crease in work load.

Th e i11troducti0'1 of SSR mode S offers the possibility of automatic

transmission of speed information thus redu c ing the R/ T workload The interfacing of Mode C and Mode S w ith an ATC Confl ict Alert Syste m may wel l allow the use of such a system in conjunction w ith CDA techniques in areas where presently such an Alert Fac ili ty would almost certainl y go into a continuous electronic overload .

Th e advantages provi ded by the Continuous Desce nt Approach seem likely to remain of utmost importance in these times of high fuel and operating costs. together with increa sed noise awareness. Whilst the use of these techniques inevitably increa ses flight-deck and ATC workload. the overall benefits enable ATC to play an im portant part in maintaining an efficient service to the customer.

Betty Elliott Named Field Director of SPA Betty B Elli ott of Gle nmont. New York. has been named Fiel d Director for the Seaplane Pilots' Assoc1at1on .

SPA an international organ1zat1on of seaplane pilots managed by the Airc raft Owners and Pil ots' Assoc1a t1 on . has volunteer representati ves in all parts of the co untry to handle local problems.

'New York has more SPA members than any other state besides Californi a.· said SPA President David Qu am. ·Appointing Betty Elli ott as New York Fi eld Director w ill assure that their co ncern s are taken care of.· Elli ott, w ho ha s been instrumental in the pl anning and organization of the FAA / SPA Seaplane Safety Seminar in Spec ul ator. New York . each year. has called a meeting of New York seaplane pi lots at this yea r's semin ar. scheduled for Jun e 14.

A commercia l pi lot with an instrument rating , Elli ott also serves as an FAA safety counselor She served as cha irman of the Joint Chambers Airport Committe e for th e A lbany-Colon ie Reg ion al Ch am ber of Commerce. and serves on th e membership committee of the Wing s Club in New York. She is a member of SPA AOPA and the Ni nety-Nines She has wo rked as an instructor in medi cal and surgica l nu rsing and pharmacology, as business manager for two private c orporation s and a foundation . an d as executive director of a residential program for young adu lts and as convent ion planner and coordinator for her own firm . She has served as an officer and committee chairman for 1 6 boards of directors and is active in a number of other c ivi c activities.

25

Procedural Control A New Training Facility

own EDP peopl e to meet New Zealand Air Traffic Service requirements.

After co nfirming that the equipment met the spec ifi cat ion , a further four set s of equipment we re purchased.

For the technically minded, a field set consists of: One SV 328 Computer, one SV 601 Expander, o ne SV 801 Flopppy Di sc Controller, one SV 902 Floppy Disc Dri ve, one ZVM-122E Amber Monitor, and an appropriate di sc .

There have always been problems with realistically simulating procedural control. In the past it has required carefully scripted exercises which often involve several people to act as 'pilots'. Further, there have been problems in realistically g iving aircraft position reports, changes in altitude and OME distances. Th is is particularly so when the controller gives instructions which may not have been anticipa ted in the script.

In these days of highly sophi sticated ATC systems there are still many areas of the wo rl d whe re procedu ral. con trol is the only form of con trol avai lable. Further there are many areas whe re although radar is ava ilable, it is either used in conjunct ion with proced ural contro l or w here procedural control forms the major standby system in the even t of radar fai lure . In both the se type of areas there is a need for contro ll ers to be able to gain tra ining in procedural control, not only at ATC sc hools but also at the ir units. Up until now the main problem has been cost . New Zealand has developed a system which meet s the requirement and the cost is very sma ll .

Although we ha ve extensive radar coverage in New Zealand we still occasionally have to resort to procedural control during periods of radar failure and scheduled maintenance. Beca use these periods are rare, controllers tend to get out of practice at procedural control and trainees only get lim_ited procedural experience during rating/validation periods .

Recomme ndation 1 5 of the Com mi ssion of Inquiry into Air Traffic Control Services in New Zeal and stated th at: ' Procedura l training equipment be provided at all rada r-eq uipped airports. ' In Janu ary 1983 an operational specification was comp iled and researc h showed t hat a medium-priced perso nal computer co uld do the job required .

Th e hardware selected was the Spectravideo SV 328 w hich ha s 64 K of Random Access Memory. Initi ally we purchased one set of equipment fo r a Head Office development unit and a more basic set for field evaluation .

Th e origin_al program concept was developed w ith the assi stance of nonM ini stry personnel and refin ed by our

Typical set-up for a simple exercise. Trainee at the procedural display board Th e instructor seated behind her and the 'pilot' at the VDU 26

The Pro ced ural Training Simulator is design ed to enable radar units to simulate procedural traffi c patterns at their parti c ular location s. The exercise is planned by th e user and the traffic inten sity can be va ried as required .

The simulator holds data on ten aircraft types , i.e. aircraft A-J. For these aircraft the user decides the callsign, route and altitude. The simulator also allows the use r to enter data on up to six more aircraft, i.e. aircraft K-P. So if an aircraft type is required that is not in c luded in aircraft A-J then any of aircraft K-P can be used. If the type se lected is not known by the simulator then extra data on aircaft performance is fed to the machine.

On ce the exercise commencement time is selected and appropriate ai rc raft programmed, the monitor disp lays th e appropri ate geographic area selected co mpl ete with reportin g points and syntheti c range-ring s, e.g .

Auckland Termin al area or Wellington area. Aircra ft dat a is displayed on the right hand side of th e monitor screen in c ludin g call sign, typ e, course , ETA next reporting point, altitude , rate of c limb or descent (if any) an d range / bearing from the next re porting po int and thi s ca n be adj ust ed to give range and be aring from any repo rtin g point in the area c hose n . Ea c h aircraft ca n be se lected in turn by simp ly pre ssing the appropriate key A-P t o display the necessa ry inform ati on . Th e tim e (in hours, minutes and seco nds) is displayed in the top left hand co rner of th e sc reen and once the c lock is started, airc raft prog ress is di spl ayed by the m ovemen t of sprit es or targets identifi ed by its pa rti c ul ar aircraft lett er betwe en repo rting points. Informa ti on is upd ated eve ry 30 seco nds.

The 'pil ots' driving th e simu lator ca n on in st ructio ns fr om th e co ntroll er change the rout e, report pass ing an altitude or every d es ign ated st ep in the Cl im b, passing a DME di st ance, hold ove r a beaco n , and c limb or descen d as instructed Add itional airc raft ca n be fed into the exercise at any tim e and c urrent airc raft can be 'k illed' if required . Aircraft ca n also be instruct ed to hold over a beacon or m ake a THE CONTROLLER / SEPTEM BER 1985

diversionary climb to a specified alt itude or DM E di stance.

All reminders such as reports over reporting points. top of climb. top of descent. vacating the area. landed and any additional repo rts requested are displayed acro ss the bottom of the screen. The clock can be stopped / started. be slowed down or speeded up and the exercise time can be advanced if required .

After an operating manu al w as compiled. the simulators were all ocated to our radar units and th is was comp leted in July 1984 . The uni ts were instructed to use the equi pm ent as much as possible and thus uncove r any bugs left in the system an d this is being achieved. It is not perfect yet. but as bugs are detected new_discs with the faults rectified will be issued to field units.

Experience to date has sh own that : a) a 'driver' can be rea sona bly proficient aft er about 30 minutes dual instruction ; and b) w ith practic e a drive r can handle five or maybe six aircraft.

The system is being fu rt her developed to facil itate the use of Standard Instrument Departures. It 1s also apparent th at becau se on e driver ca.n only be expected to ·pilot' five or si x aircraft at any one time. a seco nd set of equipment w ill be requ ired at each field unit to allow rea listic busy periods to be si mulated .

All owing fo r t hese extra costs th e full y completed system will have cost Jess th an NZ $ 5000 fo r each set of . equi pm ent .

It is felt that th is system will have w ide application in many parts of the world and be well wi thin th e means of the less affluent employers.

A _typical display to the 'pilot ·. Three aircraft active on th e display, 'A ·. '8 ·and ·c. A ircraft A s s1tuatt0n called up and displayed.

Courtesy New Zealand Ministry of Transport.

Civil A via tion Division

MLS Seminar An intern ati o na.1 Mi c rowave Land ing Sys tem (MLS) seminar - con sistin g of si x panel di sc uss ion s by rep re se ntati ves from both gove rnm ent and in d ustry . d emonstrat10.n flight s. a tour of the new M LS in stall ati o n at Ott awa Airport . and other ex h1b1ts - takes pl ace in conjun ct ion w ith th e ICAO Communi cat io ns I Operati ons D1v1s1o nal M eeting (COM / OPS-8 5 ). held 4- 28 September . The se min ar is being plan ned and hosted by t he Canad ia n Air Transport ati o n Adm ini st ration and th e United St ates Federal Aviati on Ad m ini stratio n .

Th e sem inar is des ig ned t o inform the CO M I OPS-85 att en dees of the status of MLS aro und the wo rl d . It wa s first THE CONTROLLER / SEPTEMBER 198 5

suggested by t he All W eath er Operations Panel (AWOP) in its 9 th M eeting in Dece mber 19 8 2 . endorsed by the ICAO Air Navigation Com miss ion and Cou ncil. and initiated by th e Unit ed States and Canada during th e AWOP- 10 M eeting last September.

Th e panel-di sc uss ion speakers will describe the avail abi lity of ground equipm ent and avioni cs. t he impl ementation pl ans of ai rframe manufact urers and users . the cert ifica ti on fli ght inspecti on. air traffic and instru ment app roac h procedures. design standards currently being used and . fi nally th e ope rational benefits of MLS to a va riety of users.

The se minar wi ll beg in at 0900 on Tu esday. 3 Septem ber. in th e ICAO As-

sem bly Hall in M ontreal. (Reg istration will open at 0800 in the lobby.) It wi ll contin ue at the same location un ti l noon on W ednesday. 4 September. and it will reconve ne on Sat urday. 7 September.

The fi nal Saturday session wi ll consist of a trip to Ottawa to visit the M LS instal lation and ot her related exhibits. COM I OPS-85 delegates and their principal MLS advisors w ill be flow n from M ontreal to Ottawa on an M LS-equipped de Havilland DH C- 7 aircrah. Othe r attendees will be transported to Ottawa by bus . These and all other seminar attendees will be bussed to the M LS azimuth and elevation sites serving Ottawa Airport .

27

The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations

IFATCA was fo unded in 1961 by Air Traffic Controllers from 1 2 European Countries: Austria, Belgium.

Denmark.

France. Finland. Federal Republi c of Germany, Icel and, Ireland, Lu xe mbourg, Th e Netherlands. Norway and Switzerland It has sinc e grown to over 60 Member Associat ions from all co ntinents. and is the internatio nall y recognized vo ice of t he Air Traffic Control ler.

The aims and objectives of t he Federation we re formulated in Am sterdam in 196 1 and have remain ed as the foundation of I FATCA ever since .

The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers ' Associations is an independent non-government. non political professional organization. and its main objectives are: To promote safety. effi c iency and regularity in Internat ional A ir Navigat ion ; To assist and advise in the development of sa fe and orderly systems of A ir Traffic Control; To promote and uphold a high sta ndard of knowledge and professional efficiency among Air Traffic Controllers: To protect and safeg uard t he interests of t he Air Traffic Control Profession: To make mutual benefit affili ations wit h other internationa l Orga ni zat ions: To strive for a worldw ide Federati on of Air Traffic Control lers· Associations.

In order to ach ieve and fo ll ow these aims. t he Federation wi ll c losely cooperate w ith nationa l and international aviation authorities. and other institut ion s or persons concerned with air navigat ion. Th e Federation sha ll assist w hereve r possible in the developmen t of new proced ures and facilities necessa ry and useful for the safety of Internat ional Air Traffi c. It shall co llect and distribute information on profe ss ion al problems and developments ac ross t he world . and sha ll seek to 28

prepare and examine policy items for presentation at such meetings .

At the Annual Conference of the Federat ion , representatives of these organizations meet with th e Air Traffic Controllers and an exch ange of views on many diverse subjects is then possi ble in an inform al, and informative manner.

support and sponsor the passage of legislation and regulations whic h w i_ll increase and protect the safety of air navi g ation. through the development of working conditions in Air Traffic Control.

The Fed eration is sti ll a vo luntary body and ha s no full time officials.

Th e Management of the Federation is the responsibility of the Executive Board rnade up of fi ve elected officers w ith voting powers. and the appointed Executi ve Secretary .

Th e Exec uti ve Secretary deals with the day to da y routine matters and serves as a nu c leus for th e processing of informat ion on all IFATCA activities.

All other tasks and projects are ca rri ed out on an honorary basis, w hich is representative of th e members ' dedica ti on to their profession .

Th e President an d the Vice-Presiden t s attend many meetings of the M ember Associat ions. and meetings of intern at ion al organ iza tion s. Th ey

DIRECTORS OF MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS orking Pepers/Repon s

Accounts/Budget

Organization To desc ribe the organization in a few brief se ntences is next to impossible . The organigram wi ll go some way to exp laining the complexities of the Federat ion .

The Federation is su pervise d as to day to day running by the Exec uti ve Board . The Reg ion al Vice-Presidents together w ith the Exec utive Boa rd form the Executive Council . Th e Standing Committees work w ith the members of the Exec uti ve Coun c il to comp lete the Work Programm es set Elect E.ecutivo Council Mombors 1 1 0

1--------- ~~~ ; in~a~i~o~k ~r~::~mes Approve Accounts/Budget

(ANNUAL CONFERENCE)

D etermine Policy

IFATCA CONSTITUTION

Byo·laws/Pollcy

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

1-----~---- ~~~ho"~~:~,~~~~~oD~~~'f~~hcranco

(I n sosslon)

EXECUTIVE BOARD & AVPs

ol lho aims and objoclivos of lho Federation.

EXECUTIVE BOARD PRESIDE NT

~ Ao'°' po::::"•'------1 Accou nts & Budgol

VP Admin. VP Tech. VP Prol. Troas. Ex . Sac SCVI

SC I

~g ~I

t-------

~~:!.

SCJI/

Editor/Ed 's

Chairmen ol S landing Commitlecs

Sccrelariat

CommiUee

R cs~nsible for !ho day to day ru nning ol th o Fe deration and imp1emenling actions and policies determined by D irectors a t Annual Conference. Policy may b o dccidod by lho Board bc!wcon Conlercnccs .

Appoinl Editor and liaison Officers as required.

All ropons. Working Pnpors nnd all correspondence throughl Sccrolarial to

~----,.,~ Execulivo Board . MA Information is

Mombors cl SCs

circulalcd thr oughl Scc101 arial.

INFORMATION

liaison Oll!co1s lo lCAO

Liaison Olliccr to lnl'l Orgs.

Ao orl s &

SC I

T echnical and Opcrntionnl Mailer s

SC lll

Financo

ln!ormat!on .

SCIV

Human and Env1ronmantal Factors in Air Trallic Control

SC VJ

Ccn!;!ituticn and Adminis11a1ivc

SC VII

legal Manors in Air Trame Control

Policy

THE CON TR OLLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

f

J All-Americas 3rd Regional Meeting _ San Jose. Costa Rica ( 798 7)

out by A nnua l Con ference . Th e Editor is responsible for t he t imely produ ct i?n . and content of the Federation s Journa l 'Th e Con t ro ll er'.

The Executive Board

All-Africa 2nd Regional M eeting - Nairobi. Ken ya

Regional Organization It is only possible here to give a broad desc ription of ou r organ izat ion and the way in wh ich t he Federation's overall poli cy is formu lated . but experience has proved that our genera l policy. particu larl y in the techn ical fie ld needed to be supplemented by procedu res applicab le to particu lar Regions of the world. To meet these requirements ten Regions we re form ed and each now has its Vice-Pres ident and advisers responsible for the organiza ti on of affai rs w ithi n the Region .

The President: is respon sible fo r the supervision of all act ivities of t he Federat ion . He presides at all Conferences of the Federation and is responsible for the se lect ion of representat ives at all external meetings. . The Vice-President Administration: is responsi ble for the supervision of the wo rk programmes of all Admin istrative Committ ees of the Federat ion T he Regions Are: North and Central Americ a. South and for t he adm ini strative management of the Federat ion . He is respon- Americ a. Ca ri bbean. Europe West Europe Central. Mediterranean and sible _for th e supervisi on of the SecMiddle East Africa East Afri ca W est . reta riat and the ma intenance of all nec essa ry records.

Asia and Pac ific.

The Regiona l Vi ce-Presidents .

The Vice-President Professional: is res pon sible for the supervision of the together with the Exec utive Boa rd ~o rk programmes of the Professional form th e Exec utive Council of the Federation . Th e Coun ci l. at the presommittees. He represents the Federation. or nominates to th e President ent t ime . meets once a year at t he a suitable altern ative . in all contacts Annua l Conferenc e.

Each Region makes every effort to with th_e Intern ati ona l Labou r Office ho ld a meeting of the M ember and w ith the Leg al Committee of ICAO .

Assoc iations. and non-members. of Th e_ Vice- President Technical: th e Region at least once every year. To supervises_the wo rk programmes of faci litate better co ntact between th e the Techn ica l Committees. He main- Regions. joint meetings are held by many Reg ion s. e.g. Africa East / W est tain s c lose contacts w ith IATA !CAO , an d IFA LPA .

Europe West / Central. Nort h. Central Th e Treasurer: is responsible for t he and South Am eri ca. and Asia I Pacific.

The Executive Board 's po li cy is to fund s of th e Federatio n. He must enas much representation as poshave sure th at day to day costs do not exceed the Budg et an d mu st also ensure sible at eac h Regional M eeting and that t he finances of th e Fed erat ion are where possible, an Executive Board M eet ing will be sc hed uled to coin cide used to be st effect. .Th e Executive Secretary: is ap- w it h such meeting s.

Th e Regional Vice-President in pointed by th e Exec utive Boa rd . He is respon sibl e for the rou tin e manage- ea c h Reg ion must maintain contact ment and admini stration of th e Feder- wit h all of th e M ember Association s in ation under the supervision of the t he Reg ion and mu st also keep in President and th e Vice-President Ad - close contact wi th oth er assoc iat ions mini st rat ion . or group of contro ll ers w ho may be THE CONTR OLLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

interested in the Federati on but are not in a position to join because of financial restraint s or becau se such associati on is prohibited by law The Regional Vice-President must always be prepared to provide advice and assistance to any mem ber association and must ensure that the Exec utive Board is fully up t o date w hen ever problems arise.

Standing Committees The Federation has found t hat over the years since foundation many and co mpl ex problems and points of discussion arose and in order to provide detailed information for the Executive Boa rd and the Member Associ ations.

Standing Commi tt ees we re est ablished.

The Standin g Committees are drawn from the Member Associations.

Eac h Standing Committee has a ch airman appoi nted by the constituent member assoc iat ion s who liaises with the Exec ut ive Board on beha lf of th e Committee. Eac h Standi ng Committee holds two or more meetings eac h yea r and m uc h of t heir work is al so done by co rresponden ce.

Each Vi ce- President of t he Federation . and th e Treasurer have a direct invo lvement wit h the relevant Standing Committ ees .

The Comm ittees cu rrently in operation are : Sta nding Committee I - Technical and Operationa l M atters. This Committee works wi t h t he Vi ce- President Technica l.

Standing Committee Ill - Finance Th is Committee natura lly assi sts the Treasurer.

Standing Committee IV - Human and Environmental Factors in Air Traffi c Control. This Committee works closely with the Vice-Presiden t Professional.

29

Standing Committee VI - Con st itution and Administrative Policy of IFATCA . This Committee is the watch dog on the Federation ¡ s Consti tution and- its Administrative policy and organization an d is therefore in close cooperation with the Vi cePresident Administration.

Standing Committee VII - Legal Matters in Air Traffic Control. This Committee can expect to become particularly active in the next few years now that !CAO is exa mining a number of matters in the legal area. Th e VicePresident Professional holds the watching brief here .

The Annual Conference The supreme auth ority of IFATCA is vested in the Annual Conference . by which the Member Associations decide on the organization and policy of the Federation.

Annual Conferences of !FA TCA. always impressive - Cairo Conference The Member Associ ations are thei r own master. by the ir membersh ip of the Federation they are entitled to cat ions for m embership , membership. M atters in ATC. Rec ruitment and participate actively an d substanti ally termination of membership . budgets. Train ing of Air Traffic Contro ll ers. and in the formulation and adoption of election of IFATCA officers. approval Environ m ental and Human M edica l IFATCA Policy. of fut ure Conference venues. public Factors on w hi c h M ember Associations of Standing Committee IV are Working Papers prepa red by th e relati ons and other related subjects.

Standing Committees or by one or Committee 8 (Technical and Oper- grea t spec iali sts .

The description of th e work done by more Member Associations. or by the ational Matters) defines and adopts Executive Board or Council. and ad- our Technical Poli cy. worked out th ese committees shows th at th e vocating various poli cies . are pre- ma inl y by Standing Comm itee I. in- age nd a of an Annual Conferen ce sented to the Conference for cluding presentation papers and briefs co mprises the study of all . aspects consideration by all other Member for other internationa l meetings and co nce rn ing the safety of av1a t 1on 1n Associations. These draft proposals conferences attended by IFATCA and general and the Air Traffi c Controll er's are debated in Comm ittee by the del- dea ling w it h the co nsta nt flow of re- profession in particular . In add1 t 1on all egates and eventually a po licy state- quests from ICAO . IFALPA and other activities of the pa st year are rev iewed ment will emerge. This statement. in sou rces. for tech ni ca l inputs of one and spec ific subject s_ of interest are the form of a Resolution or Rec- sort or another . Most policy deve loped assig ned to the Stand ing Committee s ommendation. is decided upon and by I FATCA is indeed oriented towards sett ing up their wo rking programme adopted as IFATCA policy by the vote practi ca l aspects of the appl icati on of for the next yea r.

Outside th e commi tt ee session s of a majority of the M ember Associ- ATC proced ures and use of technical ations represented at the Conference. the Delegates are expected to cu lti facilities.

Committee A (Administrative Policy Committee C (Human Factors. va t e persona l co ntacts w ith Delegates and Constitutional Matters) deals with Legal and Professional M atters) is from other M ember A ssoci ation s. Thi s the issues of administration. consti- orie nted towards the con dition s of enables some of the more delicate tution. organization. including appl i- emp loyment of co ntroll ers. Lega l bu sin ess to be negot iat ed informa ll y

Regional Councillors (front row) at the 23rd Annual Conference.

Portugal

30

President Eanes of Portugal at the 23rd Annual Conference. Portugal THE CONT ROLLER / SEPTE M BER 1985

before.the subject is rai sed officially in committe e.

One of the aims of the Federation is to e_nsure that the profession of air traffic contro ller is we ll published throughout the w orld. The Annual Conference. besides being the annual meeting of_the Member Associations. is the_public showpiece of IFATCA. Thi s event is w ell covered in the news media of the host nation and serves to en sure that Air Traffic Control r_ecei ves its share of we ll deserved public acclaim.

The Annual Conference is organized in turn by a vo lunteering Member Assoc1at1on and normally enjoys great interest . from the national Aviation Authorities.

The Opening Ceremony and the Final Plenary Session are graced with the presence of many eminent repfrom Aviation Adm·1n1s. resentatives . trat1on. Next to representati ves of th Member A ssociations and ATC o~ ganizat1ons w hich are not yet members of IFATCA but w hi ch ha ve .in d.1. . ca t e d t h e1r interest in the Federation. the Annual Conference brin s together a lot of observers from int~r­ nat1onal organizations such as !CAO IATA · IFALPA · !LO · IC AA. Eurocontro ·l A gency and many others .

Conference Venues 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970

i1973 ~; i 197 4 1975

In augural Conference Amsterdam 1st Annual Conferen ce - Pari s 2nd Annual Conferen ce London 3rd Annu al Conference Bru ssel s 4th . a 5 h Annual( on ferenc e-V1enn \ Annual Conference - Rome 6 t Annu al Conference Geneva 7th Annual Conference Muni ch 8th Annua l Conferen ce Belgrade 9th Annua l Conference Montrea l ~ 9~~ ~nnual Conference -Ath ens 12th Annual Conference-Dubl in nnual Conference Reykj avik 13th Annu al Conference Tel Aviv 14th Annua l Conference Melbourne ~t~ Annual Conference - Lyo n t Annua l Conference Nicosia 17th Annual Conference Copenhagen 18th Annual Conference Bru ssels 19th Annua l Conference Toronto 20th Annu al Conference - Ca iro 2 1st Annua l Conference Amsterd am 2 2nd Annual Conferen ce - Split

i ~; ~ i 1978 197 9 1 980 198 1 19 8 2 19 83

THE CONT ROLLER/SEPTE MBER 1985

1984 23rd Annual Conference- Estoril 19 85 24th Annual Conference-Athens

IFATCA Publications

ment of t he suitability of their equipment for the task intended by mean s of open discussions w ith the A ir Traffic Controller . The Corporate Members are also provided w ith the facility of a Trade Fair at each Confe rence where they can displa y their products to th e active Air Traffic Cont roll er and also to the many Directors of the Air Traffic Services w ho attend. Their contri bution to t he Federation in the technica l fields is much val ued by the Membership.

In order to maintain close co ntact w ith the Member Associations . with other ATC organizations wh ich are interested in the Federation. w ith the Corporate Members and w ith the public. IFATCA publishe s quarterly a Journal of Air Traffic Control: The Controller. . The Controller treats all aspects of Air Traffi c Control . w ith particular emThe Member phasis on new advances in ATC in the Associations 1985 human element in this highly sophistiAntigua and Barbuda. Argentina. Austria. cated environment.

Bah amas. Belgium . Brazil. Canada.

At the same time it provides the Ch an nel Islands. Colombia. Costa Rica.

Corporate Members wi th a forum for Cyprus. Denmark. Egypt. Eurocontrol. Fiji. discussion of the latest technical deFinl and. France. Germany. Ghana. ve lopments in the field of air traffic Greece . Guya na. Honduras. Hong Kong. safety.

Hungary. Iceland. Ireland. Israel . Italy.

The Controller is the responsibility Ivory Coast. Jamaica. Japan. Kenya .

Luxembourg . Mauritius. Mexico. Morocof the Editor who works c losely w ith co. The Netherlands. Netherlands Antilles. the Exec utive Board to ensure proper New Zea land. Nicaragua. Nigeria . Norpub I1c1ty for the Fed eration . way.

Peru. Portugal. El Salvador. South He is also the Chairman of a Special Afri ca. Spain. Sri Lanka , Sudan. Surinam.

Committee re sponsible for PubliSwazi land. Sweden. Switzerland . Rocatca cations and Public Rel ations and w ill Taiwa n. Tanzania. Trin idad and Tobago. provide assistance to the host Ass ociTun isia. United Kingdom. Uruguay. ation during Annual Conference.

Ve nezuela. Yugoslavia. Zambia . ZimFA TCA Circular is an intern al The !_ babwe . publ1c at1on . mainly concerned with news from the Federation and Member A ssociations va luable for all The British Government Member As soc iations. plans to sell its interest in BAe in It _is published qu arterl y at the Secorder to raise new equity capital as retariat. well as to continue the privatization ' Special News Letters· are used to process th at began in 1 981 . Th e promulgate urgent matters of su fgovernment plans to offer its 48.43 ficient importance to be made known percent share of British Ae rospace to to all Member Assoc iations. the public in late spring or early sumTh e Fed eration also publi shes from mer. depending on market conditions. time to time poli cy items suc h as Automation . Rec ruitm ent and Train- A ·specia l sha re ' of British Aerospace ing of Air Traffic Controll ers. the Con- wi ll be kept by the government in order trollers· Con ce rn w hich last ite m was to retain some mea sure of control over the basis for the Fed eration 's sub- the company. and according to a Britmission to th e Internation al Labour ish Aerospace spokesman. no one Office for th e Meeting of Expe rts at the buye r wi ll be allowed to acquire more t han 1 5 percent of the company ILO in 1979 .

Th ere we re 1 5 Controller Experts nom in ated to attend. one of whom ~--------------Drug Rule Out was th e President of IFATCA H. H. Hensc hl er. M any ot her indi vidual The FAA rece ntly announced stricmembers of th e Federation we re also te r rules governing pi lots ' use of alpresent as experts. Th e Conclu sions cohol and drugs. are now used by the M ember AssociThe revised rules establish a blood ati ons as basis of negoti ations with alcohol level for determining when respect ive employers and admi nisdrinking has impaired the ability of trations worldw ide. pilots to perform their f light duties safely.

The FAA has also proposed an ' imCorporate Members plied consent' ru le which would reTh e Corporate M embers are representat ive of the manufa cturing sec- quire pilots to submit to alcohol testtion. of th e aviati on industry. By t heir ing. with the possible loss or temporary suspension of their licenses if they part 1c 1pat1on w ith IFATCA. indi vidual refuse compa ni es ca n make a spot assess31

Continued from page 12

penalty in operat iona l payload norma lly preclude the ca rri ag e of th e con ventional underslung load hook on most helicopters . It was therefore necessary to design a system whic h w as lightweight. simple and yet w ith th e requiremen t of being able to be jettisoned in t he event of an em ergency wit h the helicopter.

The major disadvantage of conventiona l underslung load hooks is t hat they have a mechanical re lease in addition to an electrical release . It is this mechanica l rele ase w hich can open causing the prem ature re lease of th e load. Obvio usl y, this is tota lly unacceptable if we wa nt to consi der lifting people .

The question was then asked - w hy do we ha ve to have a hook on the helicopter equipment? Why not put th e hook on the load? Whenever an underslung load is connected to the helicopter it requi res a person on the ground to open th e hook on the helico pter to in sert the lifting eye of the strops connected to t he load. By revers ing the conn ection. that is by having the hook on the load . the requirem ent for manual relea se in the helicopte r is unnecessary.

Another aid to safety on the North Sea being introduced is the automat ic flight monitoring or flight following fa ci lity. One such system soon to be installed offshore and in helicopte rs is Flite-Trak . This equipment enables an offshore traffic control ler to monitor helicopter and vesse l positions on a visual display unit (VDU) .

A sm all transcei ver in the helicopter or on board a vessel transmits a coded si gnal to the ground station which contains. for helicopters. the callsign. position and height and for vesse ls. the vessel's identificat ion and positi on in latitude and longitude. This produces a return on the VDU sc reen alongside w hich is the airc raft identification and height. or the vesse l's identificat ion and position.

In an emergency. the return on the sc reen pul sates and an audio warning is produced. It is therefore possible to highlight the particular ai rcraft or vessel in trouble.

All other aircraft or surface vesse ls in the area fitted w ith the equipment. can then be vec tored to the di stre ss

airc raft in a fraction of the tim e at present possible and th e vectoring operation monitored by the contro ll er.

There are many other facilities available with this equipment such as a computerized D / R fac ili ty. insta nt recall of last positions. position s of nearest land ing point s to the aircraft and many more.

Th e in-flight tracking of helicopters will greatly assist area controllers in the safe routing of heli copters in addition to the increased knowledge of the position of helicopters in distress.

It will be a major step forward in SAR as there will be a major t im e saving wi th the ability to vector assistance directly to the scene .

As can be seen . new equipment to improve safety and search and rescue is available now.

Let us hope that the advantages to be gained from thi s equipment are not held bac k until a disaster occurs.

It is up to everyone to decide th at alth ough there is a cost involved . it should be paid before the ultimate price is paid .

EM P RA Basket By using the new load strop a much simpler. li ghter (weig hs less th an 10 lb) and safer system is ava il able wh ic h is perfect fo r use wi th the EM PRA A s it is so light. it can be carried on hel icopters at all times wi thout any operational payload pena lty.

If the load strop was fitted to al l helicopters fl yin g offshore. any one of them wou ld be capab le of lift ing the EMPRA basket and going to t he assistance of persons in the sea .

The EMPRA is also desig ned to be used by ships' c ranes or boom mast s.

In heavy seas it is ve ry difficu lt to recover people from t he sea by I1fel ines from a vesse l . As the basket is away from the ship 's side on a c rane . there is less li ke lih ood of inj ury du ri ng recovery.

It is therefo re hoped th at the EM PRA baskets w ill be positioned offshore on platform s. ri g safety vesse ls and supp ly ships. to enable any hel icopt er to co llect the nea rest basket and have t he capa bility of lifting survivors from the sea quick ly.

The eq ui pment speci fication of EM PRA is a reflection on the pract ica l approa c h t hat ha s been made.

Surviva l suits. heat pads. emergency locat ion beacons . wate r act iva ted li ghting . li fel ines. etc . al l go to make this basket the most comprehensive piece of rescue apparatus of it s kind avai lable.

32

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Sw itzerland I subscribe to 'Th e Controller' 1986: (You get yo ur December 1985 copy fre e) Surname Foren am e Street Posta l code Town Country 0 Cheque enc losed

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TH E CON TROLLER / SEPTEMBER 1985

Corporat e Members of IFATCA AEG-Telefunken, Ulm, FRG Cardion Electronics, Woodbury, USA CAE Electronics Ltd., Saint-'Laurent, Canada Cecsa Systemas Electronicos SA, Madrid, Spain Cossor Electronics Ltd., Harlow, UK Dictaphone Corporation, Rye, USA Eaton Corporation, AIL Division, Farmingdale, USA EB TeleCom, Nesbru, Norway Ericsson Radio Systems AB, Stockholm, Sweden Ferranti Computer Systems Ltd., Cwmbran, UK Hollandse Signaalapparaten B.V., Hengelo, Netherlands International Advisory Group Air Navigation Services, Westerngrund, FRG Jeppesen & Co. GmbH , Frankfurt, FRG Litton Communications Switching Systems, Frei burg i. Br., FRG Marconi Radar Systems Ltd. , Chelmsford, UK Mitre Corporation, Mclean, USA Philips Telecommunicatie lndustrie B.V., Hilversum, Netherla nds Plessey Displays Ltd., Weybridge, UK Ra9al Decca Systems Ltd., New Malden, UK Racal Recorders Ltd., Southampton, UK Raytheon Canada Ltd., Waterloo, Canada Rediffusion Simulation Inc., Arlington, USA Schmid Telecommunication, Zurich, Switzerland SCICON Ltd., London, UK Selenia I ndustrie Elettroniche, Rome, Italy SEL-Standard Elektrik Lorenz, Stuttgart, FRG Societe d'Etude et d'Entreprises electriques, lssy-les-Moulin eaux, France Sofreavia, Paris, France Software Sciences Ltd., Farnborough, UK Thomson-CSF, Meudon, France Westinghouse Electric Corp., Baltimore, USA

The Inte rn at iona l Federa tio n of Air Traffi c Controlle rs' Associa tions would like to invite all co rporat io ns. organizat ion s. an d insti tuti ons interested in and concerned wi th the maintenance an d promotion of sa fety in air traffic to join th eir organ ization as Corporate M embers.

Corporate M embers support th e aims of the Federati on by supplyin g the Federat ion wi th tec hn ical inform ation and by means of an annu al subsc ript ion The Federat ion ' s international journ al 'The Controll er' is offered as a platform fo r th e disc uss ion of technical and procedural deve lopments in t he fi eld of air traffi c co ntrol .

Air Traffic Control SELENIA ~r -.

SATCAS Simula tor I Controller under training

To simulate ATC you must know ATC The SATCAS simulator is an advanced air traffic c ontrol simulator, used for training of Air Traffic Controllers in both basic and advanced techniques of the approach, terminal area or en-route phase.

The simulator uses the same basic equipment and modules as the SATCAS operational system. The simulator may therefore be either completely autonomous unit, or integrated in an operational system.

Blip -Driver

ATCAS Rome Cen ter

-""'

Selenia is experience in air traffic control systems.

INDUSTRIE ELETTRONICHE ASSOCIATE S.p.A

CIVIL RADAR AND SYSTEMS DIVISION Via Tiburtina Km 12,400, 00131 ROME, ITALY Telex 613690 SELROM I, Phone 06-43601

RAOGRtFR4MENTO SEl.ENJA El.SAG