IFATCA The Controller - 1st quarter 1991

• Aeromexico Accident • Managing theHumanElementof ATC • Worldwide ReviewRequired for Recruitment andTraining e lFATCAActivities ' • DundeeCrash

Installation of ASR9120 air traffic control system, Trinidad and Tobago .

RaylhNn

Canada Limited

For further information , contact : Director of Marketing Raytheon Canada Limited 400 Phillip St. Waterloo , Ont. Canada N2J 4K6 Tel: (519) 885-0110 Fax: (519) 885 -8620 Telex: 069-55431

JOURNAL OFAIRTRAFFIC CONTROL

Geneva , Switzerland, March , 1991

Publisher Int erna tion al Federation of Air Traffic Controllers路 Associations. P.O. Box 196 . CH-1215 Geneva 15 Airport.

Switzerland Officers of IFATCA D.C.B. Stuart. President and Chiel Executi ve Officer .

U. Windt. Deputy President. A . El Seoud El Karimy.

Executive Vice-President. Africa. H. Esquivel A .. Executive Vice-President. Americas . N. Vidler . Exec utive VicePresident. Asia and Pacific. P. Falkman-Lauridsen.

Execu tive Vice-President . Europe. S. Ericsson. Exec utive Vice-President. Financ e. W. Rooseman . Execuiive Vice-President Professiona l. M. Dooling . Exec utiv e Vice-President Technical . E.F. Sermijn. Past President.

E.G. H. Green. Executive Secretary Editor H. Harri Henschler 1998 Glenmore Avenue. Sherwood Park.

Alberta. Canada. T8A OX8 Telephone (403) 467-6826 Fax (403) 467-1939 Management and Advertising Sales Office The Controller. P.O. Box 196.

CH-121 5 Geneva 15 Airport . Switzerland

Admini stration/ Subscriptions Bernard Laydevant. Tel. (022) 782 79 83

Accounting Michel Henchoz. Tel. (022) 792 56 82

Advertising / Production Patrick Schelling . Tel. (022) 66 26 84 Fax (022) 66 43 05

Printing House 路 Der Bund '. Verlag un~ Druc kerei AG Effingerstrasse 1. CH-3001 Bern.

Telephone (031) 25 12 11 Subscriptions and Advertising Payments to: Union Bank of Switzerland . Airport Branch CH-12 15 Geneva 15 Airport. Switzerland Ac co unt : IFATCA/ The Controller No . 602 254. MD L Subscription Rate: SFrs. 20.- per annum (4 issues). plus postage and packag e: Surfac email : Europe and Mediterra nean co untri es SFrs. 5 .- . other coun tri es SFrs. 6 .-.

Airm ail: Europe and Mediterranean count ries SFrs. 6 .40. other countries SFrs. 10 .80 .

Special subsc ription rate for Air Traff ic Controllers .

Contributors are expressing their personal points of view and op inion s. which may not necessarily coincide wi th those of the International Federat ion of Air Traffic Cont roller s路 Associations (IFATCA).

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

Contributions are we lcome as are comments and criticism . No payment can be made for manuscripts subm itted for publication in 'The Controller' . The Editor reserves the right to make any editorial changes in manus c ripts. w hich he believes wi ll improve the material without altering the intended mean ing .

Wr itten permi ssion by the Editor is necessary for reprinting any part of this Journal.

Volume 30 路 No . 1

In this issue Aeromexico Accident Managing the Human Element in ATC Worldwide Review Required for Recruitment and Train ing IFATCA Activities Dundee Crash in Court Airbus A330 and A340

Editorial H. Harri Henschler Over the many years I have been involved in operational air traffic control and in the Exec utive Board of the Federation , I have consistently stress ed to tho se who were willing to listen , and many who were not, the importance of a number of basic considerations.

At the top of this list is the question: What would a reasonable person be expected to do in the circumstances? Following this are the questions of how to possibly defend or even explain a deviation from Standards, Recommended Practices, Proced ures, Agreements between ATC units and phraseology .

Very few air traffic co ntroll ers consciously consider the possibility of having to answer such que stions put to them by a co urt of law . Nevertheless, more and more often, air traffic controllers are brought into court cases , even when their conduct at work appears not to have had the sligh test impact on an accident or inc ident.

Even under such circumstance s, all possible factors will be exp lored and any deviation from the accepted norm in air traffic control will be examined and que stioned. This is done by individuals not normally thoroughly familiar with air traffic contro l, and whose parameters , in the absence of such fami liarity , must be: Why did the contro ller not act in accordance

2 6 10 16

22 26

with "the book "? Two court cases are described in this issue .

On a different and persona l note , my term of office as the editor of The Controller expires at the end of IFATCA '91. I have de cided not to let my name be sub m itted for another two yea r term. After five yea rs at the editorial helm , I feel it may be time to give another volunteer the opportunity to direct the cou rse of the magazine; also working the long hours on its behalf and meeting the recu rring deadlines which the ed iting of any publi catio n entails. Also the possibilit y of retirement from my present career in air traffic co ntrol may be on the not-too-distan t horizon , and it may be opportune to consider and exam ine other possible endea vors. I have greatly enjoyed being the Editor of The Controller .

This desp ite the frequen t lack of air traffic control material in the quantity one would have liked to have provided . One must accept the fact that ai r traff ic control is a very speciali zed profess ion where original material is somewhat scarce . There are a number of Member Associations and individua ls who suppo rted and contributed to my editorial effor ts and to whom I w ish to exp ress my thanks . Among them are previous and presen t members of the Contro ller Manag eme nt Gro up and of the Executive Board .

I w ish the next Editor all poss ib le success and the necessa ry support from all who are ab le to prov ide it.

Cover: Piarco Tower Trinidad - Gateway to IFATCA '91 Photos

IATA, Thomson-CSF, Hughes, Windt, Airbus lndustrie, hhh.

THE CONTROLLER / MARCH1991

Advertisers in this issue : Aeroleasing, Breitling, BWIA, IBM, Network Systems/CCS, Raytheon

Canada, Swissair, Stanley Thornes, Thomson-CSF,Siemens-Plessey .

i

II. Findings of Fact

Aeromexico Accident at Cerritos, California on August 31, 1986

(Editor's note: Readers will recall the mid air collision between an Aeromexico DC 9 and a US civil aircraft in the Los Angeles, California, Terminal Control Area.

The Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in the resulting court case were published in Lloyd's Aviation Law, vol. 8, no 18, and are reprinted here with the kind permission of that magazine's editor.

Since these findings and conclusions are of great importance to, and have a possible impact on, air traffic controllers, they are reproduced as in 'Lloyd's Aviation Law', in full.)

Court files its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law The District Court has filed its formal Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law following the completion of the consolidated liability trial in the Central District of California arising out of the Aeromexico accident of August 31, 1986 in Cerritos, California.

The plaintiffs were the families of the passengers on the Aeromexico DC-9 aircraft. ground victims, th~ estates of the pilot and passengers on the Piper aircraft which collided with the Aeromexico DC-9, the families of the Aeromexico crew members killed in the crash and Aeromexico itself.

The defendants were the United States of America in all actions, the estate of the deceased pilot of the Piper aircraft in certain actions and Aeromexico. Third party claims were filed by the United States and Aeromexico against each other and against the estate of the deceased pilot of the Piper aircraft for indemnity and contribution.

Because of the importance of the trial and the result, the significant Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law are set forth verbatim.

1. The actions pending before this Court arise out of the mid-air collision of an Aeromexico DC-9 passenger jet. operating as Aeromexico Flight 498 (hereinafter 'AM498') and a singleengine Piper aircraft, bearing Unit~d States Registration N4891 F (hereinafter¡ 91 F' ). and the subsequent crash of both aircrafts in a residential neighborhood in Cerritos. California. on August 31. 1986.

2. All sixty-four persons on board 2

AM498, the three persons on board 91 F, and fifteen persons on the ground were killed. Persons and property on the ground were also injured, damaged or destroyed.

3. As a result of the magnitude of the disaster and the numbers of lawsuits filed, as well as the fact that several suits were filed in or removed to federal districts other than the Central District of California, all cases were consolidated in this Court by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407.

4. The liability and damage issues in these actions were bifurcated in response to the joint request of all parties. The matters tried before this Court related to liability issues only.

5. Prior to trial, all defendants were dismissed except the UnitedStates of America (hereinafter 'United States'), the Estate of William Kramer (hereinafter 'Estate of Kramer'), and Sindicatura de la Quiebra de Aeronaves de Mexico (hereinafter 'Aeromexico' ).

6. Trial in this matter commenced with jury selection on November 16, 1988. The case went to the jury on March 31, 1989, after more than 50 days of trial before the jury and the Court. The jury returned its verdict on April 14, 1989, and on that same date, after considering the advice of the jury, this court rendered its findings from the bench.

7. The Court, having received and considered the evidence presented, having heard the testimony of witnesses and the argument of counsel. hereby renders the following specific Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law:

B. The Accident 1. AM498 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Mexico City, Mexico to Los Angeles, California with intermediate stops at Guadalajara, Loreto and Tijuana.

2. On August 31,- 1986, at 11 :20 a.m., AM498 departed Tijuana for Los Angeles on schedule with 58 passengers and six crew members on board.

3. AM498 was piloted by Captain Arturo Valdes-Prom and First Officer Jose Hector Valencia-Orduna.

4. The flight crew of AM498 was qualified in accordance with applicable Mexican, United States and company regulations and procedures.

5. AM498 was flying under an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan from Tijuana to Los Angeles.

6. At approximately 11:47:28 a.m., Pacific daylight time, AM498 made initial radio contact with Walter White, the Los Angeles Approach Arrival Radar 1 (AR-1 ) at the Los Angeles Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), advising the controller that AM498 was level at 7 ,OOO feet.

7. The AR-1 controller instructed AM498 to depart the Seal Beach VOR beacon on a heading of 320 degrees.

A VOA is a ground-based electronic navigation aid transmitting very high frequency navigation signals. The AR1 controller also instructed AM498 to expect an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to runway 25L at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

AM498 confirmed that this information had been received.

8. In accordance with the AR-1 controller's instructions, AM498 proceeded on a heading of 320 degrees through an area of restricted airspace known as the Los Angeles Terminal Control Area (TCA) toward LAX. AM498 remained on a heading of 320 degrees at all times after entering the TCA. 9. The AR-1 controller monitored the progress of AM498 from the time it entered the Los Angeles TCA. 10. The AR-1 controller did not alter AM498's heading from 320 degrees up to and including the time of the collision.

11. After passing the Seal Beach VOA, AM498 complied with all clearances for heading, speed and altitude given by the AR-1 controller.

12. At approximately 11 :41. 91 F departed Torrance Airport, intending to fly by Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and without the assistance of or communication with the Los Angeles TRACON or any other FAA facility.

91 F was operated by William Kramer THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1991

and carried his wife and daughter. The destination of 91 F was Big Bear Airport.

13. At some time between 11 :52:00 and 11 :52: 10 a.m ..

AM498 was struck by 91 F. causing both aircraft to crash in a residential area of Cerritos. California.

C. Air Traffic Control Services 1. The collision of AM498 and 91 F occurred at an altitude of approximately 6500 feet. within the confines af Area G of the Los Angeles TCA which extends upwards from 6000 feet to 7000 feet above the community of Cerritos.

2. Aircraft are not permitted to enter the Los Angeles TCA without a clearance from the Los Angeles TRACON. 3. Aircraft cannot enter the TCA without a Mode C transponder with altitude reporting equipment.

4. 91 F entered the TCA without a Mode C transponder and without obtaining a clearance from the Los Angeles TRACON. 5. The Aeromexico crew never received any warning from the AR-1 controller. or from anyone else. regarding the presence of 91 F. 6. The evidence shows that without a warning from the air traffic controller. the crew of AM498 may have failed to see 91 F without any negligence on their part.

7. Based on the preponderance of the evidence. the Court finds that the Aeromexico crew was diligent and professional at all relevant t_imesand that the collision could have occurred even though the Aeromexico pilots were performing diligently and professionally.

8. Visual Flight Rules (VFR) aircraft sometimes enter the TCA without clearance and without altitude transponders. The FAA and the air traffic controllers at the Los Angeles TRACON were aware. or should have been aware. at the time of the accident that TCA intrusions by VFR aircraft sometimes occurred.

9. The evidence shows that the air traffic controllers at the Los Angeles TRACON. including the AR-1 controller handling AM498. were also aware. or should have been aware. that aircraft with no altitude transponders which were displayed on their radar scopes within the lateral confines of the TCA might be at altitudes which would place them in the TCA. thereby presenting a hazard to aircraft under their control.

10. In addition to their common law duties. air traffic controllers have a duty to follow procedures set forth in the FAA' s Air Traffic Control Manual THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1991

(ATCM). The manual in effect on the date of the accident was ATCM 7110.65D.dated0ctober25.1984.

11. By its express terms. the ATCM requires air traffic controllers to: a) Issue traffic information to turbojet aircraft whose targets appear likely to merge with the tr~ck of another aircraft. unless the aircraft are separated by more than the appropriate vertical separation minima. (ATCM. Ch. 5. Sec. 1 para.5-8); and b) Issue traffic advisories. on a work-load permitted basis, to aircraft on the air traffic controller's frequency when their proximity to other aircraft may diminish to less than applicable separation minima.

(ATCM, Ch. 2. Sec. 1. para. 2-21.)

12. Evidence shows that the secondary target for 91 F. displayed on the radar scope as a symbol such as a delta or triangle. and perhaps the primary target for 91 F. displayed on the radar scope as a dot of light. was displayed on the AR-1 controller· s scope during the time he needed to be aware of the presence of the aircraft.

13. An air traffic controller's radar scope displays both primary and secondary targets. Primary radar is radar energy reflected off an aircraft. Secondary radar is radar energy triggered by a transponder in the aircraft. At the time of the accident. secondary targets were recorded and stored in the computer tapes; primary targets were not.

14. The triangle which represented 91 F was most likely displayed on the AR-1 controller's scope for some period of time prior to the accident.

15. Prior to the date of the accident. it was known to controllers that some aircraft entered the TCA illegally.

16. The display of the targets of AM498 and 91 F on the controller's radar scope presented a situation which required the air traffic controller to issue a warning to the crew of AM498 in time for the crew to take evasive action to avoid the collision.

17. During the last minute and one half prior to the collision, the AR-1 controller's workload was light. he was providing air traffic control service to only two aircraft including AM498.

18. An air traffic controller of average competence should have seen the target 91 F. recognized it as a possible threat to AM498. and issue a warning.

19. The prepondera nee of the evidence shows that if the AR-1 controller had issued a warning to the

crew of AM498. the crew of AM498 would have seen 91 F and would have taken evasive action.

20. The Federal Aviation Administration. acting by and through its employee. Walter White was negligent in failing to issue a warning to the crew of AM498 to advise them of the presence of 91 Fin time to take action to avoid collision.

21. The negligence of the AR-1 controller in failing to iss.ue a warning to the crew of AM-498 was a proximate cause of this accident.

D. Causes of Accident 1. This accident was proximately caused by: a) The failure of the AR-1 controller to perform his duty to warn AM498 of the presence of 91 F. which was presented on his radar scope. in time for the Aeromexico crew to take evasive action to avoid the collision; and b) the unlawful intrusion of 91 F into the TCA without an appropriate clearance and without appropriate equipment. and the failure of the pilot of 91 F to see and avoid AM498.

2. There is no evidence that Aeromexico was in any way negligent. or committed any act or omission. which contributed to this accident.

To the extent that the preceding Findings of Fact may be deemed to be Conclusions of Law. they are hereby incorporated by reference into Conclusions of Law. Ill. Conclusions of Law

B. Liability of the United States 1. The actions in this multidistrict litigation are brought against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. 28 U. S. C. §§2671-80.

2. The United States is liable. in the same manner and to the same extent as private individuals under like circumstances. for the negligent acts or omissions of government employees. 28 U. S. C. §2674.

3. The operation of air traffic control towers and the maintenance of air tr_a!fic separation are legislative decIsIons. and negligent operation of a facility subjects the United States to liability. Yates v. United States. 497 F.2d 878. 884 (10th Cir. 1974); Rudelson v. United States. 431 F. Supp. 1101. 1107 (C. D. Cal 1977). aff' d. 602 F.2d 1326 (9th Cir. 19 79).

4. Actionable negligence involves (a) a legal duty to use care. (b) a breach of such legal duty; and (c) the breach as a proximate or legal cause of the resulting injury. Rudelson v.

3

United States. 431 F. Supp. 1101.

1107 (C. D. Cal. 1977). affd 602 F.2d 1326 (9th Cir. 1979).

5. The duty of due care which an air traffic controller owes pilots and passengers is a question of law. Daley v. United States. 792 F.2d 1081.

1085 (11th Cir. 1986); Rudelson v. . United States. 602 F.2d 1326. 1329 (9th Cir. 1979); Miller v. United States. 587 F.2d 991. 994 (9th Cir. 1978).

6. Air traffic controllers are required to follow the procedures in their air traffic control manuals. Rodriguez v. United States. 823 F.2d 735. 740 (3d Cir. 1987); Armstrong v. United States. 756 F.2d 1407. 1409 (9th Cir. 1985).

7. The air traffic control manuals provide that air traffic controllers have a duty to provide merging target services by issuing a traffic advisory when the track of an aircraft under their control is likely to merge with the track of another aircraft. unless the aircraft are known to be separated by more than minimum approved vertical separation. ATCM. Ch. 5. Sec. 1. para.

5-8; Allegheny Airlines. Inc. v. United States. 420 F. Supp. 1339. 1343 (S. D. Ind. 1976). rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Kohr v. Allegheny Airlines. Inc .. 586 F.2d 53 (7th Cir. 1978).

8. The air traffic control manuals further provide that air traffic controllers have a duty to issue traffic advisories when the tracks of aircraft on their frequency may diminish to less than applicable separation minimum. ATCM. Ch. 2. Sec. 1. para. 221.

9. An air traffic controller is legally required to give all information and warnings specified in his air traffic control manuals including merging target warnings and traffic advisories.

Spaulding v. United States. 455 F.2d 222. 226 (9th Cir. 1972).

10. An air traffic controller has a duty to perform functions with reasonable care and to at least issue instructions and clearances in accordance with the air traffic control manual. Thus. the manuals establish only a minimum standard of care for air traffic controllers. Armstrong v.

United States. 756 F.2d 1407. 1409 (9th Cir. 1985); Hennessey v. United States. 12 Av. Cas. (CCH) 17.410 17.417 (N. D. Cal. 1971).

11. An air traffic controller has the duty under both the air traffic control manual and the common law to use due diligence to observe and detect on the radar scope any VFR traffic in the vicinity of IFR aircraft under his control and to immediately warn pilots of any impending danger. Allegheny 4

Airlines. Inc. v. United States. 420 F. Supp. 1339. 1343(S. D. Ind. 1976). rev路 d on other grounds sub nom. Kohr v. Allegheny Airlines. Inc .. 586 F.2d 53 (7th Cir. 1978).

12. An air traffic controller路 s substantial and unjustified failure to follow procedures in the air traffic control manuals constitutes lack of due care and negligence. Delta Air Line. Inc. v.

United States 561 F.2d 381. 39094 ( 1st Cir. 1977). cert. denied. 434 u.s 1064 (1978).

13. An air traffic controller's failure to see and realize what was visible and discernible. followed by the failure to give immediate warnings. constitutes negligence. Allegheny Airlines.

Inc. v. United States. 420 F. Supp.

1339 (S. D. Ind. 1976). rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Kohr v. Allegheny Airlines. Inc .. 586 F.2d 53 (7th Cir. 1978); State of Maryland v.

United States. 257 F. Supp. 768.

774 (D.D.C. 1966).

14. Air traffic controllers have a duty to warn of dangers reasonably apparent to them even if not required by regulation. policies or the air traffic control manual because they have a continuing duty to avoid accidents.

Armstrongv. United States. 756 F.2d 1407. 1409 (9th Cir. 1985).

15. The United States is liable for the negligent acts or omissions of FAA employee Walter White. the AR-1 air traffic controller at the time of the accident.

16. The AR-1 controller had a legal duty to observe the target of 91 F on his radar scope and to warn the crew of AM498 so that they could take timely evasive action.

17. The AR-1 controller breached his duty and his negligence was the proximate cause of the midair collision.

18. As a matter of law. the United States is liable for all deaths. injuries. damages and destruction proximately caused by the negligence of the FAA. through its employees. in failing to warn the pilots of AM498 of the presence of 91 F.

C. Liability of Aeromexico 1. The Warsaw Convention. as supplemented. by the Montreal Agreement. governs the rights and liabilities of the parties to actions based upon the deaths of the Aeromexico passengers.

2. The Warsaw Convention is an international treaty to which both the United States of America and the United Mexican States are parties. In re Mexico City Aircrash of October 31.

1979. 708 F.2d 400. 408 n. 13 (9th路 Cir. 1983); Civil Aeronautics Board.

Aeronautical Statutes and Related Material 510 (rev. 19 7 4 ).

3. The Montreal Agreement is a private agreement which was entered into in 1966 by certain international carriers with the participation of the Department of State. the Civil Aeronautics Board. and the International Air Transport Association. The Montreal Agreement applies to international transportation as defined by the Warsaw Convention by carriers. such as Aeromexico. which are signatories to the agreement. where the contract of carriage includes the United States as a point of origin. point of destination. or agreed stopping place. Montreal Agreement. 31 Fed. Reg. 7302 ( 1966); In re Aircrash in Bali. Indonesia on April 22. 1974.

684 F.2d 1301. 1305 (9th Cir. 1982).

4. The Montreal Agreement applies to this case since the contracts of carriage of the passengers of AM498 included the United States as a point of origin. point of destination. or agreed stopping place.

5. As a treaty of the United States. the Warsaw Conventions is the supreme law of the land. and its provisions preempt other laws. U. S. Const. art. VI. 6. The Warsaw Convention and the Montreal Agreement were intended to act as a uniform international law which supplants each member nation's varied laws. Air France v. Saks. 4 70 U.S. 392. 406 (1985); Domangue v. Eastern Air Lines. Inc .. 722 F.2d 256. 262 (5th Cir. 1984).

7. Article 17 of the Warsaw Convention provides that a carrier shall be liable for damage sustained in the event of the death or injury of a passenger occurring on board the aircraft or in the course of the operations of embarking or disembarking. Where the Montreal Agreement applies. however. the carrier路 s liability for death or injury of passenger is limited to a maximum of$ 75.000 U. S. dollars per passenger. In re Aircrash in Bali. Indonesia on April 22. 1974.

684 F.2d 1301. 1305 (9th Cir. 1982).

8. The Warsaw Convention/Montreal Agreement limitation of liability may be overcome only by (a) proof that the damages sustained were proximately caused by the carrier's 'wilful misconduct' within the meaning of Article 25 of the Warsaw Convention. or (b) proofthat a passenger ticket was not delivered to the passenger pursuant to Article 3 (2) of the Warsaw Convention. In re Korean Airlines Disaster of September 1. 1983 664 F. Supp. 1463. 1471-72 (D. D. C. THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1991

1985), aff'd 829 F.2d 1171 (D . C. Cir. 1987). The Court dismissed the plaintiffs ' and the United States' wilful misconduct claims against Aerome xico at the close of their respective cases-inchief at trial.

9. Accordingly, Aerome xico's liability in all passengers cases is limited to U.S . $ 7 5, OOOper passenger .

D . Ground Cases 1. Pilots are required by law, when weather conditions permit, to use vigilance so as to see and avoid other aircraft. 14 C. F. R. §91 .67(a) .

2 . The Federal Aviation Regulations relating to collision avoidance provides in pertinent part: a) General. When weather conditions permit regardless of whether an operation is conducted under instrument flight rules , vigilance shall be maintained by each person operating an aircraft so as to see and avoid other aircraft in compliance with this sect ion.

When a rule of this section gives another aircraft the right of way , he shall give right of way to that aircraft and may not pass over, under or ahead of it , unle ss well clear . 14 C. F. R. §91.67.

3. A pilot has a continuing duty to be aware of danger which he can perceive with his own eyes. Spaulding v.

United States , 455 F.2d 222 (9th Cir. 1972) .

4. The requirement of Section 91.67 is one of vigilance to see and avoid those aircraft the pilot could reasonably be expected to see . Section 91. 6 7( 1) does not require pilots to see all other aircraft.

5 . The failure of pilots to see and avoid other aircraft is not , in and of itself, a violation of §91.67(a) and does not constitute negligence per se. See Foss v. United States, 623 F.2d 104, 106 (9th Cir. 1980) .

6 . A pilot does not violate the see and avoid rule merely by not seeing another aircraft , provided the pilot is using due care in the performance of his duties.

7. Partie s asserting that the pilots were negligent, have the burden of proving that the cause of the accident was the negligence of the pilots. Foss v. United States, 623 F.2d 104, 107 (9th Cir. 1980); Himmler v. United States474 F. Supp. 914 , 917(E. D. Pa. 1979) .

8 . The plaintiffs and the United States failed to meet their burden of proof that the cause of the accident was the negligence of the pilots of AM498 .

9. As a matter of law, A erom exico is not guilty of any negligent act s or omissions which proximately caused this accident, and is not liable for any damages to any of the ground victims of this litigation.

The United States has indicated that it will appeal the Judgment which will be entered based upon these Findings and Conclusions .

letter from I FATCA President to the President of Tunisia, appealing for Presidential clemency: Votre Excellence

Your Excellency ,

Le Conseil Executif de la Federation lntern at iona le des Associations des Controleurs du Trafic Aerien (IFATCA) vient d' apprendre , avec beaucoup de regret, que la sentence prononcee par la Cour le 12 octobre 1990 envers 7 controleurs de la navigation aerienne , a ete conf irm ee et que le recours en appel de la defense a ete rejete.

Votre Exce llence , ces controleurs ont ete emp risonnes depuis plus de quatre mois et le Conseil Executif d'IFATCA prend la liberte de faire appe l a vos pouvoirs presidentiels pour faire liberer ces contro leurs afin de leur permettre de rejoindre leurs families et collegues a l'occasion des fetes de fin d'annee.

Ce geste de clemence de votre part, serait fortement apprecie par tous les controleurs du monde et garantirait le developpement d' une atmosphere sereine de cooperation dans un esprit de bonne volonte entre votre gouvernement et les controleurs .

11va de soi qu · une tel le bonne cooperat ion est essentielle pour le developpement harmonieu x des services de la circu lation aerienne en vue de permettre une augmentation des activites touristiques en Tunisie .

Votre Exc ellence, reiterant notre espoir de voir nos co llegues liberes le plus vite possibl e avec la garant ie qu'i ls puissent reprendre leur travail de contro leurs de la c irculation aerienne immedi atement, veui llez acce pter nos sentiments les plus respectueu x.

The Exec utive Board of the International Feder at ion of Air Traffic Controller s· As sociations (I FATCA) has ju st been informed , to our dee p regret. that the Octo ber 1 2 , 1990 Court sentence aga inst 7 Air Traffic Cont ro llers has been conf irmed and that the recourse for appeal of the defence has been refu sed.

Your Exce llen cy, these controller s have been impri soned for over four month s. The Executive Board of I FATCA takes the lib erty to appea l to your pres idential powe rs to discharge them, to let them join their familie s and c olleagues for the year end festivities.

This gesture of clemency from Your Excellen cy woul d be much appreciated by controllers all over t he w orld .

Moreover, it wo uld guarantee the developme nt of a serene atmosphere of good will and cooper ation between Your Government and the contr ollers.

It goes without saying that such good co ope ration is essentia l for developing Ai r Traffic Contr ol in harm o ny, in ord er to allow for the growth of touri st ac tivi t ies in Tunisia.

Your Exce llency , in the hope that our c olle ag ues wou ld be set free 1n the shorte st del ay and grant ed t he immedi ate resumption of th eir wor k as Air Traff ic Co ntro llers, I remain , Sincerely your s,

D. C. B. Stu art.

President and Chief Exec utive Offi cer

D. C. B. Stuart.

President and Chief Executive Officer

13 decembre 1990

13 Decemb er 199 0 (Translation)

N.B .: At press time, all but one of the Tunisian contro llers had been released.

THE CONTROLLER / M A RCH 1991

5

Managing the Human Element of ATC European air traffic control regularly makes the headlines - especially when strikes, disputes and staff shortages disrupt peak period traffic flows, condemning passengers to hours of waiting in airport lounges . The root of the manpower problem often lies in the fact that the majority of air traffic services staff are subject to the inflexible and outdated rules of their national civil services. Here, Daniel Galibert, IATA's Manager of Technical and Industry Affairs and General Manager designate of Marseilles en-route Air Traffic Control Centre, explains why governments need to focus on the hiring, training and working conditions of controllers as part of a general review of the structure and financing of their air traffic services .

Daniel Galibert, a French citizen, joined the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 198 7 as Regional Technical Representative for Europe. He later served as Manager of Technical and Industry Monetary Affairs, representing IATA on the Eurocontrol Planning Working Group. A qualified pilot, Mr. Galibert was an Assistant Director in the French Directorate of Air Navigation between 79 7 7-198 7, Deputy General Manager of the Marseilles en-route ATC Centre at Aix-en-Provence 798 782 and General Manager of the Bordeaux en-route ATC Centre 7982- 798 7. He shortly takes up his new post as General Manager of the Aix ATC Centre. The interview below was conducted by Kimberley Smeathers, Editor, IATA Review, and appeared in IATA Review 3 1 90.

IATA Review: What are the main problems affecting the provision of Air Traffic Services in Europe?

Galibert: Apart from a lack of harmonization in European ATC procedures and equipment, which the European Civil Aviation Conference is now addressing very efficiently, staffing and financing are major problem areas. In most cases this is due to a lack of flexibility on the part of the ATS adm inistrations - usually part of the nation's civil service - whose rules and procedures are ill-suited to today ¡ s dynamic air transport industry .

While airlines invest in state-of-theart tech nology and adapt their human resources to meet traffic demands.

ATS administrations are often locked into specific working practices and cannot easi ly make major capital investments or be f inancial ly innovative.

Also . civi l service cuts in many European nations in the period 19841988 resulted in a reduction in ATC personnel. Such cuts were made regard less of increasing demands on the system and the fact that ATS are selffinanci ng , recovering staff costs thro ugh user c harges to the airlines.

Review : What chang es need to be made in the hiring and training of air traffic contro llers?

6

many different requests and types of information, to organize a heavy and demanding workload and to respond rapidly and accurately when under pressure . Well-designed tests would help select the right candidate and improve the subsequent success rate.

Another problem is the length of training . In general, recruitment to full qualifications as an en-route controller takes 4-5 years . This often includes a full year studying subjects such as law and public administration which may make for a good civil servant but bear little relevance to the job of air traffic controller.

The UK's National Air Traffic Services have been innovative in both recruitment and training . They are now using aptitude tests - designed with the help of the United States' Federal Aviation Administration - to assist the recruitment process and have f?roduced part-qualified controllers in iust two years . Although these controller~ may only work on certain sectors until they have further exp~nded their qualifications and experience, they are sufficiently proficient to make an important contribution t_o ATC operations in a much shorter time than was previously possible .

Review: There has been a call for a common training standard, syllabus and licence for air traffic controllers in Europe. What do you think of this suggestion?

Daniel Galibert

Galibert: ATS administrations shou ld be able to hire staff quickly when needed and put them through efficient. cost effective training to enable them to be on the job in as short a time as possible.

Recruitment criteria are generally based on formal academic qualifications. This gives little recognition to the fact that an air traffic controller must have spec ific psychological and physical attributes, for example, the ability to memorize simultaneously

Galibert: A certain standardization of training would encourage a greater recognition and respect between controllers of different nationalities, more efficient procedures and a better use of capacity over national boundaries. Although they are all good and safe controllers, they have different working methods which may entail misunderstanding. mistrust and loss of efficiency when aircraft reach national airspace boundaries. If controllers came out of the same training mould. then such shortcomings would disappear.

IATA has suggested to the Eurocontrol Committee of Management that even if it is not possible at present THE CONTRO LLER/ MARCH 1991

for national authorities to release trainees for common training courses , they should at least send their team supervisors for an international course at the Eurocontrol training institute in Luxembourg (lnstilux) . This course should enable supervisors from all the different European states to study together European ATC principles and problems . It would give them a chance to socialize with each other which should lead to better professional contact and greater mutual confidence. A further step would be to make it compulsory for a supervisor to have followed an international course and to have a real European 'label'.

The idea of a common licence enabling controllers to move from one centre to another depending upon demand may have some merit, but personally I do not consider it t<:>be very practical. Although there 1s a common base for air traffic control, each region has its o"."'~ p~culiarities requiring a local qualif1cat1on. Spain attempted to take _controllers t_owork the winter season in the Canaries and the summer in Palma - the system was abandoned because by the time the controllers were up to speed and familiar with the local environment, it was time to change location .

Review: Why in your opinion should Air Traffic Service adminis trations review working practices and remuneration for air traffic controllers?

Galibert: Inflexible working practices, normally based on civil service rules, often mean an inefficient use of manpower . Air traffic controllers generally work in shifts to a schedule which in many cases is poorly-adapted to traffic demand. Whereas in slack times there may be too many controllers, in heavy periods there are perhaps too few thus necessitating the use of flow control which results in delays.

Although few administrations would admit it the inflexibility of the rostering system means that during slack periods controllers may have free time. On paper, a standard working week may be in the region of 3 7 hours of presence - in reality , during off-peak periods , the controller may be ¡on the job' for just 10-15 hours . Of course, a loss of working potential is inevitable in such periods- this is true in any seasonal activity, but the loss should be minimized through adapted working schedules and practices .

The rigidity of the civil service rules, which do not usually permit the payment of overtime, also has a negative impact in peak periods . Air traffic THE CONTROLLER / MARCH 1991

controllers who work extra hours have to take time-off-in-lieu as compensation which only further aggravates an already difficult staffing situation and often leads to open or disguised industrial action . Such disputes are difficult to settle without disrupting the civil service salary scale and often end up with the award of bonuses or once again - increased leisure time .

These bonuses-which in some cases represent almost as much as the basic salary - can also become a bone of contention as they are not considered part of a pensionable salary.

Review: How do you suggest these problems could be overcome?

Galibert: Working schedules should be adjusted to follow as closely as possible the forecast traffic demand.

Working practices should be changed and paid overtime should be permitted . Simply put, authorities should pay controllers more and make them work more when traffic demand so requires .

I am not advocating the use of overtime as a remedy for understaffing - if there really is a staff shortage, then authorities must recruit. Nor am I suggesting that controllers should be allowed to work round the clock for extra pay. However, overtime on a controlled, voluntary , paid basis, could be sensibly used to cover isolated peak periods, for example, during the Farnborough Air Show or the Cannes Film Festival.

A review of retirement rules could also help staffing deficiencies . Controllers are forced to leave at the retirement age corresponding to their civil service category - even though they may be perfectly fit and willing to work a few more years . In some cases retirement may be as early as 53 . This is a waste of valuable human resources.

Controllers due for retirement, but certified fit and capable, should be allowed to work longer if they wish, maybe on a part-time basis or as highly-qualified instructors, as is done in the UK.

This has resulted in a widening gap between the national author it ies' relatively modest outlay to provide ATS and the continual and substantial investment made by the airlines to meet increasing consumer demands.

The airline industry accepts that, just as it is unfeasible for a government to build six extra lanes on a motorway to accommodate hol iday traffic for just three weekends a year, so it would be wasteful to build an ATC system capable of coping with maximum demand on a permanen t basis . What is required is a system which can accommodate the bulk of traffic most of the time . At extreme peak times there will be certain delays .

A general lack of long-term budgetary plans coupled with combersome accounting procedures also make it difficult to use innovative financing for the purchase of new equipment or to negotiate better dea ls with manufacturers .

Review: It has been sugges ted that Air Traffic Services should be separated from national civil services and set up as autonomous agencies .

What is your view of this?

Galibert: I think there is no need to be dogmatic in this respect. IATA and I have the same view on this subjec t (see box - Editor) : the name of the air traff ic service organ ization is of litt le importance and creating an Age ncy is not an automatic panacea . The draw-

Review: What are the main problems with regard to the financing of Air Traffic Services?

Galibert : Although Air Traffic Services cover their costs through user charges levied on the airlines, this income is very often absorbed into the state's general budget . Despite being income earners, many national Air Traffic Services have suffered budget cuts as part of across-the-board reductions in civil service expenditure .

Canadian Air Traffic Control Association Biennial Convention 24-27 May 1991 7

bac ks and rigidity of which I am critical typ ify the 'tradit ional ' civil service .

If a special civil service entity can be designed so as to provide the effici ency, flexibility and responsiveness the air transport industry requires , and give its staff fair remuneration and working conditions, then so be it .

Also, we must bear in mind that a fully -pr ivatized ATS agency might seek, if not profit, then some 'return on capital' . It may achieve the aforementione d objectives , but may be at a cost whic h the airline industry could hardly afford . A happy medium must be found whereby the ATS entity, be it part of th e civil service structure or not, has the means to meet the airline indu stry 's requirements at a fair and reasonable cost.

Revi ew: What will be your immediate concerns in your future post as General Mana ge r of the Marseilles (Aix -en-Pro venc e) Air Traffic Centre?

Galibert: My top priority will be, like any ACC manager, to continuously enhance ATC capacity and quality of service .

More specifically , I would like to display a fair image of Aix ACC, which is a highly-productive centre : since 1986 traffic has risen by an annual average of 6.5%, while operational staff has decreased . The Centre has already broken on five occasions this year its previous record of 2255 movements a day.

I also wish to improve communication between Air Traffic Services and the airlines . I would like both parties to appreciate each others ' problems and requirements as users and providers of this vital service .

I hope that visits by airline executives and other industry personnel to the Aix Centre will result in a better exchange of information, improved services and greater satisfaction on both sides.

Autonomou s Air Traffic Services IATA supports the creation of autonomous ATS organizations as they are likely to prove mo re effective than traditional civil service bodies . However. it considers the following as prerequisites : a) Autonomous ATS organization must not imply abrogation of the government's safety and oversig ht responsibility . b) The State mus t ensure, ideally through an independent regulatory body , that: • the State's obligations regarding services and facilities are fulfilled and comply w ith relevant ICAO documents and users' operational re quirements; • ATC capacity is commensurate with traffic demand, meaning traffic should be handled without delays exc ept under exceptional circumstances, such as ext reme peak periods, where contingency measures should be applied; • high levels of service are maintained and monitored in consultation with users ; • no excess ive or discrim inatory c harge s are applied . In particular , the State should ensure that charges are based on actual and reasonable costs and are apportion ed fairly between different categories of users. c) Users should be syste mati ca lly co nsulte d and costs should be transparent. d) The autonomo us author ity should regularly prepare, adopt and publish , in cons ultation wit h users, a medium-term ongoing development plan . e) Transit ion costs should not be borne by users. f) Airl ines shou ld either be represented on the board of the autonomous author ity or be allowe d, through an adviso ry body , to advise the authorities at an ear ly planning stage on all relevant aspects of the service; review the accounts; express their views and requirement s and monitor operation of the service . g) Statutory provis ions shou ld include adm inist rat ive machinery to handle industrial relation issues. Industria l act ion should be a last resort and a mandatory arb itration procedure should be established. The right to strike shou ld be qualified by suitable limitations (e.g . minimum service ), in order to mainta in safety and avoid a disproport ion ate impa ct on users. h) Institut ion al instruments of such ATS organizations should, from the outset, faci litate and encourage transit ion towards integration of Regional A ir Traffic Services.

8

Computerized ATC Screening Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University of Daytona Beach, Fla . has been contracted by the US federal aviation administration to develop a computercbased screening test for air traffic control candidates .

According to evidence presented to a congressional committee, between $100 ,000 and $160 ,000 is spent in training before it can be known whether a candidate can be a successful controller. Failed ATC applicants cost the US government $15-$ 20 million a year and much of that could be avoided if candidates were adequately screened before they are accepted for training .

'The paper-and-pencil test in use right now has limited abilities to screen unsuitable candidates,' said Dr. Gerald Gibb of Embry-Riddle's airway science simulation library . Gibb heads the university team working on development of enhanced screening devices for the selection of air traffic control personnel .

The project, which has been given a $160,000 grant for the first year of research, will test more than the ability to read questions and mark answers.

'The use of a computer in testing allows a measure of other abilities; such things as eye-hand coordination,. or spatial ability, especially 1n a moving environment,' said Gibb. 'With air traffic controllers, that's their world .'

The computer-based test would more accurately assess the candidate's suitability for training by measuring his ability to do two things_ at once, or to divide time and attention among several tasks. ' Some people can do those things every well, ' said Gibb. 'Others cannot and they should not be training to become air traffic controllers .'

The first year of the project will be spent on research into the air traffic controller's job and training .

Aviati on & Aerospace/ J anuary 1991

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Recruitment and Training of Controllers Requires Worldwide Review Gerald F. G. Ratzer

(Editor's note : The author is Professor of Computer Science at McGill University, Montreal, and serves as a consultant to ATS Aerospace Inc. [Canada}. He contributed an article on ATC simulation to ' The Controller' 1I 89 and his article below appeared in !CAO Journal, May 1990.)

Recent government suNeys confirm the worldwide shortage of air traffic controller s. This problem of the supply of air traffic controllers is exacerbated by t he increasing number of passenger and cargo flights worldwid e.

Countries that responded to the Intern ational Federati on of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA) suNey published earlier this year have a great demand for qualified controllers. The accompanying table indicates that some of t he countries that took part in t he suNey need to expand the poo l of train ed controlle rs by 15 per cent. It shou ld be noted that this set includes both large and small countries. and both G7 and developing nations.

What t he data do not show is that in many countries t he arrival of newlylicensed air traff ic control lers is not keeping pace w ith the rate of attrition due to early retireme nt, promotion to senior managemen t and transfer to other contro ller-relat ed positions such as air traffic co ntro l (ATC) pla nning and ATC instruction. In some develop ing countr ies. government salaries and benef its do not match those outs ide the government and new ly qualified contro llers often move to more lucrative positions in industry .

The state of air traffic contro l has reached a crit ica l situatio n . In Canada, the gove rnment has established a task force to invest igate all aspects of ATC recruitment, select ion and source allocat ion. both at home and in other co untr ies.

Other countr ies shou ld fo llow Canada's example . and carefu lly review the comp lete process of developing lice nsed air traffic controllers. as well as provide on-the -job training t hroughou t the career of a contro ller. The review should includ e a 10

G. F. G. Ratzer

suNey of active controllers . (subdivided to aerodrome , approach control, and area control, and by rating , e. g ., VFR / IFR/ Radar qualif ication) .

In addition , the review should examine th e recruitment and selection process , as well as time and resources required to complete the various phases of qualification for new ATC recruit s. The time to qualify is related to the cost of producing a licensed co ntroller . Mo st countries do not publish any of the above mentioned data, but in Canada it has been estimated that the real cost of fully train ing a radar-q ualified co ntroller is in the neighbourhood of US $150 ,000 and requires typ ica lly over four years . This cost, borne entirely by the government. is due primarily to th e high dropout rate among co ntrollers who have not yet acquired fin al certification .

The overall process as well as the ATC tra inin g cur riculum and co urse content should be reviewed to verify that best use is being made of available tr aining facilitie s.

Current Systems Most nations perform ATC t raining on a centralized basis and have established a civil aviation training institute (CATI) or college . The size and sophistication of the existing operational ATC system will dictate the type of training fac ilities to be found at the CATI. Although most countries would prefer radar coverage , many do not have a radar system and must rely on procedural control for aerodrome, approach and area control. (Canada is in the process of modernizing its radar system with the goal of covering most of the populated areas of the country .)

If operational radars are in use . the training facilities will either include or plan for a multi-sector radar environment simulation.

Radar simulators continue to be the mainstay of ATC radar training.

They have improved in functionality and have been much reduced in cost .

However, the systems require considerable support in terms of space , technical and instructional staff , and overall co-ordin ation . As part of an ATC study, serious consideration should be given to how modern computer-assisted training systems can be used to facilitate ATC education.

The reduction in the cost of modern electronics and the increase in capability over this decade is outstanding . Throughout the developed world , microcomputers are used to assist grade school teachers and college professors alike , passing _the expertise and experience of the instructor to the student in the most cost effective manner possible.

This article recommends that all aspects of ATC recruitment, selection, training , assessment. examination, and refresher training be reviewed to consider the extent to which they can benefit from computer-assisted techniques .

Since worldwide standards have been established by ICAO , computerassisted learning (CAL) technology is ideally suited to the ATC training process . These standard s include the use of the English language , the exac t form of ATC phraseology , international separation standards, international air law and regulations . This body of standardization mean s that CAL subsystems can be generated and used internationally.

Computer-Based Training Most operational ATC fa cilitie s use a computer data processing system with a keyboard and other position entry devices (e.g., trackball , joystick or mouse) as part of the man-machine interfa ce. Computer -based training THE CONTROL LER/ MARCH 1991

with a data base of flight plans will be much more interesting and stimulating to students than a paper-and-penRequired Actual Country cil exercise.

ControllersControllers Many other aspects of basic ATC training can be addressed using off177 232 Belgium the-shelf computer hardware and a 1 441 1.687 Canada CAL development package.

226 202 Denmark Procedural control is part of the 240 193 Finland training of an air traffic controller the Fed. Rep. of world over. In many developing coun1 207 1.304 Germany tries where there is no radar coverage.

100 90 Iceland or in regions where it is difficult to 1 432 1.502 Italy maintain an operational radar system.

70 160 Kenya the main means of ATC separation is 498 530 Mexico procedural control.

163 130 Netherlands Procedural training is the process 280 300 New Zealand of educating ATC trainees in the skills 71 90 Sudan needed to separate aircraft by alti610 555 Sweden tude. time. and distance and to allow 320 300 Switzerland an orderly flow of arrivals and depar42 Zambia 60 tures between airports.

51 37 Zimbabwe Traditionally. procedural training Totals 6 565 7.575 has been done with a set of flight strips and a radio at the ATC control pos(Source: 'The Controller'. March 1989) ition. while in an adjacent room another student or assistant instructor plays the role of pilot. In a simple vec(CBT) is a large subject in its own right. toring exercise of a single aircraft. the with many publications for different 'pilot' can respond to ATC instructions and requests. However. most novice educational levels. What is important to the ATC field is the realization that pilots find it difficult if not impossible to calculate the three-dimensional most of the routine ATC educational material. whether on aircraft types position of several aircraft. and they and performance parameters. or sep- sometimes forget to transmit position aration regulations. can be cast into reports in scenarios involving several computer-assisted learning format for aircraft of different performance chause with a standard keyboard. Current racterisics.

A computer-based system can microcomputers support many different CAL systems with excellent in- keep track of many aircraft of different teractive graphics that can present operational types and correctly mainATC information from selected data tain all the required positional and reporting information. The computer bases. hardware and software system for One application of computer-based training in the ATC field would be procedural training is at the low end of the process of creating. storing. re- the 'full blown¡ ATC radar simulator. trieving and updating an ATC flight consisting of a small radar display loplan. A computer simulation package cated at the pseudo-pilot position to assist with supplying positional inforthat allows ATC trainees to interact Air traffic controller shortage statistics

PILOT POSITION

Procedural trainer, consisting of pilot position, left, and ATC trainee position, right.

Components include Intel 80286 computer, a colour radar display, colour VGA monitor, two keyboards, mouse, trackball, and radio link.

THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1991

ATC TRAINEE POSITION

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mation. The 'pilot' would typically also have a tabular display listing current flight status of all airacraft in the exercise. providing messages/ reports. and access to flight plans. etc. The student controller has the standard procedural control facilities. flight strips. radio/ communications and some type of meteorological display.

These facilities can range from relatively simple. desk-top items in a laboratory setting to a full ATC control console replicating the operational environment. In either case. the provision of a microcomputer to accurately simulate the flight parameters of up to 30 or 40 active aircraft can greatly improve the realism and level to which trainees can be educated.

The cost of adding the computer hardware and software to a procedural trainer can be as little as US $15.000 for simple desktop equipment. to about US $30.000 for high fidelity equipment.

For those nations lacking radar systems. a number of training options are now possible. One possibility is start trainees on a large multiple sector radar simulator. but in general this does not make best use of either the simulator system or the staff to support it.

It's recommended that ATC students begin learning on a basic radar trainer where a set of graded ATC exercises can be constructed.

Training on the basic radar system is very similar to procedural training. except that a high-fidelity radar presentation is located at the ATC student control position. In its simplest form. the basic radar trainer can consist of a single microcomputer with a 48-to58-centimetre ( 19-to-23-inch) radar display. associated keyboard and trackball. while the pilot position features a second display and keyboard. The system can be mounted on

I I mlrl

11

a table and operated by either one or two students, who may be separated by a pul ldown screen. Given the current state of computer graphics, it is possible to generate a radar representation w ith very high fidel ity (at least 1,280 -by-1,024 -pixel resolution) in either monochrome or colour. The radar presentation has all the normal features of range selection, from one to 920 kilometres , along with offcentring and aircraft presentations that corresp ond to primary , secondary and full digital radar returns . Full digital mapp ing is supported so that the train ee can select from a set of maps, each offe ring several levels of detail .

Variations of the basic radar training system are possible. These can allow multiple pseudo-pilot positions to control the active air traffic and extra displays at either the ATC control (e.g. , for direction finding, or meteorological information) or the pseudo-pilot position.

In its simplest form, the basic radar train er costs the same as a high-end procedural trainer. In this form. it is now possible to consider equipping an ATC laboratory with several basic radar train ing systems to be used as radar skills traine rs. As a guideline, approximat ely six basic radar training simulators can be suppl ied for the same cost as one ful ly-equ ipped radar simulator position, w ith co nsoles and radio/ commun ications / meteorology, etc., for the ATC radar position and pseudo-pilot feeder positi on.

CATS Impl ementation The Swedish Civil Aviat ion Administration (SCAA) mainta ins a ce nt ralized training facility at M alm o, called the Swed ish Air Traffic Services Academy (SATSA). Although the SCAA Is well equipped with several full radar simu lators, SATSA has decided to procure the CATS fac ilit y, cons isting of six CBT units, nine basic radar tra ining units and 10 procedural training units. This set of 25 micro computers are linked toge ther to allow the easy migrat ion of programme, data and ATC exerc ises between t he various systems.

In tota l, this integrat ed set of computers has over 50 keyboards and over 70 displays (most of them high resolution colo ur disp lays) to form w hat is believed to be the most powe rful comp uter -assisted training system ever dedicated to introductory ATC educat ion. CATS was orde red in Ju ly 1989, insta lled in December 1989 and passed acceptance in January 1990.

Directors of civil aviat ion training colleges and institutes and those re12

sponsible for the provision of training resources for ATC now have a number of options from which to choose .

Given a restricted budget, a single basic radar training or procedural training system may meet the training load . It should be noted that the conversion of a procedural training system to a basic radar trainer is a matter of adding radar display equipment at the student ATC position . Converting a basic radar training system to a more comple x ATC radar simulator is a matter of adding consoles and communi-

cations. In both cases , 100 per cent of initial hardware is applicable to the upgraded facility .

Those organizations with a larger budget may install a full replica of the operational environment with consoles, commun ic ations, and radar displays . However, replacing one or more of the full sectors with six times as many skill trainer s (with the same display quality and soft wa re support) may be a better and more cost-effective choice.

New Zealand: New Radar for Integrated Control System Thomson-CSF has sig ned a contract with the Airways Corporation of New Zealand Ltd, ACNZ, which is responsible for air traffic control in New Zealand . Thomson-CSF will be providing a new TRAC 2300 long-range primary radar for -en-route traffic control . This contract follows a major contract won by Thomson-CSF at the end of 1988 for the turnkey supply of an integrated air traffic control system covering the entire country.

The TRAC 2300 radar (Transistorized Radar for Air Control) , the enroute version of the TRAC 2000 family of radars , is a sophisticated and entirely solid state radar characterized by its reliability, and maintainabilit y and reduced maintenance cost. The rada r will be installed by mid 1991 at Oha kea where it will be connected to the air traffic co ntrol center currently being installed .

As part of the first contract, Thomson-CSF is c urrently installing the integrated air traffic control system in New Zealand , comprising three TRAC

Air Traffic

2000 radars for approach control and six RSM 970 monopulse secondary radar s. Two RSM 970 radars have been installed since March 1990 at Ballance (near Palmer so n North) and Ruaotuwhenua (near Auckland). Installation of the other radars will continue up to mid 1991. An Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication s Network (AFTN) is presently being installed as part of the initial contract. Three control centers (with a combined total of 124 operator stations, including 33 radar position s), each fitted with a simulator. are currently being installed in Christchurch, Ohakea and Auckland . The Auckland simulator has been operational since March 1990 and the Christchurch simulator since April 1990. A remote maintenance and monitoring system ba sed in three centers w ill ensure remot e m aintenance and monitoring of the 69 site s (radar s, centers, navaid s, radio tran smitter s, etc.) distributed throughout New Zealand.

Monopulse Secondary Radar at Ruaotuwhenua

THE CONTRO LLER/ MARCH 1991

Swissair Custom er Portrait 44: the Fleischmann family, Ki.isnacht, Switzerland , photographed by Jost Wildbolz .

European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC)

Excerpt from the ECAC Strategy for the 1990s (ECACis an intergovernmental organization active since 1955 in promoting the co-ordination, better utilization and orderly development of European civil aviation in the economic, technical, security and safety fields. The 23 Member States of ECAC /{JreAustria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia.)

Objective 5: Define Guidelines for the Selection, Training and Licensing of Air Traffic Services Staff in ECAC Member States Introduction 1. Human resources and their relate~ activi_tesare a key issue in air, traffic. services and are possibly the ~ost important one. Up to now the issue has mainly been dealt with on a na!ional_basis because of its close re... lat1onsh1p with national rules laws and practices. ' 2. Internationally, a framework of common regulations already exists in Annex 1 to the Chicago Convention (P~rsonnel Licensing) but these regu\at1on_s apply only to a limited range of Jobs m aviation. The Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) of Annex 1 contain some guidance on mutual recognition of licences and general conditions for the issue of licences. . _3. Mo~e generally, mutual recognit1~n ~f licences and other qualifications m the air transport industry has also been discussed in other fora, for example by the EC in the context of free movement of labor within the Single European Market, and the resulting material will need to be taken i~t~ account when formulating cond1t1ons to be applied on a wider European basis.

4. Although attention has recently focused on adequate provision of air traffic controllers and much has been done to increase recruitment, it must be borne in mind that other categories of air traffic services staff - such as electronics and maintenance engineers are also vital to the system as a whole. The current and future well14

being of the system depends upon adequate staffing, a stable industrial relations climate and flexible working arrangements among this spread of disciplines.

5. Careers within- air traffic services must be attractive enough to ensure sufficient good quality candidates. and must be rewarding enough to retain valuable staff. Continuity of staff is an important element in the successful implementation of projects.

6. Social conditions for air traffic services staff are known to differ widely within the ECAC area. These conditions include remuneration and other financial rewards such as pensions. as well as non-monetary conditions such as hours of work, annual leave entitlement and retirement age.

7. Whilst consensus has not yet been achieved on the harmonization of such social conditions. it is widely recognized that general international guidelines on selection, training and licensing of air traffic services staff would be of considerable assistance to national administrations or agencies in planning the development of their air traffic control systems. Moreover. a common approach to selection criteria. staff training and licensing are a natural prerequisite for labour mobility across national borders.

Guidelin~s 8. The paramount criterion for setting of guidelines must. at all times. be safety considerations.

9. Staffing levels for air traffic services have been under discussion between national administrations and representatives of staff organizations for some time now. and many ECAC

administrations have substantially increased their recruitment of air traffic controllers to cope with the growth in air traffic. Adequate staffing levels are also essential to healthy staff relations. to balanced negotiation between managers and unions. and to opportunities for flexible deployment of staff. In estimating required staffing levels it is usual to use formulaederived from known working practices. and several models exist.

10. Functions within air traffic services have changed and will continue to do so with the advent of new technology. Greater attention needs to be paid to this phenomenon in selection and training policy. Jobs need to be defined in the light of present and future conditions. taking account of expected developments in the area of man/ machine interface.

Selection criteria must be determined by essential skills and aptitudes and training must concentrate ~:m developing knowledge and skills known to be crucial to the relevant tasks. Proven national selection techniques and training methods could form the basis for guidelines for adoption by all ECAC States.

11. Training syllabuses and programmes should be. ~~rmonized by identification and def1nit1on of a c~mmon core of items directly following from job descriptions. In a~~i~ion. this would enable national fac1lit1es such as training schools and sim~lator equipment to be used more flexibly.

12. Adoption of well-defined and appropriate guid~lines_ for tra(ning ~f all staff. and for licensing of air traffic controllers. should lead to a mo~e harmonized level of performance m control canters throughout the ECAC area. Guidelines on licensing standards should include application of regular and independently conducted proficiency checks.

13. In matters of standards for training and licensing. regard ~ust be paid to the progress of EC policy for a mobile labour force.

14. In view of the considerable disparities in the social and econ~mi_c environment of ECAC States. It 1s doubtful whether the harmonization of social conditions for air traffic services is a feasible objective within the timespan under consideration. However, there may be scope for international coordination in this area. concentrating on safety-related aspects to ensure that standards are broadly compatible when it comes to working conditions, the proportion of working and rest time and the ability of the staff member to discharge his duties satisfactorily. The concern should be to proTHE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1991

vide for transparent and consistent application of regulations .

15. Given equitable working conditions, professional obligations must be acknowledged and honoured by ATS staff . This should entail, in particular, a more flexible approach to working schedules, tied to a fair definition of the working week in order to

cope with the varying demands of air traffic .

Action 16. The following action is to be completed by the target dates indicated with regard to air traffic services staff: Target dates

Action a) The survey of manpower requirements currently being undertaken by Eurocontrol is to be extended to all ECAC States in order to identify shortages. b) Guidelines are to be defined for selection, training and licensing (where appropriate) of air traffic services staff by ECAC States.

1991 1992

Hughes to Provide Germany with New Air Traffic Control Systems Germany has awarded a US $ 5. 7 5 million contract to Hughes Aircraft Company for new air traffic control equipment to be installed primarily in sites formerly in East Germany.

Hughes will supply 36 TracView systems for use in airport towers and approach control units under the contract to the Bundesanstalt fur Flugsicherung, the German procurement agency.

The TracView system provides air traffic controllers with a real-time, fullcolor digitized display of aircraft detected by multiple radars feeding into the towers and centers .

When connected to the existing German Flight Data Processing System, TracView will provide automated identification/ SS R code correlation and networked SSR code allocation .

TracView will replace existing old equipment to provide new capabilites .

The system runs on Hughes proprietary software, derived from its proven air traffic control library, and operates on commercial, off-the-shelf, cost-efficient computers and raster scan displays .

Seven TracView systems will be installed in the Leipzig Tower and approach control units and three will be installed in the Dresden Tower and approach control unit, both located in the former (East) German Democratic Republic. Two systems will be installed in the Saarbrucken Tower, in what was West Germany.

The Hughes TracView systems will draw sensor data from a wide range of old and new radars built by Western and Eastern companies. including a new Polish-built AVIA-D radar serving the Dresden Tower.

THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 199 1

For some of the radars, Hughes also will supply modern radar extractors for the conversion of raw radar data into digital form. The schedule calls for the systems at the three sites to be operational by the end of March 1991 .

The remaining 24 systems will be installed in five additional towers, approach control units and a training facility following completion of site surveys. The remaining sites will be operational by mid-19 91 .

Hughes TracView systems have been operational as flight following units in the Saarbrucken Tower and the Vancouver Tower in British Columbia, Canada, for most of 1990.

ATC '91 at Maastricht - a success The first European exhibition exclusively devoted to ATC products, services and equipment, was held in the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre (MECC) in Holland, from February 19-21 .

As many as 13 nations displayed a wide spectrum of exhibits including ATC simulators, training equipment, sensors, weather radar, microwave landing systems, mobile intercoms, headsets, digital voice systems, mobile control towers, paging systems, navigation approach/ runway lighting, etc.

Visitorsfrom 30 countries were attracted to the exhibition.

During the first two days, conferences on a variety of topics could also be attended. Among the speakers was Philippe Domagalarepresentingthe controllersthrough IFATCA. He brought up an interesting question: "How do controllers view the future -with hope or fear?" A summary of his speech will appear in the next issue of The Controller.

This exhibit was a real time saver for the visitor - a "shopping mall" for ATC equipment and services. Almost everything an air traffic controller could dream of.No takeaway equipment though - but a good glance at what we will be working with tomorrow.

Air Traffic Control '91 has proven to be very successful with over 700 visitors.

Hopefully, this exhibit will become Europe's major annual ATC event. The date for next year has, in fact, already been set for February 18-20 , 1992 - at the same "shopping mall". prs

TracView Monitor, Vancouver Tower

15

C

European MAs Meet in Budapest Preben Falkman-Lauridsen , Ex ecutive Vice-President, Europe The 1990 European Regional M eet ing of IFATCA , was held in Budapest, the beautiful capital of Hungary . The cit y is divided by the Danube River and surrounded by picturesque hills and historical monuments . It was ch osen as venue in Acapulco during th e last annual conference . And inde ed , t he cit y, together with the Hunga rian host association reall y gave all part ic ipant s a couple of days to rem emb er. Wi t h the outside temperat ure remi nding us of 'Indian Summer' and 'i nside arrangements' which fu lly sat isfied the needs of the air traffic cont rol lers present , a perfect framewo rk was laid fo r a succes sful me eti ng.

s

The meeting was opened by the Director of the Hunga_rian Civil Aviation Authorities, Mr. Odon Skonda.

Mr. Skonda, in his opening speech , directed the attention of the meeting to the fact that Hungary, with the new liberalization in Europe and the recent political developments in Eastern Europe, now stands at a crossroads and face s changes but also challenges . In 1990 Hungary had seen traffic figures much higher than anticipated, a tendency which will probably continue in the coming years. However, with a joint effort , and here IFATCA is included . it was the opinion of Mr. Skonda that Europe would solve the problems encountered, and continue the development of ATC in the region .

It would be impossible to touch upon every item of the agenda of the meeting, so therefore only matters which attracted special attention will be mentioned here .

The ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference) Strategy for the 1990s . signed by 24 Ministers of Transport in April 1990. which outlines the ECAC viewpoint on a solution to the ATCproblems in Europe, was discussed at length and finally endorsed in principle. It was the opinion of the meeting that the plan contains a very ambitious timescale for the development in Europe , but also supports the I FATCA viewpoints on human factors and emphasizes the important role of the controller in a modern ATC environment . It was the opinion of the Member Associations, and also the Exec utive Board of IFATCA. that the plan. together with the FEATS concept, will form a good basis for the European ATC system in the coming years . provided that political and financial obligations will continue to be fulfilled during the implementation phas e.

Staff shortage s c ontinue to be a

View of Bud apest from Fisherman ¡s Bastion

16

THE CONTRO LLER/ MA RCH 1991

t J

major problem in Europe, as well as the capacity of the ATC system in certain countries. This leads to heavy Flow-control being put on to the aviation world, and is also becoming a greater burden for the controllers to carry. To IFATCA, it seems as if the situation in 1990 was similar to what was encountered in the previous years. The establishment of two new Central Flow Units in 1992 might be a solution to the present crisis of the European Flow system, but again, it was stated very firmly by the meeting that Flow control must be a tool for ATC - not the opposite!

The meeting expressed lastly its deepest gratitude to the Hungarian Aviation and Airport Authorities which, along with Malev, the Hungarian flag carrier, had enabled almost 100 persons to attend the 7th European Meeting. The 22 MAs present also expressed their thanks to their Hungarian colleagues for a superb arrangement and I think that we all will return, however, next time for a more private visit so that not only the Buda-Penta Hotel but the whole city of Budapest. can be explored .

Finally, I should like to thank IFALPA's Regional Vice-President, Peter Ten Duis, for his input to the meeting, the two former RVPs Kurt Kihr and Philippe Domagala for their help and support before and during the meeting, to my colleagues in the Executive Board for their assistance during sessions, and to John Dancer, the secretary of the meeting. You all made this, my first Regional Meeting as chairman, a pleasant experience .

Asia/ Pacific Regional Meeting, Melbourne, Australia, November

9-11, 1990 Michael T. Dooling , EVP, Technical Neil Vidler, EVP, Asia/Pacific 路1

J

This year's Asia/ Pacific Regional Meeting, hosted again by the Civil Air Operations Officers Association of Australia, was convened in the beautiful city of Melbourne , in the Southern Australia state of Victoria. As Australia is, at this time of year, transitioning from winter to spring , the weather was unsettled , but very predictable . The saying - often heard, 路 if the sun is shining - wait a minute ... 路 was proved true on a very regular basis alternating between sun and rain. The weather. however , did not dampen the spirits of the participants. The orTHE CONTROLLER/ MARCH 1991

Headtable of European Regional Meeting

ganizing committee of Peter Carroll, way toward improving communicaPeter Jelley , and Peter McLeod, in tions across the region . coordination with the EVP Asia/ Pac The Sri Lanka Associat ion gave a put together a program that from briefing on how they have been sucboth a business and social point of cessful in prevent ing introduc t ion of view, was extraordinary. the Air Navigation Services Office rs There was a total registration of 75 scheme whereby these off icers would for the meeting which included three have gained entry to ATC w ith out the IFATCA officials , 38 delegates , three necessary qualifications. This is a very committee members, 12 observers, satisfactory result proving what an three invited Corporate Member active association can achieve w ith guests, two pilot representatives and professional , sensible argument and various accompanying persons and application . local ATC observers. The Executive During debate on the subject of Board of IFATCA was represented by changes to t he current operation , inthe President EVPT, and EVP Asia / cluding separation standards, of Are a Pac. Navigation within the Region, the folSponsorship for the meeting was lowing policy was adopted: excellent with the following groups 'Any reduction to 10 minutes /80 nm participating: Ansett Airlines of Auswill only be acceptable once the fo llowing tralia , Hughes Aircraft, Thompson standard s have been satisfied: CSF, Siemens-Plessey, CAA of AusAny change of assigned Mach Number tralia . must be approved by ATC The meeting was opened by Alan Faci lities and t raining to accommodate Rainbird, Deputy Chief Executive of any resultant increase in traffic levels must be in place the CAA, who also took the opporIt is recommended that direct controltunity to speak on developments in ler-pilot comm unication facilities be Australian aviation - the new CAA, required . deregulation , safety issues - and As a principle. Asia/ Pac ific Member comparisons with other civil aviation Association s do not support any reduct ion bodies . of procedu ral separat ion below the time / On the business side of things , distance standa rd of 10 min / 80 nm based aside from the general information on RNAV derived posit ion information or and administrative items , a number of t he use of the Mach Number tec hniqu e.路 issues are worthy of mention .

It was felt that some form of reAn important w orking paper on 'Communication' was presented by gional policy was required on this isEVP ASP detailing the now increased sue as the matter of RNAV / Mach No . importance , becau se of the restruc- technique is spread ing, and has a ture, of update s from MA s. The paper profound effect on the various ATC resulted in agreement that EVP ASP systems in the region. The EVP has will provide a pro forma for MA up- already attended one meeting wher e dates at least twice per year, once pri- he had to speak from profess ional exor to annual co nference and again pertise and know ledge of the region prior to the RM . This was a most valu- rather than from a position with Fedable decision and should go a long eration policy.

17

The Austra lian Assoc iat ion presented a w orking paper proposing that they sponsor for industr ial education purposes an off icial of the Fiji Assoc iation to Austra lia to observe the work ings of Civil Air , both in the federal office in Melbourne and in the field at one of the big centers . This type of initiative in institut ing an assistance scheme illust rates the high degree of cooperati on in t he region and is to be appla uded .

An infor mat ive techn ical panel on the last day, the t heme of wh ich was ' Future Directi ons ', closed t he meet ing.

Wayne Buser of Hughes Aircr aft comm ented on ATC Technology for the 21 st Century . Included in his presentati on w as inform ation on compu te r-human interface .

Dr. Andrew Lucas of t he Austra lian Artificial Intell igenc e Inst itute fol lowed with a present ati on on Arti ficial Inte lligen ce and A ir Traffic Man agem ent . Art ific ial int ellig ence is defined as ' the st udy of idea s which enab le computer s to do things that make people seem intelligent .' The application of artificial intel ligence to ATM is in an assistant role - to reduce the amount of data whic h controllers must assim ilate.

Capt. Jim Duff, Ma nager of Flight Operations for A nsett Airlines .closed the session with a discussio n on futu re directi ons of aircraft deve lopment and how the y impact on ATC. A tour of Me lbourne AACC com pleted the course of events fo r th e meeting.

Sri Lanka has g iven a co nditi onal offer to host the 1991 regiona l me eting and should be in a posit ion w ithi n three months to conf irm this .

In summary, the 7th Annua l Asia/ Pacific Regional Meeting was a well organized, productive , and most enjoyable thre e days 'down under' .

Opening of th e Regional Meet ing by the Perman ent Secretary

Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname , Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, St . Lucia , APCA France (represented by Martinique and Guadeloupe) .

Also present were observers from the non-member associations from St . Marten, St . Vincent and NATCA USA. The Execut ive Board was represented by the EVP Americas , the Deputy President and the Past President .

The meeting was hosted by th e St . Lucia Air Traffic Controllers Associ ation and the Conference theme chosen wa s 'Air Traffic Control Systems in t he 1990s and Beyond'.

In their opening speeches , Kirby Toussaint, President SLATCA. and Alva Romanu s Baptiste , Assistant Secretary SLATCA, expressed their w ish that t he first American Regional M eet ing would provide the platform to

discuss critical issues facing th e air traffic control profes sion in th e Ameri can region and to emerge with suit able and effective solu t ion s to the problems . They offered the appropri ate autho rities IFATCA' s assistance in establishing eff icient air traffic control systems which will guarantee the level of safety and efficiency that is needed so as to cope successfully with th e challeng es of the 1ggo s and beyond .

In his opening addres s, Gregory St . Helene, Perman ent Secre tary in the Min istry of Communic ation, Work s and Transport , threw out th e challenge to the confer ence participant s to come up with practi cal , cost-effective proposals for clo ser regional col laboration in the area of training . In regard to the trend tow ards deregulation which is being replicat ed in the Amer ican region , he stre ssed th e need

Regional Meeting, Americas Viii Windt, Deputy President The first American Regional Meeting follow ing the restructure of the Federation wa s held in Gros Islet on the sunny Caribbean island of St .

Luc ia from 20-22 November 1990.

The meeting was attended by some 40 participants , representing 12 Member Assoc iati ons : Antigua and Barbuda , Barbados , Canada , Costa Rica , Guatemala, CENAMER , 18

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for authorities to remain vigilant and guard against a falling off in standards and quality.

Items on the agenda included the reports of the Member Associations and non-member associations of the American region and the report of Executive Board activities since the last regional meetings .

As in all IFATCA regions. much of the discussion was on the problems related t o the sometimes outdated ATC equipment and to staff shortages.

Whereas most member associations said tha t there is little or no hope for imp rovements in the near future due to financial constraints. Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda report ed that progress is being made in the instal lation of radar in their areas which will be finished by 1992 .

The meeting agreed on the appointment of a Regional Support Team which wil l co mprise Canada . Suriname and one South American association, and on the appointment of a Regional Task Force on Techn ical and Professional Matters comprised of Canada, Costa Rica and the Nether lands Antil les. The Task Force will have regular meetings to identify problems and remedies. the Support Team will help and assist the Executi ve Board .

The St. Lucia A ir Traffic Controllers Association, which was founded only five years ago. must be heartily thanked for hosting an efficiently organized and very producitve meeting. Whenever they had a chance from their busy schedule, delegates enjoyed the beauty and the warm hospitality of the island and on a persona l note I must say that the visit was rewarding both professiona lly and socially.

Africa Regional Meeting Sture Ericsson , EVP, Finance Neil Vidler. EVP ASP Following the restructuring of the Federation the first Africa Regional Meeting was hosted by the Egyptian ATC Association in Cairo from 6 to 7 December 1990.

The meeting was attended by eight Member Associations with two observer associations and the Executive Vice-Presidents Financ e. Asia/ Pacific and Afr ica represent ing the Executive Board . Abou el Seoud el Karimy. EVP AFI. chaired the meeting . The President and CEO. Charles Stuart. who was on holiday . also attended part t ime in a private capacity.

The meeting was officially opened

by Air Vice -M arsha ll Ali Osman Ziko .

20

Open ing of the AFI Regional Meeting

Chairman of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Author ity on behalf of the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation. AVM Ziko was sincere in his praise of the cooperation between the Egyptian ATCA and the CAA, and further explained the recognized importance of air traffic control in civil air transport .

The meeting was held in an informal atmosphere with many opportunities for delegates to gather and discuss mutual problems and seek sol ution s. Several representatives from the Egyptian CAA were also present and this further permitted informative discussions.

As usual , prime item s on the agenda included MA reports where it was noticeable that problems with (the lack of) ATC equipment and staff shortag es are causing much concern , and in some cases there is little hope for satisfactory improvements in the near future .

Previous discussions have identified th e need for EVP Support Teams and Region al Task Forces ¡and in Cairo much di scussion took place on these subject s. It was finally agreed that M arocco, Ghana and Tanzania would prov ide perso nnel to assist the EVP with his duties in the very disparate region of Africa.

Other topics discussed included Traffic Inform at ion Broadcasts by Aircraft (TI BA) - a major problem in parts of Africa - and the creatio n of a subregiona l ATC organization in the Maghreb (North-western) region of the co ntin ent .

Two technical visits were also organized. On the afternoon of 6 December. delegates visited the Civil Aviation Training Institute at Embaba Airport in the Cairo suburb s. At this in-

stitute. training is conducted for ATC personnel , engineers and . in association with EgyptAir , pilots . Of special interest was the new radar simulator.

This simulator comprises four radar positions and is identical with the equipment in the new Cairo ACC. However , t.he highlight of the tour was the presentation of the new tower simulator. which provides a visual display that allows the tower controller s to watch the aircraft move in a mo st realistic manner . There is no doubt that the Egyptian CAA has access to a modern state-of-the-art ATC school which will guarantee the quality and efficiency of future training processes .

At the conclusion of the meeting , the evening of 7 December saw the delegates visit the very modern fac ilities at the new Cairo Air Navigation Centre and Tower . The new Cairo ACC is equipped with up-to-date radar displays and computerized software systems all housed in a very spacious room with plenty of room to work and expand should it become neces sary.

Many delegates present viewed these facilities with envy.

One of the concluding items discussed during th e meeting was selection of a venue for the 1991 Regional Meeting and the ATC Association of Morocco volunteered to host same.

This fir st Africa Reg ional Meeting proved to be most successful and was very efficiently organ ized by the Egyptian ATC Association. Discuss ions were of a high standard and were entered into by all delegates present.

Without dou bt. the Afri ca region faces a myriad of problems and it is very possible that these discussions were the first step towa rds solving some of t hem .

THE CONTROLLER / MARCH 1991

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Dundee Crash Lucy Leveson, Assistant Editor, 'Transmit'

The Litigation West side of Dundee adjacent to the Between 30 April and 18 May waterfront and approximately 1.5 1990 a civil action for damages was kilometres ( 1 mile) west of the Tay heard in the Queen's Bench Division Railway Bridge. The main traffic is of the High Court. The Plaintiffs were generated by the Flying Club, which is the three surviving passengers of located at the airport, and by visiting G-AZYI, a Cessna 310, which crashed light aircraft. There is a scheduled close to Dundee Airport on the eve- service operated by Air Ecosse-daily ning of 11 November 1983. The Ad- flights between Manchester, Aberministrators of the Estates of the two deen and Esbjerg. The annual traffic passengers who were killed were the movement is 35,000 of which 3,000 are commercial movements. Air traffic other Plaintiffs, five in all.

The Defendants were James control service is provided Monday to hours; Beaton, owner of the Wiltshire Flying Friday between 0700-2000 Saturday and Sunday by arrangement Club; Cleanacres Ltd; Denvill Stamp; Vicmead Ltd; Peter Palmer and Tay- subject to staff availability. side Regional Council.

Counsel for the Plaintiffs were Mr. The Accident Trevor Philipson, QC and Mr. Bankim In the late afternoon of 11 NovemThanki. Counsel for Mr. Palmer, the ber 1983, a curling team from Switpilot was Mr. Charles Flint, and for Tayside RC, Mr. Jonathan Playford QC zerland arrived at Gatwick on a Dan-Air and Mr. Martin Reynolds. Since the flight from Berne, en route to Scotland where they were to take part in a main thrust of this report is to deal with actions brought against the pilot and 'friendly' tour. The Dan-Air flight was Tayside's employee, Mr. David John- slightly late and the Swiss were met by ston, the ATCO, I shall not go into any British Cal'edonian handling staff who escorted them to the General Aviation great detail regarding the actions against the first four Defendants; suf- terminal, where they were met by Mr. fice to say that they were alleged to be Palmer and Captain Lidstone, the pilot liable as carrier and vicariously liable of the second aircraft G-TONI. Mr. Palmer had some 2100 to for the pilot's negligence. It was dis2300 hours total flying experience, of puted that the first two defendants were negligent in not checking the which only some 40 hours were on the pilot's qualifications for the flight or Cessna 310, spread over 2½ years knowingly letting him fly. It was also and only 45 minutes being at night. disputed whether it was a non fare- Although a Senior Commercial pilot paying flight or an air transport under- he did not have an Instrument Rating and he was not type rated on the taking.

Mr. Palmer. the pilot was being Cessna 310. On 24 May 1983 he had sued for negligence and recklessness. taken a test and failed. However, three He admitted negligence just before days later he retook it and passed. This the trial started but denied reckless- rating had expired by November 1983. Mr. Palmermadenoattemptto ness. take another test until 14 May 1984, Tayside, Mr. Johnston's employer, when he took but failed another test. was also being sued for his alleged (All this refers to Instrument Rating. negligence, which it was alleged, in Editor.) However, he was entitled to part, was causative of the accident. the privileges of an IMC rating, i.e., he He denied this. was entitled to fly outside controlled airspace to Dundee on a non farepayTlhe Aiirport ing flight in instrument conditions by Dundee Airport is a small airport exercising the privileges of an IMC which is owned and operated by the rating, but was only entitled to fly into local authority - Tayside Regional or out of Gatwick Control Zone with Council. It is located on the South in appropriate weather conditions - a 22

Special VFR clearance. Below are the meteorological observations at Gatwick on 11 November 1983 - received from the Bracknell Meteorological Office: 1700 GMT: Visibility 2000 metres, hazy, 2/8 cirrus cloud at 28,000 ft. Temperature 9 degrees C. Dewpoint 6.9 degrees C. Wind velocity 040/05.

1800 GMT: Visibility 1700 metres, hazy, 5 / 8 stratus cloud at 1,000 ft. Temperature 7 .9 degrees C. Dewpoint 6.4 degrees C. Wind velocity 060/06.

A covering letter confirmed visibility between 1700 GMT and 1800 GMT was less than 1.5 nm.

Due to industrial action by air traffic control assistants at Aberdeen, the aircraft's destination, the pilot decided to fly instead to Dundee. Although not qualified to do so, he filed an IFR flight plan, estimating Dundee at 1850 GMT. He did not check the NOTAMS, at Gatwick, for Dundee. On departure from Staverton that morning there was no NOTAM relevant to Dundee. The Judge came to the conclusion that it had not yet reached Staverton.

The second aircraft G-TONI. a Cessna 421, also filed an IFR flight plan, estimating Dundee at 1920 GMT - both aircraft routing inbound via St. Abbs, through the RAF Leuchars MATZ to the DND. If the pilot had rechecked the NOTAMs at Gatwick, he would have been aware that the Dundee NDB morse coding signal was u/s. At about 6.30 am on 10 November 1983 the NDB was found not to be coding. Maintenance was the responsibility of the CAA, who were notified. At 12.30 pm on 10 November Mr. Bell, of the National Air Traffic Service (NATS), found the coding to be not working but was unable to find or remedy the fault.

At 12.45 pm a Class I (very urgent) NOTAM was issued notifying this fault. On the morning of 11 November Mr. McCallum, of the CAA repaired the fault and left after ensuring that the coding had been working for one hour. Nevertheless, Mr. Hurn, the airport manager, cautiously decided not to cancel the NOTAM which, accordingly, remained in force. Both Mr. Hurn and Mr. Johnston continued to believe the !dent to be working until informed to the contrary by both the aircraft during the approach to Dundee. This would not have affected the accuracy of the bearings which a pilot receives on his ADF. In fact the NDB signals were used safely by G-TONI which landed approximately 10 minutes before the Cessna 310 crashed.

THE CONTROLLER/MARCH

1991

Mr. Palmer had landed at Dundee on a number of occasions between 18 and 26 November 1982 in a singleengined aircraft. so he must h;3Ve known of the high ground in the vicinity of the airport. In any case. he was carrying the Aerad approach plates for Dundee.

At approximately 1924 hrs. the pilot changed frequency from RAF Leuchars radar advisory service to Dundee and received the 1920 hrs.

Dundee weather observation. which was as follows: Surface wind 100° /6 knots Visibility 15 kms 4/8 Sc at 1.000 ft 8/ 8 Sc at 2.000 ft QNH/QFE 1026 mbs Soon afterwards. the pilot askec for confirmation of the Dundee NOB frequency as he was experiencing difficulty receiving it. The Dundee controller contacted the approach controller at Leuchars who saw the aircraft on radar about 10 to 12 miles west of Dundee. tracking north-west on 314 ° towards Perth. At 1933 hrs.

RAF Leuchars. not knowing whether the object detected some 1~ 12 miles from Leuchars was YI or not. suggested that the plane should make an identification turn from 314 degrees to 060 degrees i.e. a turn of 106 degrees to the right. This was relayed to him by Mr. Johnston. and Mr. Palmer made this turn at 1933 hrs.

The Leuchars radar controller was then satisfied that the object shown on the RAF Leuchars radar was YI and then suggested a further turn to 090 degrees to make a good course to the NOB. This conversation was recorded at the Leuchars end. since the recorder at Dundee was u / s. having run out of tape. Some of the radio transmissions of the aircraft could be heard in the background of these recordings.

At 1935 hrs. a 10 degree turn to the left was given to Mr. Palmer and RAF Leuchars reported the aircraft to be about 1.5 miles from the beacon and to the southwest of it. G-AZYIthen reported that. although he had a good ADF bearing on Dundee. he was not receiving the identification signal. He eventually arrived overhead the beacon and his overhead position was confirmed by RAF Leuchars. He then carried out a procedure turn. finally settling on a heading of about 250° to establish an outbound track of 262 °.

The required outbound flight on 262 degrees was for 2.5 minutes descending.in that time from 3.000 ft to 2.240 ft. The base turn at 2.240 ft should have taken about 1 minute.

Three and a half minutes after the beacon outbound call. the controller THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1991

had not received the base turn complete call. At 1944 hrs. RAF Leuchars informed Dundee that they had lost YI on the radar. So. after a reasonable interval. he queried the pilot's position in the procedure. The pilot replied that he was 'halfway round'. One minute later the controller received the base turn complete call and gave a QFE check which was acknowledged. The signal strength of this call on the CRDF was low as though the aircraft had possibly flown too far outbound. or. as Mr. Philipson suggested. the aircraft was too low. So the controller made another call. to which he received no reponse. The time was approximately 1949 hrs. Overdue action was then instigated.

The crashed aircraft and the three seriously injured survivors were not found until first light the next morning.

G-AZYI had crashed at 860 feet ASL on the north-west facing side of a hill 8.3 nm west of the threshold of runway 10. almost directly beneath the extended centreline.

The pilot. on being quest.ioned after the accident. said that he had seen a line of lights which he thought were reflecting in water. He had expected to be close to the Tay Estuary and this impression of water backed up this idea. The inbound track of the procedure. on completion of the base turn. is approximately 6 nm north of the Tay. He then decided to make a visual approach and descended below the minimum height on the approach plate of 1550 ft to identify the lights.

Almost immediately he encountered cloud again. so commenced a climb. striking high ground and subsequently catching fire.

During cross-examination by Tayside's Counsel. the pilot stated that he did not blame ATC and had no complaints against them. but had brought proceedings against them for his injuries. The Plantiffs allegations against the controller were that he failed to warn the pilot that the coding signal of the NOB was u/s and secondly. that he had failed to realise that Mr. Palmer was in trouble and to offer him assistance.

After the accident Mr. Johnston was interviewed by an Inspector from the AIB. In November. 1984 a Fatal Accident Enquiry was held in Perth.

Neither the Inspector nor the Sheriff implied that the controller had been to blame for the accident.

The Defence Under cross-examination. the controller conceded that he should have informed the pilot of G-AXZI on first contact. that the NOB was now

operating normally. This might have alerted the pilot earlier as to the change in status of the NOTAM which remained in force. He had assumed that Mr. Palmer would have heard him discussing the NOB with Captain Lidstone. However. he stated that at no time did he have reason to feel the pilot was having problems once he had located the beacon. Since the pilot was flying IFR. as far as Mr. Johnston was aware. he should have been competent to fly the letdown procedure. During RT communications the pilot had always sounded confident. although his phraseology was at times inaccurate and ambiguous. Mr. Johnston denied that it was obvious that the pilot was inexperienced. It was not unusual for a pilot to fly too far outbound and as far as Mr. Johnston was aware Mr. Palmer was following the procedure. At no time did the pilot ask for further information. 'Climbing into the cockpit' by a controller. is strongly discouraged.

Three expert witnesses were called to give evidence. They were Harold Rigby. retired air traffic controller. for the Plaintiffs: Air Marshal Sir lvor Broom. former Controller, National Air Traffic Services. for the controller and David Ogilvy for the pilot.

Judgment Mr. Justice Owen stated that Mr. Palmer had not been entitled to break off the procedure as he had done. 'It was the fact that he failed to follow the procedure which caused the accident not the fact that he failed to notify Mr. Johnston of his intention to do so or that he had in fact done so. However. it is in fact correct that if he had informed Mr. Johnston that he intended to break off the instrument aproach Mr. Johnston might well have been alerted to the danger facing the aircraft and might. with the aid of RAF Leuchars and his own CRDF. have been able to indicate Mr. Palmer's position and a safe procedure. I find and am sure that Mr. Johnston would have tried in such circumstances. Unfortunately Mr. Johnston was unaware of and had no reason to suspect the possibility of Mr. Palmer so acting.

'Mr. Palmer's action in going below the required height when he knew there was high ground in the area and when he knew that there was some cloud at 1.000 ft and when he must have known that there was a risk of a crash and death for his passengers and himself must be regarded as reckless. but not with knowledge that damage would probably result.· • 1 have not considered any other possible recklessness because of the

23

STOCKHOLM•

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LONDON

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OFFICIALCARRIER OF THE 30th ANNUAL IFATCA CONFERENCE Reservations: Edward Street, Port of Spain. Tel: 625-BWIA . · Carlton Centre, San Fernando. Tel: 652-3279; 1359; 1111 Scarboro ugh, To bago. Tel: 639-3291 Flight Information : Piarco. Tel: 664-4268; 5215/669 -3000 Arrivals: Port of Spain. Tel: 625-1189

We are the Caribbean

evidence before me there was no recklessness in taking off at Gatwick.

Mr. Palmer's action was illegal but there was no risk of crashing provided that he complied with the prescribed let-down procedure which, had he chosen to do so, would have been well within his capabilities.'

'It is of significance, although not probative, that the claim against Tayside Regional Council was only made at the very last moment just before the expiration of the limitation period. It was made after full investigations by the AIB, the Sheriff's Court, and the CAA had not provided one word of criticism either of Dundee airport or the actions of Mr. Johnston nor was there any instruction or any suggestion of improved procedures so far as Dundee airport or Mr. Johnston was concerned. It is also of significance that Mr. Palmer attaches no blame to the Sixth Defendant. He said "Personally I did not think that the Dundee air traffic controller had done anything wrong or let me down in any way··.· 'The real case against the sixth defendant was expressed by Mr. Philipson in the opening. The ATC, he said, failed to make appropriate information available to the pilot as to the let-down procedure when it should have been clear to him that assistance was needed. This omission was negligent and an operative cause of the accident. There is, in my judgment, no evidence to show Mr. Johnston was in any way failing in his duties. The true cause of the accident was that Mr. Palmer recklessly and with full knowledge of what he ought to do, since it was written down on the Aerad chart which was on his knee at the time, chose to descend to a dangerously low level.

'Much time has been spent on a consideration of the duties of an air traffic controller and of a pilot. In the circumstances of this case I have not derived any help from these considerations and accordingly do not intend to comment upon them. The common law duty to passengers, such as the plaintiffs, was the duty to exercise such reasonable skill, care and diligence as could be expected from a reasonably competent ATC operating from an airport of the size and facilities of Dundee. I have already dealt with the NOB ldent fault. In my judgment Mr. Johnston was not negligent in failing to inform Mr.Palmer of this defect. he was not aware of the defect and had no reason to be aware of it. In any event as it is now conceded, the failure to inform Mr. Palmer of the Ident was in no way a cause of the accident.'

THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1991

'The second way in which it is said that Mr. Johnston was negligent is that he failed to give warnings and assistance to Mr. Palmer. It is, of course, necessary to bear in mind that Mr. Johnston was faced with the situation where one aircraft of two flying from Gatwick, the second busiest airport in the world [sic], on IFR and carrying passengers at night and in winter, had already landed. The flights had all the appearances of air taxi flights. Mr. Johnston could not be expected to anticipate that the second pilot. i. e.

Mr. Palmer, would act wilfully and recklessly. As it seems to me, the very most he could have done would have been to say to Mr. Palmer, when he did not receive the base turn complete signal at a time at which he might have expected it - "You do know that there is high ground don't you?" It would have been possible for Mr. Johnston to say this but there was no reason for him to suspect even the possiblity that Mr. Palmer did not himself know that this was the case. Mr. Johnston must

John N. Bradbury· Retires After ten years with ICAO. the last five as Chief, Rules of the Air. Air Traffic Services and Search and Rescue Section (RAC/SAR) at ICAO, John (Jack) Bradbury recently retired from the ICAO Montreal Headquarters.

Jack graduated from Cornell University in 1957 and spent the next 22 years in the US Air Force in various assignments such as an air traffic controller, shift supervisor, chief controller, unit commander and staff officer at all levels of command. He worked with the Committee for European Airspace Coordination while on a European assignment. Jack retired from the USAF as a Lt. Colonel in

1979.

He joined ICAO in 1980 and was promoted to Chief RAC/SAR in 1986.

Jack's ICAO career spanned five Assemblies. He was· the ATS Committee Secretary at the LIM RAN Meeting, Secretary of the VFO (new airspace classification) Panel as well as the Study Group Secretary for SOIR (Simultaneous operations on parallel or near-parallel instrument runways).

SATSAR (Satellite-aided search and rescue) and MICA (Manual on interception of civil aircraft).

Jack played a large part in developing the Air Traffic Services Planning Manual, the Interception

have clearly anticipated, as was the case, that Mr. Palmer had before him the Aerad chart which clearly showed the correct heights and to which he must have anticipated that Mr. Palmer would conform if only for his own safety. In my judgment Mr. Johnston could not be expected to anticipate that Mr. Palmer would break off the procedure and act in such a wilful and reckless way. I find that neither Mr. Johnston nor the Sixth Defendant was in any way to blame.'

After such a long passage of time, it is with considerable relief for the industry that the above judgment was handed down. If nothing else, it has drawn attention to the vulnerability of ATCOs. The Plaintiffs were awarded damages and cost (to be assessed) against Cleanacres Ltd (who employed Mr. Beaton) and the pilot. It is possible that an appeal may ensue.

(This article first appeared in issue 5, 1990. of GATCO 'Transmit'. and is reprinted here with permission. Editor)

Manual and the Civil/Military Coordination Manual.

Readers of The Controller· will recall Jack's major, concise article on Civil/Military Coordination which appeared in Issue 3 / 90.

Best wishes are extended to Jack for a long and happy retirement in Le Roy, N.Y. where he was also born a little over 55 years ago.

Addendum On page 18, Issue 4190 of 'The Controller', a line was inadvertently omitted in the c.v. of the IFATCA President and Chief Executive Officer.

The full penultimate paragraph reads as follows: He was Victorian State director of CAOOAA from 1970-1972, Vice-President 1972-1976.

President 1976-1982 and again 1986-1988. He was the founder of their Technical Committee. In 1979, he was appointed by the ILO as one of the fifteen worldwide experts for the 'Meeting of Experts on Problems Concerning Air Traffic Control'. lie attended the 1980 follow-up meeting and was a Public Services International delegate to the 19 79 I LO conference.

25

AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330 and A340

A irbus lndustr ie's A330 and A340 are making an increasingly strong showing in the marketplace as they begin t o take shape in factories throughout Europe , follow ing in the footsteps of the already successful A320 .

Launched as the first truly combined program in June 1987 , the Airbus A330 and A340 had won 202 firm orders from 22 customers by late Apr il 1990, made up of 118 firm orders for the A330 , and 84 firm orders for the A340. Feat uring extensive commonality, th e tw in-engined Airbus A330 and four -engined Airbus A340 are designed to satisfy different but complementary roles.

Seating 335 passengers in a typical two -class layout, the medium to long range Airbus A330 is ideal for providing A300 and A310 operators with increased capacity, as well as being an economical replacement.

Available in two different versions seating 262 and 295 passengers in typ ica l three -class layo uts , t he very long-range A irbus A340 is designed for long 'thin' routes .

Passenge rs will benefit from the ab ility of the Ai rbus A330 and A340 to make money for airlines on nonstop routes from seco ndary cit ies elim inating an unwan ted t ransfer throug h an intermed iate hub- as well as by avoiding co nge sted capital-city airports and crowded airspace .

Incorporation of the late st techno logical features, including a brandnew eight ies-designed wing, A320sty le fly-by-wire contro ls driven by compute rs, and extensive use of new materials, gives t he Airbu s A330 and A340 an econo mi c edge.

A irb us A330 in Northwest Airlines co/ors

The Airbus A340 is powered by four CFM International CFM56-5C2s an increased thrust derivative of th~ engine available on the Airbus A320 .

A choice of all three large turbofans the General Electric CF6-80E 1, Pratt & Whitney PW4000 an~ Rolls-Royce Trent- is offered on the Airbus A330 .

Development of the _two new Airbus aircraft is progressing on-schedule toward a first flight of the Airbus A340 in 1991, and of the Airbus A330 in 1992 . Construction of elements of the first A340 is already wel l under way , with the wing centresection having been completed at Aerospatiale 's Nantes factory in November 1989 , and assembly of the

A330/ A340 program A340-300

A340-200

A330

First flight

Ju ly199 1

Oct. 1991

June 1992

Entry into service

Oct . 1992

Sept. 199 2

Sept. 1993

26

first wing assemblies begun at British Aerospace's Chester site . MBB in north Germany is assembling the first fuselage sections , while CASA in Spain is producing parts for the horizontal tailplane of the first aircraft .

In parallel with construction of the first Airbus A340 sections, the selection of major equipment suppliers for both the A330 and A340 was completed in 1989. The equipment has been chosen for maximum commonality among the Airbus A330 , A340 and A320.

Current plans call for assembly of the first Airbus A340 to begin in Toulouse this year, inside the new A330 / A340 assembly facility being built at Aero spatiale 's Colomiers site .

The new facility will assemb le Airbus A330s and A340s side by side, and featu res a dock system for efficient comp letion of each aircraft. Airbus lndu strie plans to build up to a combined rate of about seven A330s and A340s a month, which wi ll be achieved in 1994 .

Both t he Airbus A330 and A340 share the same w ing. tai l and fuselage THE CONTROLLER/ MARCH 19 9 1

A·G·E·N·D·A March 91 6-9 AIRTRAN '91, Aeronautics and Air Traffic Control Exibition , Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Con tact IFE BAL, tel (3471) 45 55 00 Fax (3471) 45 12 21.

APRIL 91 11-14 2nd International Sem inar of ATC related Trade Unions, Pula Yugoslavia. Contact Yugoslav Independent Trade Union, 41150 Zagreb Airport, PP 22.

Airbus A340 in Lufthansa co/ors

sections, with differences being limited to the number of engines and engine-related systems.

Airbus lndustrie expects to sell a total of about 1,000 Airbus A33Os and A34Os during the next 18 years.

The 202 firm orders won by late April are an encouraging confirmation of the credibility of this forecast, especially since they have all been achieved some two years before the Airbus A34O is due to enter service, in 1992. The Airbus A33O will enter service a year later, in 1993 .

For Airbus lndustrie, the A33O represents a continuation in the important twin-aisle, twin engine market, while the A34O is a new venture into the very long-range field. More importantly, however, the two aircrah complete the Airbus aircrah family , allowing the European consortium to compete across the board for sales to airlines. As such, the A33O and A34O are key players which will enable Airbus lndustrie to reach its target share of the market for civil aircrah seating more than 100 passengers .

17-19 ITEC'91. lnternationaITraining Equipment conference and exhibition, Wiesbaden , Germany.

Contact ITEC, UK +44 985 846 181.

22-26 30th IFATCA Annua l Confernce in Port of Spain , Republic of Trinidad and Tobago . Con t act TT ATCA, Organizing Commitee IFATCA '91, Piarco International Airport. Fax 1 809 664 42 59 .

MAY91 24-27 CATCA 91. Canadian Air Traffic Control Association Biennial Convention , Calgary, Canada.

A330/ A340 highlights JUNE 91 • Advanced flight control technology fly-through-computer - load alleviation

• State-of-the-art avionics design multi-function displays - integrated equipment

14-23 PARIS AIR SHOW , Le Bou rget , France. Contact GIFAS , tel +33 1 47 23 55 26.

JULY 91 2-9 AIRPORT '91 . Airport and airline equippment and services exhibition . London , UK. Contact Airport Exhibitions. Tel +44 202 392 066.

• Popular Airbus wide-body fuselage cross-section

17-21 DAYTON Air Show , WrightPatterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio , tel + 1 51 3 898 590 1.

• Increased thrust versions of existing engines

• All-new advanced technology wing

• Flight deck derived from A32O

• Advanced quick-change passenger cabin

THE CONTROLLER/ MARCH 1991

OCTOBER 91 7-15 TELECOM 91 - 6th World Telecommunication Exhibition , Geneva , Switzerland . Contact ITU , tel + 4122 730 51 60 , Fax +4122 733 72 56.

27

Satcoms in A C The United States will be the first nation to use satcoms for air traffic control .

FM Administrator James Busey talks about US plans for satellites in aviation

Jam es Busey has been in tight corners before. His ability to get out of th em was recognised by the award of the Navy Cross for action in combat during the Vietna m War. Now this exadmiral, a 37-year career in the US Navy behind him , faces a new kind of pressure as he oversees the most co stly and comple x air traffic system overh aul ever attempted.

Nearly a decade ago the FAA recognised the increasing inadequacy of existing air t raffic co ntrol arrangements in t he United States by launching the Nati onal Airspace System Plan (NA SP).

Cornerstones of the plan are systems such as Mode S secondary surveillance radar and t he MLS landing aid. It also calls for the introduction of satellite-aided automatic dependent surveillance (ADS ) of traffic on oceanic routes from 199 2. But t here is a powerful body of opinion that is impatient to see satellites g iven a wider role .

The US Congress has directed the FAA to speed up its work on planning for a transition to sate llite -based ATC. Busey must also report in a year's time on how the cost of NASP , currently put at a staggering $25 -2 7 billion, might be reduced by an ear ly move to satellites.

The Air craft Owners and Pilots Association, standa rd-b earer fo r the USA' s genera l-aviat ion comm uni ty, is pushing harder sti ll , c laim ing that as much as$ 250 mil lion co uld be saved by leapfrogging NASP and going straight to sate llit e-aided ATC throug hout US airspace.

But to accuse the FAA of want of enterpr ise or fores ight is to do less than j ust ice to an age ncy t hat wil l be the first in the world to intro duce ocean ic ADS . Whi le Western Europe's civ il aviation author it ies are work ing towards a 1996 target for operational ADS on the Atlantic, Administrator Busey has his eyes fixed firmly on a date just two years from now.

'The Oceanic Display and Planning System mod ifie d to accept ADS posit ion reports is schedu led to be oper28

ational at the Oakland and New York oceanic centres in 1992', he says.

'With its near-real-time position reporting and direct pilot/ controller datalink, ADS will increase safety, improve communications , permit more efficient use of ocean airspace , and reduce controller and flight crew workload .'

Looking further ahead still , the FAA is planning satellite · voice communications for various purposes . 'At present the primary emphasis is on data' , says Busey . 'But we also have a follow-on programme to develop a voice link . This will back up the data link, especially in emergency and non-routine situatio ns.'

International airlines operating into and out of the United States can thus expect to enjoy the full benefits of satellite-aided air traffic control before the mid-1990s . Altogether less clear is what will happen in domestic airspace , particularly when it comes to extending satcoms to general aviation.

Administrator Busey can understand the GA lobbyists ' eagerness for a switch to satellites but has yet to be convinced of the best way of doing it .

'I agree that further use of satellite capabilities would be beneficial ,' he concedes. ' But, using current techno logy, the user costs would be burdenso me . We are carrying out research and development to identify new technological approaches capab le of bringing economical satcoms · to general aviation .'

In the meantime, th e FAA is helping t o keep its options open by taking a leadi ng part in the fight to preserve frequency allocations in the face of vigoro us c laim s from the burgeoning US land-mob ile sector .

'A cting in concert w ith the aviation co mmunity , we are ensuring tha t the requirements for satellite spectrum for aerona utica l service are not compromised ,' says Busey.

Busey is quick to dismiss some of the lesser threats to the successful imp lementat ion of ADS . One such is the possibi lity that the mandatory car-

riage of Mode C transponders could test the capacity of ATC computers in high-density areas and that ADS might be the straw that breaks the camel's back .

'Transponder replies in dense-traffic terminal areas are processed by the Automated Radar Terminal System, which is quite separate from the computers which will handle ADS data ' , says Busey . 'ADS traffic will therefore have no effect on terminal system capacity .'

He is equally confident of the taxpayers' capacity to pay for the fir st stage of the FAA ' s satcoms plans .

'ADS is an integral part of the capital investment plan for NASP and we currently have adequate funds for research, development and evaluation .'

NASP and its ADS component represent a purely US effort to equip the nation's ATC system to cope with traffic expected to reach 7 50 million passenger journeys annually by the year 2000. But the FAA also takes a global view of the urgent need for satellite-aided air traffic services.

'Our plans are co-ordinated with those of other nations through ICAO , its FANS Committee and its various panels,' says Busey. 'We have also signed agreements on ADS co-operation with the UK, Japan , Australia , Canada , Iceland and Portugal .'

In its original report the FANS Committee declared that satellite systems were essential to the safe and efficient management of air traffic in the future. ' I wholly endorse the FANS viewpoint,' concludes Administrator Busey . 'There is very little prospect of global improvements if we continue to rely on the present systems .'

From 'ASA ·. No . 18

E.G.H. Green Honored The recently appointed Executive Secretary of IFATCA has been awarded the signal honor of being appo inted an Officer of the Order of the Briti sh Empi re (OBE) in the Que en's New Year's Hon o urs List.

It is gratifying to note that yea rs of dedication to air traffic control and the profession of air traffic controller do not go unr ecogn ized.

Congratulations , Edge Green , QBE! THE CONTROLLER/ MARCH 1991

Book Review

READERS SURVEY We would like to thank all the readers who took the time to answer the questionnaire which was included in THE CONTROLLER, issue 2/90 . Each one has been analysed carefully. We took note of all the suggestions for changes, some of which will be progressively introduced in the future. Please be assured that we are open to comments any time, since we have only one objective - try to make your Journal better every time.

TIIE RTROllER

JOURNAL OFAIRTRAFFIC COl'ITROL ~

Skytalk L.

F. Leveson

'Skytalk - English for Air Communication' is designed to help Air Traffic Controllers and pilots who are not native speakers of English - the lingua franca of aviation communication - to develop the necessary air traffic communication skills .

As the medium of communication is radio , the main emphasis of this book is to enable air traffic controllers and pilots (both trainees and professionals) the development of oral and aural skills , i.e., speaking and listening using the accurate terminology and phraseology .

Skytalk comprises a course book, a teacher 's book and 3 cassettes. The language in the dialogues, drills and exercises is all authentic and extracted from live recordings of ATC transmissions . All the voices are those of genuine controllers and pilots and all references are to real places . Each of

the 12 units deals with a particula r area of air communication and is illust rated by diagrams , charts , maps and pic tures .

'Skytalk - Engl ish for Air Commun ication ' is written by L. F. Leveson with Martin Cass and published by Stanley Thornes Ltd. and is recommen ded to be used before vocat ional training begins or as a refresher course in English for professionals . prs

In a future issue: 'The Sick Building Syndrome'

YOUR DIRECT LINE GENEVA: P.O. Box 310 CH-1215 Geneva/ Airport Tel.: 022/ 798 45 10 Fox: 0221798 46 44 Tix: 415 731 CH ZURICH:

Tel.: Ol/ 814 37 00 Fox: 01/ 81367 05

Tix: 827 546 CH TOP,\ZE .. nuSA

,.

a

YOUR DIRECTFLIGHT g

ROLEASINGSA GENEVA

Tips for Getting a Good Night's Sleep This i'}forma~ion suggests how you can form good sleeping habits and help prevent msomma.

Avoid eating or drinking excessively before going to bed.

Digesting food increases the work of the heart and makes it hard to fall asleep. Also. after drinking a lot in the evening. you may be awakened by an urge to urinate. If you must have something at bedtime. limit intake to a single cup of fluid and a light snack.

Avoid daytime naps.

They count toward total sleep time and can make it difficult to sleep through the night. Think about when you tend to take naps. where you are. and what you are doing when you find yourself napping. If you notice. for example. that you fall asleep in front of the television set about an hour after eating lunch. you might try to go for a walk at that time or work in the garden to help break the habit.

Avoid using products that contain caffeine after noon.

Caffeine is a drug that is also a stimulant - an ¡upper'. Since caffeine is found in many foods and nonprescription drugs. check the product label to make sure you are eliminating caffeine use after noon. If a late afternoon or evening cup of coffee or tea is an important part of your routine. change to a decaffeinated or herbal type.

Reserve time before bed for relaxation.

Take 20 to 30 minutes to read. watch a favorite television show. or listen to relaxing music before performing your prebed routine.

Have a soothing sleep environment.

Loose-fitting nightclothes, a comfortable mattress and pillows. and clean linens can all help you feel more relaxed in bed. The bedroom should not be too noisy, light. cold. or hot.

Carpeting and heavy drapes help soundproof and darken your bedroom.

If you wake up several times during the night and find it hard to get back to sleep, try these simple steps: 1. When you awaken. give yourself 20 minutes to fall asleep again.

2. If you are still awake in 20 minutes. go into another room and pursue a quiet or boring activity for 20 minutes. Do not do anything stimulating. such as eating or reading a suspense novel.

3. Then return to bed. If you do not fall asleep in 20 minutes. repeat the activity in another room for 20 minutes and then go back to bed.

Continue this routine until you fall asleep.

Almost everyone has occasional nights or a few weeks during which ifs hard to fall asleep or stay asleep. This common problem is called insomnia.

B~low are answers to questions you might have about problems with sleep.

Follow a daily exercise regimen. _Reg~larexercise such as walking. swimming. running. or bicycling can help reduce daily stress that may lead to insomnia. It is best not to exercise within two hours of bedtime however since it stimulates the body and in~ How much sleep do I need7 ~reases your body temperature. makMost people average about 7-8 ing it difficult to fall asleep. hours of sleep a night. But the amount of sleep needed to feel rested the next Develop a bedtime routone. day varies from one person to the next.

Following the same routine each You might be able to function well on night before bed can help you get prosix hours of sleep. for instance. while grammed for sleep. Taking a relaxing someone else needs a full nine hours. sho~er or bath. brushing your hair. or having a glass of warm milk before bed can help prepare you for sleep. Try to What causes insomnia7 Insomnia can occur if your 'bioQOto bed and to wake up at the same logical clock' is disturbed. such as time every day.

30

when you travel to another time zone or work different job shifts. Insomnia can also be a problem during times of stress. You may be worried about a personal relationship, money. or your job.

Some people with insomnia find it hard to fall asleep easily when they first go to bed at night. Others fall asleep easily but then awaken several times during the night and have trouble getting back to sleep. Still others sleep through the night but awaken much earlier than they planned in the morning and cannot get back to sleep. Early morning awakening is commonly associated with 'feeling low¡ or depression.

Sometimes I wake up more tired than when I went to sleep. What causes this7 Some causes of nonrestful sleep are sleep apnea. nocturnal myoclonus. and restless legs syndrome.

Sleep apnea occurs when your air passages don't allow easy breathing.

Snoring (typically so loud that it awakens others). morning headaches. and daytime sleepiness are common symptoms. . Repea~ed leg jerks occurring during the night and preventing restful sleep are symptoms of nocturnal myoclonus. These motions may not wake you up.

In restless legs syndrome. you are likely to have a crawling or uncomfortable feeling in the legs and feet when trying to fall asleep. The feeling forces you to get up and walk around before you can fall asleep.

If your doctor suspects that you have sleep apnea or nocturnal myoclonus. he or she may want to send you to a sleep disorders center for an ove~night study to confirm the diagnosis.

Would a nightcap help me sleep7 It is best to avoid alcohol before bedtime. Although it can make you feel relaxed and drowsy at first. you are !ikely to awaken during the night when ~ts effects wear_ off. It is especially important to avoid alcohol if your doctor prescribes a sleeping medication.

Com_bini_ng al~ohol with most sleeping med1cat1ons1sextremely dangerous.

Letters to the Editor are encouraged and appreciated THE CONTROLLER/MARCH 1991

FROM STANLEY THORNES

Stat e-of-th e-Art DF Equip me nt for Munich II Airport For air traffic control around the new Munich II airport, the Bundesanstalt fur Flugsicherung (BFS - Federal Ad ministration for Air Navigation Services) will provide their air traffic control installations with state-of-the-art DF equipment by Rohde & Schwarz; Rohde & Schwarz will furthermore supply the entire radio equipment .

The DF system of the Munich II airport will be made up of devices from the new generation of Rohde & Schwarz Direction Finders PA 100 (VHF, 118 to 163 MHz)/ PA 200 (UHF , 225 to 400 MHz) . There will be six parallel channels for VHF and UHF each as well as one VHF and one UHF distress frequency channel. Two VHF/ UHF channels can be switched to every in-service channel to replace it in the event of failure . By means of two Interface Multiplexers PU 104 , the bearings obtained in the 12 in-service channels are converted and adapted to the radar data format and levels , and are then transferred to each radar control position via the communications switching system. The BFS uses the bearings for additional echo identification on the radar screens. The system will be installed in late 1990.

In the entire Federal Republic of Germany , the BFS uses VHF/ UHF rad io equipment of type 400 series for groundto-air communications . Owing to its modular design , i.e . plug-ins , the equipment can be adapted very simply to differing operational and technical requirements . The use of identical modules in transmitters, receivers, and direction finders reduces the logistic expense.

At the Mun ich 11airport, series 400 radio equipment will be used not only for the in-service and standby transceivers, but also for the immediate standby units and the distress transceivers. The communication system will compri se power amplifiers . transmitter combining filters . d istribution amplifiers . test equipment as well as antenna spl itters.

TeachirYJ Marual

by LFLEVESO N with MARTI N CASS

•

Ideal for ab-initio training and in-se rvice refresher courses.

• Al procedures and phraseology are based on the 1984 ICAO Ma nual of Radio Telephony.

•

Listening and role-play lea d to realistic commu nication in British and American English.

•

Designed fo r air-traffic controllers and pilots who are not native English speakers to develop communica tion skills.

Course book:........................................................ £ 12.99 Teacher's book:.................................................... £ 5.99 Cassettes (3): ....................................................... £35 .50

ATC Radar for Trinidad and Tobago After operating for years without a radar-based air traffic control (ATC) system, Trinidad and Tobago has acquired from Raytheon Canada one of the world's most advanced ATC systems.

The system was installed in early 1991, just two years after Raytheon was awarded a contract for a turnkey installation which included, besides a complete ATC system, a new ACC building, a radar tower on Mount Catharine, access roads and other infrastructure work.

The air traffic control system, an ASR-9120, inc ludes Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR)with 120 nm range, monopulse SSRwith 250 nm range, sophisticated radar and flight data processing systems and displays. The contract provides for training by Raytheon Canada of air traffic controllers and maintenance personnel.

The state-of-the-art system is based on the Canadian Radar Modernization Project (RAMP), a nation-wide prog ram to modernize Canada's air traffic control system which is one of the largest in the world. It is the first civil air traffic control system which is comp letely solid state. Modular architecture makes it possible to configure a variety of solutions to meet the ATC requirements of virtually any location from a busy high density, multi-radar ATC center to a single radar control tower.

The benefits to air traffic control in the area will be in terms of improved air safety and reduced operating and maintenance costs. The system will provide growth tor future expansion well into the next century.

THE CONTROLLER/ MARC H 199 1

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I I D I I enclose a cheque for£ .......... ,-(pl _ u_s_£_ 1_.oo_p _&_p_) I I I Name ............................................... ......................

I I Address ........................................ ......... ......... . ............... I I ·············· ················ ············ ··············· ·················· ··········· ···· I ··························································· I I I I L ___________ J Please send: SKY TALK- Course book@ £12.99 - Teacher 's book@ £5.99 Cassettes (3) @ £35 .50

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STANLEY THORNES, OldStationDrive, Leckhampton, Cheltenham, GLOS,GL53 OON,United Kingdom.

Tel: (0242 ) 22 8888 . Telex: 43592. Fax: (0242) 221914

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Corporate Members of IFATCA AEG Electrocom GmbH, Konstanz, FRG AUTODIAGNOS, Stockholm, Sweden Bofors ElectronicsAB, Stockholm, Sweden B0rge Pedersen A/ S, Allernd, Denmark CAE Electronics Ltd., Saint -Laurent, Canada Cardion Electronics, Woodbury, USA CCS, Roedermark-Waldacker, FRG CESELSA, Cecsa Systemas Electr6nicos SA, Madrid, Spain CISET S.p.A., Rome, Italy Cossor Electronics Ltd., Harlow, UK Dictaphone Corporation, Rye, USA EB NETCOM, Nesbru, Norway Ferranti Computer Systems Ltd., Cwmbran, UK FFV Airport Technology AB, Froson, Sweden HICKLING Management Consultants Ltd., Ottawa, Canada Hollandse Signaalapparaten B.V., Hengelo, Netherlands HUGHES, Ground Systems, Fullerton, CA, USA Jeppesen & Co. GmbH, Frankfurt, FRG Jerry Thompson & Associates Inc., Kensington, USA Marconi Radar Systems Ltd., Chelmsford, UK McDonnell Douglas Electronics, St. Charles, USA Mitre Corporation, Mclean, USA Network Systems, Frankfurt, FRG Norcontrol Surveillance Systems A.S., Shipping Sod bury, UK Racal Avionics Ltd., London, UK Raytheon Canada Ltd., Waterloo, Canada Rediffusion Simulation Ltd., Burgess Hill, UK Schmid Telecommunication, Zurich, Switzerland SD-SCICON Ltd., London, UK SEL-Standard Elektrik Lorenz, Stuttgart, FRG SE LEN IA, Radar and Systems Division, Rome, Italy Siemens-Plessey Radar Ltd., Chessington, UK Societe d'Etudes et d'Entreprises Electriques, Malakoff, France Sofreavia, Paris, France SWEDAVIAAB, Norrkoping, Sweden TASA, Telecomunica~oes Aeronauticas S.A., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Telefunken Systemtechnik GmbH, Ulm, FRG Thomson-CSF, Division SDC, Meudon, France UNISYS Europe/ Africa Ltd., Uxbridge, UK Videotex AIS Allernd, Denmark Westinghouse Electric Corp ., Baltimore, USA The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations would like to invite all corporations, organizations, and institutions interested in and concerned with the maintenance and promotion of safety in air traffic to join their organization as Corporate Members.

Corporate M embers support the aims of the Federation by supplying the Federation with te chn ica l information and by means of an annual subsc ription. The Federation 's international journal 'The Contr oller' is offered as a platform for the discussion of technical and procedural deve lopmen ts in the field of air traffic cont rol.

32

THE CONTROLLER / MARCH 1991

~ Network Systems • ATCISS- Air affic Control Information Support System • UGCCS - Univ sol Graphical Computer Contro l System • HYPERchannel- igh Speed Communication Network

Whatever Computer System you use in your Air Traffic Control Center, we pro vide you the Connectivity to communicate with other Systems or Centers.

Contact us for more Information on how to pass Air Traffic electronically.

ccs Goethestrasse 76 D-607 4 Roederma rk-Wa !docker Phone: +49/60 74- 99 0 38

N etwo rk Systems Gm b H Lyon er StraBe 30 D-6000 Fro n kfurt 71 Phon e: +4 9/69 -66 4 109-0

Mode Sis the mode of the future. Especially at Thomson. And especially in Europe where today's skies are fast ap p roa ching complete gridlock.

Mode S provides a direct, au tomatic, highly efficient data link between the pilot and the air traffic controller . It also provide s a highl y effective aircra ft identification system .

At Thomson we 'r e very mu ch invo lved in the development of Mode S. As a world leader in monopu lse secondary radar, we're well qualified for the task. We've already logged severa l years of Mode S experience with our experimen tal station at Orly Air p ort.

Thomson-CSP. A company that's working hard to put Mode Son the map. Your map . Worldwide . , .. ~-,

Mode S. The vital link.

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THQMSQN•CSf THE BRAINPOWER.THE WILLPOWER.THE WINPOWER.

DIVISION SYSTEMES DEFENSEETCONTROLE- 18, av. du M'';-Juin - 92363 Meudon- la-Foret Ce d ex - FRANCE - Tel.: (33-1l 40.94.30.00 - Telex• THOM

6 l 6780F