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WORLD ATM CONGRESS
MADRID, March 2017
z by Philippe domogala, corporate member coordinator The World ATM Congress in Madrid had an excellent edition this year, with many exhibitors and dozens of forums with interesting topics. The combination again drew a lot of attendees to this year’s edition. IFATCA was represented by our President and CEO, Patrik Peters; Tom Laursen as our EVP Europe; and Philippe Domogala as Corporate Member Coordinator. We shared a booth with our American colleagues from NATCA, as has been done in previous years.
On the automation itself, we were reminded that ATC is a safety critical profession that does not function in a linear, predictable manner. Full automation of all ATM tasks is therefore still a long way off. In addition, it was clearly stated that any automation is only as good as its back up system(s). Contingency systems must allow safe recovery of very complex situations. This is certainly not a trivial matter and therefore tends to be rather expensive.
All photos: DP
Patrik was kept busy promoting our profession in many of the forums, as well as in the main conference discussions. He was quoted every day in the event’s magazine, greatly enhancing IFATCA’s profile. His main message was that technology alone will not solve the problems ATM encounters: “You can implement all the technology you want, if you do not invest in humans to operate it, it will not deliver the promises manufacturers claim”. This holds true globally, but it’s even more acute in areas like Africa, South America or Asia. There was also some focus on recruitment: as young people adapt better to new technologies, they should be recruited in large numbers to deal with the coming automation. As all predic-
tions still show a tremendous traffic increase over the next decade, it will be difficult for an ageing controller workforce to cope with. During one of the debates, we learnt that in Australia, implementation of new technologies did not enable a reduction of the number of controllers. This contradicted some of the press releases and media reports, and experiences of other countries appear to verify this.
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THE CONTROLLER