The Controller December 2006

8/2/2019 The Controller December 2006

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4INCREASING AIRPORT CAPACITY

Also in tis issue:

4Focus on MONGOLIA4C130 Cras in Iran

THE

CONTROLLERJournal o Air Trac ControlDecember 2006


2/36

IFATCA 2007 AnnualConference Information

** Main Conerence Hotel is The Marmara Hotel.The Marmara Hotel room rates are exclusive o

breakast.

RegistrationRegistration ee includes conerence pro-grams, equipments, lunches, Coee Breaks,Welcome Cocktail, Gala Dinner, transporta-tion between airport and hotels, and hotelsto the Conerence Venue as well. For Ac-companying Persons, the registration eeincludes lunches, Welcome Cocktail andGala Dinner, transportation between the

airport and the hotels, and AccompanyingPersons Program Hal Day City Tour.

SPECIAL PRICE FOR CAT 3 COUNTRIES:

(100 EUR limited to 1 Dir + 3 dep Dir)

CancellationIn case o any Registration or Accommoda-tion cancellation, written notication shouldbe sent directly to the Secretariat. Deduc-tions or administrative charges will apply.See web site or details.

Tel: +90 212 343 80 03Fax: +90 212 343 80 23

E-mail: [email protected]

Organizing Secretariat:

TeamConHalaskargazi Caddesi Alp Palas Apt.No: 79/1 34371, Harbiye IstanbulE-mail: [email protected]

President Organizing Committee:Murat OzdilTel: +90 212 4 65 31 87 (oce)GSM: +90 532 7 47 96 59

(rom inside Turkey 05)e-mail: [email protected] or

[email protected]

AccommodationHotel rooms can only be reserved and con-

rmed upon receipt o a one night deposit.The balance must be paid directly to theTeamCon Registration Desk which will belocated at the Lt Krdar Congress Cen-ter main oyer. Only room extras shouldbe paid to the hotel reception.

Social ProgramAn enjoyable social program is plannedor the participants. The Social Program isas ollows : Cocktail Reception on Sunday, April 15 Turkish Night (Optional) Turkish

Delight on Wednesday April 18 Gala Dinner highlighting the tastes and

sounds o Istanbul on Friday April 20There are many things to see and to do inIstanbul. Inormation will be available on-site at the hospitality desk and various sug-gestions will be posted on the website.

VisasPlease check with your travel agent whetheryou require an entry visa or to Turkey.Most visitor visas are obtainable or a eeon arrival at the airport, but it is advisableto check in sucient time beore depar-ture. The IFATCA conerence web site haslinks to visa inormation.

Venue is Istanbul Convention &Exhibition Centre (ICEC) Luti KrdarHarbiye 80230 Istanbul, TurkeyTel: +90 212 296 3055Fax: +90 212 224 0878Website: www.icec.org

DatesMonday, April 16 - Friday, April 20, 2007

IFATCA Conerence web site:www.iatca2007.com

Airport Inormation

All international and domestic fights arriveat International Istanbul Ataturk Airport.Buses will depart rom Istanbul airport toTaksim Area (downtown) every 30 minu-tes. Travel time is 45 minutes. Transporta-tion will be available between 14-15 April2007 and 21 April 2007. Private taxis areavailable, and the approximate cost isEuro 15-20 per taxi

ClimateApril is spring in Istanbul and is one o themost pleasant seasons. Average tempera-tures vary between 16C - 20C.

Letter o InvitationAn ocial invitation letter to assist with visaor administrative procedures is posted onthe Congress website or participants,For ino use www.iatca2007.comPlease note that this letter can in no waybe regarded as a commitment concer-ning scheduling or nancial supportrom the Conerence Organizers.

Sponsorship and Exhibition SalesAn extensive exhibition will be heldin association with the Congress.For more details or or dierent

sponsorship opportunities kindlycontact:Ms. Pnar AytaCongress ManagerTeamCon CongressServices Worldwide

Hotel Name Category Single Double

** THEMARMARAOTEL

5* 135 145

POINT OTEL 5* 125 135

CRYSTAL 4* 85 90

LION 4* 90 100

SAVOY 4* 90 105

SEMINAL 4* 75 85

GOLDENAGE 2

3* 60 70

TASLIK OTEL 3* 45 60

Registration Fees (includes VAT)

Beore 31January

2007

Ater1 Feb2007

Director (1 per MA) 160 180

Deputy Director(max 3 per MA)

160 180

Delegate andall others

180 200

^View of IstanbulPhoto: Istanbul Tourism


3/36

Contents

THE

CONTROLLER

PUBLISHERIFATCA, International Federation oAir Trafc Controllers Associations.

EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA

Marc BaumgartnerPresident and Chie Executive Ofcer

Dr Gabriela LogattoDeputy President

Cedric MurellExecutive Vice President Americas

Albert TaylorExecutive Vice-President Arica/Middle East

David K W CheungExecutive Vice-President Asia/Pacifc

Patrik PetersExecutive Vice-President Europe

Dale WrightExecutive Vice-President Finance

Doug ChurchillExecutive Vice-President Proessional

Dave GraceExecutive Vice-President Technical

Jack van DeltExecutive Board Secretary/Conerence Manager

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Philippe DomogalaEditorial address:Westerwaldstrasse 9D 56337 ARZBACH, GermanyTel: +492603 8682email: [email protected]

Residence: 24 Rue Hector BerliozF 17100 LES GONDS, France

CORPORATE AFFAIRSKevin Salter (Germany/UK)

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSWeb site: Philip Marien (EGATS)Chris Stock (UK)

REGIONAL EDITORSMoetapele D. Matale (Botswana)Al-Kadur Acosta (Dominican Republic)Phil Parker (Hong Kong)Patrik Peters (Europe)

COPY EDITORS

Stephen Broadbent and Brent Cash

PRINTING-LAYOUTLITHO ART GmbH & Co. Druckvorlagen KGFriesenheimer Strae 6aD 68169 MANNHEIM, GermanyTel: +49 3 22 59 10email: [email protected]

Photo:AirservicesAustralia

Forewordby Dale Wright 4

Editorial by Philippe Domogala 5

Airports 1Airports capacity enhancement tools

by Raimund Weidemann 6

Airports 2Arican Aairs by Moetapele Dauphin Matale 7

Airports 33 years ago I couldnt even spell RNP by Robert Mason . 8

Airports 4Terminal area Required Navigation Perormance

A light operations perspective by Captain Alex Passerini 10

Airports 5The most complicated terminal airspace in the world by Phil Parker 12

Spotlightby Kevin Slater 14

IATA Advert 17

Mongolia 1The Asia Paciic Regional meeting o IFATCA Ulaan Baatar,

Mongolia Sept 2006 by Philippe Domogala .. 19

Asian NewsA new low cost airline in Hong Kong by Phil Parker 21Mongolia 2Interview Ya Ariunbat, General Manager ATM, Mongolian CAA .. 22

Mongolia 3Interview with David Cheung IFATCA EVP Asia Paciic and

Interview irst and only woman supervisor in Mongolia

by Philippe Domogala . 23

Mongolia 4Being a young controller in Mongolia in 2006 by Philippe Domogala 24

Side ViewsAir traic control strikes by Ayman Mahmoud 25

Legal AffairsThe crash o a C130 in Iran 26

AdvertisementThe aviation English language assessment program

is open by Gary B. LaGuardia . 28

AmericasWinds o change in Argentina by El Kadur Acosta 29European NewsWhen the Vikings meet by Patrik Peters 30

Book ReviewThe Aviation Book by Fia O Caoimh 31

Philip Marien featuresUp, Up and away

by Philip Marien 32

Charlies column 34

DISCLAIMER: The rules, recommendations and inormation contained in this document relects what IFATCA established at time

o the last amendment. Although every eort has been made to ensure accuracy, neither the International Federation o Air TraicControllers Associations (IFATCA), or their Members or Oicers or representatives, shall be responsible or loss or damage causedby errors, omissions, misprints or misinterpretations o the contents hereo. Furthermore IFATCA expressly disclaim all and anyliability to any person whether a purchaser o this publication or not, in respect o anything done or omitted, by any such person inreliance on the contents o this publication. COPYRIGHT. The materials herein are copyright IFATCA. No part o this document maybe reproduced, recast, reormatted or transmitted in any orms by any means, electronic and mechanical, including photocopying,recording or any inormation storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission rom IFATCA.

VISIT THE IFATCA WEB SITES: www.iatca.org and www.the-controller.net

In this issue:

December 20064th quarter 2006 volume 46 ISSN 0010-8073


4/36

^Foreword fromthe Executive Board

THE

CONTROLLER

Lets talk about moneyIFATCAs presence in the world aviation

community has grown signiicantly over

the past three years.

As our involvement in the aviation com-

munity increases so does our inancial

commitment. The Federation has seen a

reduction in the availability o ree or re-

duced air travel, which aects both our

Representatives and members o the Ex-

ecutive Board. IFATCA will see even larg-

er challenges in the uture. With the un-

ortunate accident in Brazil we see a need

to establish some type o team to assist

Member Associations There are several

very qualiied individuals in IFATCA with a

wealth o knowledge which our members

should have available to them in a time o

need. Funding will be the major issue o

any new initiative. This is the reason IFATCA

needs to improve our presence even ur-

ther in the aviation community. Gaining

access to assist our members during any

accident investigation may be a challenge

depending on the location. The Member

Associations within IFATCA rely on each

other or dierent types o support. The

Federation relies heavily on our largest

Member Associations or unding to work

initiatives. How can an action against one

Member Association aect IFATCA?

One does not have to look any urther

than IFATCAs largest Member Associa-

tion. The National Air Traic Controllers

Association (NATCA) in the United States

has seen their members placed under

Imposed Work Rules (IWR).

I will not get into the ine print o the nego-

tiations or the dierences o each side but

it may aect IFATCAs ability to grow.

With the IWRs there has been a larger

than anticipated number o retirements.

As the number o members decrease, so

do NATCAs revenues. The controllers

in the United States pride themselves on

working high-density traic. Changes to

working conditions such as leave; meal

breaks and schedule have reduced the

morale o the controllers, which results in

a higher retirement rate.

The FAA has also changed the pay bands

or controller pay. Their new pay band

which was not agreed upon by the union

is 30% less than present controllers sala-

ries. Even though present controllers will

not have their pay reduced to the new

bands this will have an aect on IFATCA.

The FAA has reduced the amount o dues

controllers pay the union to the new pay

bands, even though the union did not

agree to this. The result is a 30% decrease

o union revenues. This does not include

the reduction due to controller retire-

ments. NATCA has assisted many Member

Associations o IFATCA with laptop com-

puters and inancial assistance. With this

large decrease in revenues IFATCA will be

aected. This is only rom the issues o one

Member Association.

Working conditions or controllers through

out the world has been a very important is-

sue or IFATCAs Executive Board. This has

been a constant issue or the past year in

board meetings. Regardless o the inan-

cial status or location o the Member As-

sociation working conditions o controllers

must be monitored. We have dealt with

conditions in Central America, Arica and

Australia. I European Member Association

are treated the same as the United States

this will aect our ability to participate all

the projects in Europe.

The worlds air traic controllers deserve

the best working conditions possible. This

includes protection and support during

accidents/incidents. Financial support rom

Member Association is vital to continue our

increased involvement. Controllers need

a common voice. The common voice or

these concerns worldwide is IFATCA. ^

by Dale Wright,Executive Vice President Finance

Editorial

SUPPORT FROM IFATCA IN BRAZIL Following COLLISION

Following the collision o last September between a civilian B737 and a private Legacy 600 jet in Brazilian airspace, IFATCA sent a three-

person team to Brazil to provide support to those controllers involved in this unortunate accident. This trip was made possible by the

generous support o the Swiss and Portuguese Member Associations and by NAV Portugal.

Our Team consisted o two technical experts, one an experienced accident and incident investigator, the other an expert with proound

technical knowledge and experience in accident/incident investigation. The third person was a CISM- trained Mental Health Proes-

sional. The team visited Brasilia Center rom 12 to 16 October 2006. Their intervention received high praise rom both the Brazilian

Controllers Association and their employer, the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).

A detailed report o the groups visit and intervention will be the subject o an article in the next issue o the Controller.

The [ US controllers] new pay band[..proposed by the FAA..] is 30% lessthan present salaries.

Ph

oto:DP


5/36

Another Mid air collision in Brazil, this time

with both aircrat under radar control and

with brand new aircrat. The Legacy business

jet was out o the actory on its delivery

light and the Boeing 737-800 was delivered

new rom Boeing less than a month beore

and had just 200 hours. Both aircrat had

state o the art avionics and TCAS. 154

passengers and crew died in the B737, the

worst air disaster in Brazil.

In Caliornia, a business jet collided with

a glider. Fortunately, and miraculously one

could say when looking at the remains o

the jet, everybody survived. The business

jet had TCAS and the glider was trans-

ponder equipped.

Why do we keep on having collisions with

TCAS? The public ( and the airlines ) were

wrongly told that with TCAS there would

be no more collisions. At least this is what

they wanted to hear. Because I recall the

earlier days o TCAS presentations where

the MITRE corporation (designer o the TCAS

sotware) clearly said that in a 100 collision

models, TCAS will save the day in the vast

majority cases ( between 70 and 90 % i my

memory is correct), but in some cases it

would not make a dierence and even in

some cases TCAS could in itsel induce a

collision. But as the overall introduction o

TCAS was a positive move it could be rec-

ommended or implementation.

In both cases above it appears one air-

crat had its transponder o. Whether this

was a deliberate act by the pilots ( glider

and Legacy) as some rumors suggest, or a

technical malunction, only the inal reports

will tell us. I am not here to speculate. The

act is that or TCAS to work it is like the

Tango : you need two willing and unction-

ing partners. TCAS without a transponder

on the other side will do nothing. Trans-

ponders do ail, even set themselves auto-

matically on stand by as we have recently

learned. I am constantly amazed when I

make a light in a cockpit ( like in my recentFlight to Mongolia ) to hear a well educated

Editorial

Captain telling me that recently

he saw another aircrat passing him

very close and he had nothing on

TCAS and wondering how can that be !

Like the lying public, some pilots a

only remember the glossy brochure and

tend to believe that with TCAS they are

sae rom other traic. Misunderstand-

ings about TCAS are still many, and even

Ueberlingen type encounters (where a pilot

still chose to ollow ATC instead o RA) are

still reported today despite all the training

eorts done since then. Education is the

key, both pilots and controllers should be

inormed about the shortcomings o the

ACAS system as a whole and act accord-

ingly. With the number o aircrat in-

creasing at such a rate in our skies and

the deadly precision o modern GPS

navigation, near miss encounters

can only rise. Fitting and properly under-

standing TCAS and mandating trans-

ponder operations at all times by

all aircrat is essential.

Now, this CONTROLLER issue is mostly

about increasing airport capacity and about

Mongolia. Increasing Runway capacity is a

diicult problem, especially with the arrival o

the A380 and its proposed ICAO increased

spacing (3 minutes!) but Ok the good news is

that the aircrat will be delayed.(I know this is

not unny or everybody) and Mongolia is a

very, very beautiul country still untouched

with a basic primitive nature, unortunately

so is their ATC.

Happy reading,

THE

CONTROLLER

^EditorialStill Colliding Despite TCAS

by Philippe Domogala,Editor

Ph

oto:Mi

ch

ael

Haines

The public (and the airlines) werewrongly told that with TCAS therewould be no more collisions. At leastthis is what they wanted to hear.

The Boeing 737-800 collision with aEmbraer Legacy was on 30 September2006 at FL 370 over the Amazon. The

Legacy managed to make an emer-gency landing at Cachimbo airbasebetween Brasilia and Manaus, no onewas hurt on board. The B737 crashedin the Amazon killing all 154 on board.

The collision between an Hawker XP800and an ASW27 glider was on 28 August2006 at 16.000 eet above Caliornia. TheHawker managed to belly crash land inCarson City airport. No body was hurt inthe landing. The pilot o the glider bailedout and parachuted to saety.

Ph

otos:Carsonairport

Photos: FAB

[email protected]


6/36

4 Airports

AIRPORTS CAPACITYENhANCEMENT TOOLS

by Raimund Weidemann, IFATCAAirport Domain Team Coordinator

Photo: DP

For many years the en-route part o a light has

been the bottleneck o the entire ATM sys-

tem. The successul implementation o RVSM

in most parts o the world, increasing sector

capacity, has lead to the eect that the ap-

proach sector and the airport itsel have be-

come the most restricting phases o a light.

Approximately 2 years ago, and or the irst

time, airport delays were more than 50% o

the total ATFM delays in Europe. The ocus o

the capacity models changed rom a gate to

gate view towards an en route to en route

view. R&D was tasked to ind solutions which

are suitable to solve the airport capacity prob-

lems. It soon became clear that runways were

the most restricting resource. This is why many

o the proposed solutions ocus on runway ca-

pacity. What are the proposed solutions?

The construction o new runways is very

costly, but it gives a signiicant increase o ca-

pacity at an airport. Madrid has just doubled

its runway capacity by building two new run-

ways, Amsterdam completed its 6th runway,

Munich, which was designed completely rom

scratch, has an option to build its third runway.

For many other airports in Europe, however,

this solution doesnt work it may be too ex-

pensive, too environmentally unriendly or too

close to populated areas. The use o so called

secondary airports is another solution, which

are mainly used by some low cost airlines.

These airports are oten remotely located and

the inrastructure to get to the city o destina-

tion is minimal.

What are the other options available or use?

ATFM slots are used to smoothen peaks in

the daily capacity demand and to shit parts

o the air traic into less constrained hours.

Situational awareness packages are used to sen-

sitize both pilots and controllers to the impor-

tance o minimized runway occupancy times.

Approach and departure managers are

intended to be integrated and combined

with surace management, stand and gate

management tools, so as a result the entire

airport traic is ully managed.

Airport collaborative decision manage-

ment CDM (in the US this is known as air-

port operations management AOM) will

optimize the services o all major airport

stakeholders, this will improve the SLOTadherence, the departure sequencing and

minimize the taxi times or aircrat.

Advanced Surace Movement Guidance and

Control Systems (A-SMGCS) will not directly

increase the airport capacity. In low visibility

conditions, however, the eventual capac-

ity decrease will be signiicantly less when

these systems are implemented.

Time based wake turbulence separation on

inal research work is currently ongoing,

and it is hoped that especially in strong wind

conditions, the runway capacity can be in-

creased by 2 or 3 movements per hour i the

separation on inal is based on times instead

o the traditional separation by distance.

This list is not complete, but it gives you an

overview about some ongoing projects aim-

ing or increased airport capacity. Where are

the problems or controllers with these new

procedures and tools? Oten when new pro-

cedures or tools are introduced controllers

training was less than optimal in the worst

case we get a short brieing, a handout o the

keys o the new tool, and the rest is learning

by doing. New procedures are sometimes

ound on the day o their implementation.

Due to limited space, new tools such as mon-

itors, keyboards or touch input devices are

oten displaced, and besides these ergonom-

ic aspects the growing number o screens is

sometimes even restricting our outside view

rom the tower. When we start to operate

new tools we sometimes realize that we have

been provided with something that is a unvali-

dated; a real time testing o the system could

not have been done or various reasons, and

we are basically doing this testing in the post

implementation phase with live traic. Some

o us are members o project teams, and we

spend parts o our working time providing

our expertise and knowledge to the devel-

opment and implementation teams. This is

excellent, and we all proit rom this, as we

end up with tools that better ulill our needs

and expectations. In addition to this I would

like to encourage you to use our Federation

to get inormation about new procedures and

tools early and also to give input. Our IFATCA

Airport Domain Team is always open or con-

trollers that want to give input to projects,

procedures and proposed changes to ICAO

documents. It is easy to complain about an in-

suicient working environment, but we have

it in our hands to inluence the developmento new procedures and tools lets ace the

challenge!^

we are basically doing[new tools] testing in the post

implementation phase withlive trac .

Photo: Murat Ozdil

4 Istanbul airport

THE

CONTROLLER

4 Raimund Weidemann


7/36

4 Airports

AFRICAN AFFAIRSSTATUS OF AIRPORT CAPACITY ENhANCEMENTS IN AFRICA

by Moetapele Dauphin MataleArica & Middle East Regional Editor

THE

CONTROLLER

Arica is comprised o ully developed interna-

tional standard airports that are well equipped

with all sorts o imaginable airport capacity

enhancements as well as airports with similar

level o operation characterized by heavy in-

ternational traic volumes but with saety and

eiciency levels that leave a lot to be desired.

In the average, there is a common believe that

development o capacity enhancements are

desirable practices only to be considered in in-

stances o budget surpluses. But in the actual

reality, operations o aircrat at airports where

capacity enhancements are adequately pro-

vided enjoy the beneit o reduced delays and

reduced risk o runway incursions.

Just as pundits expressed in recent years,

i you think saety is expensive, try an ac-

cident. This may have sounded too harsh

but what else can we say? These are serious

expressions relating to serious situations con-

cerning lives o the lying public. The phrase

Airport Capacity Enhancement itsel is virtu-

ally a simpliied expression used in modern

days to politely symbolize realistic application

o saety and eiciency standards. The end

results o ailure by airport authorities to ade-

quately equip airports with necessary capacity

enhancements tools lead to undesirable situa-

tions in which air traic controllers are placed in

the oreront to bear the brunt. Delays leading

to inancial losses on the part o operators are

requent and runway incursions prevail. Such

delays lead to haphazard incident reports or

instantaneous threats launched directly to duty

controllers alsely portraying them culprits o

the shortalls under the circumstances.

This is much more pronounced in cases

where air traic controllers are orced by pre-

vailing circumstances to apply excessive time

intervals in eort to provide adequate spacing

between successive arrivals, or between such

arrivals and departures. In the modern days

where the use o RADAR has become part and

parcel o every major airport o the continent,

separations reduced by use o RADAR end up

being ruitless due to unsupportive runway

and taxiway structures. In one particular case,

the second aircrat in the approach sequence

ollowing successul RADAR vectoring, is still

to be held in the air anyway. Since there are

no parallel or rapid exit taxiways, the previous

landing aircrat has to roll all the way to the end,back track the runway in use and vacate via a

taxiway located at the mid point o the runway.

This may take up to 10 minutes beore the next

landing or take o can be saely made. Most

Arican airports were initially developed by co-

lonial governments as part o their basic will to

have easy access to the world. Emphases were

not much in interests o business but services

were rather provided reely or the good wel-

are o operators o the day. Standards o serv-

ices provided were thereore likewise not as

high as one may have wished.

Over the years the initially ree service air-

ports transormed into proitable resources that

served as viable sources o national revenue.

Despite these changes some o the airports to

this day still maintain the old shape and levels

o services provided have not been modiied

or aided with enhancements to relect the new

status and purpose or which they currently

stand to serve.

Revenues collected rom airports are being

used or other national priority developments

instead o being paid back into urther devel-

opment o the airport. This practice has nega-

tively aected provision o necessary enhance-

ments and the system does not appropriately

match the constantly growing traic volumes.

The on going process o transorming govern-

ment Departments o Civil Aviation into auton-

omous Civil Aviation Authorities is last hope

that all Arican airports will ultimately be pro-

vided with adequate capacity enhancements.

Commercialization is the good option so

ar but precaution is still necessary to ensure

that we are not taken back to the monotonous

topic relative to the correlation o saety to

proitability in the aviation industry. In ordinary

industries, cost cutting has absolutely no harm

to human lives and i anything one would dei-

nitely be appraised or placing proitability in

the oreront o all priorities. It is a true act that

our aviation organizations need inancial re-

turns to survive but at the same time we need

not overlook the act that saety and eiciency

are priority actors and the industry literally can

not carry on without them. In summary, the sta-

tus o airport capacity enhancement in Arica

is satisactorily improving alongside improving

socioeconomic situations. Eorts are being

made by authorities especially where CAAs

have already been established. More airports

are being modiied and there is growing hope

or a better uture.^

[email protected]

Photo: DP

4 No capacity problems here yet.

Revenues collected romairports are being used

or other national prioritydevelopments instead o

being paid back into urther

development o the airport


8/36

4 Airports

3 YEARS AGO I COULdNTEvEN SPELL RNP

Firstly, increased computing power in the

modern FMS combines accuracy o GPS with

continuity o Inertial navigation to provide

high accuracy, reliable navigation solutions;

Secondly, increasing traic densities in many

parts o the world, notwithstanding the dips

post 9/11 and SARS, are straining tradition-

al route structures and traic management

systems;

Thirdly, ever tightening environmental re-

quirements with respect to noise and pol-

lutants around airports are signiicantly im-

pacting operations; and

Finally, or this article at least, extremely tight

inancial margins have rendered uel ei-

ciency and light time predictability make or

break matters or many aviation businesses.

Required Navigation Perormance (RNP) is not a

new technology in aviation. It is not even a new

concept. RNP was irst introduced by ICAO to

provide standards or long range Area Naviga-

tion systems; Satellite, Omega, Loran and early

Inertial. The concept is that standards (aircrat

certiication, procedure design and ATC sepa-

ration) are tied to a level o perormance rather

than speciic navigation technology. RNP was

initially less than successul because airrame

and equipment manuacturers developed sys-

tems independently, leading to each aircrat

having dierent capabilities. Standards were

developed or lowest common denominators

only. Oten old technology based standards

were more useable. Hopeully, as the avia-

tion industry collectively leaps on to the RNP

bandwagon and ICAOs proposed Perormance

Based Navigation (PBN) as a standardised

approach o notii-

cation,

ATCOs

can stop

scrolling through ever

expanding navigation equipment

lists and navigation tolerances, simply us-

ing the PBN to determine the applicable stand-

ard so we can get on with stopping aircrat rom

running into each other or obstacles. Here in

Australia, a major eiciency and saety thrust

or the aviation industry is into the realm o

RNP-AR approach/departure procedures. AR?

Authorisation Required. The Australian regu-

lator (CASA) approves operators combining

aircrat capability, specialist Approach/Depar-ture Procedures and speciic light crew training

to conduct RNP-AR operations with naviga-

tion tolerances down to 0.1nm. In the past the

Australian ANSP, Airservices Australia and its

predecessors, has designed and implemented

all terminal area procedures. These procedures,

publicly available, are suitable or all aircrat (but

not optimised or any speciic aircrat). There

have been some limited private procedures at

uncontrolled locations but the advent o RNP

has marked a considerable change in the way in

which business is being done.

The advantages are enormous. Procedures

are not reliant on ground inrastructure, mean-

ing virtually every port can become an IMC

destination with minima as low as 250 eet.

Aircrat can saely operate in a much broader

range o weather conditions with reduced

power and increased payload all o which

translates to signiicant revenue beneits. They

include missed approach path and extraction

routes in case o ailures one engine loss, FMS

ailure etc; all pre-loaded in the FMS. Including

the ability to ly curved approach and depar-

ture path segments, aircrat can saely operate

signiicantly closer to terrain than is available in

traditional terrain clearance plane procedures

(TERPS and PANS-OPS). Indeed the environ-

ment so eloquently described by Westjet

as obstacle rich is where RNP procedures

shine. For example, one proposed departure

procedure or Cairns equates to a uel saving

o 330kg or each B738 departure. With 47

Qantas B738 departures weekly, this equates

to over 860 000kg saved per annum at a sin-

gle port, or departures only. Increased uplit

in some locations is in the order o 4 5 tonnes.

Reduced power settings mean less wear and

tear on engines and lower rotational energy

means reduced damage i something does ail

or is ingested. It also yields signiicantly smaller

noise ootprints and reduced emissions. RNP-

AR procedures, designed by specialist com-

panies, are specialised to a speciic airrame

(ie B737-800 with 24K engines) and are op-

timised or sae, eicient operation o that

aircrat. It is possible there could be many

variations on a theme, perhaps resulting in

a prolieration o boutique procedures. So

where does that leave the ATCO, or or that

matter the ANSP, in the equation? Encour-

agingly, Airservices is sticking to its guns and

rationalising procedures so there should only

be one approach/departure path or a givenrunway and track combination. With proce-

dure design or several locations already com-

by Robert Mason,Vice President technical Civil Air

THE

CONTROLLER

My name is Robert Mason and I

have the honour o serving the

IFATCA member association

in Australia, Civil Air, as Vice-

President Technical. It all began

when an association member

asked what I knew about RNP

approaches RNP stands or Re-

quired Navigation Perormance.

Australian controllers have uti-

lised RNP10 or some time now,

initially between Australia and

New Zealand in oceanic air-

space, subsequently expanding

into all Australian administered

airspaces. Implementation o

RNP4 ollowed quickly. Like

many across the world, I have

been aware o RNP or some

time but within my own radar ar-

rivals environment it has mainly

been a peripheral issue. All that

is changing rapidly, driven by

several signiicant actors:

Required NavigationPerormance (RNP) is not a

new technology in aviation. Itis not even a new concept.

Photo:Jo

hnAbsolo

n

4 Boeing 737-800departing againstterrain at Cairns(Australia)


9/36

4 Airports

plete, in the ATC world, we are signiicantly

behind in our preparation and the ANSP is in

the position o scrambling to catch up. The

challenge is redeveloping our traic manage-

ment strategies to accommodate the new

procedures. Ultimately RNP approach/de-

partures are just new terminal procedures butthe ATC support systems still need signiicant

work. Australia currently has radar, ADS-B,

ADS-C and shortly Multi-Lateration surveil-

lance available, although much o the airspace

remains nil surveillance. In non-surveillance ar-

eas, providing separation o traic conducting

RNP approaches with other traic is problem-

atic. At present there are no speciic separation

standards applicable to RNP approach/depar-

ture procedures. Given the design principle o

containment within twice the RNP igure in use

or separation with terrain, it seems draconian

that, or aircrat lying RNP 0.1 or 0.3 proce-

dures, all we have available or separation are

12CEP/14RNAV or VOR/DME standards where

they can be applied. The Australian aviation

regulator has indicated willingness to consider

standards ahead o ICAO. Airservices project

team is working aggressively or an early reso-

lution but legislative changes required are nei-

ther in place nor currently drated awaiting en-

actment. In the short term existing standards

will need to be applied. There is little doubt

that these procedures are the direction in

which we have to move. The advantages to

industry (both saety and economic) are too

great to ignore. Unlike previous technological

changes, the take up will be widespread and

rapid. Already Qantas has stated that theyd

preer to move to a terminal environment

where RNP procedures are used exclusively.

The reasons or this are obvious but it adds

signiicant ATC complexity whilst we are in the

transitional phase. At the moment the number

o eligible aircrat is relatively small. Over the

next couple o years the balance will tip, with

most o the jet leet capable, approved and

operating these procedures preerentially.

Advanced capabilities o airborne sot-

ware and hardware may assist as we come

to better understand them. For example, Re-

quired Time o Arrival (RTA) allows the aircrat

to achieve an accurate time crossing a nomi-

nated ix. This can be utilised to oset inlex-

ibility o the procedures in terms o tracking.

For instance, we are unable to use MAIN-

TAIN RUNWAY HEADING to adjust spacing

with circuit traic as the aircrat must remain

on the nominated path to ly the procedure.

So i the aircrat can meet an RTA o 5 sec-

onds this should help signiicantly, shouldnt

it? The problem lies in that most o the other

traic cant comply with the accuracy o times,reducing the value o the unction. Tactics

such as increased spacing within a sequence

may be utilised initially to allow margin or

reductions in lexibility o tracking and speed

control. Sequence positioning will have to be

completed urther out rom the destination.

This also bears a positive uel beneit but re-

duces lexibility or the ATCO. Lower minima

should mean ewer missed approaches butthe advantage o published missed approach

procedures or all arrivals may be oset by

these being dierent rom conventional

approach procedures. Aircrat lying RNP

approach/departure procedures may be

signiicantly closer to terrain than current

technology saety net alerts (ie. MSAW) allow

and sotware is currently unable to discrimi-

nate which aircrat are lying approved RNP

procedures. Under Australian regulations the

ATCO does not have any discretion with re-

spect to issuing saety alerts ollowing valid

system warnings. The surveillance presently

available does not provide discrimination

to a degree that provides a realistic ability

to monitor aircrat tracking with respect to

the procedures in use. At present Australian

RAM alerts when an aircrat exceeds 7_nm

o track. ICAO has addressed this issue in its

drat Perormance Based Navigation Manual

stating that approved RNP Approaches:

do not require any unique communication

or ATS Surveillance considerations. Adequate

obstacle clearance is achieved through the

aircrat perormance and operating proce-

dures.(Vol II Part C, para 6.3.2 i youre playing at home!)

So what next? Qantas has completed crew

training and airrame certiication or all

B738s. Our other two major domestic opera-

tors, Jetstar and Virgin, will ollow suit early

in 2007. RNP-0.3 is already available or non-

precision approaches using RNAV(GNSS)

procedures. RNP-1 will be introduced as

standard or Terminal Areas; RNP-2 or en-

route. There is a concerted eort to transition

rom ground based Nav Aids to satellite navi-

gation, ultimately providing all aircrat with

RNP capability. The airborne technology has

existed since the 90s. Development o RNP-

AR Approach/Departures procedures or

Australia commenced a couple o years ago.

Whilst we would have been better placed

had the ANSP had visibility into the design o

procedures signiicantly earlier, we will get to

a stage where all necessary ATC procedures,

standards and training are in place. As always

in our complex industry, a collaborative ap-

proach helps ensure all actors are consid-

ered in a timely manner. Airservices Australia

continues to actively encourage Civil Airs

involvement in the project. Exposure, by way

o a number o trials currently underway in

Australia, is helping us understand issues omanaging traic mixes and develop proce-

dures and techniques to ensure a sae and

THE

CONTROLLER

orderly traic low. Controllers

are increasingly aware o the

advantages o the RNP proce-

dures and, ar rom taking the

Luddites approach, are ac-

tively seeking ways to make the

traic mix work eectively. Imsure there will be a time when

well look back and wonder

what all the uss was about but,

as it stands today, we have a lot

hard work ahead o us. ^

The challenge is redevelopingour trac management

strategies to accommodatethe new procedures.

Photo: Naverus


10/36

4 Airports

TERMINAL AREA REqUIREd NAvIGATION PERFORMANCE A FLIGhT OPERATIONS PERSPECTIvE

10

by Captain Alex Passerini, TechnicalPilot Boeing Fleets, Qantas Airways Ltd.

It is a common misconception that PANS-OPS

or TERPS procedures provide guidance in the

event o a non-normal operation such as en-

gine or associated system ailure. Unortunately,

these conventional procedures only cater or

the normal all engines scenario and are not

required to assess, nor provide guidance, in the

event o such a situation. The procedure de-

signer is completely divorced rom the world o

the perormance engineer. Accordingly, in the

scenario described above, the Flight Crew are

let to establish an acceptable course o action

to saely extract the airplane rom the situation

and climb to Minimum Sae Altitude in a normal

situation, let alone a partial or complete engine

ailure situation. Whilst good operating policy,

procedures and training serve to mitigate the

risks involved, there are an ininite number o

variables involved that are virtually impossible to

comprehensively predict. The conventional pro-

cedure designer is unable to account or these

variables because they are airplane dependant

and require thorough understanding o aircrat

perormance. These operational problems and

risks are solved by the use o RNP procedures.

So what is RNP? Required Navigation Per-

ormance is a statement o the navigation per-

ormance necessary or operation within a de-

ined airspace. RNP procedures in the terminal

area are made possible by two key technology

developments GPS and the Flight Manage-

ment System (FMS). RNP is characterized by a

linear designation measured in nautical miles (or

a raction thereo). Actual perormance against

the requirement is also measured in a similar

liner metric o nm. Current RNP procedures use

the capability o the modern FMS to deine and

provide steering commands to the Flight Con-

trol Computers (FCCs). This allows the airplane

to ly an accurate path around obstacles instead

o over them. Modern FMS also integrate the

accuracy o GPS allowing or a linear perorm-

ance containment methodology to be applied

(unlike conventional ground based navigation

beacons whose accuracy diminishes as a unc-

tion o distance rom the navigation aid). The

Radius to Fix (RF) leg capability and navigation

accuracy combine to provide or tremendous

lexibility in procedure design at the high end

(commercial jet transports). Combining the lex-

ibility o FMS based lateral and vertical paths

with the accuracy and integrity o the installed

RNP capable navigation system allows airlines

to ly custom designed instrument procedures

anywhere in the world. Conventional PANS-

OPS and TERPS procedures are designed or

the lowest capability airplane and do not take

account o the capabilities available on most

modern jet airplanes (rom either manuacturer).

The most capable airplane in terms o navigation

perormance currently available is the B737NG.

As the highest perormance system, the Aircrat

Flight Manual (AFM) describes a demonstrated

RNP capability o RNP 0.10nm, provided the

Navigation Perormance Scales display option is

installed. All Qantas B737-800s along with their

Flight Crews are approved to take advantage o

this capability. The B787 will also be capable o

this type o navigation perormance, with most

other Airbus and Boeing models equipped with

GPS being capable o perormance between

RNP 0.11 to RNP 0.30nm.In general the Boeing

models have a more developed RNP capability

thanks to the pioneering work carried out in the

early 1990s by Alaska Airlines utilising B737-

400s, but the Airbus models are catching up.

Required Navigation Perormance (RNP) pro-

cedures are designed according to criteria

contained within FAA Advisory Circular (AC)

120-29A Appendix 5. The expansive criteria de-

veloped by Naverus (a Seattle based RNP pro-

cedure design specialist) have been accepted

by CASA, CAA New Zealand, Civil Aviation Au-

thority o China and Transport Canada. These

procedures require accountability or normal sit-

uations, but more importantly describe require-

ments that must include evaluations o non-nor-

mal (engine ailure, GPS ailure and other critical

systems ailures) and rare-normal (extreme wind

gradients) conditions. The FMS integrates GPS

inormation with navigation inormation pro-

vided by the onboard, sel contained, Inertial

Reerence Systems (IRS) that provide continuity

in the event that GPS is no longer available or

invalid. The criteria also includes a requirement

to complete a Go-Around Saety Assessment to

THE

CONTROLLER

4 Queenstown, NewZealand, becamethe launch portor RNP in thecontext o Qantasoperations duringSeptember 2004.

Photo: Ken Kvalheim,Naverus.

The airplane becomes visual ap-

proaching the Minimum Descent

Altitude (MDA) below the low

overcast late in the evening and

the Flight Crew commence a cir-

cling approach in reduced visibility

conditions caused by the continu-

ous drizzle. The Flight Crew are

wary o the excessive downwind

component expected during the

base leg that serves to push the

airplane toward the rising terrain

they know exists not ar beyond

the centreline o the runway. As

they commence the base turn

and select landing laps, the vis-

ibility deteriorates below circling

minima and the Flight Crew elect

to initiate a missed approach. The

workload increases urther as the

thrust levers are advanced to the

Go-Around setting as a bird dis-

appears down the right side o

the airplane and one engine al-

most immediately begins making

unusual noises

This allows the airplane tofy an accurate path

around obstacles instead oover them.


11/36

4 Airports

complete the comprehensive saety assessment

that is applied during the design and operation-

al implementation o these procedures. RNP

procedures provide deinitive lateral and verti-

cal course guidance throughout the approach,

missed approach and departure. The guidance

is provided through to touchdown, unlike con-ventional non-precision approaches which ter-

minate course guidance at the MDA which can

be several miles rom the touchdown point. It is

timely at this point to remind the reader that a

great number o Controlled Flight Into Terrain

(CFIT) events occur with the airplane established

on runway centreline, yet someway short o the

runway. RNP procedures will, in the vast majority

o cases, provide or Decision Altitudes (DAs) as

low as 250 eet Height Above Threshold (HAT).

Consider then that the course guidance is sig-

niicantly more comprehensive than conven-

tional approaches (RNP approach procedures

are always runway aligned during the inal

segment thereby provisioning or uture au-

toland operations using ILS or GLS), coupled

with the perormance assessment involving

normal, non-normal and rare-normal events,

thereby providing the Flight Crew with a sae

path down to touchdown and out above the

MSA or relevant Lowest Sae Altitude (LSALT)

rom any point in the procedure. This provision

alone provides or a signiicant step change in

the overall saety level or the operation. There

are simply no other procedures (including

precision approach procedures like ILS) that

require such comprehensive accountability o

these scenarios. So at this point, lets review

the beneits attributable to RNP procedures:

1. Sae, predictable light paths throughout

the approach, missed approach and de-

parture phases;2. Full accountability or normal, non-normal

and rare-normal events;

3. Far simpler, more accurate and predict-

able procedures or Flight Crew, ATC and

the local community;

4. Final approach segments that are runway

aligned, with no level segments and stand-

ard (i.e. not steep) descent gradients;

5. The ability to navigate around, not over,obstacles;

6. The ability to avoid noise sensitive areas;

7. Lower approach and departure minima (ew-

er diversions, improved schedule reliability).

The RNP procedures themselves can be lown

using decelerating (or noise abatement) pro-

iles that result in reduced uel burn, emissions

and noise. Using the example o the revised

Cairns departure procedure or runway 15, each

southbound departure can save up to 600 kilo-

grams (about 720 litres) o uel com-

pared to the conventional procedure.

This uel saving equates to a reduc-

tion o CO2 emissions o more than

5,000,000 kgs per annum in the case

o NOx (Nitrous Oxide), the reductions

equate to more than 45,000 kgs per

annum. The payload improvements,

i not utilised, result in takeos that al-

low increased utilisation o engine der-

ate (lower engine thrust settings or

takeo), the results o which include

less uel burn, noise and emissions.

Increased use o engine derate also

improves the saety o each departure

by reducing the probability o an en-

gine ailure on that takeo, since internal oper-

ating temperatures and rotational orces within

the engine are reduced. There is also greater

excess thrust available to the pilot in the event

that a situation may require it. From an Air Tra-

ic Management (ATM) perspective, RNP pro-

vides or more eicient use o airspace (more

lexible route structure), improved direct track-

ing capability (thereore a reduction in enroute

track miles to destination) and optimised SIDs

and STARs. These procedures are also consist-

ent with uture plans to reduce the dependence

on the ground navigation aid inrastructure, al-

lowing a reduction to a skeleton contingency

structure. This will ultimately serve to reduce the

costs associated with maintaining these expen-

sive, obsolete systems.

11

THE

CONTROLLER

The reader can no doubt by now

judge or him/hersel that the

beneits associated with imple-

mentation o RNP are many and

varied truly one o the ew ad-

vancements that provide beneits

wherever one chooses to look. In

an industry where we all (Airlines,

Navigation Service Providers,

ATM providers and Regulators)

must continually strive to im-

prove saety and eiciency to

do things better and smarter

RNP procedures are completely

consistent with this philosophy

and must be the uture direc-

tion or the Industry. It is in no

way acceptable in the modern

age to continue to allow circling

procedures, or NDB approaches

that are subject to night, coastal,

thunderstorm and quadrantal e-

ects (amongst other errors), or

oset VOR/DME procedures that

take us directly over or very close

to signiicant terrain or obstacles.

The revolution that is perorm-

ance based navigation is upon us,

and Qantas, Naverus and Airserv-

ices Australia are proud to be at

the oreront o this new world.^

4 In the case o Townsville Runway 19,RNP procedures avoid overfyingMagnetic Island (unlike the conven-tional RNAV/GNSS and VOR/DMEprocedures) and provide or a DecisionAltitude o 250 eet AGL. Naverus.

4 High resolution Liquid Crystal Displaysprovide tremendous situationalawareness to the Flight Crew.

The RNP proceduresthemselves can be fown

using decelerating (or noiseabatement) proles that

result in reduced uel burn,emissions and noise

Photo: Lewis Benham,Qantas AvionicsEngineering

4 A Qantas B737-800 lands oan RNP approach to runway05 at Queenstown, NewZealand. RNP procedureshave been in operationaluse by Qantas at Queens-town since September 2004.


12/36

4 Airports

ThE MOST COMPLICATEd TERMINALAIRSPACE IN ThE WORLd

The problem with the terminal airspace in

Hong Kong is that it is jammed against the

coast o China at the point where the Southern

coast turns South-South-West in an area called

the Pearl River Delta or PRD. Within 65 km o

Hong Kong are 4 airports. Hong Kong itsel,

Macao, Shenzhen and Zhuhai. Guangzhou

is 140 km to the North and shouldnt aect

Hong Kong, but does because o Letters

o Agreement where Northbound through

Hong Kong airspace bound or Guangzhou,

go straight over the top o Hong Kong on de-

scent to a very low transer level. These air-

crat conlict with all o our departures going

North through this single entry point, except

or the South Eastern and South Western cit-

ies, or all aircrat going into China. There are

a total o 3 entry points into China rom Hong

Kong airspace. DOTMI, 100 nm East, SIKOU,

150 nm South-West and BEKOL around 12

nm NNE o Hong Kong airport. BEKOL is the

busiest entry point with DOTMI the next busi-

est. All airports in the PRD have conlicting

runway alignments.

There are 3 ATC Centres. Hong Kong, Zhu-

hai and Guangzhou. In the PRD, each o the 4

airports has their own tower o course. Macao

and Hong Kong use eet, while Zhuhai, Shen-

zhen and Guangzhou use Metres or vertical

separation. China is all Metre levels and CVSM

while Hong Kong is RVSM and thereore aircrat

going over the top o Hong Kong at higher lev-

els, mean that we act as a

transition point rom eet

to metres and rom RVSM

to CVSM. Northbound aircrat or Shenzhen

and Guangzhou have to be descended to metre

levels through our arrivals and departures in De-

partures Terminal airspace to reach a required

level by BEKOL. Departures out o Hong Kong

going North through BEKOL must be climbed

to a metre level above Northbound through

area descending aircrat beore crossing BEKOL.

Unortunately, these aircrat conlict with arrivals

into Macao arriving rom the East on a route just

South o BEKOL. The ATC systems o Macao,

Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Guangzhou

interact. We have some very complex proce-

dures in place to handle the lights to and rom

these airports through our airspace. These pro-

cedures generally aect the Approach, Depar-

tures, and another sector which is part o Hong

Kong Terminal radar and looks ater the initial

transers coming rom or through China, includ-

ing long hauls rom Europe and some rom

North America routing over the North Pole.

They also look ater approaches into Macao.

Approach Control mainly handles approaches

and sequencing rom FL130 down. Departures

Control has airspace rom Sea Level to FL 250

& rom FL 140 to FL 250 over the top o Ap-

proach airspace. Departures is also responsible

or all arrivals through Hong Kong airspace to

Shenzhen, Guangzhou and to Macao.

With the Macao traic, Departures looks a-

ter them until handed over to the Hong Kong

Macao Sector. Macao departures rom runway

34 (the most used runway) enter Hong Kong

airspace rom the Northwest at 6000 and Shen-

zhen departures, also rom the Northwest at

1

by Phil Parker, Asia- Pacic Regional Editor

THE

CONTROLLER

As controllers, we all like to think

that where we operate is unique

compared with other airports or

airspace around the world. This

is in act true. Some airports have

complicated layouts. Some have

terrain and weather problems.

Others have airspace restrictions

with neighbouring airports and

airspace. Some places are busier

than others. Hong Kong is just

like the rest o you. There is no

way that we are the busiest ter-

minal area in the world, however

with respect to all other airports,

I would like to put our collective

hands up to say that we have the

most complex approach/depar-

tures airspace in the world com-

mensurate with the volume o

traic handled.

Within 65 km o Hong Kong

are 4 [major] airports

4 Honkkong airport.

Photo: Phil Parker

Photo: Phil Parker


13/36

4 Airports

7000. They virtually go straight over the top o

Hong Kong airport; the Hong Kong SIDs climb

to 5000 t, below the through sector traic toensure initial vertical separation. There are our

operational combinations with Macao, 07/34,

07/16, 25/34, 25/16, each requiring dierent

procedures. RWY 34 is avoured or approaches

because o the lower minima or the 34 ILS. The

letter o agreement with China stipulates that

Hong Kong will provide a radar control service to:

All Macau RWY34 arrivals.

Departures rom Macau RWY34 and RWY16

that transit Hong Kong airspace.

Missed approaches while in HK airspace.

Zhuhai ATC provides approach control service

and radar monitoring to:

Departures on Macau RWY16 & RWY34

transiting Zhuhai airspace.

Macau RWY16 Arrivals

Missed approaches while in Zhuhai airspace.

Macau Tower provides an aerodrome control

service, light inormation service and alerting

service to aerodrome traic. They do have radar

at Macau but they only use it or monitoring tra-

ic; Macau ATC do not provide radar services.

Macao arrivals rom the East (85% o their tra-

ic) route via LKC VOR, just North-West o Hong

Kong airport, and then turn to the Southwest

descending to FL110. The Departures sector

works them rom about 60 nm to run to LKC and

then usually transers them to the Hong Kong

Macao sector in the vicinity o overhead Hong

Kong airport. The aircrat descend over the top

o the 34 approach and do a let teardrop to

intercept the ILS. Macau Sector transer arrivals

to Macau Tower at PAPA (10 nm rom touch-

down) 10nm in trail. Macao RWY34 departures

into China are normally o no interest to us as

they remain in Chinese airspace; weather devia-

tions can however cause us to take a lot o inter-

est at short notice. The departures that transit

Hong Kong airspace use SIDs that enter West o

LKC VOR at 6000 and then join the Hong Kong

departure stream. Macao and Hong Kong tend

to be busy at the same time so the Departures

sector workload is high. The business o order-

ing the two departure streams means that we

oten use vectors o the SIDs and step climbs

to order traic beore transerring it to an en-

route sector.

Inbound aircrat rom China go through

SIERA (S), around 20 nm West-South-West

o HK, and are usually transerred at odd lev-

els starting rom FL170 to be at by SIERA in

accordance with a Letter o Agreement withGuangzhou. We normally get the S transer

on inbound aircrat rom Guangzhou ATC via

a land-line around 15 minutes in advance. Our

radar systems are not compatible with the

Chinese systems requiring identiication oinbound aircrat just beore they enter Hong

Kong. All transers to Shenzhen are through

BEKOL. Transer altitude is M0180 (1800

metres). Shenzhen departures through Hong

Kong airspace route via overhead Hong Kong

airport at 7000 with a requirement to be at

7000 beore entering Hong Kong airspace.

Zhuhai aerodrome is not a problem as it is des-

ignated Domestic only. Our movements rom

Hong Kong are usually going there or train-

ing lights. Where we do have to be careul is

with aircrat in our airspace near the boundary

as some o their aircrat are very close to the

other side and we have no details on them.

We have other problems apart rom our

closeness to Chinese airspace. We have high

terrain near the airport. (Over 3,000 eet just

SW o the airport, 2,000 eet to the North and

3,300 eet just to the North o the 25R ILS) This

terrain dictates how our airspace is designed. In

act the MVA over the airport is 4,100 eet. The

base leg or 07R/07L is 2.3 nm wide. Too ar East

and youre in the 4100 MVA. Too ar West and

you conlict with the Macao ATZ. There is NO

manoeuvring room North o the extended cen-

trelines o the runways and the missed approach

procedures are extremely complex procedures.

All departures go SE or South conlicting with

nearly all arrivals, depending on the runway in

use. All BEKOL departures o 07 (used 70% o

the time) have to cross the arrivals rom the East

(60% o traic), twice beore they get to BEKOL.

In addition, the design o the airspace or 07

use, means that 60% to 70% o arriving traic

has to be handled by the Departure controller

beore hand-o to the Approach controller and

the Approach controller has to handle all o the

SW bound traic o 07 as they turn into Ap-

proach airspace just ater departure.

Lets now talk about weather. Yes we dont

get snow and all o its problems and we dont

get dust storms, although the pollution here is

a major low visibility contributor. What we do

get is thunderstorms, typhoons, turbulence and

windshear which all have a large eect on out

already complicated procedures. How much

traic is handled in Terminal airspace daily?

At the moment around 800 a day at Chek Lap

Kok, (VHHH). A urther 150 to 200 through

Terminal airspace to Macao and China destina-

tions. I we now add in the act that or 50%

o pilots using this complex airspace, English is

not their mother tongue, you may understandwhy we in Hong Kong think that we have the

most complicated airspace in the world.^

13

THE

CONTROLLER

Macao and Hong Kong use eet, while Zhuhai, Shenzhenand Guangzhou use Metres or vertical separation.

Photo: Phil Parker

Photo: Phil Parker


14/36

^Spotlighton Corporate Members

1

THE

CONTROLLER

Once more I would like to welcome our

readers to the last Corporate Members

eature o `Spotlight or 2006. The ocus

in this issue is on HELIOS and IATA.

About Helios

Helios is an independent consultancy spe-

cialising in air traic management (ATM),

airports and navigation. The UK-based

company helps its customers deliver tech-

nology, operational and business improve-

ments. Since its oundation in 1996, Helios

specialised in ATM systems development

and validation, but today the companys

skills and track record have expanded to

include all air traic operations, rom pre-

light to airborne, en-route to approach

and landing, as well as a growing porto-

lio o economic, regulatory, systems and

saety work. Perhaps the best way to in-

troduce the work o this Queens Award

winning business is to ocus on some re-

cent projects, which bring to lie the skills

o the people and the applications o their

work:

Franco Swiss have FAB vision:

magniying beneits o cooperation

Last March Helios Economics completed

a Functional Airspace Block (FAB) study

or DSNA and Skyguide, the air naviga-

tion service providers o France and Swit-

zerland. The study was an independent

review o the costs and beneits or the

proposed FAB and o options or charg-

ing and inancing in the FAB. The work

built upon a series o joint working groups

between DSNA and Skyguide sta, which

identiied the likely sources o beneit and

potential cooperative actions. A particular

eature o the DSNA-Skyguide discussions

has been to seek a FAB attitude, where-

by beneits are magniied by a shared vi-

sion between sta in both organisations.

Our work was to review the proposals and

analysis carried out by the internal work-

ing groups, and consult widely among

users, employees, regulators and the mili-

tary. We made quantitative estimates o

the beneits where possible, which includ-

ed assessing the potential impact on light

eiciency and delay. We concluded that

the FAB could produce substantial user

beneits in the crowded area shared by

the two ANSPs. These could arise rom:

joint exploitation o available capacity to

reduce delays; collaborative route de-

velopment to increase light eiciency;

joint arrivals management at airports near

borders to improve vertical proiles; and

collaborative capacity planning to reduce

the cost o providing uture capacity and

reduce uture delays. All these measures

could be achieved at modest transi-

tion costs and without making disruptive

changes to institutional arrangements.

ICB Support:

supporting the stakeholders

For the past two years Helios has provid-

ed technical support services to the Indus-

try Consultation Body (ICB) or the Single

European Sky. The team aims to provide

the ICB Chairman and members, includ-

ing IFATCA, with impartial advice on all

developments in Air Traic Management.

The principal role o the ICB is to assist the

Commission in the implementation o the

Single European Sky. It is the only stake-

holder orum that is ormally part o the

SES process. The ICBs 26 members come

rom all stakeholder groups: air traic serv-

ice providers (4), associations o airspace

users (8), airports (2), manuacturing in-

dustry (4), proessional sta representative

bodies (5) and CNS and meteorological

service providers (3). The ICB acts as a o-

rum or the industry to establish balanced

and consolidated advice to the Commis-

sion on the development o the uture

European ATM system. It provides advice

on all Implementing Rules proposed under

the SES legislations and takes a speciic in-

terest in the SESAR project in particular

to ensure the adequacy o governance ar-

rangements or the proposed SESAR Joint

Undertaking. Helios provides technical

support to the ICB via a tasking contract

with the European Commission. As part o

this contract, the study team supports the

consolidation o stakeholder comments on

ICB position papers and provides secre-

tarial support to ICB and sub-group meet-

ings. Helios has also provided analysis o

the Implementing Rules and Community

Speciications proposed by the European

Commission under the Interoperability

Regulation and conducted a comprehen-

sive analysis o proposed ATM system

enhancements to identiy any additional

by Kevin SalterContributing Editor,Corporate Affairs

Spotlight


15/36

Implementing Rules. Helios are currently

preparing a review o ongoing R&D in

ATM.

Accuracy o Trajectory Prediction

Helios recently completed a project or

EUROCONTROL studying the impact o

Aircrat Derived Data (ADD) on a ground

trajectory predictor. A trajectory predictor

is a sotware tool which estimates the lo-

cation o an aircrat at a uture time given

its current location and additional inorma-

tion like velocity. Trajectory Prediction (TP)

has become a hot topic with various con-

troller support tools including arrival man-

agers (AMAN) and Medium Term Conlict

Detection (MTCD) highly dependent on

the workings o their internal TPs. Working

with partners LFV, Avtech Sweden AB and

Pesys, Helios led the study characterising

the importance o ADD including aircrat

mass, aircrat maximum bank angle, local

meteorological conditions and FMS intent

which could be downlinked to the ground.

Simulated and recorded data rom Boe-

ing 737s lying into Stockholm Arlanda

airport were used. The study ound ADDparameters to have a signiicant eect on

TP accuracy.

Spotlight

1

THE

CONTROLLER

GPS or non-precision approach

In 2005 Helios completed an independent

review or the UK CAA o inormation and

evidence to support the saety o the Global

Positioning System (GPS) or non-precision

approaches. GPS is the US satellite naviga-

tion system that is already widely used in

aviation and many other areas.

Normally, non-precision approaches use

traditional ground-based navigation aids

like VORs and DMEs. However, the UK

CAA is considering whether GPS would

also be a suitable navigation system or

them. We gathered and reviewed the

evidence that GPS is sae or this opera-

tion. We also collated technical data on

the technical perormance o GPS using

CAA-sponsored work by Leeds University

and Imperial College. Finally we gathered

inormation rom those States that have

already approved GPS or non-precision

approaches. Says Helios Director Nick

McFarlane: At least 20 States have al-

ready approved GPS or non-precision ap-

proaches and we have been looking into

how they have done it. There are some

dierences between them. France, orexample, and some other States have im-

plemented a service that pilots can use to

predict the expected quality o GPS when

they arrive at an airield. We highlighted

this sort o dierence to the CAA. The

CAA used the study to support its decision

to start trials in the UK o GPS or non-pre-

cision approach.

A-SMGCS saety case:

NATS partners Helios

Many airports saely use Surace Move-

ment Radar (SMR) to control the traic on

the airport surace but, as the traic rises

and complex movements are perormed,

SMR becomes limited in perormance. A-

SMGCS Level I enhances SMR displays by

providing the controller with an improved

situation picture (by combining SMR and

multilateration surveillance) and by auto-

matically labelling aircrat with their iden-

tiication (eg callsign). A-SMGCS Level II

urther builds on A-SMGCS Level I by pro-

viding the controller with a runway alerting

unction, which is aimed at giving the con-

troller suicient warning o a runway incur-

sion so he may act to prevent a collision.

In late 2004, the EUROCONTROL airports

programme launched a contract to devel-

op a saety case or A-SMGCS Levels I and

II. The purpose o the saety case is to dem-

onstrate that the concepts and procedures

are sae or implementation throughout

Europe. Because o the complex nature

o A-SMGCS and the specialist knowl-

edge required to develop a saety case,

EUROCONTROL awarded the contract to

Helios and the National Air Traic Services

(NATS) team at London Heathrow. Heath-

row was one o the irst major airports in

Europe to implement A-SMGCS and has

been successully using it or several years.

Helios and NATS have developed the sae-

ty case by using the operations at Heath-

row as a case study. The project team have

applied the EUROCONTROL Saety As-sessment Methodology (SAM) in order to

provide evidence that should the system


16/36

^

1

THE

CONTROLLER

ail, the risk o an accident is acceptably

low. Over the course o the project, the team

held workshops with a number o airports to

validate the approach and to ensure that it is

well understood by stakeholders. The Project

leader, Chris Machin, stated: This project

has proved both challenging and exciting or

the team. New ground has been broken in

airport saety assessments and these lessons

will beneit others who develop similar saety

cases. For urther reading on A-SMGCS, see

the EUROCONTROL website:

www.eurocontrol.int/airports/public/

standard_page/projects_asmgcs.html.

In summary

Helios consultants are expert in develop-

ing and applying technology solutions in

saety-critical industries. They have an in-

depth understanding o aviation and navi-

gation issues, and a wide range o inance,

operations, technical and saety skills.

To ind out more contact Paul Ravenhill,

Director on +44 1276 452 811 or visit

www.helios-tech.co.uk.

IATA

At the heart o the industry, IATA is at the

oreront o all aviation activities, ensur-

ing that passengers and cargo are trans-

ported saely, securely, eiciently and

economically.

IATAs commitment to leadership cuts

across all aviation segments and their stra-

tegic outlook involves all stakeholders. As

a responsive, orward-thinking and neu-tral association, IATA is ideally positioned

to provide a wealth o business solutions

tailored to your global, regional or local

needs. IATA is a leading supplier o avia-

tion training, oering a comprehensive

portolio o more than 300 scheduled

classroom courses in the ields o Civil

Aviation, Air Navigation Services, Airports,

Airlines, Cargo, Saety and Security, as

well as Management Skills. Whether your

area o expertise is law, inance, revenue

accounting, sales, ticketing, operations,

saety or proessional training, you will ind

the course you need to hone your particu-

lar skills. The IATA Training & Develop-

ment Institutes aculty consists o over

250 o the industrys leading experts, pro-

essors and business leaders rom around

the world. Through classroom, in-company,

distance-learning and e-learning training

programmes, the Institute delivers train-

ing in English, French and Spanish at more

than 200 locations worldwide, to some

26,000 students annually rom around the

world.

The IATA Training & Development Institute

oers the our ollowing training options:

- The IATA Diploma programme available

or 16 disciplines, including

the Diploma in Airport Operations,

the Diploma in Saety Management,

the Diploma in ANS Management,

the Diploma in Aviation Security,

the Diploma in Airport

Management,

the Diploma in Civil Aviation

Management,

the new Diploma in Advanced

Air Traic Control,

and several others.

- Distance-learning and e-learning courses

or the busy proessional

- Customised training adapted to your

organisations requirements

delivered onsite to groups o 10 or morewww.iata.org/training

ATC Maastricht 2007The 2007 event will be bigger and more

comprehensive than ever with new seminar

and workshop content and o course the

usual ATC Maastricht Conerence, which

has been recently acquired by the Coner-

ence Organizers (CMPi) rom the Janes In-

ormation Group. The dates: 13 to 15 Feb-

ruary 2007 in Maastricht (Netherlands)

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON

ATC MAASTRICHT 2007 VISIT

WWW.ATCMAASTRICHT.COM

This concludes Spotlight or 2006 and I

would like to thank Laurette Royer, HELIOS

or supporting Spotlight with her companys

contribution. May I also take this opportu-

nity to wish all o you a very Happy Festive

Season and wish you a sae transition into

the New Year. As normal, to our corpo-

rate membership readers, i you would like

your company to be eatured in `Spotlight

in 2007, and likewise to any reader, who

would like urther inormation on any topic

that was covered, please do not hesitate to

contact me using the ollowing address:

Kevin Salter

IFATCA Contributing Editor

Corporate Aairs

Flugsicherungsakademie

Am DFS-Campus 4

D-63225 Langen

Tel: + 49 (0)6103 707 5202

Fax: + 49 (0)6103 707 5177

E-Mail: [email protected]

Spotlight


17/36


18/36


19/36

4 Mongolia

The meeting was attended by nearly all

Controllers Members association o the region.

80 air traic controllers rom the region with

the biggest traic growth on the planet met

in Ulaan Bataar, the capital o Mongolia. Prob-

lems in this large region are immense and cover

all types o operations rom totally procedural,

to Radar high density, to ADS-B, with trials in

techniques such as ADS-C and Mulitlateration.

The level o sophistication in equipment

should not shadow the act that the region

also harbors a vast dierence in treatment

o its Controllers. The relatively well treated

and paid (everything is relative I know!) New

Zealand or Australians are meeting the poorly

paid and poorly treated colleagues rom, or

instance the Philippines or Nepal.

The meeting was extremely well organized

and the social contacts and time o around

the working sessions was very well managed

by MONATCA the Mongolian Controllers.

Various visits to places around the city to

show what the country can do and what the

culture is were organized ater the working

sessions, and it was abulous. This year was

the 800th anniversary o the great Mongol

empire o Genghis Kahn, and it is amazing

to remember that a ew centuries ago, the

Mongol empire reached almost rom the Pa-

ciic to the Atlantic, (they stopped in Vienna,

OK but that was close!) They looked quite

impressive in their army gear and I was glad

that today these warriors were escorting us

to our Dinner rather that planning to visit us

again at home

The theme o the Meeting was set by David

Cheung the IFATCA region Vice President as

Enhancing Air saety with Increased capacity.

But many o the various controllers Associations

reports painted a very dierent picture. Lack

o Controllers almost everywhere is hampering

that goal. We heard that even NEW ZEALAND

has an acute lack o controllers that led to the

closure o Wellington and Dunedin Towers or

short periods.

1

THE

CONTROLLER

by Philippe Domogala

ThE ASIA PACIFICREGIONAL MEETING OF IFATCA

ULAAN BAATAR MONGOLIA SEPT 2006

The theme o the Meeting was:Enhancing Air saety with

Increased capacity

4 The Mongol warriors. Photo: DP

4 TraditionalMongol musi-cians openingthe meeting

Photo: DP


20/36

4 Mongolia

MACAU also reported a very

diicult situation, where the

recent privatization o ATS

resulted in lack o sta, cost

cutting measures to the point where they

have now a uniorm salary structure where

controllers are paid the same as ollow-me

car drivers. They say they have to perorm

175 hours/month on shits o 6 to 10 hours

without breaks. There are apparently no lim-

its on the hours you can work in a given day

and no saety management in place. The tra-

ic is booming (14% raise in traic this year)

and 2 new airlines are going to be based

there in the coming months!

SRI LANKA also reported an acute lack o

sta, with oreign unded ATC training pro-

grams being diverted to military controllers

instead o the intended Civil ones. Recently

they planned to recourse to Industrial action

but had to postpone it as they were ears

that adjacent units (in India) would take over

their airspace in case o a strike.

NEPAL also reported a poor working environ-

ment with lack o sta, low remuneration, lack

o training, inconvenient shits, poor or aultyequipment. This poor working environment,

combined with no career prospects and poor

salaries are creating an ambiance o very low

motivation, not very compatible with saety.

JAPAN reported on the inal trial (appeal)

o the two controllers involved in the near

mid air in 2001 (see previous issues) due to

start in December 2006. Hopeully the earlier

hearing clearing them will be conirmed so

that our two colleagues can go back to work

and put all this behind them.

AUSTRALIA reported about multiple ailures

o their ADS-B system in June 2006 aect-

ing the whole o Australia. This resulted in

ailures o all the computers that display tra-

ic inormation to controllers. This caused a

relection on the use o computers and the

ability o controllers to saely take over man-

ually rom such ailures.

Further roll out o ADS-B has now oicially

been deerred. The coverage has been re-

duced rom the original plan, with intended

coverage now being primarily above FL200.

IRAN made a presentation on the results o

the crash o a C130 last December and the

subsequent prosecution o 4 controllers asa result. More details on this crash is to be

ound in this issue.

0

THE

CONTROLLER

This caused a refection on theuse o computers and the abilityo controllers to saely take over

manually rom such ailures.

4 Ulaan Baatar runwayin the mountains.

Photo: Michael Haines

4 A typical sector in the ACC. Photo: DP

4 The Organizing committeesaying good bye. Photo: DP


21/36

4 Mongolia / Asian News

THAILAND: A brand new airport has opened

in September, Suvarnabhumi, with the tallest

Tower in the world according the controllers

a very nice architectural achievement but they

say that rom the TWR cab a 747 looks like

an ant! They also complained about a lack o

training received to move to the new airport.

The meeting generated much debate and

the social events around it allowed everyone

to discuss in detail and learn rom each oth-

ers problems and ears. Next Regional meet-

ing in 2007 is planned to be held in Kuala

Lumpur in Malaysia.^

1

THE

CONTROLLER

4 Tower Controller inUlaan Baatar.Photo: DP

4 Ulaan Baatar ACCand control TowerPhoto: DP

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The Controller December 2006

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