4 Just Culture & Accidents

THE

CONTROLLER January 2015 Journal of Air Traffic Control

4 JUST CULTURE & ACCIDENTS

TION OF AIR TR ERA AFF ED IC F CO L N A T Also in this Issue N R IO O T L A L N E R

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G&D_TheController_A4_February_2015.indd 1 09.01.2015 11:04:34 Contents

THE January 2015 CONTROLLER Volume 53 Issue 4 – ISSN 0010-8073

Cover photo: © Jaromír Chalabala via Dreamstime.com In this issue

EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA Foreword from the Executive Board……...... ………...... 5 Patrik Peters President and Just Culture Chief Executive Officer Case Studies on Italian Supreme Court of Cassation Rulings... 7 Implications from a Controller's Perspective...... 10 Scott Shallies International Day of The Controller...... 12 Deputy President Bulgarian Controllers Pushed to their Limits...... 13 Poland: Coping with the new Pegasus System...... 14 European Regional Meeting...... 17 Duncan Auld Executive Vice-President Technical Americas Regional Meeting...... 18 Africa-Middle East Regional Meeting...... 20 Asia/Pacific Regional Meeting...... 21 Eric Risdon Canada: Bridging the Gap...... 22 Executive Vice-President Professional Space Weather: How is aviation affected by our closest star?...... 24 Nowhere to Hide: Developments in Satellite Surveillance for Aircraft...... 28 Aviation During WWI: part II - Strategic Bombing...... 30 Jeremy Thompson Executive Vice-President Finance Charlie's Column...... 32 (acting)

Keziah Ogutu Executive Vice-President Africa and Middle East

PUBLISHER REGIONAL EDITORS IFATCA, International Federation of Phil Parker, Asia Pacific John Carr Air Traffic Controllers‘ Associations Serge Tchanda, Africa & Middle East Executive Vice-President 360, St Jacques · Suite 2002 Americas Montreal, Quebec · H2Y 1P5 · CANADA COPY EDITORS Paul Robinson, Jez Pigden, Brent Cash, Phone: +1514 866 7040 David Guerin Alasdair Shaw & Helena Sjöström Fax: +1514 866 7612 Mike O'Neill Email: [email protected] Executive Vice-President Asia and Pacific EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Philip Marien Van Dijcklaan 31 Željko Oreški B-3500 Hasselt, Belgium Executive Vice-President Europe email: [email protected]

DEPUTY EDITOR Philippe Domogala email: [email protected] Philippe Domogala Conference Executive CORPORATE AFFAIRS Vacant

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this magazine are those of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associa- tions (IFATCA) only when so indicated. Other views will be those of individual members or contributors concerned and will not necessarily be those of IFATCA, except where indicated. Whilst every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this publication is correct, IFATCA makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the nature or accuracy of the information. Further distribution of this publication is permitted and even encouraged, as long as it is not altered in any way or manner. No part or extracts of this publication may be reproduced, stored or used in any form or by any means, without the specific prior permission of the IFATCA Executive Board or Editor, except where indicated (e.g. a creative commons licence). The editorial team has endeavored to include all owner information, or at least source information for the images used in this issue. If you believe that an image was used without permission, please contact the editor via VISIT THE IFATCA WEB SITES: http://www.the-controller.net www.ifatca.org and www.the-controller.net THE CONTROLLER 3 4 Foreword ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHALLENGES

by Patrik Peters, ^ IFATCA President & CEO

elcome to this first edition of occurring globally and at all levels of so- The Controller in 2015! Christ- cial and economic development. Wmas and New Year are an op- portune time to look back and reflect on IFATCA has, and will continue, to do all what we have achieved over the past year, it can to bring these situations to global what has gone well, what hasn’t, what attention and provide professional guid- could we each do better, and importantly, ance to reach a “just” and fair outcome. where should we be focusing our attention This is not always easy, and regrettably, looking forward. not always successful. Globally we must never step back from taking every oppor- Since taking office as PCX at the last con- tunity to promote and encourage the true ference in Gran Canaria, I have been im- understanding and application of Just mensely proud of what the Federation Culture. In Europe in particular, IFATCA has achieved in so many areas – structur- in cooperation with Eurocontrol, has ally (workflow improvements, finance con- achieved a major milestone with the “Pros- On behalf of the Executive Board I sin- solidation, approval & expense manage- ecution Expert/Just Culture” initiative. The cerely thank you all for your participation, ment), representational (with the fantastic expertise our members have developed representation and continued profession- work our reps do at ICAO, Eurocontrol, has already been drawn upon to provide alism. I am honoured to have the opportu- SESAR and so many other areas), and in- guidance in a number of instances. nity to lead such a dedicated global team ternational collaboration (such as with ITF, of professionals. I wish you all, and your IFALPA, ICAO etc.) I am also very proud of There is a tremendous amount of work loved ones, a safe and prosperous 2015. the persistent efforts in assisting member needed in every region, before we will be associations and individual controllers fac- able to say that all controllers work in a Our unity is our strength, and I look for- ing legal prosecutions. This is the area that true Just Culture environment. One of the ward to building upon that global strength also keeps me awake at night, and where main challenges will be to put concepts with you throughout the year. In 2014 we we need to be ever vigilant. like ‘duty of care’ into the correct context HAVE achieved a great deal. In 2015 we and to carefully evaluate what it means WILL achieve even more. I can’t wait! ^ In our IFATCA Manual we define Just Cul- for our procedures, systems and people. ture as “A culture in which front line opera- Even if all is ‘just’, we are subject to scru- [email protected] tors or others are not punished for actions, tiny under this ‘duty of care’. If you can omissions or decisions taken by them that do something to prevent an event from are commensurate with their experience occurring, you must act accordingly. This and training, but where gross negligence, will undoubtedly influence our profession willful violations and destructive acts are and may well require a complete rethink of not tolerated.” That is a very solid defini- how procedures and standards are written tion, but sadly it’s very far from reality in and disseminated to aviation profession- many places, as we repeatedly see. In all als around the world. regions of the Federation, our EVPs have, in cooperation with their associations, as- Assistance to our member associations sisted controllers who were faced with and colleagues in this and other areas legal action and prosecution. These col- remains an absolute priority for our Fed- leagues executed their profession, stood eration! Whenever controllers face unjust up for their rights and/or reported safety legal action, we will be there, and we will concerns. No one is immune as we see this help.

THE 4 CONTROLLER TION OF AIR TR ERA AFF ED IC F CO L N A T N R IO O T L A L N E R

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Performance Tomorrow How PBN is shaping our profession IFATCA PANEL 2015 23. April 2015

10:00 - 12:30 featuring speakers from Hotel Kempinski Zografski IATA, IFALPA, NATCA/USA & Sofia/Bulgaria IFATCA. 4 Just Culture THE ITALIAN SUPREME COURT OF CASSATION

A Case Study on Aviation Accidents

by Pietro Antonio Sirena, President of the 4th Penal Section of ^ the Italian Supreme Court The penal cases concerning aviation rep- between this category of professionals of a just culture: “a culture where front line resent an interesting part of the cases and the Judiciary. operators are not punished for actions, dealt with by the 4th Penal Section of the omissions or decision taken by them that Italian Supreme Court. This section of the To be frank, this misunderstanding/mis- are commensurate with their experience Italian Supreme Court deals with all cases trust really originated with the decisions and training, but where gross negligence, of “negligence”; and while the body of ju- made concerning the two disasters of Ca- willful violations and destructive acts are risprudence on, for example, car crashes poterra and Mount Sette Fratelli, and this not tolerated”. Unfortunately, reaching or the negligence of physicians is ample, for reasons I will try to explain in this arti- such a just culture in Italy will be long and that which concerns the aeronautic sec- cle, and which constitute the “core” of my arduous. tor is luckily small. This demonstrates that report. airplanes are a secure means of transpor- The Capoterra disaster tation, and that air crashes are few when A Just culture in aviation. This disaster took place during the night of compared to the volume of air traffic and Before speaking about those disasters, I September 14, 1979, when a DC9 of the to the number of passengers carried. would like to say a few words about Just ATI Company, approaching the airport of culture in aviation. Cagliari Elmas, crashed into mount Conca A few months ago, I wrote a report con- d'Oru, killing everyone on board. link cerning all the air crashes that happened Obviously, investigating the causes of in Italy, and which have been examined by aviation accidents is of fundamental im- It was not the first airplane disaster that the Italian Supreme Court. For this article portance to improve flight safety and save was not caused by some mechanical fail- however, I will only consider three of them: lives. Yet ever since investigations into ure, but by a human error. In this case, it the disaster of Capoterra that occurred on aircraft accidents were carried out system- was the pilot’s failure to determine the September 14, 1979; the disaster of Lin- atically, and with the specific aim of using plane’s vertical position during navigation. ate, which happened on October 8, 2001; their results to improve flight safety, their There had been the disaster of Superga and the disaster of the mountain called use for any other purposes have been a (May 4, 1949 link), a hill close to the airport “Sette Fratelli” (Seven Brothers), which point of concern: and this especially be- of Turin, in which the entire football team took place on February 24, 2004. cause the documents produced by such of the “Grande Torino” died; and the dis- investigations can be used by Judges to aster of Montagnalonga (May 5, 1972 link) The reason I chose the above three crash- determine any question of criminal and/or a mountain close to the airport of Palermo. es is that in this series of accidents, crimi- civil liability on the part of anyone involved nal charges were filed: aviation disaster in an accident. These disasters did not go to the Italian (articles 428 and 449 of the Italian penal Supreme Court because the Tribunals and code), along with multiple non-intentional But if such documents can be used to the Courts of Appeal found only the pilots homicide charges (article 589 of the same ascertain the criminal liability of people guilty (though they had died in the acci- code). And some air traffic controllers, involved in an accident, they will not eas- dents) and absolved everyone else who among others, were found guilty, and this ily cooperate, and will not easily admit to had been charged with “negligence”. In created a misunderstanding and a mistrust having made errors that could lead to a the Montagnalonga case, the air traffic conviction. This lack of coopera- controllers actually were acquitted. 4 Court President Sirena during a Just Culture tion would not, understandably, Workshop in Amsterdam, November 2014 lead to a rapid and correct veri- Following these acquittals, however, per- Photo: Ed fication of the causes of aviation haps under the pressure of public opinion, disasters. there was a significant change in jurisprudence, a shift that began with the disaster Thus in many countries, including of Capoterra. This disaster was indeed a Italy, there are somewhat antago- game changer: in addition to the obvious nistic interests between the ad- culpability of the pilots, established by ministration of Justice and safety the Cagliari Courts, the Public Prosecutor investigations, whose sole aim is of Cagliari started investigating the role to improve flight safety. There- played by air traffic control as provided fore, a balanced solution be- by the Italian Air Force at the time. As a tween these two rather opposite result an air traffic controller and officer of interests, to which I can relate as the Italian Air Force were impeached and a judge and a pilot, needs to be found guilty by the Judges of first and sec- found. This is important in order ond instance. And their sentences were to achieve the following definition later confirmed by the Italian Supreme

THE 6 CONTROLLER 4 Just Culture

Court. ate airport on October 8, 2001. At 8.10am, The first of these principles that I would a Boeing MD 87 of the Scandinavian Air- During the trials two opposite theories like to mention here concerns the air lines, taking off, crashed into a private clashed. On one side, there was the theory controller’s “position of guarantee”. The Cessna 525 aircraft with German registra- of the judicial authorities, who assumed Court ruled that although Annex 11 of the tion, which had strayed onto the runway in that the air traffic controller bore respon- ICAO does not list “preventing collisions dense fog. link sibility for the disaster for breaking section with obstacles on the ground” among 2 of article 40 of the Italian penal code, the duties of the air traffic controller”, this In the collision, the Cessna broke in two which establishes that: “Not preventing an does not exclude that an air controller be and caught fire. The MD 87, having lost event that you have the legal obligation to held responsible for an accident, together its right engine on impact, continued his prevent, is equivalent to cause it”; and for with the pilot, if his or her failure to comply run and crashed into a luggage building being in a “position of guarantee” towards with the regulations have contributed to located near the end of the runway, at ap- the passengers of the airplane. the disaster. proximately 251 kilometers per hour. All 114 occupants of the two aircraft. Four The air traffic controllers on the other The second principle concerns the duty of airport employees died, while a number hand argued that the judicial authorities air traffic controllers to intervene, regard- sustained various injuries. To date, it is still enlarged and misrepresented their duties less of ICAO rules. The Court established the the deadliest accident in Italian avia- as provided in national and international that an air controller "is never relieved tion history. guidelines and policy documents, and ar- from his duty to provide all possible assis- guing that keeping a separation between tance to an aircraft in danger or distress". The expert to whom the Judicial Authori- an aircraft and obstacles fell under the ex- ties entrusted the investigation of the ac- clusive competence of pilots. Another principle established by the Su- cident, established that the primary causes preme Court regards the air controllers’ of the disaster were: an error from the pilot Although it’s beyond the scope of this arti- duty to inform pilots of any appreciable of the Cessna aircraft who had taxied across cle to explain the complex set of problems deviation from the given trajectory of their the runway, "to this induced by a lacking examined by the Cagliari Tribunal and flight. training, by a non-standard phraseology, Court of Appeal, I can say that the Court’s by misleading signage and by cartography decision to convict the air traffic control- Finally, the last principle I would like to that did not accurately depict the airport"; ler contained a technical error. It confused mention has to do with the relationship an error on the part of the air traffic con- visual flight with visual approach. This error between pilots and air traffic controllers. troller operating the ground frequency, led “insiders” to believe that the air traf- For the Supreme Court ruled that their who, because of his unfamiliarity with the fic controller was made a “scapegoat” for interaction is characterized by an ancillary existing airport signage, didn’t take notice the disaster. I must add that those judges and conditioned cooperation, whereby of the incorrect location of the Cessna, failed to seize the opportunity to highlight the latter is subordinate to the former; and authorized the pilot to continue taxi- a number of confusing safety regulations with the consequence that the air traffic ing, (and this regardless of the fact that the as stipulated by ICAO, which were at the controllers could be accused of “negligent pilot had communicated its location, and root of the misunderstanding that led to complicity” in the disaster, having failed to that the Cessna was taxiing on the wrong the disaster. correct the mistake(s) of a pilot, although runway, and should not have been there); being able to. the lack of both a ground-movement-sys- But these problems did not escape the at- tem and of an alarm system at the stop bar tention of the Italian Supreme Court, and of the R6 intersection. These would have in its ruling n. 5564 (April 12, 1985), the The Linate Accident allowed the air controller to detect the Supreme Court set out a series of funda- A far more serious disaster, from whatever presence of the Cessna on the taxiway R6, mental principles of air traffic control. angle we look at it, took place at the Lin- which intersects the main runway; the absence of "implementation" of the procedures contained in ICAO standards, concerning the limitations on ground handling Position of Guarantee in Italian Penal Law procedures in low visibility conditions, and in the absence of a suitable stop bar and/ Article 40, paragraph 2, of the Italian Criminal Code states that “Not preventing or of a system to prevent unauthorized en- an event that you have the legal obligation to prevent, is equivalent to causing try onto the runway. it”. The inquiry report described the situa- What determines the "obligation to prevent the event" is called “position of tion of Linate airport at the time of that air guarantee”, and there are two types to consider: the position of control involving crash as alarming. It stated that "the Milan the control of potentially harmful sources of danger, such as dangerous machin- Linate airport did not meet the security ery; and the position of protection, involving the protection of people or goods standards specified in ICAO Annex 14; this against injuries and damage, as in the case of a physician who is entrusted with is of particular importance, given the fact the care of a patient that Linate is considered an important in- . ternational airport". Obviously, in some cases, and among them that of the air traffic controllers, the problem resides in identifying the source and the content of the legal obligation At the end of the investigation, crimes of pertaining to those persons. “aviation disaster” (articles 428 and 449 of the Italian penal code) and multiple un- In the Capoterra case specifically, the Courts ruled that by allowing the pilot of intentional homicides (article 589 of the the DC9 to make a visual approach, the air controller failed to apply the safety same code) were hypothesized. In par- rules for such a procedure. The court also blamed the air controller for failing to ticular, different levels and forms of neg- inform the pilots of the significant deviation of the aircraft from the flight path; ligence were attributed - to subjects who timely inform the pilots that the aircraft was flying lower than allowed; inform the were then at the top or had leadership pilots that the aircraft was heading towards an obstacle. roles within the service provider; to other occupants specific roles within ENAC, who had some competence in relation to the

THE CONTROLLER 7 4 Just Culture

management of air traffic in that airport; to other subjects with different roles within the SEA s.p.a. (the management company of airport services); and finally, to the air traffic controller, who had held the last radio contact with the Cessna aircraft.

The defense (with the obvious exception of the air traffic controller’s lawyer) argued that no blame could be attributed to the organizational structure of the airport, since the disaster was not foreseeable, as it had been caused solely by errors from the Cessna pilots and the air traffic controller. Yet the Tribunal and the Appeal Court of Milan did not - rightly so – adhere to this view. They attributed the accident to the conspicuous deficiencies in the "airport system" and to the "impressive series of gaps" of the same airport, all duly mentioned in the inquiry report (and also in the report of the ANSV-National Agency for the Safety of Flight).

So many of the accused involved in this ally 40% of the text from the first-instance As you can understand, it is very difficult to tragedy were convicted; and this occurred judgment is made by this anonymous keep the results of an investigation made despite the decisions reached by the Tri- script". to improve safety procedures apart from bunal as well as the Appeal Court of Milan their possible use in determining criminal were in contrast with each other, since the But the Italian Supreme Court did not ac- liability. manager of the airport and the head of the cept such objections, observing that: ENAC’s territorial district, convicted at first 44the report was indeed from ANSV and instance, were acquitted by the Appeal could be attributed to the head of the The Mount Sette Fratelli Court, and the Head of the Organizational agency, although other persons may have Crash Development Maintenance and Resources physically contributed to the report; After the Linate disaster, another plane of SEA spa, acquitted by the Tribunal, was crash in Sardinia highlighted the issue of 44 it was acquired as a “document”, ac- convicted in the second degree. air traffic controllers’ liability again. In the cording to article 234 of the Criminal Pro- night of February 24th, 2004, a Cessna cedure Code, and it has certainly the na- The Italian Supreme Court, in its sentence 550, inbound to Cagliari, was approved for ture and the content of such documents, 19th February 2008, confirmed the deci- “visual approach”, and crashed against a in the part in which exhibits the factual sion of the Appeal Court of Milan, thus rocky spur called Baccu Malu (Bad Gorge), circumstances, even if it put them in their adhering to the view of the serious defects on the Sette Fratelli mountain. All six oc- own order "; of the "airport system", but excluding that cupants – three crew members and three the Director of the airport had of a “posi- 44the judges from the Tribunal and the Ap- members of a medical team transporting tion of guarantee” concerning regulation peal Court had confirmed that the possi- human organs – died Link. and supervision on the safety of aircraft ble causes of the disaster, which the report movements inside the airport: and this in presents, were not used as incriminating Technical reports ordered by the Judicial the absence, for the period after the en- evidence against the accused "; and the Authorities ascertained, first of all, that the try into force of d.lgl. n. 250 of 1997, of a same judges reiterated that "the report’s main cause of the disaster was the Cessna provision conferring to the same Director findings could not be taken as evidence to pilot’s decision "to make a visual approach specific powers in the matter. determine the guilt of the accused", since in a context in which there were no condi- "this document is but a convenient sum- tions for maintaining appropriate obstacle While dealing with this case, I need to dis- mary of the results already acquired, oth- separation from the orography of the area cuss an issue that is related to the concept erwise unquestionable and then, for truth, and the absence of bright visual land- of Just culture. During the first-degree trial, never questioned, such as: marks, that at night and in the observed the victims’ relatives, who had brought a 44the exchanges P. Zacchetti and the pi- conditions, prevented the perception of civil action against the accused, exhibited lots of the CESSNA were also reported in obstacles and the consequent possibility the report of the ANSV (National Agency the judiciary report of M. Pica, of separating the aircraft from them". for the Safety of Flight) on the causes of 44the modalities of impact between the aviation accidents. The defense protested two aircraft, But if the pilot’s error was deemed the against this display, because it underlined primary cause of that air crash, the judicial the conspicuous deficiencies and gaps in 44the consequences of the fall of the Boe- authorities wondered why the air traffic the "airport’s organizational structure”. ing of the Scandinavian Airlines to the controller let the aircraft descend to a dan- ground and then against the luggage gerous, low altitude, without intervening. The defense lawyers addressed certain hangar, The general feeling was that this was a re- objections to the Italian Supreme Court. 44the consequent deaths of all the persons peat of the Capoterra disaster, and that it They challenged the court over a series of transported in the Boeing and in the Cess- had happened despite the clear message technical flaws, one of which consisting in na and of the four SEA employees working sent by the Italian Supreme Court when it "acquiring a disc produced during the last in the luggage hangar, placed air traffic controllers in the position phase of the trial of first instance, from the 44as well as the obvious condition of the of guarantee towards the occupants of the defense of the plaintiff, and lacking any airport facilities (also reported in the judici- flights they direct. label of attribution – being simply named ary report of M. Pica)”. report ANSV”, and considering that “liter-

THE 8 CONTROLLER 4 Just Culture

Therefore, although the conclusions of the Code had denied. The Supreme Court judicial experts, who literally wrote that also dealt with the problem concerning the supposed duty of air traffic controllers Conclusion the air traffic controller "did not demon- I have examined three air crashes involving to issue clearances on matters of safety, strate disparities with what is arranged the responsibility of air traffic controllers. It but also, at the requests of pilots, on the and ordered: a) in the Annex 11 and in remains for me to sum up the evolution of fluidity of air traffic, fuel savings, and such the document ICAO 4444 (concerning the Italian case law on this matter, which this other matters; and it concluded that the application procedures of the control ser- paper outlines. vice, the information service and the alert- ATC clearance "is not a due act, so that the act can be adopted only in the pres- ing service), b) in the technical norm and c) As already mentioned, until the end of ence of the fundamental objective of the in the rules in force of air traffic", the two the 1970s, the responsibility for air dis- flight safety." air traffic controllers involved were first in- asters was attributed almost exclusively criminated and later convicted. to pilots, while other operators (air traffic In that ruling, the Supreme Court also re- controllers, airport managers, mechanics, iterated the distinction it had made in its The Judges of the Tribunal and of the Ap- and so on), were almost never liable. With previous ruling of 1985, concerning the peal Court of Cagliari believed, indeed, the 1979 disaster of Capoterra, however, disaster of Capoterra, between the ser- that the behavior of those air traffic con- this began to change, as responsibility was vice tasks and the institutional duties of an trollers was “negligent” and a “contrib- extended to those individuals. In the dis- air traffic controller, further extending his uting cause” to the disaster. In addition, asters we have examined, for example, the position of guarantee to include the crew. these Judges did not agree with the so- air traffic controllers were prosecuted. lutions of the technical report, noting that It also made clear that the air traffic controller must respect the ICAO standards, the experts limited themselves to consider The air traffic controllers denied any crimi- and complement them, meaning that he the specific requirements for a visual ap- nal responsibility in two of the disasters or she must operate according to "crite- proach, published in AIP-Italian, part RAC (Capoterra and mount Sette Fratelli). While ria of prudence, care and diligence" and 1-47. This formed the basis for the air traf- they argued that it was not their duty to in respect of all the technical data pointed fic controllers’ defense, which said that separate aircraft from fixed obstacles, the out to them. those persons were required only to sepa- judiciary authorities decided otherwise. In

rate aircraft from each other and not from the case of the Capoterra crash, the court The Judges of the Italian Supreme Court natural obstacles. This did not consider ruled that it was their duty because they actually redefined the role of the air traf- two rules (41/8879 / AM.O and 41/8880 / were in the position of guarantee towards fic controller: the position of guarantee AM.O), introduced in 1991 issued by the passengers. In the case of the Mount towards the occupants of an aircraft places Italian General Direction for Civil Aviation, Sette Fratelli case, the court also stated him above pilots, as a great many flight which set strict limitations on the visual ap- that it was the duty of the air controllers to procedures require his authorization. It proach at night. separate aircraft from fixed obstacles be- stresses the important role of the air traf- cause they are in the position of guarantee fic controller and the responsibilities that But, the air traffic controllers contested towards both passengers and crew. (and still contest) that such legislation was come with it. applied to them, arguing that the two rules I understand the reaction of the air traffic In effect, the court considered the air traf- mentioned above had not been forward- controllers and I realize, as a pilot, that if fic controllers had been negligent for not ed to them, but only to the management they had to warn all the pilots that their "comprehending the anomaly and the teams of airports and airlines. aircraft are heading towards a fixed ob- risks brought by the pilot’s actions” and, stacle, it would most certainly become consequently, gave a clearance without It is not necessary to enter into the details very cumbersome and impede a smooth considering the minimum distance re- of the dispute, which the Supreme Court traffic flow. For example: when landing at quirements between the aircraft and the resolved in a manner incongruent with the Palermo Punta Raisi airport on runway 25, runway. The Supreme Court’s decision thesis of the air traffic controllers. all aircraft coming from the north neces- dealt a deathblow to the night visual ap- sarily head towards mount Gallo. A couple proach procedure in Italy. Following this The Italian Supreme Court, in its ruling n. of miles before reaching high ground, they ruling, the ENAV and the Italian Air Force 6828 dated December 10, 2010, defined turn right and initiate a “long final”. The decided to suspend the use of this proce- the role of air traffic controllers in a much radar controller warning the pilots every dure at all Italian airports, even if in certain broader way, going beyond the rather single time, would be useless and sense- cases the night visual approach might still narrow view given by the Italian Naviga- less to warn the pilots that pursuing his be considered safe and useful. tion Code, and attributing them the role of route would lead to an impact with the "navigation police" that the reform of that ground.

THE CONTROLLER 9 4 Just Culture

However, in particular situations, such as The European Commission too, seems to fic controllers, be they military or civilian, the night visual approach, and at particu- have adopted a similar view as the reason- to whom we entrust our lives, are all highly lar airports where difficult topography sur- ing made by the Italian judicial authorities. skilled and capable people; and I think round them, (e.g., Palermo Punta Raisi, In effect, Annex Vb Reg. 1108/2009, Ar- that we owe the small number of aviation Cagliari Elmas, Reggio Calabria, Florence ticle 2, letter c), paragraph 4, states that accidents to their professionalism. and others), I believe that the obligation to “Air traffic control services and related inform pilots of the risk taken by making a processes shall provide for adequate sep- I hope that this love of flying and all things night visual approach should be enforced; aration between aircraft and, where appro- related to it, together with the help of and I also believe that the jurisprudence priate, assist in protection from obstacles modern avionics and advanced airport of the Supreme Court we have examined and other airborne hazards and shall en- technologies, can make flying ever safer, is correct. sure prompt and timely coordination with so that the Judges who will replace me as all relevant users and adjacent volumes of President of the 4th penal section of the Let me add that - in any case – this juris- airspace”. Italian Supreme Court will no longer have prudence should be applied with wisdom, to work on aviation disasters. ^ keeping in mind the different circumstanc- Airplanes - I repeat – are the safest means es that characterize each accident. Having of transport; and this is so because pilots said that, if I were an air traffic controller, and more generally those who are part of I would not give clearance for a night vis- the world of aviation are true enthusiasts, ual approach in any of the airports I men- who are dedicated and doing their job tioned, unless it were absolutely neces- with a pleasure and a passion rarely seen sary, to avoid storm cells for example. in other professions. Our pilots and air traf- IMPLICATIONS FROM A CONTROLLER'S

PERSPECTIVE ^ by Philip Marien,Editor From a controller’s perspective, and in- Similarly, ICAO’s standards and safety requests to deviate around weather, but deed from the perspective of a profes- management systems are based on risk this brings him closer to high ground? Let- sional association such as IFATCA, Judge management and concepts like as low as ting them fly into bad weather could cause Sirena’s text can only serve as a true eye reasonably practicable. Unfortunately, this a crash, but so might the deviation… Is it opener. In the interest of every operation- implies that there is always a risk in every- enough to warn the pilot about the pos- al controller working today, it is however thing a controller or a pilot does. It’s very sible risk, or is a more active intervention worthwhile exploring what such jurispru- small, but if done often enough, there needed? How much action/information dence means for him or her. will be an undesirable outcome one day, from the controller is ‘enough’ to consider when everything conspires to create an ac- having done everything to prevent some- Firstly, while the article explores accidents cident. This is even engrained in our pro- thing from happening? in Italy and from an Italian judicial point of cedures – for example in how separation view, it is important to remember that Italy standards are determined, through math- With the information a controller has, it can is not an isolated state. It is a loyal member ematical formulas and risk calculations. be extremely hard to determine where and of the European Union, ICAO, ECAC, Eu- Some of it is contained in how a controller when an aircraft is in danger. When does rocontrol, etc. The article clearly outlines decides on what/how/when to say things. turbulence become dangerous, is a rate that the Italian penal code is an overrid- If something has happened 1000, 10.000 of descent too high, or the way an aircraft ing consideration for a judge in such cases. or 1.000.000 times, and it worked (read: intercepts the ILS too steep? It seems that Unlike what most controllers would be- didn’t result in an accident), how can an in- the only conclusive way to determine this lieve, ICAO standards and recommended dividual expect/anticipate it will go wrong is through hindsight: the fact whether the practices do not take absolute precedence on attempt number 1.000.001? How does aircraft crashes or not determines whether over national laws. a service provider, or regulator let alone a the controller ‘did enough’. controller, integrate jurisprudence, appli- This probably complicates a just culture cable in a very specific previous accident, A surprising observation therefore is that implementation: at service provider level into existing procedures? And in doing so, not more procedures/practices in Italy (i.e. within their company or administra- what risk is acceptable? have been challenged or suspended by tion), controllers are taught and expected controllers, pilots or ANSPs (or at least to adhere diligently to procedures and not However, in cases where it really goes not that I know of). It would seem unlikely to question them. He or she has to rely on wrong, a hindsight-ruling tells them they that a visual approach at night would be the knowledge that these procedures have were expected to have anticipated the risk the only one, which would fail a “position been reviewed for their safety and that all and that they should have acted differ- of guarantee” test. It seems that we must necessary mitigations to make them safe ently. This seems to create some interest- consider the implications for all current are in place. ing paradoxes and conflicts: what if a pilot and future procedures that transfer a re-

THE 10 CONTROLLER 4 Just Culture

of rulings, as has been done in Italy, It would seem that, just as judges are where all visual approaches during required to interpret the laws made by night have been suspended by the someone else, controllers are required to regulator. interpret the rules and regulations they are supposed to follow and cross-check every Another issue to consider: it may time they apply them so that the are not well go beyond the relationship violating a higher principle. between pilots and controllers. In- creasingly, decisions on capacity, My conclusion is that all aviation profes- contingency, equipment and pro- sionals, including IFATCA and its Member ductivity are taken without consult- Associations, have a huge responsibility in ing the controller on position. In continuing to work with legal authorities, many countries, controllers raising States, the press and the general public safety concerns or objections are to convince them that the only safe way treated with disdain and this type of ahead is to promote an open and re- pro-activity is actively discouraged. sponsible safety culture. Court cases and A last consideration: for good convictions will remain an important con- reasons, the judicial system of a sideration in this for years to come. But country is quite rigid and change as just culture matures, hopefully it will is generally very slow. It stands to become a factor the judicial system takes reason that any notion of just cul- into consideration when they consider the ture to be incorporated into the individual responsibility. ^ laws and penal codes of a country will take years, if not decades. And [email protected] that is even without considering the public opinion, including press, and politicians who are probably much less receptive, or even increasingly hostile in some cases, to such a notion.

sponsibility – even if only partially – from VNUKOVO ACCIDENT the ground to the cockpit. Even if ICAO On October 20th 2014, a Dassault Falcon 50EX corporate jet crashed during take specifies such a transfer is possible, the ju- off from Moscow's Vnukovo Airport in Russia. Three crew members and the pas- diciary system, at least in the cases where senger, CEO of oil company Total, Christophe de Margerie, were killed. The air- it does go wrong, does not seem to accept craft collided with one of two snowplows operating at the time. For an unknown this. This raises serious concerns for current reason, it had entered the intersection of runways 06/24 and 01/19 when the Fal- technologies – TCAS to name one – but con 50 was cleared for takeoff from runway 06. The airplane lifted off the runway indeed for future ones, such as collabora- at speed of about 134 knots, but the right wing and right hand main landing gear tive decision-making. The term that judge impacted the snowplow. The airplane rolled inverted and came down 250 meters Sirena uses in this context, air navigation further on and a fire broke out. police, is significant in the sense that it would not seem possible to delegate cer- The runway visual range (RVR) at the time of the accident was 350 m at the begin- tain responsibilities from the ground to the ning of runway 06 and 1000 m half way down the runway. There was slight drizzle cockpit, or at least not without retaining a and mist. high degree of responsibility. The reaction of authorities and press was disappointing to say the least. Identities In addition, it would seem that it may be of the staff on duty were made public by an official of the investigations commit- necessary to apply additional buffers and tee, as were insinuations of their various roles and responsibilities in the tragedy. bigger margins to internationally accepted Even as a preliminary investigation failed to identify any indication of gross negli- standards. It could also make air traffic gence or intent, arrests were made and controllers and other staff members were control in even slightly sub-ideal condi- interrogated like common criminals. As far as the general public is concerned, tions (low visibility, turbulence, thunder- they’ve been as good as convicted without even a possibility of proper defense. storms, ….) impossible. I understand this is Despite commitments from Russia at international (ICAO) level on just culture, not the concern of the judges, but the gov- Russia is by far not the only nation in the world to forego good intentions ernment, who makes the laws, would have when it comes to accidents like this. It is quite clear that such reactions to be susceptible to the impact this would create a climate of fear for aviation professionals that any incident or have (i.e. a completely broken and imprac- accident may result in a criminal prosecution. ^ tical air transport system). This could force them to re-assess the applicable legal framework and to ‘learn’ from these type

THE CONTROLLER 11 4 Federation INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE CONTROLLER October 20th 2014

Mexico Issues Commemorative Stamp On the occasion of the International Day of The Controller, the Mexican Postal Services brought out a commemorative stamp. A formal ceremony, in which the first stamp was postmarked was held on October 20th 2014. Venue for this was the Courtyard of the Post Office Palace in Mexico City. The General Director of the Mexican Postal Service, Ms. Yuriria Mascott; the Chief Clerk of the Department of Communications & Transport (SCT), Mr. Rodrigo Ramírez Reyes; the Director of the Civil Aeronautics General Direction, Mr. Alejandro Argudin Le Roy; and the Director General of Navi- gation Services in Mexican Airspace, Ing. Claudio Arellano Rodríguez, attended the ceremony.

Alejandro Argudin Le Roy stated that the issuance of the stamp confirmed the recognition of the Mexican people towards the Air Traffic Controllers.

Ms. Yuriria Macott congratulated the Controllers for the important work they perform that guarantees the safety of air travellers. She recognised this as a major contribution to economic development and prosperity as air freight enabled a fast and safe 4 left to right: Mr. Alejandro Argudin Le Roy , Ing. Claudio Arellano Rodríguez, Ms. manner to trade goods. Yuriria Mascott, Mr. Rodrigo Ramírez Reyes presenting the commemorative stamp.

The President of the Colegio de Controladores de Tráfico Aéreo, Mr. Victor Cervantes Muñoz, attended the event. Also repre- sented were air traffic controllers from different units in Mexico and airport officials and authorities.

The post stamp was put into circulation in the nearly 1,500 post offices in Mexico on October 31, 2014. ^

Bulgarian Day in the Mountains The Bulgarian controllers’ association BULATCA, traditionally organizes a day out in the mountains to celebrate the Day of the Controller. This year they went to Bansko, a ski resort at the foot of the Pirin mountain range, some 150 Km south of Sofia. They invited all controllers who happened to be off-duty that day, as well as their retired colleagues, for a (very) good dinner and a good party afterwards. ^

4 The venue, the company and the meal for the Bulgarian Day of The Controller Photo: DP

THE 12 CONTROLLER 4 Europe PUSHED TO THEIR

^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor LIMITS & IFATCA Conference Executive

Bulgarian Controllers Confronted with Sudden Traffic Surge

4Sofia ACC Sofia ACC in Bulgaria is one of the air traf- What is even more frustrating is that Photo: DP fic control centres affected by the massive outside bodies – mainly airlines and re-routings caused by the Ukrainian crisis. European performance ‘experts’ – After Malaysian MH17 was shot down, look at this and don’t realise the ef- traffic between Europe and the Asia was fort this takes. Their take on this is to forced to fly further south. This came on say that since you we can cope with top of the flights avoiding conflict zones 30% more traffic today compared to like Syria and Iraq. before, there must have been “hid- den capacity” before. Some go as far Traffic levels increased 30% from one day of accusing us of having been over- to the other. In August 2014, they handled staffed and inefficient. They do not re- some 73,000 aircraft, compared to 56,000 alize that controllers cannot work like in 2013. this continuously: the workload and rostering will start to burn people out To make matters more complicated, this all too soon… traffic is not evenly spread. There is a dis- tinct peak around 03:00 local time, when the eastern sectors are subjected to a [email protected] very high demand. This results in having to keep 2 sectors open in the Varna area overnight, instead of one previously. And that of course means that a lot of extra staff need to be scheduled for night shifts. Various other peaks occur throughout the day: ”This summer, our busiest day was 3000 flights, whereas before, this used to be around 2000 only”, says one controller.

So far, they’ve managed by taking anyone with a license – including managers, experts, instructors, etc – and roster them for operational duties rather than office duties. They’ve also cannibalised stand-by duties, which are normally for coping with sickness etc. And occasionally, they’ve had no other option but to increase the number of hours to be worked per day.

“We now work an irregular schedule, up to 20 days a month, with 6 to 7 hours on position per shift. On a good day, you can 4The affected sectors in the eastern part of Bulga- be the radar assistant for half that time, ria. The line of traffic to but on other days, you’re on radar for 6 the north is avoiding the hours in one shift, with a lot more traffic Ukraine. than before”, according to the controller Photos: DP we spoke to.

“We do not know how we will cope in the long term“, says one supervisor. “The next summer is going to be hard.“

THE CONTROLLER 13 4 Europe COPING WITH THE NEW PEGASUS SYSTEM Polish Controllers Struggle with their New Equipment ^ by the Polish Air Traffic Controllers Union, PANSA

In November 2013, a new Air Traffic Man- One of the main issues is how colours are – we still have to use 7Nm instead of the agement system was introduced in Po- used and how information is presented in typical 5 Nm, which was one of the main land. Derived from Indra’s generic system the labels/data blocks. It appears for ex- selling points of the new system! concept, Pegasus 21 or P21 was conceived ample very easy to miss situations close as a 'one size fits all' system: it would use to sector boundaries, due to the so-called Further complicating things is that in class the same Human/Machine Interface (HMI) 'white label syndrome': these are flights D airspace, where separation between IFR for area, approach, tower and flight infor- which have a different colour to your own, and VFRs is not provided by a radar unit, mation services. but which affect your traffic anyway. Hav- the short term conflict alert (STCA) con- ing become aware of this issue, control- stantly triggers. On the other hand, fine- Unfortunately, as no simulator was availa- lers have learned the hard way they have tuning it around the busy Warsaw airport, ble, many of its features were never tested to consider all aircraft in addition to their in class C airspace, has proven impossible. using realistic traffic loads or scenarios. own – which renders the use of colours as Consequently, it is suppressed exactly When the system went online, a lot of good as useless. As you can imagine, the where an effective safety net is needed. these features turned out to work different- risk of severe cognitive overload is a very ly from what was expected. In some cases, real one, especially during re-sectorisation An obvious question would be whether they did even exactly the opposite of what and shift changes. If anything, it has made controllers had a say in the development they were designed to do. Some features conflict detection more difficult than it was or implementation of the system. We were worked well for one unit/ before. involved: many controllers worked very service, but were virtually hard on the ‘Pegasus Project’. Some of our unusable for others. In busy traffic, control- colleagues spent many months sitting long lers find the new system hours at their desks, in meeting rooms and makes it much harder to even late night at home trying to come build a mental picture of up with ideas, solutions and suggestions. the traffic situation. This As far as we are concerned, we did what now takes much longer we could to enable a smooth transition to- than before, mostly be- wards the new environment. But it should cause of the complicated have been tested, corrected, re-tested, and even confusing way validated, and so on, until it worked as in which traffic is pre- expected. Unfortunately, this never hap- sented. One of the most pened or at least not in such a way that anticipated new features, problems were detected and solved be- a separation prediction fore the operational implementation. One tool, works unreliably. could say that controllers’ wishes and ideas This is probably linked helped build a ‘concept car’, which, with- to how radar information out a real test-drive was then simply put on is fed to the new system: the road. As we found out the hard way: some older radars are no human factor analysis was ever done… not directly compatible with Pegasus and the So where does that leave us? There’s no data must be converted easy answer, as the situation is not black which seems to impact or white. Some features in the new system how reliable this data is. are a huge improvement over what we had Because of this, and per- in the old one. It has made some of our 4 The traffic display is more colourful than many Christmas deco- rations. The data label has a lot of information, which clutters haps because we were tasks easier. This is offset by many missing the screen. The system decides which information can be never properly taught on features or ones that do not fulfil what they dimmed to a lower brightness, but the algorithm deciding this how to use it – due to the were intended to do. It means that work- often gets it wrong, thereby obscuring vital information for the missing simulator again ing busy traffic is a struggle. Our control- controllers. Photo: PANSA THE

14 CONTROLLER 4 Europe

4 If you thought that Norway’s Bodo Centre working positions had a lot of screens (see last issue), think again: Warshaw’s new air traffic Control system has them beat. They’ve also gone for the record in the number of mice needed to operate all screens! Photos: PANSA

lers have reached their maximum capacity, which we would argue is often too much ther change manage- by the way, but we’re actually handling ment nor safety manage- less than what we were taking on using the ment has been applied old system. This is reflected in the amount effectively. Despite sev- of delay generated. Polish controllers are eral investigations and extremely devoted to provide the safest reports, no real changes possible service, but this has become more or system upgrades have been imple- and more demanding due to the flaws in mented. The current philosophy seems to P21 Project and that the similar mistakes our new system and the associated proce- be: “What you can do quickly and easily - can be avoided for this and other projects dures. As the Union, we have repeatedly go ahead. Anything beyond that will have in the future. However, it is already very stated that the biggest problem within the to wait”. Soon, Warszawa FIR will face an- late. We’ll make sure to provide an update ANSP may not be the technical system it- other big change – a vertical airspace split if and when we know more… ^ self, but rather a serious lack of planning is planned for April 2015. We hope that and foresight, and therefore in how things we’ll be able to convince those in charge [email protected] are managed. We would submit that nei- to learn from the issues that arose in the

THE CONTROLLER 15 More information via www.ifatca2015.com 4 Europe EUROPEAN REGIONAL

^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor MEETING & IFATCA Conference Executive

10 - 12 October 2014, Zadar, Croatia

This year’s European Regional Meeting proach taken by the PRB and the European (ERM) was in Zadar, Croatia. Our Croatian Commission. Main point of criticism is that Centralised Services Member Association, CROATCA, took the targets use traffic predictions which in Also discussed during the seminar was Eu- over from their Ukrainian colleagues af- the past have proven unreliable at best: rocontrol’s concept of Centralized Services ter the political situation in their country predicting what will happen in the avia- (CS). The main speaker here was Jo Sul- forced them to withdraw. tion industry over the next 6 months is a tana, Director Network Manager at Euro- huge challenge, let alone that anyone can control. He told the meeting that Europe Some 130 delegates, representing 36 of reliably look 5 years into the future. Traf- currently has 9 Functional Airspace Blocks the 44 European region member asso- fic demand is hugely dependent on vari- (FABs), with 80 civil and military air traffic ciations of IFATCA attended. In addition, ables such as crises/wars, fuel price, route control centers. Each of them performs representatives from ATCEUC, IFATSEA, charges and many others. In addition, it a lot of tasks and services individually. SESAR and EUROCONTROL also attend- can be wildly differ from region to region, Centralising a number of these services ed. The meeting was chaired by Željko as airlines are increasingly looking at the could save 1,6 billion Euro over the next Oreški, IFATCA’s Executive Vice President cheapest routes, rather than the shortest 15 years. After an analysis, Eurocontrol has Europe. ones. Since the cost recovery mechanism identified an initial nine natural CS candi- is not changing, these “cheapest” routes dates, where it made most sense to imple- During the round-table updates given by vary constantly. Most ANSPs are not able ment these ideas on a pan-European ba- the attending associations, the meeting to deal with highly flexible and changing sis, rather than on a regional or FAB basis, learned that many countries and/or service demand, given the time it takes to recruit or at a local or national level. providers are in the process of upgrading and train control staff. their technical infrastructure and opera- We learned that the idea is welcomed but tional systems. Generally, such modernisa- The meeting highlighted the serious con- that it is also met with a lot of reservations. tions are positively welcomed, but in some cerns on the decision to impose a maxi- For example, a common radar tracker cases the changeover appears rushed or mum en-route delay of half a minute per service faces security concerns: not every even mismanaged. flight. This requirement adds an extreme State is ready to trust a radar image that burden to the existing, already strained air does not come from its own source; oth- With traffic levels recovering after a num- traffic services network in many areas. ers are very reluctant to share military traf- ber of crisis years, staff shortages continue to be a worrying situation in many parts of Europe. Service providers appear slow in realising the urgent need to recruit and train new personnel. And a number of con- Centralised Services flict zones have caused shifts in traffic pat- The Eurocontrol Member States have tasked the Agency to assess and demonstrate the terns, thereby overloading neighbouring operational, technical and financial feasibility of CS 2, 3 and 9 and with the develop- countries. Other areas of concern continue ment, set-up and demonstration of CS 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Several of these services have to be retirement age, pension benefits and been subdivided, so that there are in fact 18 packages for 9 services... the implementation of Just Culture. CS1 Flight plan and Airport Slot Consistency Service Seminar CS2 4D trajectory Flight Profile calculation for Planning purposes The subject of this year’s traditional IFAT- CS3 European (radar) tracker service CA seminar was the performance plan CS4 Advanced flexible use of airspace support set by the European Commission, the so- CS5 ATM information management service called Reference Period 2 (RP2). Main aim CS6-1 Mode A transponder code duplication avoidance of this plan is to reduce air navigation ser- CS6-2 Mode S transponder code allocation vice costs over the next 5 years, the period between 2015 and 2019. CS6-3 Radio Frequencies service CS6-4 Messaging directory service Main speaker during the seminar was for- CS6-5 IPS Repository (web based data bases) mer IFATCA President Marc Baumgartner, CS6-6 Security certificate service who is a member of the Eurocontrol Per- CS6-7 Operation and co-ordination of network security formance Review Board (PRB). Philippe CS7-1 Data link, TCAS, RVSM, ADS-B Performance monitoring Domogala moderated the discussion. CS7-2 1030/1090 MHz performance monitoring Through RP2, the European Commission CS7-3 Satellite navigation (GPS) monitoring and prediction imposes cost and delay targets on ANSPs. CS8 Pan European Services Nearly all ATC professionals, including un- CS9-1 Data Communications infrastructure service ions, professional associations and even CS9-2 Centralized operation of CPDLC, ADS-C ANSP CEOs have condemned the ap-

More detailed information can be found on: THE http://www.eurocontrol.int/centralised-services CONTROLLER 17 4 Europe & Americas

fic with their neighbours. Others services need proof that they are in fact feasible, 4 Delegates from 36 Member Associations attended while others will require prototyping to the 31st European Regional Meeting in Zadar, prove their viability. Each centralized ser- Croatia. vice will need to be approved separately by the European Commission. They will then be put out for tender, renewable every 5 years. Only a European consortium will be able to compete for such a contract. Euro- control will be overseeing the project and they’ve received over 300 declarations of interest so far. Given this eagerness, we’re likely to see some of these becoming a reality in the coming years. ^

[email protected]

AMERICAS REGIONAL

MEETING ^ by John Carr, IFATCA EVP Americas

29-31 October 2014, Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

This was the 25th IFATCA America’s Re- dent Americas; Mr. Patrik Peters, IFATCA livered the vote of thanks. The Chairman gional Meeting. The event was organized President & CEO; Mr. Lambert Remy, of ATCOs’ Branch of ITF, Mr. Paul Win- by our Member Association from St. Lu- Manager Air Traffic Services; Mr. Peter F. stanley, presented on One World, One cia, SLATCA at the beautiful Bay Gardens Jean, St. Lucia Air & Sea Ports Authority Profession - Working together for a strong- Beach Resort, in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. (SLASPA) Director of Airports; Hon. Alva er future. R. Baptiste, Minister of External Affairs, In- A total of 22 participants from 10 Member ternational Trade and Civil Aviation; Hon. Mr. John Carr, IFATCA Executive Vice- Associations attended the meeting. This Philip J. Pierre, Deputy Prime Minister and President Americas informed everyone included representatives from Bahamas, Minister of Infrastructure, Port Services about what had been happening in the Barbados, Canada, Dominican Repub- and Transport. region. He urged the various Member As- lic, Jamaica, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, sociations (MA’s) to send updated contact United States, Haiti and of course the host All the speakers highlighted the impor- information to him. Mr. Patrik Peters, IFAT- association, St. Lucia. tance of Air Traffic Controllers in enhanc- CA President & CEO then presented on ing the safety of air transport. On the Critical Incident Stress Management. He In addition, some 20 observers also at- occasion Mr. Lambert Remy, Manager Air highlighted what is understood as a Criti- tended, including one from Martinique, Traffic Services thanked IFATCA for allow- cal Incident, how such an event leads to currently a non-member association. ing St. Lucia to host the second Americas stress in those that witness or experience Regional Meeting in the island’s history. such an event and how this stress needs to On the first day, Mr. Asa Joseph, ATCO Mr. Remy was Chairman of the Organising be managed. In particular, he highlighted from St. Lucia and Master of Ceremonies committee who hosted the 1st ever ARM the success many Member Associations welcomed everyone to the conference. in 1990. As such he reflected on the impor- and service providers have had by using a After singing the St. Lucian National An- tance of the conference and his hope that so-called peer model, in which colleagues them, the meeting was addressed by Mr. it would improve and highlight Air Traffic are trained on how to help others cope Simeon Sealy, SLATCA President and Control provision in the region. with critical incidents. Chairman of Organizing Committee; Mr. John Carr, IFATCA Executive Vice-Presi- Mrs. Maritha Gibbs, SLATCA trustee, de- Mr. Chris Stephenson of NATCA present-

THE 18 CONTROLLER 4 Americas

44a Professional Air Traffic Controller, through their own conduct and performance, should inspire, motivate, and provide examples of professionalism to others. The safety of the Airspace system is of the greatest importance and his or her performance should always demonstrate the highest standard of excellence.

44a Professional Air Traffic Controller ac- cepts that his or her actions represent the conduct and character of all members of the profession. They shall act in a manner that brings honor and respect to the profession, establishes public trust, and sets a global standard for excellence.

Following Mr. Stephenson’s report Mr. Patrik Peters, IFATCA President & CEO presented on Social Media. The briefing included using social media and the dan- gers of posting information online. AT- ed on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). tion of sanctions and rules, special work- COs should avoid engaging in discussion He gave a comprehensive overview on ing schedules assignments, promotions by describing what you witnessed or what what these are, including their compo- to unqualified ATCOs and many other un- you were involved in at work– especially nents, characteristics and limitations. He professional practices were put into place incidents/accidents, but also discussing went on to elaborate on how these affect with the objective to promote resignations company policies etc. the National Airspace System in the USA from the Dominican Air Traffic Controllers and what the effect is/can be on air traffic Association (ADCA). Mr. Scott Shallies, IFATCA Deputy Presi- safety. dent then presented on Just Culture. On the third day of the meeting Mr. Chris The meeting then moved on to hear Mem- Stephenson of NATCA presented on Pro- Simeon Sealy thanked all the member ber Associations presenting their reports fessionalism in the workplace. delegates, participants, observers, mem- during a closed working session. This was ATC Code was one of the major high- bers of Organising Committee, general chaired by the IFATCA officials present: lights of the presentation. This lists three members of SLATCA and all the sponsors IFATCA PCX & CEO, IFATCA Deputy principles that help define professional for their physical and financial contribu- President (Mr. Scott Shallies ) and the Ex- behavior: tions without which it would be just not ecutive Vice President Americas. be possible to conclude the meeting with 44a professional Air Traffic Controller’s per- success. The situation in the Dominican Repub- formance and actions are a demonstration lic was briefed by Mr. Josue Perez, who of their personal commitment to safety, ex- Manager of Air Traffic Services, St. Lucia presented a touching activity report for cellence, and upholding his or her oath to (MATS) Mr. Lambert Remy thanked SLAT- their association ADCA. The main focus of the public trust, most specifically to the us- CA and organizing committee members the report was that a union busting pro- ers of the [USA’s] National Airspace System. for their performance in making the re- gram had been launched against them. They shall conduct themselves in a manner gional meeting a success. He also thanked Degradations, retaliation transfer, forced that instills trust and merits the confidence all the participants and sponsors in making retirement of specialist, selective applica- bestowed on them by the public they serve. the regional meeting a grand success.

Executive Vice President America’s (EVP- AMA) Mr. John Carr in the concluding re- marks said that it had been good to be in St. Lucia and he wished that more MA’s could have attended. He hoped that the exchange of ideas through much discussion had certainly generated some valuable outcomes, which would certainly be helped in enhancing flight safety management in the region. ^

[email protected]

4 Head table during the closed session, left to right: IFATCA PCX & CEO Patrik Peters, EVP Americas John Carr and THE Deputy President Scott Shallies CONTROLLER 19 4 Africa & Middle-East AFRICA/MIDDLE-EAST REGIONAL MEETING

^ by Eric Risdon, IFATCA EVP Professional

26-28 November 2014, Lusaka, Zambia

The Guild of Air Traffic Controllers of Zam- Ms. Keziah Ogutu, IFATCA EVP for the 4. MAs should encourage a high level of bia, GATCOZ, led by its President Mr. region, chaired the meeting and was sup- professionalism amongst its member- George Katongo, did an excellent job of ported by Mr. Duncan Auld, EVPT and Mr. ship in the discharge of their respon- organizing this year’s African & Middle- Eric Risdon, EVPP. Despite the absence of sibilities to ensure minimal or no com- East Regional Meeting. some of the West African nations due to plaints from pilots. the Ebola outbreak, the meeting was very 5. Owing to the high level of runway ex- The Zambian Minister of Transport, Com- well attended with over 100 delegates cursions recorded in the region and munication, Works and Supply, the honou- from 19 Member Associations, 3 observer in line with the ‘Abuja Declaration’ rable Yamfwa Mukanka, officially opened ATCO Associations and other aviation sta- in which States promised to reduce the meeting. The Director of General of keholders such as the Zambian CAA, Air- this occurrence by 50% by the end Civil Aviation Authority of Zambia (CAA), ports, IATA, ASECNA, IFALPA, E.A. School of 2015, MAs are encouraged to do Mr. Gabriel Lesa and the Managing Direc- of Aviation and the Zambian Air Force. more through awareness/sensitization tor of the National Airports Corporation to reduce or alleviate ATC’s role in this Limited of Zambia, Mr. Robinson Mistala, During the 3-day deliberations, the dele- area. also attended the opening. gates would hear inspiring presentations 6. IFATCA to encourage MAs to engage on Just Culture, ATCO Performance, Civil/ with ICAO, ACI, IATA and other avia- The Honourable Minister Yamfwa stated Military Cooperation, Pilot and ATCO chal- tion stakeholders in the formation of that his government attaches great im- lenges in the region, personal branding in local runway safety teams as one of portance to the role Air Traffic Controllers ATC and matching capacity with demand. the means of implementing risks miti- play in ensuring safety in Air Navigation gating measures of Runway excursi- and as such, will work together with IFAT- A number of recommendations and con- ons/incursion. CA to improve controller performance. He clusions closed the meeting and here are went on to highlight the major projects the highlights of these: 7. IFATCA through the MAs should en- Zambian government has engaged in to courage States to incorporate JUST improve aviation safety in their airspace. 1. MA’s should continue to involve their CULTURE in their regulatory frame- These include the purchase of a new state ANSPs and States in dialogue on the work. of the art ATM system. This has to be ex- issue of Just Culture and develop- 8. In order to encourage voluntary re- cellent news to the Zambian controllers, as ment of the Safety Management Sys- porting, ANSPs need to ensure im- both facilities at Lusaka airport, namely the tem (SMS), to avoid future misunder- plementation of an automatic and ACC/APP and TWR, will greatly profit from standings. electronic data analysis tool (software) new equipment and training. 2. There are too many uncontrolled pa- with anonymous and confidential re- rameters and undefined matrix that porting. The theme for this meeting was “Safety, prevent practical ways of finding a 9. In order to enhance the proficiency Performance and the Controller”, which true balance between best safety and levels in the region, ANSPs should came up from the concern raised by many best performance. MAs should en- avoid reducing the training period of stakeholders over the ATC performance in gage their ANSP and work together Air Traffic Controllers in the hope of the AFM region. to develop an acceptable building capacity. performance matrix under 10. ICAO should ensure standardization which ATC performance of ATC training in the Region. should be measured. 11. MAs should incorporate a code of 3. Continuous coopera- conduct and professional ethics to tion and strong coordinati- promote good image for the ATC on should exist and/or be profession and professionals. ^ developed between ATC and the Military to ensure maximum utilization of the [email protected] airspace and smooth operation of civil flights.

THE 20 CONTROLLER 4 Asia/Pacific ASIA/PACIFIC REGIONAL MEETING

^ by Mike O'Neill, IFATCA EVP Asia/Pacific

9-11 November 2014, Bangkok, Thailand

The 2014 Asia Pacific Regional Meeting system. His presentations and Q & A sessi- of traffic growth due to the sudden closure was extremely successful and attracted a on provided an excellent exchange. of Ukrainian airspace following the shoot record attendance of 110 participants. This Chris Henry of the NOSS Collabora- down of MH17. Following this, there was was quite remarkable considering there tive provided an overview of the NOSS an extraordinarily moving message from was no IFATCA host for the meeting. Seve- program for the uninitiated. Following Joe D’Cruz of our Malaysian member as- ral people contributed a great deal to the this, a break down was presented of the sociation on the impact that has radiated successful outcome. Ben Mansumitchai, program’s outcomes in the Asia Pacific through their membership following the a member of the IFALPA ATS committee from those service providers that have par- loss of two aircraft from their national car- together with very generous support pro- ticipated. NOSS is effectively a proactive rier this year. Australia in return initiated a vided by Aerothai, Thailand’s ANSP were overall health check of service provision message of condolence from the meeting, quite instrumental in it’s success. with the results directly relevant at all le- to be taken back to their membership. vels in the organisational structure. Mr Anucha Kammong, the Executive Vice Patrick Peters, the IFATCA President provi- President of Aerothai officially opened the Dr Noorilah of Malaysia gave a very metho- ded two presentations to the meeting on meeting with a very simple message on dical walk through of the processes they’ve the use of Social Media and CISM. Toge- the importance of our profession being undertaken in Human Factors in ATC Sa- ther with his interaction on the meeting's connected. Aerothai very generously fety Investigations, from the Regulator’s mixed panel discussion with IFALPA, it was hosted both IFALPA and IFATCA for an Perspective. One of the highlights of the an excellent opportunity for those in the re- evening meal. meeting was an interactive joint session gion to get to know him and also to see the with IFALPA’s Air Traffic Services commit- dynamic impact he is having on our Fede- The meeting’s theme was on Human Fac- tee. Several topics were addressed in an ration. This was particularly important for tors in Air Traffic Control. The keynote pre- attempt to reduce workload on both con- those non-members Thailand, Cambodia sentation was by Jeff Woods, study lead troller and pilot as airspace complexity and and the Philippines who attended our mee- in the Optimisation of Airspace and Pro- traffic volumes increase. It provided a lively ting as observers. They could see first hand cedures in the Metroplex (OAPM), USA’s forum and it is hoped that some of these the professional and technical sharing that FAA sponsored optimisation program. His issues will be addressed by an initiative of is such an important facet of IFATCA and attendance was generously provided for this meeting. that it is currently experiencing a healthy by NATCA, our American MA. Jeff’s pre- evolution. ^ sentation was essentially a window to the The agenda left for the final day was a little future for this region with the research and daunting. The MA reports were very nota- [email protected] development that has been necessary to ble on two counts. Firstly the Iranian expe- optimise very complex airspace in the US rience, following their more than doubling

THE CONTROLLER 21 4 Americas BRIDGING THE GAP

NAV CANADA Benefits from Controller Experience in System Developments

by Chris Kempffer, ^ System Integration-Surface Surveillance (NAV CANADA) and CATCA Member It was quite interesting to read an ear- line disciplines. They bring to the posi- couver Area Control Centre. Andrea lier article in the April 2014 edition of tion their long-term experience in using started off her career as an engineer Controller titled “Put a Controller in air traffic management tools, and their at Vancouver Airport, and later spent your team: The role of controllers in valuable knowledge of, simply, what two years as a Tower Controller in But- systems development”. It examined the works and what doesn’t when using tonville, Ontario and three years in the development process of air traffic man- these tools operationally. NOTAM office. agement systems, and more specifically looked at the benefits of including the Robert Ballantyne and his wife Andrea During their transition to their new po- input of operational air traffic control- Ballantyne are both Operational Sys- sitions, they were given training that lers throughout the process. The article tems Requirements Specialists at NAV was rigorous, encompassing continuous points out that the feedback of control- CANADA, currently working on en- hands-on system testing, adaptation lers in the earliest stages of a system’s hancing the Canadian Automated Air and modification. Much of the learning production is critical in order to increase Traffic Management System (CAATS) is accomplished through mentoring by end-user acceptance, and reduce the – the back-bone system used by NAV other specialists and the systems engi- risks associated with change. CANADA terminal and enroute RADAR neers, so that the specialist will be able controllers across the country to moni- to converse in both “Engineering” and At NAV CANADA, putting a controller tor flights, detect conflicts, and process “ATC”. This bridges the communica- in our development team is a priority and distribute flight data and informa- tions gap that often affects a success- for us. So much so that the company tion. CAATS eliminates many manual ful deployment and acceptance by has dedicated an entire section to our processes - such as the need to verbally operations. operations team simply to coordinate “hand off” aircraft - and improves safety operational requirements, design, de- by increasing the time controllers have By the end of the training, Operational velopment, and life cycle support with available to focus on separating aircraft. Systems Requirements Specialists be- our Engineering division. come well oriented to the engineering Robert explains that, “Being a controller and development of systems, and are This section, titled System Integration, with some sort of an engineering back- tasked with deliverables and duties that Operational Systems Requirements, is ground, certainly assists in recogniz- support and strengthen engineering ini- staffed with licenced controllers and ing exactly how the system behaviours tiatives. Their experience as operational flight service specialists from all front should be built or modified. There are controllers becomes a great asset to the so many intrica- engineering process. cies to air traf- The value in this collaboration is most fic management apparent during system deployment, as that you just the process is accelerated and systems simply cannot are built with fewer hitches. Once in- have a frame-of- stalled, systems are adopted by control- reference unless lers with confidence, as they know that you’re versed it has been built with the extensive input in air traffic of one of their own. control.” The hard work and efforts of Robert, An- Both Robert and drea and their engineering colleagues in Andrea bring delivering systems such as CAATS, has extensive experi- not gone unnoticed. The impact that ence to the job. these systems have had on the safety Robert spent and efficiency of both our own and our eight years as an customers’ operations is considerable. 4 Controller working position enroute control- credit: © NAV CANADA ler at the Van-

THE 22 CONTROLLER 4 Americas

tems Requirements Specialists, it would be difficult to react once systems flaws are encountered. “If a system goes in and there’s a flaw, and controllers don’t have anyone they can turn to, to say ‘we’ve got a problem,’ then they will get this feeling of not wanting to accept anything else because they’re not sure what else it’s going to do. We have to be able to answer the problem” Robert explains.

“We certainly feel well positioned to 4 OPS Room in Canadian ACC credit: © NAV CANADA have a sound understanding of the effects and repercussions of implementing change, and we have the confi- With the fast and efficient delivery of Without a controller on our team a lot dence to make those decisions, and, CAATS features – such as Controller-Pi- could be lost. It would be more diffi- in the end, our team can offer better lot Data Link Communications (CPDLC), cult to for us to build a system with the support” which supports text-based communica- confidence that it is usable. And checks tions between pilots and controllers, for usability would not happen until the The success of NAV CANADA’s technol- and Medium Term Conflict Detection very end, at which point adjustments ogy systems can be attributed in large (MTCD) which alerts controllers of po- could be costly and time consuming. part to mixing controller and engineers tential conflict based on projected flight System flaws can also often go unan- on the same team. Doing so is proac- paths – NAV CANADA has been incre- nounced, as controllers don’t have time tive and beneficial in many respects, mentally improving the air traffic man- to point them out and simply resort to and is the reason why NAV CANADA is agement environment for those coordi- finding workarounds and other methods regarded as one of the best and most nating the 12 million aircraft movements of getting the job done. advanced ANSPs in the world. ^ that occur every year through the second largest airspace in the world. Furthermore, without Operational Sys- [email protected] 4 Background

This article first appeared in ATC Magazine, the publication of our Spanish SPACE WEATHER Member Association. Thanks to Ignacio Baca for his help with the translation.

How Is Aviation Affected By Our Closest Star? by Immaculate Vidal Silvestre, Valencia ACC ^ PhD in Astrophysics

Although it is obvious that solar phe- creased solar flux of high-energy protons. Simply put, our Sun is a ball of very hot gas nomena are as old as the sun itself, our These factors can influence the reliability that emits light. A more elaborate descrip- technological advances are making us, and accuracy of GPS systems, HF commu- tion would say that it is a ball of plasma paradoxically, increasingly vulnerable nications, potential damage to satellites, (highly energetic, ionized gas) which is to them. Should the aviation industry increased levels of harmful radiation dur- held together by gravity and which radi- be concerned about such events? Every ing flight at high levels, or even blackouts ates energy into space. This energy is pro- day, thousands of aircraft fly and none caused by damage to the power grid. duced by thermonuclear fusion reactions of them seem to be affected by the di- inside. In this process, two or more atomic vine rays of Apollo, god of the sun. But nuclei collide at a very high speed and join there is in fact reason for concern and to form a new, heavier atomic nucleus. this is already being addressed. What is space weather? During this process, some of the matter of Space weather is the state of particles and the fusing nuclei is converted to photons electromagnetic fields that are in the space (energy). This process, which we have not Most of us think of the Sun as a stable and surrounding the Earth, beyond the atmos- been able yet to produce in a non-explo- permanent presence in our solar system. phere, at a given time. Given that the sive way, is not to be confused with the Older than the Earth, the Sun is the source space around the Earth is almost empty fission that occurs in nuclear power plants, of life, and if there’s anything we can be and emissions from the Moon, the closest which splits an atomic nucleus in two. pretty sure of it is that it will rise again to- celestial body, are negligible, the great- morrow at dawn and will do so in the east. est influence on space weather will be the However, the Sun has its own tempera- Sun. To a lesser extent, there’s also an in- We only see the light of the outermost ment: its structure and behavior is different fluence of cosmic X-ray radiation, though part of the Sun, the photosphere. Beyond every day, with small variations that make this is relatively constant. This means it can that there are the chromosphere and solar their effects on the Earth vary over time. be considered as background noise that corona. These are less dense and visible our atmosphere is already accustomed to, only if the innermost layers are eclipsed. as is our technology. Like all objects in the solar system, the Sun This variation is not new. It has always been rotates. Its axis has a maximum inclination there: auroras for example are only visible of about seven degrees to the plane in on some nights, while not on others. What which the Earth orbits. We also know that has changed in the last century, especially What actually happens the Sun’s rotation is faster at the equator in the last fifty years, is the vulnerability of inside the Sun? than at the poles: at the equator, it takes our technology to solar emissions. There have already been cases of erroneous signals, temporary malfunctions and permanent damage to electronic equipment due to disturbances in the sun.

On March 20, 2013, EASA organized a workshop on the subject called "Space Weather - Effects on Aviation - Building a proportionate response in Europe". A yearly conference on the subject is also held in April in Boulder, Colorado USA. The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmos- pheric Administration, USA) posts daily updates on space weather phenomena including recommendations for users, such as the FAA in case potentially dangerous phenomena are observed. These can be found online at http://www.swpc.noaa. gov/forecast.html

The phenomena addressed in these bulletins include items such as sunspots, so- 4 The number of sunspots is linked to the 11-year cycle associated with the polar lar flares, X-rays, solar wind, coronal mass reversal of the Sun. ejections, geomagnetic storms and in- Image: Solar Influences Data Analysis Center Belgium THE 24 CONTROLLER 4 Background

about 26 days to complete one rotation, into the entire Solar System. The CME er grids in Quebec, Canada. Millions of while near the poles this is more than 30 bursts increase the energy and speed of people were without electricity for nearly days. This differential rotation generates the solar wind. ten hours. The outage occurred because the magnetic field of the sun. of a geo-magnetically induced stream of charged particles in Earth's atmosphere, It’s important to note that these phe- which resulted in surges on power net- This solar magnetic field is not stable: its nomena of intense solar activity do not works. Not much later, in 1994, two Ca- basic shape is comparable to the mag- occur symmetrically throughout the solar nadian communications satellites were netic field of the Earth. This means it re- surface, but are concentrate sembles a simple bar magnet, aligned around active regions. They with the axis of rotation of the sun. How- are therefore also directional. ever, superimposed on this basic, dipole field, there are a number of much more complex and very intense local fields that As mentioned earlier, the vary with time. Places on the photosphere Earth's magnetic field, called where the magnetic field of the sun is es- magnetosphere, deflects the pecially strong are called active regions regular solar wind, thereby and frequently lead to sunspots: slightly protecting us from its effects. cooler/darker areas. In addition, the mag- When higher energy parti- netic field reverses polarity at regular and cles reach us however, this short intervals; thus the magnetic north produces what is referred to pole is in the geographic South pole (for as a geomagnetic storm. The lack of a better word) every 11 years and fluctuations in solar wind due back again at the geographic North Pole to a CME cause disturbanc- 22 years later. This is known as the solar es in the Earth's magnetic cycle and it has an effect on the number of field, affecting both the field solar spots observed on the photosphere. strength and its geometry. For us on Earth, there’s virtually no impact whether the north pole is located in the On the other hand, the struc- North or South, so we refer to a solar cycle ture of the ionosphere – a as 11 years in terms of maximum activity. thin layer of Earth's atmosphere that begins at about In summary, we can say the Sun is a fairly 80 km altitude, which is com- turbulent place with a cycle of 11 years posed of ions and free elec- for activity levels, governed by a complex trons – is affected more sig- magnetic field. nificantly and its properties change. NOAA has a department dedicated to forecast- Solar Activity ing space weather (Space The best-known manifestations of solar Weather Prediction Center - http://www. knocked out by a solar storm, when en- activity are sunspots. These correspond to swpc.noaa.gov). They classify hazardous ergized electrons damaged their sensitive concentrations of intense magnetic field phenomena into three groups on a scale electronics. It resulted in telephone, radio lines on the Sun’s surface. When this oc- of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most intense and television outages. In this case the curs violently, it creates flares of very hot phenomenon (see the table). incident was due to electrons from solar matter, which look like very large white wind affecting some vulnerable electronic flames. If these are intense enough, they The magnetosphere is weakest at the components inside the satellites. affect the outer layers and the corona. poles. It is here that particles slip past the Due to the intensity of the explosion and Earth's magnetic field. Usually, this is of the lower gravitational force at the outer Late October 2003, a series of geomag- little more consequence than resulting in netic storms – the Halloween storms – layers, a Coronal Mass Ejection, or CME a beautiful aurora. Or is it? can occur. Having said this, a CME is not caused by more than 17 flares and several always associated with solar flares and CMEs were observed. One of the most vice-versa: an ejection can occur without Historical incidents intense geomagnetic storms was that of an associated solar flare. In the late summer of 1859, an intense October 29, which reached Earth only 17 solar storm caused serious problems for hours after it was detected by the LASCO the still developing telegraph communi- coronagraph aboard the satellite SOHO Given the enormous amounts of energy cation medium. From August 28th, auro- (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, released, such a CME can reach all the ras could be observed as far south as the ESA-NASA). The big difference with the way to Earth and far beyond. They come Caribbean. The peak intensity was record- previous events was that NOAA SWPC in two waves. The first is in the form of ed on 1st and 2nd September, causing had issued numerous predictions about electromagnetic radiation, which travels telegraph systems to fail across Europe what was to come, allowing different in- at the speed of light. Within about 8 min- and North America. The event was docu- dustries to prepare for the disruptions. utes, this X-ray and intense UV radiation mented by Richard Carrington, an English reaches the Earth. The second wave trav- amateur astronomer, who made thorough els at 400-500 km/s and takes two to four The astronauts on board the International observations of the number of sunspots days to reach Earth. This so-called solar Space had to stay inside the more shield- and solar flares; and Balfour Stewart, a wind is composed of ionized particles, ed parts of the Russian Orbital Segment to Scottish physicist who made magnetome- mainly protons and high-energy elec- protect themselves against the increased ter measurements. Through these records trons. It actually consists of the same ma- radiation levels. After the announcement and the observed events, the solar storm terial as the sun: 95% ionized hydrogen by the SWPC, large utility companies re- of 1859 is considered the most powerful (protons and electrons), with the remain- duced system load, disconnected com- solar storm in recorded history. It has be- der consisting almost entirely of ionized ponents and monitored voltage levels. come known as the "Carrington Event". helium (alpha particles & electrons). The There was some damage, but the only solar wind is sometimes described as the In March 1989, a geomagnetic storm reported blackout was in Sweden. outermost layer of the Sun that extends caused a ninety-second outage of pow- THE CONTROLLER 25 4 Background

Numerous satellite anomalies were observed, with both components malfunc- tioning and deviations in the orbits due to increased flow of energised protons and electrons. It is estimated that 59% of space science missions were affected in some way. GPS accuracy was significantly degraded affecting land and ocean sur- veys. In aviation, the then recently imple- mented Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) in the USA, used for improving system precision for approaches, was affected, as were the Polar routes.

Since the end of the Cold War, airlines increasingly make use of intercontinental routes via the Polar Regions, as they are shorter and therefore save fuel and time. During a geomagnetic storm, levels of radiation over the poles are above the maximum recommended levels. In October 2003, almost all companies adapted their routes and flew at lower levels. Radiation warnings were issued for latitudes above new and direct routes for example. In rupted by disturbances in the ionosphere 35 degrees north and south. It was ad- practice, for en-route, the RNAV system is in such a way that the tolerances defined vised that estimated a 4000 ft drop, from only partially dependent on signals from by the FAA for WAAS were exceeded and FL400 to FL360, would result resulted in a Global Navigation Satellite Systems such could not be used. 30% decrease in radiation. And NOTAMs as GPS, Galileo, GLONASS ... During approach however, where there are less ra- warned of possible problems to communi- In July 2012, a much more intense and cate via HF frequencies, since it interferes dio navigation aids, the onboard systems are very dependent on GNSS. They are energetic event was reported: successive or inhibits HF communication (3-30MHZ): flares and coronal mass ejections, two of at these and lower frequencies, radio however not accurate enough to guide an aircraft to a runway that’s only 50 meters them on July 23rd, less than thirty minutes waves bounce off the ionosphere allow- apart. As luck would have it, they missed ing them to travel further beyond the line wide. To overcome this, an algorithm to increase the accuracy of GNSS was devel- the Earth: if it had happened a week or of sight limit that affects higher frequen- two earlier, the Earth would have been cies. This is the reason why HF is used in oped. This calculates corrections based on measurements of ground reference directly in its path. The event was detect- long-range communication. Shorter wave- ed by NASA’s STEREO-A and STEREO- lengths including VHF (30-300 MHz) pass stations located in the vicinity. These are used to create a set of adjustments, which B satellites, which orbit the sun. They through the ionosphere and they do not measured the ionized plasma expansion reach any station that is not within the line is made available via satellite to all users. An aircraft can then determine its position by some 3,000 km/s, well above speeds of sight of the transmitter. They have the observed in 2003. STEREO-A was directly the advantage of not being affected by with sufficient accuracy to enable a safe precision approach. in the path of one plasma eruption, which the activity in the ionosphere, but the in- provided scientists with valuable data to creased presence of ions and electrons, as improve existing models. Such models well as increased solar radiation, also does The correction system for GPS in North and simulations of the magnetosphere are interfere with radio transmissions, includu- America is called the Wide Area Augmen- important for making predictions more ing those on VHF. One side effect is that it tation System (WAAS) and was brought accurate: for comparable CME impacting may increase the maximum range of these online in April 2003. In Europe, a similar the Earth, its effects depend on the state transmissions for example. system for the Galileo satellite constella- of the Earth's magnetic field and on the tion, is called EGNOS. While the Galileo angle at which the magnetic field is hit by As for satellite navigation, RNAV has satellites are not all in orbit yet, EGNOS the plasma ejected from the sun. definitely introduced large benefits from has been operational since 2009. an air navigation point of view, enabling Statistical analysis shows that some of the For 15 hours on October largest plasma ejections, including the 29th 2003, and another 1859 “Carrington Event” did not occur in 11 hours the next day, years of solar maximum. satellite signals were dis-

4 HF transmissions are reflected by the ionosphere 100MHz

Ionosphere

5 MHz 20MHz

4 Damage to a Salem, NJ, USA Transformer caused by a 1989 geomagnetic storm. Photo: PSE&G THE 26 CONTROLLER 4 Background NOAA SPACE WEATHER SCALES Geomagnetic Storms

Solar Storms

Impact on Aviation In summary, when solar activity intensifies, this can produce a wide range of effects. These include: 44degradation or interruption of HF communications, which use ionosphere reflec- tions. Increased VHF interference. 44degradation or interruption of satellite communications. For example those used for Automatic Dependent Surveillance. 44increased levels of airborne radiation, especially at high levels in polar regions. These would require using lower levels or re-routings. Radio Blackouts 44position or timing errors in satellite navigation systems and the various augmentation systems such as WAAS in the USA and EGNOS in Europe. 44failure of computer systems. The shrink- ing size of electronic components makes them more vulnerable to the interaction of charged particles. These faults are known as single event upsets. 44possible impact of power outages on ground based infrastructure.

Conclusion Solar activity affects aviation. We have already had sufficient prior experience to the USA, including the busiest in the world is kept informed and space weather warn- know that early detection and prediction could see their precision approaches af- ing bulletins are issued whenever deemed are essential. The first step in risk manage- fected. Innnovation such as this is good appropriate by posting them on the NOP ment is to know how often this can occur. but we must be aware of the risks it brings web portal. In terms of extreme solar activity, it can and focus our efforts on getting accurate predictions at least in the order of hours be said that despite an eleven-year solar After the Icelandic volcano eruption, the in advance. CMEs that may cause geo- cycle, dangerous phenomena can occur importance of preparation and pre-plan- magnetic storms are only detectable by at any time. However, assessing the real ning for such disruptions became obvious. instruments operating outside the earth's impact on Earth is very dependent on the Knowledge and awareness can definitely atmosphere. There are currently two such Earth’s position relative to the Sun and be improved on the Air Traffic Services devices: LASCO onboard the Solar and many other parameters. side. I hope that I have at least stirred Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), which some curiosity about the topic, and that in is near the end of its life expectancy; and turn, it helps to convince those responsible One thing that all the experts agree on is the two STEREO satellites launched in higher up to create contingency plans. ^ that the evolution of technology leads to 2006. These observations/predictions also increased vulnerability. In 2003, only ap- have to reach the end-users in time. For proaches to Minnesota were affected but Europe’s air traffic control, the EUROCON- presently, an additional 3,000 airports in TROL Network Operation Center Manager

THE CONTROLLER 27 vv

4 Technology NOWHERE TO HIDE Developments in Satellite Surveillance for Aircraft ^ by Ignacio Baca, IFATCA Technical and Operations Committee The last IFATCA Conference in Gran Ca- to a so called contract, every 25 minutes naria generated quite a bit of interest from for example. These automatic reports can The latency of the reports may also result local and even national (Spanish) press. As substitute the verbal pilot reports needed in a potential issue. The concept of latency such, a number of IFATCA representatives, for procedural control. ADS-B (Broadcast) refers to how old is the position informa- myself included, talked to journalists. After on the other hand, sends reports almost tion when it is presented to the controllers. answering their questions about IFATCA continuously (up to twice a second). These Aireon expects a latency around one or and its activities, there usually followed can therefore be used to provide radar-like two seconds, similar that of a non-satellite some questions on the technical side. surveillance. ADS-B system like the one currently in Most common amongst those was one place in Australia, which rejects any report question: referring to a paper about satel- Like radar, ADS-B is limited to aircraft in older than three seconds. lite surveillance presented in the Confer- line of sight of the ground receiver making ence, they wanted to know whether such it unusable in remote areas. But if we add systems could help prevent aircraft disap- Another purely technical issue may be the satellite communications to ADS-B how- pearing, such as Malaysia Airlines flight lack of coverage. Aireon intends to use the ever, the lack of coverage ceases to be MH370? Iridium NEXT constellation of 66 satellites a problem, at least in theory. The concept that will be rolled out from 2015 and in- to provide such a system is currently be- tends to be fully deployed by 2019. A fail- This disappearance created a demand ing explored by Aireon LLC, a joint ven- ure in one of the satellites however could from the general public and numerous ture consortium created by Nav Canada, result in a loss of coverage that would cre- politicians to have a way to continously Iridium, Enav, the Irish Aviation Authority ate a “dark area” moving across the earth. track aircraft. As such, it will probably will and Naviair. boost the concept of Satellite ADS-B. The idea is simple: to automatically transmit Another problem to be solved is the ques- the aircraft position, as derived from the Challenges tion of procedures. According to ICAO onboard navigation system, to a ground The concept is simple but its developing PANS-ATM the provision of ATS surveil- station. While this is exactly what the well and implementing appears to be tricky lance services requires direct communica- known ADS-B system currently does, it is and technologically challenging. To start tions between pilot and controller. Aireon of no use in remote areas where the air- with there is an economical issue for the expects that CPDLC (Controller-Pilot Data craft is out of range of any ground station. users: considering that a message via Link Communications) may be used as the This of course includes vast stretches of satellite typically costs at least one dol- sole means to comply with the require- oceanic airspace. lar minimum, a conventional ADS-B send- ment and provide an horizontal separation ing 2 messages per second would be minimum of 15 NM. Note that PANS-ATM charged at least US$7,200 per hour. To currently only prescribes 2.5, 3 or 5 NM ADS overcome this, the Aireon system specifi- horizontal separation standards for use un- Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) cation foresees a refresh time of 15 sec- der surveillance. Aireon claims that the ap- is a system very easy to understand: an onds thus making the system much more plication of a separation larger than 5 NM aircraft properly equipped can calculate its affordable, bringing the hourly cost in should not be viewed as a new minimum own position with a high degree of accura- the same scenario down to US$240. The but an application by the controller of a cy and then send it via datalink to a ground question is whether an update rate of 15 larger separation than specified in PANS- station. The system comes in two varieties: seconds is sufficient to use the system as ATM depending on the way of communi- ADS-C (Contract) is used to facilitate the a surveillance tool however. Nav Canada cation in use. application of procedural separation and is and Aireon are evaluating this by artificially indeed used in remote areas. The aircraft degrading some existing ADS-B coverage send their positions to ground according to analyse the consequences.

THE 28 CONTROLLER 4 Technology

According to ICAO Doc 9689, which deals tralia which has extensive experience in to the efforts to develop new surveillance with Required Communication Perfor- the use of ADS-B surveillance in remote technology. To make the policy as solid as mance (RCP), under RCP 120 a horizontal sectors. The Australian experience shows possible, the transition from system-based separation minimum of 15 NM may be that in those large sectors (more than to performance-based requirements that applied. This suggests that Aireon’s goal 2,000 NM across) the application of sepa- are technology-independent, as men- of 15 NM is achievable. After considering ration equivalent to that used by radar is tioned in the ICAO Global Air Navigation all of the above, the technical issues seem impractical because the position symbols Plan, was taken in account and included. challenging but not impossible to solve. on the screen are too close. ICAO PANS The final wording of the policy, which is But how about the operational implica- requires that the edges of the position now part of the Technical and Professional tions for controllers? indicators do not touch or overlap, irre- Manual, is as follows: spective of the separation minimum. This results in the minima applied in Australia Mixed Mode Operations for this kind of ADS-B surveilled sectors IFATCA supports the development of A recurring discussion in IFATCA’s Tech- is the same to that used procedural con- new surveillance technology that is de- nical and Operations Committee (TOC) trol. On the other hand, while studies by signed to meet required surveillance every time a new technology or procedure Aireon predicts significant fuel savings in performance standards, which allow for is discussed, is the issue of Mixed Mode the North Atlantic due to the use of a 15 the application of technology-independ- ^ Operations. In a perfect world, all aircraft NM minimum, the use of RNP of the In- ent separation minima. are always equally equipped and treated. Trail Procedure (ITP) also aims to a more In reality however, it usually takes many efficient use of airspace and reduction of [email protected] years to retrofit all airframes and control- the required minima without the need of lers have to deal with a mix of equipped any surveillance system. and non-equipped aircraft. Obviously, this can easily lead to mistakes and creates the need to keep track of the capabilities of Considering all this, the question is: is it each aircraft thus increasing the workload. reasonable to develop and implement a As a consequence, IFACTA has a very satellite ADS-B system? It seems that op- clear policy against Mixed Mode Opera- erationally and economically, it is doubt- tions stating the need to reduce existing ful that the system brings great benefit. cases and to avoid the introduction of new On the other hand, there’s the pressure ones. It also recognises that mixed op- to keep track of the aircraft at all times erations are sometimes unavoidable and in case something goes wrong. A surveil- recommends to perform an assessment to lance system with global coverage such as ensure that controller workload is not in- the Aireon solution, would certainly help creased beyond an acceptable level. in those cases.

Even if we don’t consider the Mixed Mode Policy problem and assume that all technical is- After the TOC presentation, IFATCA sues are solved it is still unclear whether adopted a new policy in Gran Canaria. It a satellite surveillance would be practical was desirable to express IFATCA support or not. A good example to study is Aus- THE CONTROLLER 29 4 Feature AVIATION DURING Part Two: WORLD WAR I Strategic Bombing ^ by Philip Marien, Editor As we saw in the last issue, at the outbreak ers, often modifying reconnais- of World War I, military commanders be- sance craft for the purpose. By far lieved the main interest in using aircraft the most successful one, the 1917 in military campaigns was for reconnais- Breguet 14, remained in produc- sance. This however didn’t stop the vari- tion until 1926. ous military sides to conduct experiments ary 1915, the first Zeppelin raid against early on in the war, which lead to other German Empire Britain killed two and injured sixteen. uses, including strategic bombing. Rather than using aircraft, the Germans possessed six operational airships, while From then on, there was an average their Imperial navy had one. When their of about two aerial raids on Britain per Italy month. After a series of raids by French Perhaps surprisingly, bombers on German cities, the Kaiser no before the outbreak 4 Italian Caproni Bomber. longer opposed bombing London and on of WWI, the Italians the 31st of May 1915 the first raid against had carried out the the capital killed seven and injured thirty first aerial bombing five. Though the German Admiralty was raid using a fixed- very enthusiastic about the effects of the wing aircraft: in No- raids, their effect was more on the psy- vember 1911, dur- chology and morale of Britons than doing ing the Italo-Turkish War, and a mere 8 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight, Giulio Gavotti hand- dropped bombs on Turkish positions in passage through Belgium was met the Libyan desert. The dropping of bombs with much more resistance than they from balloons had been outlawed by had counted on, the army’s Zeppelins the Hague Convention of 1899, but Italy took to bombing Liège and Antwerp, argued that this ban did not extend to despite the fact that at this stage no aircraft. specially designed aerial bombs ex- isted and that it was in fact prohib- Italy possessed heavy bombers before its ited by an international convention. entry into the war such as the multi-engine But their initial experience was not Caproni Ca.1. These were later joined by encouraging - they lost three airships Ansaldo SVA aircraft. But there was some in the first months of the war to anti reluctance to use them: many of the obvi- aircraft fire. ous targets had a high number of Italian residents, were in territories Italy had plans The German Admiralty was more Crater in Paris after a Zeppelin bombing raid. to annexe after the war or were simply out enthusiastic: their airship fleet was 4 of reach. As a result, the bombers were mainly patrolling the North Sea and was only sparsely used. thereby less targeted by enemy fire. By early 1915, they were confident enough any substantial damage. Navigation was to press the Kaiser for permission to bomb very primitive, partly because the British France England. Fearing for his relatives in the quickly learned to use blackouts very ef- It was France that formed the first strate- British royal family(!), permission was only fectively. Bombing accuracy was poor at gic bombing unit in history, aptly named reluctantly granted on the condition that best: only an estimated 10% of the bombs Group de Bombardment No. 1 London be spared... On the 19th of Janu- dropped from Zeppelins actually hit their (GB1), in September 1914. Like target. French Breguet 14 bomber. the Italians, the French were re- 4 luctant to bomb targets on their Bombing Paris proved to own soil, even if occupied by the be even more difficult: from Germans: a number of French the nearest Zeppelin base cities were within range of Ger- at Metz to Paris meant flying man retaliation. Instead, GB1 more than 300 km across en- went on to bomb targets far emy territory. While London behind the front, concentrating was further away, there was on the German supply network little or no chance of encoun- and troop concentrations. The tering enemy fire. French favoured light bomb-

THE 30 CONTROLLER 4 Feature

than a Boeing B-29 Super- FE2bs. Towards the last few months of the 4 German Riesenflugzeug Siemens-Schuckert VIII. fortress and bigger than war, bomber squadrons suffered increas- any German WWII aircraft. ing losses and could not operate without They were built by several fighter escorts. At the end of the war, the manufacturers, including RAF took ownwership of the Handley Page AEG, DFW, Linke-Hofmann V/1500, a four-engined bomber that could Siemens-Schuckert and reach Berlin, but it were never used. In Oc- Zeppelin-Staaken. tober 1918, the Independent Air Force was re-designated the Inter-Allied Independ- Britain ent Air Force. This force comprised British, Given the psychological im- French, Italian and American squadrons pact of the bombing raids and operated under the command of the

on Britain, it is no surprise French Marshall Foch, supreme com- All photos: Public Domain via wikimedia that the initial strategic mander of the Allied Forces. Shortly after bombing efforts of the end of the war, it was disbanded and the Royal Naval Air the British component was re-absorbed Service (RNAS) and into the RAF. later the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) concen- Russia trated on German At the outbreak of the war, the Russian airship bases in Co- Empire was the only force to operate a logne, Düsseldorf, long-range heavy bomber: the Sikorsky Friederichhafen, Lud- Ilya Muromets. These had been designed wigshafen, Cruxhafen as a civil transport that could carry 16 pas- and Tondern. sengers in a heated cabin. Sikorksy had British Handley-Page O400 4 Being limited in even foreseen in-flight access to the four range, the British engines. Converted to a bomber, it could quickly deployed sea- carry 1,100 lbs of bombs, and remain in the Though Britain initially struggled to fight planes, which were lowered from tenders air for up five hours with a reduced bomb off the Zeppelins, by 1916 the Royal Fly- nearer to the targets: on Christmas Day load. Four aircraft were based near War- ing Corps had armed their planes with a 1914 they bombed a zeppelin base at saw from the end of 1914 and the princi- mixture of explosive and incendiary bul- Cuxhafen. Towards the end of the war, pal targets were supply depots, troop con- lets. The explosive bullets could pierce the they were the first to launch bomber air- centrations and transportation networks. Zeppelin's tough outer skin and the inner craft from a ship during the Tondern Raid. When Russia left the war, in March 1918, hydrogen gasbags. The incendiary bullets around seventy Ilya Muromets had been could set those leaks on fire, and once on Right up to the end of the war, the RNAS built. In total, these had flown over 350 fire a Zeppelin was doomed. took to strategic bombing in a bigger way missions along the entire Eastern Front. than the RFC, who were focused on sup- The solution was to fly the airships as high porting the infantry actions of the Western Besides being unusually large for its time as possible. Reaching altitudes of 20,000 Front. The RNAS first attacked German (making German fighter pilots badly mis- feet, they could stay above the enemy air- submarines at their bases and then target- judging the distance to it), it was an ex- craft. But in order to reach these heights, ted the origins of the submarines by at- tremely tough aircraft: a number were so defensive armaments were reduced, as tacking the steelworks. badly damaged by enemy fire, they had to was the strength of the frame. In addition, be scrapped, but not until after making it the extreme cold and thin air affected both In April 1918, the RNAS and the RFC were back to base. It still holds a unique record the engines and the crews, making naviga- merged to form the world’s first independ- for any bomber in any conflict: the num- tion and bomb aiming even harder. ent Air Force. As part of this newly created ber of Ilya Murometz lost to enemy fire branch of the military, they set up the In- was less than the number of enemy aircraft Of the 125 Zeppelins deployed by the dependent Force, an expanded bomb- they shot down! Germans, 53 were destroyed and a further ing group used to strike against German 24 were too damaged to be operational. railways, aerodromes and industrial cen- Even though strategic bombers had the Around 40% of their crews perished, the tres without co-ordination with the Army greatest impact on military and non-mili- highest of any German service branch. The or Navy. The 9 squadrons flew de Havil- tary targets, World War I aviation is best cost of constructing the airship fleet was land DH4s, DH9s and DH.9As; Handley remembered through its dogfighting pi- approximately five times the cost of the Page 0/400s; and Royal Aircraft Factory lots. These aces risked life and limb to damage they inflicted… escort reconnaissance or bombing flights or tried Sikorsky Ilya Muromets German high command began losing 4 to prevent bombing raids faith in the airships and began look- by attacking the aircraft. ing towards the new Gotha and Giant More on that in the next bombers to attack Britain. issue. ^ From 1916 onwards, Grossflugzeeuge and Riesenflugzeuge, German for “big” and “giant” aircraft) carried out bomb- [email protected] ing raids over the UK. While the smaller ones were production models, most of the giant, multi-engine aircraft were one-off designs that became increasingly bigger with every iteration. The largest built, the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII had a wingspan of 48.0 m, wider

THE CONTROLLER 31 4 Charlie

Next Generation Aviation Professionals

We have information....aaawwww! - what is the Task Force doing?

CHARLIE'S CYSB 171800Z 13010KT 2SM -SN BR BKN005 0VC013 COLUMN M02/M03 A2946 RMK SF6ST2 CLOUD TO THE NORTH LOOKS LIKE A PUPPY SLP996

[email protected] ICAO Workshop

That's a fine car, mate! NGAP & Competence based training Australia is a country full of very resourceful people. One of them pushed this to the limits, when he by Nicole Barrette, Technical Specialist ICAO and bought an old Beechcraft aircraft, took the wings off and began driving through town as if it was a car. The Ashley Lauryssen, Training Strategies Manager EUROCONTROL minor issue that the fuel tanks were normally in the wings, was solved by putting a jerry can full of fuel on the passenger seat with a simple hose running to the engine compartment.

Unfortunately for him, a number of fellow road users, mostly pedestrians, called the local police. They were not too impressed by the propeller, which they found was a bit too dangerous. Police didn’t have too much trouble finding the driver and his unusual vehicle: he had it nicely parked outside a local pub.

In his statement, the owner said he had just bought NAL FEDERA ATIO TION N OF the aircraft on the other side of town and was driving - AI R R E T T R IN A F F I C

it home, stopping for a drink on the way. Asked for O

some paperwork, he was only able to produce a S

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driver’s license… The aircraft was impounded, though . police was struggling to find an actual Road Traffic Act violation and said they were trying to find an article in the Criminal Code to charge the man with. Russian Hospitality Pilot: Radar, this is Aeroflot 123 out of 240 climbing to FL370 Controller: Identified AFL123 climb FL370, be advised severe turbulence is reported up to FL380 Pilot: Climbing FL370, AFL123

Few minutes pass, the aircraft reaches FL370, but the mode C indication jumps up and down. Personal space is overrated! An intriguing Airbus press release landed on Charlie’s desk recently: Cebu Controller: AFL123, do you experience any Pacific airlines, based in the Philippines, purchased a few Airbus A330s “to turbulence? offer direct services from Manila to markets in Australia, the Middle East, and Pilot: Affirm AFL123 parts of Europe, as well as to the US. The airline will configure the aircraft in Controller: How strong? single class layout, seating just over 400 passengers.” (source airbus) Pilot: Severe, AFL123 Their website indeed reveals that the aircraft will carry 436 passengers in a Controller: AFL123 do you request level change? Kempinski Zografski Hotel mostly 3-3-3 configuration. Another website, seatmaestro.com, shows just how cozy this will be. It’s almost twice as many people compared to what Lufthansa Pilot: Negative AFL123 puts in its own A330s, admittedly in 2 classes. Still, having flown on A330s in Controller: AFL123, are you a cargo flight? IFATCA Conference economy, I can tell you my knees are still sore from the seat in front. Quite how Pilot: Negative AFL123, we are carrying this will work on Cebu with tall and/or large Westerners remains to be seen. German soldiers. Room Soﬁa 1 & 2 Thursday 23. April 2015 THE 13:30 - 15:00 32 CONTROLLER Next Generation Aviation Professionals - what is the Task Force doing?

ICAO Workshop NGAP & Competence based training

by Nicole Barrette, Technical Specialist ICAO and Ashley Lauryssen, Training Strategies Manager EUROCONTROL

NAL FEDERA ATIO TION N OF - A R IR E T T R IN A F F I C

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Kempinski Zografski Hotel IFATCA Conference Room Soﬁa 1 & 2 Thursday 23. April 2015 13:30 - 15:00