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Andrew Beadle, former air trac controller and

current IFATCA representative, looks at how

automation and the FASTI programme assists

controllers as capacity and trac increase

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL has always de-

pended on tools for communication and sur-

veillance, and improvements in these tools

usually result in improvements in safety

and capacity. However, change is a double-

edged sword. The introduction of radar, for

example, brought signicant enhancements

but required a substantial amount of work

to make sure that the best way of using

the new technology was adopted, because

radar changed the way air trac control was

implemented and altered the skill set and

training of controllers.

Think global, act localAir trac control is currently undergoing

radical change one that will have more

consequences than even the introduction

of radar. Communication will be carried out

digitally via data links, meaning that the

amount of information shared between

controllers and pilots (and the tools that

support them) is no longer limited to the

speed of human voice and interaction.

Surveillance, likewise, is going to un-

dergo a signicant shift, as management

by trajectory will involve the sharing of

information of future positions of aircraft,

not just current position. It will take time

for these developments to be implemented

but the concepts have been dened in the

An rew Bea le, former air trac controller and

current IFATCA representative, looks at how

automation and the FASTI programme assists

controllers as capacity and trac increase

Air trafficcontroller tools

International Civil Aviation Organization

(ICAO) Global Air Trac Management Op-

erational Concept and further expanded in

work by Single European Sky ATM Research

(SESAR) in Europe, NextGen in the US as

well as other projects worldwide. How,

then, do we make sure that the tools pro-

vided to controllers are safe and eective,

and enable this transition?

Air trac management (ATM) has to be

harmonised globally. It is, therefore, impor-

tant for all ATM work to be seen in the con-

text of global developments, specically that

all work should be seen as assisting ICAO in

achieving this goal. Of course, there are localissues to be addressed and action will still

be taken at the local and regional level. That

said, EUROCONTROLs latest programme to

assist the air trac controller, First ATC Sup-

port Tools Implementation (FASTI), is consis-

tent with the SESAR technology, which itself

is being developed from the ICAO Global

ATM Operational Concept. We can not

dismantle the current ATM system and start

again and so all developments have to be

an evolutionary change. FASTI recognises

this and even its name suggests that it is part

of an evolutionary development and indeed

just an initial step. Consequently, its Pioneer

Support activity is there to assist the early

implementers and make sure the lessons

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