ifatca the controller - winter 2010/2011
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THE CONTROLLER
Journal of Air Traffi c ControlWinter 2010/2011
Also in this issue: 4 50th anniversary update4 Just Culture Taxonomy
4 ATC & HEALTH
INTE
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Contents
THE CONTROLLER
In this issue:Cover photo:© Eurocontrol/© Catarii | Dreamstime.com/© Freelion | Dreamstime.com
Winter 2010/2011Volume 49 Issue 4 - ISSN 0010-8073
PUBLISHERIFATCA, International Federation of Air Traffi c Controllers’ Associations1255 University Street · Suite 408Montreal, Quebec · H3B 3B6CANADA
Phone: +1514 866 7040Fax: +1514 866 7612Email: offi [email protected]
EXECUTIVE BOARD OF IFATCA
Alexis BrathwaitePresident and Chief Executive Offi cer
Patrik PetersDeputy President
Alex FiguereoExecutive Vice-President Americas
Hisham BazianExecutive Vice-President Africa and Middle East
Raymond TseExecutive Vice-President Asia and Pacifi c
Željko OreškiExecutive Vice-President Europe
Darrell MeachumExecutive Vice-President Finance
Scott ShalliesExecutive Vice-President Professional
Andrew BeadleExecutive Vice-President Technical
Philippe DomogalaConference Executive
THE CONTROLLER
Journal of Air Traffi c ControlWinter 2010/2011
Also in this issue: 4 50th anniversary update4 Just Culture Taxonomy
4 ATC & HEALTH
Foreword ............................................................................................. 4
Editorial ................................................................................................. 5
ATC & Heath .................................................................…………………….. 6
Just Culture Taxonomy ............................................................................... 16
50th anniversary update ..................................................………………………. 19
Controller Day 2010 ......................................................................................... 20
ITF ......................................................................................………………………. 22
Regional News – Americas .................................................................................. 24
Regional News – Europe ....................................................................................... 26
Opinion .........................................................................……………………………... 30
Feature: Hi Jack! ...............................................................................................…. 32
Charlie .................................................................................................................. 35
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 http://www.the-controller.net
COPY EDITORSPaul RobinsonHelena Sjöström,Stephen Broadbent, Brent Cash, Andrew Robinson and David Guerin
PRINTING-LAYOUTLITHO ART GmbH & Co. Druckvorlagen KGFriesenheimer Straße 6aD 68169 MannheimGERMANY
Tel: +49 (0)621 3 22 59 10Fax: +49 (0)621 3 22 59 14email: [email protected]
EDITOR-IN-CHIEFPhilip MarienVan Dijcklaan 31B-3500 Hasselt, Belgiumemail: [email protected]
DEPUTY EDITORPhilippe Domogalaemail: [email protected]
CORPORATE AFFAIRSVacant
REGIONAL EDITORSAfrica-Middle East: Mick Atiemo (Ghana)Americas: Doug Church (USA)Phil Parker (Hong Kong)Europe: Patrik Peters & David Guerin
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this magazine are those of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations (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. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or used in any form or by any means, without the specific prior written permission of IFATCA.
VISIT THE IFATCA WEB SITES: www.ifatca.org and www.the-controller.net
3 THE CONTROLLER
Foreword
FOREWORD FROMTHE EXECUTIVE BOARD
^ by Scott Shallies, Executive Vice President Professional IFATCA
Medical issues are a constant concern for Air Traffic Controllers. The need for controllers to be regularly assessed as maintaining a defined medical standard can be a constant source of stress. Although not unique in the profession-al world, we are amongst a small percentage of workers whose career can be inexorably altered at any time by a medical issue. This could be something as simple as a prescribed course of medication that is deemed to be in-compatible with ATC duties, or something as dramatic as the life changing events detailed in stories of two wheelchair bound controllers you’ll read about in this issue.
These two stories demonstrate an admira-ble determination to pursue their chosen career, in the face of considerable adver-sity. They also show a remarkably enlight-ened response from the ANSPs and regu-lators who were willing to work through non-standard situations and come up with solutions that enabled these controllers to continue with their chosen career.
IFATCA has a considerable amount of “medical” policy in our manual, but none specifically dealing with controllers with physical disabilities. This is something that will be looked in 2011.
Regrettably, the enlightened attitude tak-en by the ANSPs and regulators in these two stories is not always the case. There have been a number of instances where controllers have had their careers affected by medical issues that, to a non-expert, would not seem to warrant the termination of their active controlling duties.
Medical standards in aviation cannot re-main ‘static’. They evolve in line with ad-
vances in medical treatments, and with the changing prevalence of certain conditions. For example diabetes continues to be di-agnosed at ever increasing rates in modern society, and this is becoming a prominent issue within the ATC community. Differ-ent medical authorities have different at-titudes towards the condition. Refractive eye surgery (laser vision correction) is one example of a modern ‘treatment’ that avia-tion medical authorities need to keep pace with. Although refractive eye surgery has been around for quite a few years now, new and quite different techniques con-tinue to be developed. Medical standards need to keep pace with these changing treatments in order to help those affected return to work as soon as practical after surgery.
JAL907 –The Supreme Court DecisionIn October, the Japanese Supreme Court handed down its decision in the appeal against the convictions of two Japanese air traffic controllers who were on duty at the time of a serious incident between two Japan Airlines aircraft above Yaizu, Japan on January 31st 2001. The decision was to dismiss the appeal against the convictions, imposed by the Tokyo High Court. The High Court decision overturned the earlier District Court decision that found the con-trollers not guilty.
This is of course a very sad out-come for the two controllers af-fected, and the thoughts of the entire IFATCA community are with them. It is also a very sad outcome for “Just Culture” in aviation in Ja-pan. The accident report revealed a number of contributing factors to the cause of the incident; including pilot’s actions, controllers’ actions, controllers’ operational procedures and lack of proper training for the controllers, as well as lack of definitive procedures, at the time, for pi-lots to follow in these situations. To single
Photo Credit: Catarii | Dreamstime.com
out just one element of a complex “sys-tem” failure, is short-sighted and totally against the principles of Just Culture. IFATCA strongly condemned this outcome in a press release issued soon after the Supreme Court decision.
Although all legal avenues in this matter have been exhausted, IFATCA will contin-ue to work with our member association, JFATC, to promote Just Culture in Japan and internationally.
This decision also highlights one of the perennial medical issues affecting air traf-fic controllers – stress. Not only the stress imposed by the day-to-day effects of the job, but also the stress and fear that any situation could result in a criminal prosecu-tion. IFATCA will continue to promote Just Culture in aviation at every opportunity.
Ironically, in the same month that the Japanese Supreme Court made this decision, Japan was one of 170 nations that resolved to create Just Culture in aviation at the 37th Assembly of ICAO! ^
Medical standards need to keep pace with these changing
treatments.
WELCOME TO THE “MEDICAL” ISSUE OF THE CONTROLLER!
4 THE CONTROLLER
Editorial
EDITORIAL
^ by Philip Marien, Editor
Many people know the phrase, either in the original Latin or in the translated version: “a healthy mind in a healthy body”. How-ever, as is not unusual with catchphrases and slogans, over the years, this phrase too was ripped out of context. Some 2000 years ago, Roman poet Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis wrote it in the opening line of one of his 16 known poems – number X if you must know. But the full text reads: “ORANDUM EST UT SIT MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO”, or “You should pray for a healthy mind in a healthy body”.
I won’t bore you with an analysis of old Latin texts and what they mean. But the original text is relevant to the context of this issue of The Controller. As we all know, the job of a controller requires the utmost con-centration and focus. To a large extend, this implies that a controller should be dis-tracted by as little as possible. Not in the least by health issues. Too often, these can pose a constant source of latent concern, and thus distraction. In other cases, they can cause physical discomfort and even constant pain. Needless to say, this can have a detrimental effect on both safety and productivity.
As we all know, it’s not enough to pray for a healthy mind and/or body… Controllers have, as individuals, a large responsibility to look after their wellbeing, both physi-cal and mental. It’s not always easy, given the irregular hours and levels of stress in-volved… And it’s often not made any eas-ier by employers simply relying on prayer for their staff’s health. While some have realised the value of providing a healthy environment, others are taking the easier (and in the short term cheaper) option: simply ignore the fact that it will pay off to invest in controller wellbeing…
In the medical subjects we deal with in this issue, we’re only scratching the sur-face of the issues that controllers around the world have to face on a daily basis. Irregular work, stress, eyesight, hearing, fatigue, … the list is nearly inexhaustible. That being the case, we probably should look into having articles on such subjects more often.
Thanks to the work of the Professional and Legal Committee of IFATCA, we have a lot of policy on a number of these issues and more is being worked on. In fact, the
PLC members and the EVPP Europe were instrumental in compiling articles for this issue, so kudos to them for making my job easier!
Besides medical topics, there’s a little room for other news, including a brief overview of the Day of the Controller (20th October). I hope these stories will inspire other member associations to organise something substantial next year – which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of IFATCA. Mark the date in your calendars and remember to take lots of pictures for the subsequent magazine!
For some, issues of The Controller have been electronically available 6 months af-ter the print edition is published. A teaser is available for the 2 most recent editions – hopefully inspiring you to subscribe. You can find them on http://www.the-controller.net. We’ve just made the site ac-cessible for non-flash devices – that means you can read the magazine using an iPad™ or even iPhone™…
Lastly, as central theme for the next issue, we’ll be looking at the relation between ATC and weather. The latter in all its’ fac-ets: predictions, turbulence, wind sheer, … Some scientists predict that due to global warming, weather on our planet will be-come more extreme. At the same time, airplanes are designed to an ever tighter performance envelope. We’ll be trying to look at the interaction between these evo-lutions and how ATC can/should react. If you have anything to contribute, please let the editorial team know via ^
“MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO”
“It’s not enough to pray for a healthy
mind and/or body…”
Ph
oto Credit: HM
Photo Credit: Apple
5 THE CONTROLLER
^ by Dr. R. Carolina Taveras de Pepen, Medical Advisor, Dominican Republic
NUTRITION & STRESS
4 ATC & Health
General Concept of NutritionFood is our source of energy and nutrients. Nutrients are substances found in food and are essential to humans: we cannot synthesize all vitamins, minerals and some amino acids in sufficient quantities, without these nutrients. Despite their importance, a large part of the population suffers from lack of essential nutrients in their diet
or is affected by an excessive intake of certain foods or dietary components.
Coupled with changes in the way of life, it makes us prone to a number of chronic diseases like some cancers, heart problems, hypertension, diabetes and osteoporosis. By incorporating safe food in our diet, a better understanding of proper nutrition and matching individual nutri-tional needs to available resources, vital nutri-tional quality can be much improved.
Work-related Stress in AviationWork-related stress is a global phenomenon that affects many populations. Generally, in aviation, the job-related stress is relatively high. Among this group of workers, control-ling air traffic is amongst the most demanding and stressful jobs in the world. It demands a complex system of tasks that requires a high level of knowledge and expertise. It requires specific practical skills and cognitive knowl-edge and combines this with communications aspects and human interactions. The con-sequences of a mistake in combining these skills/factors might well lead to disaster.
At the ITF 2006 International Civil Aviation Congress, delegates identified stress and fatigue as the common priority issue among the ITF’s three main aviation sector indus-trial groups: air traffic service workers, cabin
crew and ground staff.
Work-related stress affects the physical and mental health of air traffic controllers. Research conducted by several contract-ing states of ICAO have shown a high in-cidence of diseases related to stress, like arterial hypertension and peptic ulcers, compared to a control population.
In a constantly growing industry, of-ten influenced by deteriorating work-ing conditions, attention to emotional stress and extreme fatigue, specifically within air traffic control is long over-due. To try and improve these work-ing conditions and thereby overall health, it is important to establish the relationship of these factors and
the diseases prevailing among the controller population. This includes looking after their nutritional habits.
Relation between Stress and NutritionWhile there are many different problems that might affect humans, biological research shows that our bodies have stereotypical re-actions to identical biological changes, such as higher activity demands.
Our nutritional habits are also influenced by how people react to negative feelings like anxiety, loneliness and stress. Nutrition, as well as other external and environmental fac-tors, has a significant effect on our health.
While it’s essential for our survival, for nearly everyone, it’s quite an abstract necessity, even more so when it comes to the consequences: nutrition only becomes relevant when some dysfunction or ill-effect manifests itself.
Pleasant and unpleasant emotions are both stress-generating and produce different body responses. In many cases, these are harmoni-ous, natural and without consequence, because they fit within the physiological limits of what a human being can endure. This is often referred to as eustress or good stress. In others cases, the responses that follow a disproportionate intensive and continuous demand, which may not necessarily be unpleasant, extend the ca-pabilities of the body’s resistance and adapta-tion (distress or bad stress). Depending on the given situation, stress is thus associated with desirable or undesirable effects.
Effect of Work on Stress and NutritionThe manifestations of work-related stresses are extremely diverse in their origin, persist-ence and intensity. Although in our daily work we all endure certain levels of stress, there is no doubt that certain occupations generate more stress than others. This is reflected in
4 Dr. R. Carolina Taveras de Pepen at the IFATCA 2010 ConferencePhoto Credit: Luis Fuentes
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Photo Credit: © Shahrohani | Dreamstime.com
COMPLEX RELATION ALSO AFFECTS CONTROLLERS
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4 ATC & Health
a decreased wellbeing and often results in stress-associated disorders: psycho-hormo-nal and psycho-social effects that may mani-fest themselves as a disease.
While easier for some than for others, people should adapt to the adverse circumstances they face at work. This adaptation shouldn’t become the source of different forms of stress. Especially the consumption of toxic substances (alcohol, tobacco, stimulants, tranquilizers, etc.) should not be considered as a way of coping with the situation. Similarly, organic nutrients ingested in an uncontrolled manner (or perhaps compul-sive) is to be avoided. On the other hand, radical changes as well as dietary disorders may in turn act as triggers of stress. In this case it would be a kind of endogenous stress or internal stress, which can manifest itself as, visceral bleeding.
Alterations or dietetic disorders can act as triggers of stress in our own bodies. They would create a mechanism of feedback that would have the following consequences: in-adequate nutritional habits deficiencies in the nutritional mechanism caused by abnor-mal food intake cells with inappropriate nutrition claim through their own stress for an emergency intake to fix up their deficit all of these factors are added to the environ-mental stress related to work.
Work-related stress can affect appetite and hunger and, therefore, proper food intake and nutrition. This is equivalent to saying that the way we eat is a significant source of stress.
The chemistry of our cells determines for a large part whether we are healthy or sick. When our cells have some states of deficiency and they don’t get the essential nutrients, the organism receives a strong negative stress load. There is enough evidence to say that a large percentage of those who regularly eat outside the home are relatively malnourished, and therefore could be considered as rela-tively ill, both mentally and physically.
Actual Situation of Controllers in the Dominican RepublicWe developed this research based on the ob-servation of the Dominican Controllers. Prob-ably due to the high levels of stress they en-dure and a sedentary lifestyle; they have shown a high incidence of stress related diseases, including inflictions of the nutritional status. This is sometimes evidenced by their appear-ance or with altered biochemical tests, like the blood glucose levels and the lipid profile.
These assessments of the nutritional status and its relationship with the high level of work-related stress were performed with the
controllers working at the control centre and towers in “Las Americas International Airport” and “Punta Cana International Airport”
Based on the approach set out at the begin-ning of the investigation, we concluded that there is a significant but not determinant relationship between nutritional status and the stress levels of air traffic controllers from both airports.
There was also evidence of a relationship be-tween the type of operational role performed by the controller, the nutritional status and stress levels. We found that those controllers who work with radar have a deviating nutritional status. 90 % of them have overweight or obesity problems and 51% were also affected by high levels of work-related stress.
Regarding the cardiovascular risk, it was shown that a high percentage of controllers have an increased risk.
RecommendationsOnce we recognize that all air traffic controllers are exposed to high levels of stress and signifi-cant changes in their nutritional states, there are some recommendations that this popula-tion can follow to help with these conditions.• Look for facilities to deal with and manage
stress levels. It can be a support system with psychologists and support staff avail-able in their work location. This will help them to manage and even prevent the ef-fects of stress more efficiently.
• The use of nutritional counselling for air traffic controllers: this would make them aware of the effects nutrition has on their health and daily work.
• Find a balanced nutritional system, limiting the need for the use of unhealthy and foods harmful to their physi-cal and mental health.
• Promote an active lifestyle by providing facilities for Con-trollers during their free time to engage in productive activ-ities beneficial to their health.Provide relevant information on appropriate management of stress levels and different ways to obtain a balanced and beneficial healthy life-style to those Controllers working in radar operation which present an increased risk as the study in Dominican Republic showed.
• Conduct workshops and lec-tures to educate staff on ap-propriate and favourable ways to handle work-related stress.
• Work directly with air traffic controllers to raise aware-ness of the importance of proper nutritional balance in their health. Provide informa-tion on appropriate foods to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Photo Credit: © Dannyphoto80 | Dreamstime.com
Work-related stress can affect appetite and hunger.
THE CONTROLLER 7
4 ATC & Health
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL FROM A WHEELCHAIR
needed on the operational floor and after a few days of getting accustomed again he was back controlling aircraft.
ShiftworkNormally the job of air traffic controller means working irregular shifts, including nightshifts. For the first two years after his accident it was only practicable to work afternoon shifts, due to the extra time needed in the morning to get ready. José uses a retractable wheel-chair and drives a modified automatic car to travel to work. Nowadays though, José is able to work other shifts too. It is important to mention that the operational consequenc-es resulting from his handicap, like losing his tower rating or working limited shifts have not affected his salary nor his career oppor-tunities. National law obligates the employer to keep a disabled employee at work and to provide feasible career opportunities. Be-sides this legal obligation, the Dutch ANSP has been very supportive, assisting José with the various difficulties he still faces.
Medical IssuesThe authority responsible for issuing medical licenses to ATCOs and pilots did not have ex-perience with paraplegic ATCOs at the time the first medical check was initiated, three months after José’s accident. So the Dutch ANSP offered to help the medical authority to prepare for this new situation by supplying useful information on José’s condition. After the check it became clear that José could keep his medical license (European Class 3) without any limitations. At first the compa-ny’s own medical officer required additional regular checkups, but within a few months that was no longer necessary. Unfortunately, José suffers from chronic nerve pain in the ar-eas surrounding the point of injury. Common painkillers offer no relief and the only medica-tion that could provide relief, are quite strong medicines like anti depression pills or a mor-phine pump. Clearly, as an ATCO you are not allowed to use medicines which impact your mental skills so there is no other option left then to learn to live with constant pain.
Alastair Smales, AustraliaAlistair joined Airservices Australia as a Flight Service Officer in 1989. In 1992, while working underneath a 4WD vehicle, the vehicle came off the jack and broke his lower back. The result was that he was paralysed from his waist down.
After about 3 months convalescence, he re-turned home to his wife and 18 month old son. It took another 3 months adjusting to home life and to the new circumstances, be-fore returning to work.
Rather than going back full time, he started out on a gradual return to work program. This started as part time at 3 half days a week and built up to full time over a period of 2 months.
Just prior to his accident, Alistair had been accepted to do a conversion course to be-come an air traffic controller. This was put on hold while his options were considered. Several things had to be taken into account: what was he physically able to do, what medical requirements needed to be met and things like building access.
BuildingThe ATC building at that time was a 2-story affair from the 1960s and definitely not wheel-chair friendly. While a decision was being made about his future, a new ATC building was being constructed. Disabled access was
Two and a half years ago, José Daenen, Tower and Approach controller at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, fell from a ladder and broke a vertebra in his back. From that moment, José was paralyzed from the waist down and was diagnosed as paraplegic.
AdjustmentsMany things change when you end up in a wheelchair. After his accident, José had to face a wide variety of challenges. One of them was to return to opera-tional duty as an ATCO. With a lot of effort from José on one hand, and the Dutch ANSP on the other, he was able to work full time again within six months. But not without any sacrifice: he had to give up his Tower rating, as the narrow and steep steps to get into the Control Tower had become inaccessible. A chairlift could have been a solution, but then the problem of getting out quickly in case of an immediate evacuation would remain.
The building in which the Ap-proach Control unit is located is considered a government building and as a consequence it is designed to be easily ac-cessible for wheelchairs. For José’s comfort only a few doors needed to be modified to open automatically. There were no other adjustments
4 Building access is one of the fi rst prerequisites.Photo Credit: © Keith Bell | Dreamstime.com
TWO POSITIVE STORIES TO SHOW IT CAN BE DONE…
^ by José Daenen, The Netherlands
“Every facet of your life is changed in one way
or the other.”
THE CONTROLLER8
4 ATC & Health
ANSP is willing to assist with making the necessary adjust-ments and is attentive to the disabled employee’s needs, many difficulties can be over-come and the skilled and ex-perienced ATCO involved can continue to perform his or her operational duties.
IFATCA is working on policy to support member associa-tions and individuals with these types of situations.^
Alistair: “Once everything had been sorted out, everyone at Airservices has been ex-tremely cooperative in helping me get my ATC licence.”
He continues: “Adapting to life in a wheel-chair has been a long and tiring process as every facet of your life is changed in one way or the other. And sometimes even in a posi-tive way! As some doors shut, others open.”
Alistair took up swimming after he broke his back, to keep fit. From this modest begin-ning, he has been able to represent Australia at 3 Paralympic Games in swimming and has set 2 world records. Airservices Australia has actively supported him in pursuing this, allowing him to take time off to attend the various training camps and competitions, re-quired to get to the games.
He concludes: “All this helps to balance my work and social life and hopefully makes me a more productive employee.”
ConclusionLosing one’s ability to walk can be very dif-ficult to accept, and it requires time to learn to deal with the pain, discomfort, grief and frustration that come with it. Sometimes it can also lead to a loss of employment, but as we have seen in these stories, it does not have to be like that for an ATCO. When the
foreseen in the new building, which solved one of these problems. The head doctor of the medical licensing branch became per-sonally involved in order to tackle the medi-cal license issues. They worked out a license, which said he could do any ATC function that he was physically able to do. Lastly, he just had one problem left: to demonstrate what ATC positions he was able to work. As tower duties would present some additional prob-lems, he was effectively restricted to en-route duties. The whole process took approximately 3 years before he could start his ATC course.
4 Alistair Smales at work.
Photo Credit: © Arim44 | Dreamstime.com
4 José Daenen
THE CONTROLLER 9
4 ATC & Health
SLEEP APNOEA
^ by Udi Zaga, ATCA Israel
the day. Sleep apnoea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness.
Is it Common?Some 10% of the general population suffers from various degrees of sleep apnoea. Men are more likely to suffer sleep apnoea than women and children, although it is not un-common in the latter two population groups. It is likely that this proportion is the same in specific workgroups, such as pilots and air traffic controllers. Air traffic controllers may become more vulnerable to sleep apnoea symptoms because of circadian disruptions from rotating between day and night duty periods and continuous stress.
DiagnosisSleep apnoea often goes undiagnosed. Doc-tors usually can’t detect the condition during routine office visits. A family member and/or bed partner may first notice the signs of sleep apnoea. Using a questionnaire (referred to as the Epworth Sleepiness scale: developed by Dr. Murray Johns, Melbourne, Australia, to meas-ure daytime sleepiness) people can self evalu-ate their condition. Alternatively, sleep apnoea can be diagnosed with an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram, or “sleep study”.
TypesThere are three types of sleep apnoea:• Obstructive sleep apnoea is the most com-
mon type of sleep apnoea. In this case, the airway collapses or blocks during sleep. The blockage may cause shallow breathing or breathing pauses. Any air that squeezes past
the blockage can cause loud snoring. This affects over 80% of the people diagnosed.
• Central sleep apnoea is a less common type of sleep apnoea. It happens when the area of the brain that controls breathing doesn’t send the correct signals to the breathing muscles. This affects less than 1% of the individuals.
• Complex or mixed sleep apnoea. This is a combination of the above, diagnosed in about 15% of the cases.
RisksUntreated sleep apnoea can lead to other problems like:• Increase the risk of high blood pressure,
heart attack, stroke, obesity, and diabetes.• Make irregular heartbeats more likely,
thereby increasing the risk of heart failure.• Increased chance of having work-related
or driving accidents.When diagnosed, sleep apnoea can be treated in various ways, starting with lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, breathing devices- CPAP Contin-uous Positive Airway Pressure or even surgery.
Quality vs. QuantityIn fatigue management it is important to examine the quality of sleep; quantity is not enough. On average, a healthy adult does best with eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. If a person spends 8 hours in bed with his/her eyes close it does not necessarily mean that he/she had a good sleep. It is without doubt that many aviation workers are at serious risk of sleepiness while working because of circa-dian disruptions from rotating between day and night duty periods. Sleepiness and fatigue cause a reduced ability to function. Chronic sleep restriction to fewer than 6 hours per night has been shown to impair performance and increase the tendency to involuntarily fall asleep during normal wakefulness.
In most countries sleep apnoea might cause immediate suspension and loss of the medi-cal certificate, but reissuing of the licenses is possible upon documentation of successful treatment. Therefore it is very important to be aware of the phenomena, its risks to aviation safety and to the ways it can be treated. ^
Sleep apnoea was brought to the attention of the controller com-munity after an Israeli controller fell asleep at his position during a night shift. He was later diag-nosed as suffering from sleep ap-noea. The phenomenon is well known in the medical community and some states have already addressed this condition in their medical aviation regulations. De-spite this, sleep disorders, sleep quality in general and sleep ap-noea in particular are often not treated in the proper manner. It is important that the employer does not penalize the controller. Disciplinary action would encour-age a controller to hide a poten-tial disorder, which may prove to be a greater hazard to the gen-eral public.
What is it? Sleep apnoea is a common sleep disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep. Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. This re-sults in poor sleep quality that makes the person tired during
4 Obstructive sleep apnoea: the airway blocks during sleep, causing shallow breathing or breathing pauses.
4 Sleep apnoea can be diagnosed with an over-night sleep test.
IRREGULAR BREATHING AFFECTING SLEEP QUALITY
Photo Credit: CC Habib M’henni
Photo Credit: CC Joe Mabel
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4 ATC & Health
DIABETES AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL^ by Geert Maesen, BGATC – IFATCA PLC
suffering from type-1 diabetes. The main reason for this rule is that insulin treatment can cause “hypoglycaemia” – literally ‘under-sweet-blood’. This low-er than normal level of blood glucose level has undesired ef-fects on the brain: it can range from a little dizziness to diso-rientation, a loss of awareness or a severe situation where ex-ternal assistance is needed to resuscitate the patient. A large percentage of severe hypogly-caemic episodes occur without warning. It’s self-evident that this is not desirable in an avia-tion environment.
For type-2 diabetics, it’s more subtle: a certificate can be is-sued, provided it is shown to be satisfactorily controlled by diet alone or by diet combined with oral anti-diabetic medica-tion, which should be “com-patible with the safe exercise of the applicant’s licence and rating privileges.”
ConclusionThe World Health Organiza-tion estimates that by 2030, the number of people suffer-ing from diabetes will have doubled compared to 2000. While some of the mechanisms and triggers are currently not completely understood, there is strong evidence to suggest that urbanization, stress, life-style changes and perhaps most importantly, a “western-style” diet are strong contribu-tors to this. This unfortunately also means that an increasing number of controllers are likely to be confronted with it during their career. ^
stream. As the glucose remains in the blood, the blood sugar level will rise and cause symp-toms such as frequent urination, increased thirst and increased hunger. Blurred vision is also a common complaint, as a prolonged high glucose level in the blood will affect the shape of the lenses in the eyes. Symptoms will be quite acute in type-1, while for type-2, they typically evolve over a longer period.
TypesType-1 diabetes treatment requires daily in-jections of insulin for life. There is a lot of re-search into alternative methods of administer-ing the required dosage, but these are at least a few years away from being marketable.
In type-2 diabetes, the body becomes resist-ant to insulin produced by the body. As a re-sult, it will require more insulin to be made in the pancreas, which might not be able to pro-duce enough insulin. People with type-2 may or may not have abnormal blood sugar levels. Treatment involves a variety of measures and medications that improve insulin sensitivity or reduce glucose production by the liver. It is by far the most common type, affecting over 90% of people diagnosed in the USA.
CausesBoth types require a genetic disposition, usually inherited from both parents. In ad-dition, both appear to require an environ-mental trigger. Type-2 is typically triggered by a sedentary lifestyle, coupled with a high-fat/ processed carbohydrates/low fibre diet. It has also been linked to obesity and the length of time a person has been obese. In non-westernised cultures, type-2 diabetes is far less common, even when a genetic pre-disposition to diabetes is present. The trig-ger mechanisms for type-1 seem less clear: cold weather appears to be a trigger, but certain viruses could also be responsible.
Gestational diabetes is different: while it re-quires careful monitoring during the pregnan-cy, it usually disappears after the baby is born.
In ATCICAO Annex 1 explicitly states that a medi-cal certificate cannot be issued to a person
Diabetes mellitus – often simply referred to as diabetes – is a condition in which a per-son’s blood sugar level is abnormally high. It is either caused by the body not produc-ing (enough) insulin (type-1 diabetes), or by the cells not responding to the insulin (type-2 diabetes). A third variant is gestational diabe-tes: this occurs during pregnancy in women who have never been diagnosed as diabetic. Around 3% of the worlds’ population suffers from a form of diabetes. Especially in western-ised countries, this number is on the increase.
InsulinTo understand what happens, we must look at insulin: this is an important hormone in our body. It makes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue take glucose (sugar) out of our blood. This sugar is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle. When that doesn’t hap-pen, the body will use fat reserves as energy source, rather than the glucose in the blood-
4 Insulin pen.
4 Diabetics need to test their blood sugar level regularly.
Photo Credit: © Lesscholz | Dreamstime.com
Photo Credit: © Jim Delillo | Dreamstime.com
THE CONTROLLER 11
4 ATC & Health
PREGNANCY IN ATC
^ by Barbara Baltes, Netherlands Guild of Air Traffi c Controllers
No doubt finding out you’re pregnant has a profound ef-fect on you. While you don’t feel any different, a pregnancy test assures you that, from now on, life will be different!
While you can’t wait to tell eve-ryone, there is a certain order to it: in my case, I paid my partner a visit at work and gave him the good news. Then, a couple of weeks later, I told my mum and again a couple of weeks later, we told the rest of the family and friends. In the Netherlands, people don’t generally ‘spread the news’ until they’ve passed the first 12 weeks, which are considered the most critical.
But what does this have to do with ATC? It turns out that being preg-nant has quite an influence on your medi-cal ‘status’.
ScreeningFirst of all, in the Netherlands, it’s compulsory to inform the medical services as soon as you find out you’re pregnant. You need to undergo a medi-cal examination to see whether you’re fit enough to continue working, for how long and un-der what conditions.
Although there were no physi-cal or visible effects, I had to inform a doctor before telling my family! Like people who are sick for more than 3 weeks, who’ve had surgery or who have been severely injured,
country. But in all likelihood, there are rules that apply from the moment a pregnancy test shows ‘positive’!
PolicyTo support you, IFATCA has the following policies on this matter:• Pregnancy is a normal female human con-
dition, which must not result in automatic suspension of an ATCO’s licence.
• Pregnant ATCO’s have the right to expect that the possible physiological problems associated with pregnancy will be accom-modated by their employers in the form of available relief staff.
• Pregnant ATCO’s should have the right to transfer temporarily from shift work to day-time working, if they so choose.
• Pregnant ATCO’s should have the right to transfer temporarily to non-operational positions, if they so choose.
• When recommended by a pregnant AT-CO’s own physician adequate leave with pay should be provided.
• Adequate maternity leave, together with protection of the equal-opportunity rights of pregnant ATCO’s should be provided.
• A pregnant ATCO should not, if she so chooses, work in front of cathode ray tube and/or visual display unit screens during her pregnancy. ^
I had to undergo a full medical screening. Strange, as I think becoming pregnant is one of the healthiest signs a body can give.
ShiftworkSecondly, you’re given the choice on whether or not to continue working night shifts. Re-search1 shows that irregular shifts may be associated with increased risk of spontane-ous abortion. For night shifts, these studies2 indicate that preterm births, late abortion and stillbirths may be related. It’s a difficult choice: you don’t know what’s coming or how you’ll feel over the coming weeks/months, but with rosters drawn up well in advance, the deci-sion needs to be made as soon as possible. There’s also an impact on colleagues, as they will need to work more nights. Personally, the decision to stop at 20 weeks turned out to be a good one. But it varies from person to per-son and with every pregnancy.
Maternity LeaveThirdly, you have to stop working at 34 weeks. Most other jobs allow you to con-tinue to 36 weeks, but there is no choice for air traffic controllers. Your maternity leave is six weeks before and ten weeks after your due date. Admittedly, by the time I got to 34 weeks, I was pretty happy to stop working, as morning duties after a bad nights’ sleep were getting very hard.
Lastly, in order to get your medical certificate back - after you’re fully recovered from the pregnancy – required a statement that the delivery was normal and that I had fully recov-ered. My midwife wasn’t too keen making such a declaration, fearing she might be held liable. But I got it sorted in the end and with that I got my medical certificate back! So, time to get back to work, back to normal life. Although… I don’t think life will ever be the same again!
While the above describes what happens in the Netherlands, rules may differ in your
4 Barbara’s son Robin, about to devour The Controller... Photo Credit: BB
But what does this have to do with ATC? It turns out that being preg-
suspension of an ATCO’s licence.Photo Credit: © Franky242 | Dreamstime.com
A SIGN OF HEALTH OR SICKNESS?
1 Laeger, U; ‘Does shift work cause spontaneous abortion, preterm birth or low birth weight?’, 2007 March 5;169(10):893-900.2 Scand J Work Environ Health, ‘Shift work and reproductive health’, 1998;24 Suppl 3:28-34.
I don’t think life will ever be the same again!
THE CONTROLLER12
4 ATC & Health
pilots, it is a true eye-opener and clearly shows that they are just as susceptible as their colleagues.
Controllers are not purposely exposed to this kind of extreme environment during training or in the course of their career. Team Resource Management sessions offer a good oppor-tunity to introduce them to the phenomenon. While some individuals typically refuse to acknowledge it may happen to them, discussing it openly and sharing experience among col-leagues can help bring aware-ness that such issues may occur. This is the first step towards dealing with the problem.
Some examples of what consti-tute impaired performance are:• Repetitive wrong clearances
to aircraft• Mixing or changing call signs• Jumpiness• Day dreaming• Difficulty in understanding
read backs, too many “say again”…
• …
Personal Red lightsBy experiencing controlled hy-poxia, aircrew members can learn to recognise the symptoms early in themselves as well as in colleagues. This in turn allows them to react early, when the situation can still be recovered from. If not detected in time, the situation might deteriorate and even lead to an incident.
In the case of Helios Airways Flight 522 a Boeing 737 flight that crashed on 14 August 2005, loss of cabin pressure leading to pilot unconsciousness is believed to be the cause of the accident. It is submitted the pilots in-volved would have been able to recover from that situation had they recognized the failure of the pressurization system and acted before their minds were too impaired by hypoxia.
Even though air traf-fic controllers are not subject to cabin pres-sure changes, impair-ment of their perform-ance might happen due to various rea-sons such as; lack of sleep, overload situa-tion, not feeling well physically, problems at home, etc.
Symptoms?Performance impairment can have many causes, which can be grouped as follows:• Physical – fatigue, headache…• Emotional – stress, moodiness, apathy,
nervousness, fatigue …• Cognitive – concentration, under stan ding…• Behavioural – eating, shouting, restless-
ness, jumpiness…
Note that these factors can be quite subtle and may occur in different combinations, possibly augmenting each other. Alone or in combina-tion, they have an affect on our performance and how we interact with our environment.
AwarenessAwareness of what is happening is the very first step. We can say that awareness is the most important, but also possibly the most difficult part in detecting personal impairment. There is a tendency to ignore the signs, “personal red lights”, mentioned above and to convince one self that nothing is wrong. Awareness to our self, “what is happening to me”? “Am I ok”?
In the case of pilot training, putting them through the actual experience shows the indi-vidual that they too can be affected. For many
Impaired personal performance is a phenom-enon that is difficult to define. In this article, I will try to explain and define some key ele-ments, bring these to the attention of the ATC community and try to highlight links between impaired performance and aviation safety.
What is impaired Personal Performance?Emergency situations are well known in the aviation industry, and emergency procedures were developed to support the persons in-volved. Similarly, detecting technical prob-lems is relatively easy: ground and airborne systems are designed to detect failures and to either activate backup systems or warn operators of the failures.
Unfortunately, humans in the centre of all this are also vulnerable to ‘failures’ and ‘mal-functions’, both physically and mentally. Are we sufficiently aware of the possibility of im-paired ‘personal’ performance on a day-to-day basis? Can we detect the alerts or signals produced by our body? What are the nec-essary/recommended procedures to follow? And can deterioration in human performance be considered as an increased risk for an inci-dent? Emergency?
Pressure chambers are used in military avia-tion training to highlight the awareness of physiological and cognitive impairments. In such controlled situations, the aircrew is asked to carry out tasks such as writing, read-ing and operating devices while the pres-sure is gradually decreasing. The purpose of these experiments is to allow the aircrew to experience this situation without the real-life consequences. Being aware of the physi-ological and cognitive impairment when pressure decreases teaches the individual to be vigilant of the situation in real life. Having faced this situation, the aircrew member can develop a personal alert/red traffic light to detect such impairment in him or among oth-er crew members and can develop tools how to avoid getting in to a more acute situation/emergency.
IMPAIRED PERSONAL PERFORMANCE
^ by Udi Zaga, ATCA Israel
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Photo Credit: © Filmfoto | Dreamstime.com
HOW TO DETECT AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT?
Photo Credit: © Ragsac19 | Dreamstime.com
THE CONTROLLER 13
Recovery/Avoiding Deterioration It’s clear that impaired performance can lead to trouble. Once an individual has accepted that performance may be impaired and has ac-tually identified some of the warning signals, he/she can try and develop strategies – coun-termeasures that can mitigate the situation.
Even before recognizing actual impaired performance, it may be important to recognize cir-cumstances in which it is more likely to occur:
• Complacency• Tendency to take risks• Lack of awareness• Over confidence• Lack of concentration• Overload• Low traffic• Stress• Fatigue• …
The highest level in the learn-ing process/detecting personal impairment is to recognize signs of personal impairment in others. Remarks or signs from colleagues can be an important marker to become aware of your own situation. These com-ments are not easy to accept if one is not aware that the prob-lem can occur.
While the problem may be rec-ognized by others, it’s impor-tant to try and recognize warn-ing signs in your own personal performance that indicate im-pairment. Once these red lights are known, one can continue on to developing avoiding/re-covery strategies.
Steps to self-aware-ness of impaired performance• Identify the symptoms; develop personal alerts• Identify changes in normal
behavior
4 ATC & Health
Making the Unconscious ConsciousMost commonly known as the ‘conscious com-petence learning model’, sometimes called ‘conscious competence ladder’ or ‘conscious competence matrix’, although other descrip-tions are used, including terminology relating to ‘conscious skilled’ and’conscious unskilled’. Whatever you call it, the ‘conscious compe-tence’ model is a simple explanation of how we learn, and a useful reminder of the need to train people in stages. The model has 4 stages:
Stage 1 – Unconscious IncompetenceThe person is not aware of a particular skill or of the fact that he/she even as a particu-lar deficiency. The person might even deny the relevance or usefulness of the new skill and must become conscious of their incom-petence before development of the new skill or learning can begin.
Stage 2 – Conscious IncompetenceThe person becomes aware of the existence and relevance of the skill.He/she is therefore also aware of their deficiency in this area, ide-ally by attempting or trying to use the skill and commits to learn the new skill, and to move to the ‘conscious competence’ stage.
Stage 3 – Conscious CompetenceThe person can use a skill reliably at will and without assistance, but it requires concen-
tration and attentiveness. The skill is not yet ‘second nature’ or ‘automatic’. He/she is able to demonstrate the skill to another, but is unlikely to be able to teach it well to another person. By practice, the individual can move to the next stage.
Stage 4 – Unconscious CompetenceThe skill becomes so practiced that it en-ters the unconscious parts of the brain – it becomes ‘second nature’, similar to driving, sports activities, typing, manual dexterity tasks, listening and communicating. It be-comes possible for certain skills to be per-formed while doing something else, for ex-ample, knitting while reading a book. He/she can teach others,although after some time of being unconsciously competent the person might actually have difficulty in explaining exactly how they do it – the skill has become largely instinctual. This arguably gives rise to the need for longstanding unconscious com-petence to be checked periodically.
Stage 5 As with many simple and effective models, attempts have been made to add to the conscious competence model, notably a fifth stage normally represented as: ‘Con-scious competence of unconscious compe-tence’, which describes a person’s ability to recognize and develop unconscious com-petence in others.
www.bussinessball.com
Photo Credit: © Cheryl Casey | Dreamstime.com
Examples of steps to recover from an im-paired performance situation:• Reset/Refocus; take a step back and review
strategies etc.• Refreshment: drinking water, standing,
stretching...• Talk about your situation: colleague, assistant.• Ask to be relieved from your position.• Swap position with a colleague – change of
tasks.
ConclusionBeing aware of impaired performance is an essential step in avoiding an increased risk of incidents or accidents.Team Resource Man-agement (TRM) should incorporate impaired performance awareness, detection and miti-gation modules for controllers and other team workers. Discussing the subject, shar-ing personal experience with colleagues can highlight the risk and allow personal insight/awareness. It will be easier to cope and to ac-cept the situation when one knows he/she is not alone.^
THE CONTROLLER14
4 ATC & Health
The Controller: With increased regulation and more stringent li-censing rules, is there an increase in claims?Greg Hill: We haven’t seen a change re-cently but it is cer-
tainly anticipated that claims frequency would increase. At present rates are holding rela-tively consistent.
TC: Is there a typical profile for a controller to file a loss of license claim for controllers: female, age groups or just random?GH: We don’t tend to split the statistics down to gender or age unless we become con-cerned about the profitability of our Lloyd’s of London facility. Anyone, at any time of his or her life can suffer a serious illness that could result in a loss of license claim.
TC: What is the most important reason for losing a license?GH: The most common causes for losing a li-cence tend to be heart conditions and cancer.
TC: Do you see any effects of privatisation on insurances?GH: In theory, there should not be any ef-fect as licencing standards are applied by the European regulator. It may however mean longer working hours, which in turn may re-sult in a higher claims frequency.
TC: Is the loss of license insurance purely medical? Or does it also cover loss of ratings/qualifications?GH: Loss of licence Insurance is purely on a medical basis.
licence regulations. Generally U.K and European clients are ac-ceptable along with a few other specific countries.
TC: Can you tell us what the ratio is between policies re-quested by employer, unions/associations and individual?GH: We have always special-ised in insuring individuals so our answer to number of poli-cies for us is 95% individuals. However many employers offer schemes – which normally build up slowly with the individuals first taking out their own cover, then the employer paying the premium, then it converting to a group scheme. Some associ-ations offer their own scheme – but our premiums are more than comparable and our flex-ibility of dealing with individu-als gives us the edge.
At the moment, with many companies under financial pres-sure, we find that they are not particularly keen to offer addi-tional benefits to their employ-ees. We therefore expect that it’ll be mainly individuals seek-ing our coverage in the near future.
TC: What is the typical cost of an insurance policy?GH: Currently, for a controller seeking a typical 100,000 EUR coverage, the premium would be between 300 and 800 euros per year plus tax, depending on his age.^
TC: If the loss happens to be temporary (say 1-2 years), what happens when the medical certificate is re-issued but the controller re-mains unemployed (e.g. too old for employ-er) or employed in a lower paid function? Do the insurance payments stop? GH: The insurance covers loss of medical certificate for medical reasons. Once the controller is considered fit to resume normal duties regardless of any other factors and assuming temporary benefits have been pur-chased, the payments would cease.
TC: What is the cost of typical loss of license insurance for an individual? Is it variable ac-cording to rating (tower, approach, radar, area controller)? GH: The cost is dependent upon two factors – the age of the controller and the sum in-sured they wish to purchase.
TC: Are there, as far as you know, countries or authorities that forbid their controllers from taking out such insurance?GH: Not to our knowledge, although we are prohibited in accepting clients from some countries depending upon our own insurance
LOSS OF LICENSE INSURANCE
^ Interview by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor
4 Greg Hill, Traffords LtdPhoto Credit: GH
4 Coverpage of a loss of license certifi cate.
GREG HILL, TRAFFORDS LTD LLOYD’S COVERHOLDER
“[Companies] are not particularly keen to
offer additional benefits to their employees.”
THE CONTROLLER 15
4 Just Culture
JUST CULTURE TAXONOMY
^ by Grama Alexandru, Bucharest Approach Controller
large compensations, with one of the pas-sengers asking for as much as 100,000 EUR for psychotherapy.
The public prosecutor’s office took action and started a criminal investigation. The prosecutor used information from the ANSP’s and Ministry of Transport’s reports as well as from other sources. The prosecutor’s point of view was that a human error is a mistake and mistakes must be punished. After a few months of investigation, the pros-ecutor charged the tower controller with “negli-gence on duty”, punishable by up to 10 years in prison according to the Romanian Penal Code.
As the ANSP’s report clearly identified: some-one other than the tower controller gave the clearance for the vehicle. So why was the latter charged? Given the poor visibility, no ground movement radar and no equipment to iden-tify runway status, there was no way the tower controller could’ve been aware of the danger. But, it seems that for the prosecutor, this was far from obvious. They took the easy way out and simply charged the last link in the chain: the tower controller, the one that issued the take-off clearance. The trial is still ongoing.
“Human error in various forms is a causal fac-tor in the majority of aircraft accidents, inci-dents, and safety occurrences. Much of the error by professionally trained and licensed operators (Flight crews, Air Traffic Control-lers, and aircraft/ATC maintenance techni-cians) arises from either the failure to apply standard operating procedures in the way intended or in the making of poor tactical judgements” (Skybrary, Human Error in Avia-tion and Legal Process)
What happens if...… an incident or accident occurs in aviation? Usually, more than one investigation takes place. First of all it is the local investigation, conducted by the ANSP, the second by the Ministry of Transport and in some cases, there’s a third by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Each of these three has a specific role:• The ANSP is looking for the causes and
gives recommendations so as not to have similar events in the future;
• The Ministry of Transport is also looking for the causes but on a wider perspective (possible third parties involved) and pro-vides recommendations so as not to have similar events in the future;
• The Public Prosecutor’s Office is looking for the one to be held accountable, there-fore is looking for guilt;
It is safe to say that both the ANSP and Minis-try of Transport investigations would be used by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in order to identify the people that should be charged.
With “Just Culture” in mind, one would as-sume that is doesn’t matter what is written in the ANSP or Ministry of Transport investiga-tion reports: as long as there is no wilful vio-lation or gross negligence, criminal charges shouldn’t be brought.
Well, this appears to be idle hope. The rea-son for this may be in our approach.
Just CultureStill according to Skybrary: “Under Just Cul-ture conditions, individuals are not blamed for honest errors, but are held accountable for wilful violations and gross negligence.”
December 30, 2007, Bucharest, Romania. At Otopeni Interna-tional Airport, TAROM flight 3107 bound for Sharm el Sheikh, is getting ready for departure. It’s a foggy morning with visibil-ity as low as 150 meters makes it impossible to see outside the tower. No surface movement radar is available either… The tower controller clears ROT3107 for takeoff unaware of the main-tenance vehicle that was cleared 30 min earlier to enter the run-way by another controller in the tower (TAXI controller). During the take-off roll, at around 90 kts, B737-300 hits the vehicle. The left main gear is torn off by the impact and the aircraft skids off the left side of the runway. After coming to a complete stop, the aircraft is evacuated.
The maintenance vehicle is completely destroyed and the aircraft is damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured or worse. Without casualties, insurance covering all damage and an ANSP conclusion of HUMAN ERROR, everyone assumed that no criminal investigation would be initiated against the controllers. And it wasn’t, un-til some of the passengers, looking to get some money out of it, went to the public prosecutor’s office and filed a complaint. They were seeking
4 View of otopeni international airport (lrop)Photo Credit: [gdfl ] joe mabel
IS JUST CULTURE HINDERED BY INVESTIGATION TERMINOLOGY?
THE CONTROLLER16
tor’s Office is using the ANSP and Ministry of Transport investigation reports as a guideline to build their case. Even if the actual report is not used as evidence in court – it usually states that it is not intended to attribute guilt – they might still call it an expert opinion. Therefore, if the ANSP report would say that is the case of a “honest mistake” or “human error”, given that there is no law to identify those terms, the Pros-ecutor’s Office would turn to the nearest term that makes sense for them, and that is mistake, fault, culpa, … In other words: guilt.
Next in the prosecutors’ argumentation is to attach the action/inaction that is considered a “mistake” to a crime, such as negligence or neg-ligent conduct. This way the “Just Culture” con-cept turns against us by providing ambiguous terms to the Prosecutor’s Office such as “human error” and “honest mistake” that are eventually perceived wrongly and used against us.
What is there to do?In those countries where the Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t accept the trade-off, we can say that it’s not likely a prosecutor will build their case from the hundreds maybe thousands of pages of ATC procedures that have to be analysed.
Or, according to Prof. James Reason: “Just Culture, an atmosphere of trust in which people are encouraged, even rewarded, for providing essential safety-related informa-tion – but in which they are also clear about where the line must be drawn between ac-ceptable and unacceptable behaviour.”
With this in mind, we can say that the “Just Culture” concept promises the Prosecutor’s Office that, if they do not bring those con-sidered guilty of “honest mistakes” to trial, they will in fact provide the opportunity for people to be more willing to report events. This trade-off should eventually lead to fewer incidents and accidents.
It’s a trade-off, where the Prosecutor’s Office plays an active role in aviation safety. Now, what happens in countries where the Prosecu-tor’s Office doesn’t accept such a trade-off?
Where things don’t go as plannedIf the Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t accept the trade-off, everything that “Just Culture” sug-gests falls apart. Therefore, a new approach must be used. It is safe to say that the Prosecu-
4 Airborne view of Otopeni airport (ca. 2006)Photo Credit: © tudorica alexandru | dreamstime.com
4 TAROM aircraft. Photo Credit: ksn15 | wikipedia
4 The B-737 was destroyed in the collision and had to be scrapped.Photo Credit: imageshack.us
Therefore, the prosecutors will most likely turn to the ANSP re-port and build from that. This then requires an alterna-tive approach from the ANSP’s report: in those cases were an honest mistake was identified, they should use terms in their reports that would make it im-possible for the prosecutor to associate them with guilt and afterwards with crimes.
For example, the Romanian Penal Code, and indeed most criminal codes around the world, recognizes an “error of fact”, which it describes as fol-lows: “It is not to be consid-ered a crime, when the person doesn’t know the existence of a circumstance of which the penal character of the deed depends upon.” It is submitted that the prosecution would find it difficult to build the case on a report that identifies the action/inaction of a controller as not being a punishable mistake.
As a conclusion, I propose com-paring the two terms “human error” and “error of fact” and in those countries where “Just Culture” is not embraced, if it would make a difference, why not use it? ^
4 Just Culture
“This trade-off should eventually lead to fewer incidents and accidents.”
THE CONTROLLER 17
50th Anniversary edition IFATCA
Promotional OpportunitiesPromote your company, products and services by advertising in the IFATCA 50th Anniversary edition and benefi t from:• Connection to more than 50,000 air traffi c controllers worldwide• Distribution to key ATM events in 2011 & 2012• Special circulation to key infl uences across the industry• Penetration into developing country markets
The current global expenditure of ATC equipment is estimated at $5 billion a year.
IFATCA 50th Anniversary edition, c/o McCullough Moore Ltd, Faygate Lane, Faygate, West Sussex RH12 4SJ, United KingdomTel: +44 (0)1293 854407 Fax: +44 (0)1293 852375 Email: [email protected]
TO FIND OUT MORE, CALL +44 (0)1293 854407
Photo courtesy of EUROCONTROL
To mark and celebrate IFA CA’s 50th birthday, a special anniversary edition
of The Controller will be published and distributed to an exclusive readership
including all IFATCA members plus key professionals associated with
the ATM industry. This special edition will be published and distributed in October 2011.
IFATCA_A4_Advert.indd 1 28/11/2010 17:11
T
4 IFATCA 50
The celebrations for IFATCA’s 50th anniver-sary are well on their way and among those will be a very special issue of The Controller that will be published in October 2011.
THE CONTROLLER 50TH Anniversary issue will be a very large special issue around 100 pages, which will contain 3 main parts.
The first Part will cover the history of the Fed-eration: what we did in the last 50 years, includ-ing interviews and words from past presidents. Numerous old photographs to try and remind the old generation of controllers the “good old days” but also to show the current generation on how things were done before computers existed.
Don’t miss this very special and unique anniversary issue! Anyone wanting to adver-tise or to contribute to this project, please contact us at [email protected]
The second Part will cover the present: an overview of what we do at the moment and a unique survey of the state of our member associations today (staff shortage, safety issues, etc…). We plan to circulate a sur-vey among each and everyone of our 134 Member Associations soon to collect this information.
Scattered throughout the magazine, there will also be one-page interviews with photos on how is it to be a controller today in 12 (very) different countries around the world.
The Third Part will be on the future, the IFATCA vision: how do controllers but also others in the industry see our future.
Don’t miss this very special
50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL THE CONTROLLER UPDATE^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor
4 The PRESENT: Controlling traffi c over the Oceans on HF today (Santa Maria Oceanic Control Centre). Photo Credit: DP
4 THE PAST: Controlling traffi c with Morse code (Schiphol-Oost radio station, Netherlands ca. 1950). Photo Credit: DP
4 The FUTURE? Controlling traffi c using the remote control tower concept. Photo Credit: SAAB AG
THE CONTROLLER 19
Coinciding with the Interna-tional Day of the Controller, the Indian Air Traffic Controllers
On October 20th 2010, the Mo-roccan Controllers Association organized an open day at their ACC with a debate forum on the theme: “ATC automation dream or reality?” They invited all the authorities but also civil society: medical doctors, archi-tects, other airport companies
invited IFATCA President, Alexis Brathwaite, to participate as a guest of honour. All those who attended agreed unanimously that the days were a real success. ^
Guild organized a 2 day event on 20 and 21st October 2010. Central theme was “ India’s Initiatives for Infrastructure for ATM, Airports and Airlines”. For this grand occasion, they
(including airlines and pilots associations) and even a local school to participate. The open day included visit to the ATC facilities (TWR and ACC) to show what the profession is re-ally like. About 250 people responded, in-cluding 50 school students. National TV and radio stations covered the event. Speeches from Director General Air Navigation and Di-rector General Airports showed a real respect
^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor
CELEBRATING THE DAY OF THE CONTROLLER
4 Controller Day 2010
INDIA
Photo Credit: Alexis B.
MOROCCO
4 School kids in front of Casablanca ACC.Photo Credit: DP20
THE CONTROLLER
The Uganda Air Traffic Control-lers Association (UGATCA) cel-ebrated the International Fed-eration of Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (IFATCA) golden jubilee with various corporate social responsibility activities that included a thorough clean-ing of Bugonga Beach and the donation of fifty life jackets and four fishing nets to Fishermen in Entebbe on 20th October 2010. Civil Aviation Authority’s Manag-ing Director, Dr. Rama Makuza, described the beach cleaning gesture by the Controllers as a “demonstration of commitment to ensuring that the airport envi-ronment is clean, which helps in minimizing the convergence of birds in the airport vicinity to re-duce on their danger to aircraft movements.” A tree-planting event was also held. The aim of this initiative was to help to off-set the impact of aviation on our environment. ^
The debate after the presentation was in-tense with the pro and cons towards full automation. A traditional Moroccan meal, served under traditional tents concluded this very well organized event. No doubt more of the general public will realise after this day that controllers are not the only ones respon-sible for delayed flights. ^
4 Philippe giving an interview to Moroccan 1st TV station. Photo Credit: DP
for the controllers’ work. The theme centred on human competence in the face of automa-tion, and good communications. An interesting anecdote: when the new Director Airports Of-fice (ONDA) took up his duties, he wanted to learn a few ATC abbreviations before a meet-ing with the controllers. He logged onto the IFATCA web site, where he found a document called ‘Abbreviations and Acronyms’. When he discovered the document contained 237 pag-es, he quickly realised that ATC was not that easy to understand!
4 Meeting inside the tents.Photo Credit: DP
4 Controller Day 2010
4 Original initiative – beach cleaning event in Uganda.Photo Credit: ugatca
4 Tree planting event at Bugonga Beach.Photo Credit: ugatca
4 50 life jackets were donated to the fi sh-ermen of Entebbe. Photo Credit: ugatca
UGANDA
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“Strong Unions – Sustain-able Transport!” Under this theme, the world’s transport unions met in Mexico City, Mexico for the 42nd Congress of the International Transport Workers’ Federation. The ITF, founded in 1896, meets every four years. Some 1376 partici-pants from 368 trade unions in 112 countries attended this first congress in Latin Ameri-ca. At the first plenary of the Congress, president Randall Howard and general secretary David Cockroft presented the activity report of successes since the last congress and the theme document: “Strong Unions – Sustainable Trans-port”. The theme document is the main discussion document at congress and sets the ITF work agenda for the next four years. Delegates were invited to make critical contributions to the work program for 2011 – 2014.
The activity report of Section’s Secretary, Gabriel Mocho-Rodriguez, highlighted the key achievements of the section. He thanked Ingo Marowsky, the former section secretary, who is now the ITF’s Organising Globally coordinator and Joe Magee, who supports the section on Air Traffic Services matters. During the report, it was pointed out that the section was facing challenges through the economic crisis, the expansion of the low-cost carrier model and in-creasingly strong neo-liberal trends in the indus-try, manifested through growing liberalisation and privatisation. The section has re-focussed its work to prioritise supporting organising efforts by affiliates with strategic targets identified in a number of regions. This resulted in a number of successful campaigns and events since 2006. Its work programme intends to consolidate efforts and to build upon successes for the forthcoming inter-congress period.
Civil Aviation Work Programme and PrioritiesThe following item from the ITF work pro-gramme and priorities could well be of inter-est to IFATCA and her membership:“ILO/ITF CA programmes and Influence in ICAO regulation” with the aim to “achieve
Civil Aviation Section The federation’s six sections – civil aviation, dockworkers, fishers, inland navigation, rail-way workers and seafarers – each had its own day of conference. In the Civil Aviation Sec-tion, there are three industrial subsections – Air Traffic Services, Cabin Crew and Ground Staff, each with its own chair.
Civil Aviation Section ConferenceOutgoing Section Chair Carla Winkler presided over the Civil Aviation Section conference for the final time. She observed that despite the rise in productivity, the wages of aviation work-ers were on a downward trend and highlighted the detrimental impact of the current economic crisis, on-going deregulation and intense com-petition on aviation workers’ jobs and employ-ment conditions, including the growing prob-lem of fatigue. She emphasised the importance of unions playing their role if the Section’s work programme for the 2010-2014 congress period was to be successfully implemented. Sito Pan-toja was elected as the new Section Chair; Greg Myles, president of the Canadian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association, was re-elected as the ATS subsection chair until the next Congress.
^ by Alexis Brathwaite, IFATCA PCX
INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT WORKERS’ FEDERATION
ITF CONGRESS 2010
4 ITF
ITF will promote the findings of their fatigue and stress study at
regional and national level.
In 2007, IFATCA and the International Transport Workers’ Federation signed a memorandum of understanding recognising the respective strengths of each organisation in representing aviation workers allowing collaboration to our mutual benefit. In this article we report on two recent ITF conferences.
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focussed upon the future of the aviation industry – key trends, challenges and opportunities for unions. Professor Greg Bamber, Director of Research Depart-ment of Management, Monash University, Australia, led the workshop. Professor Bamber is also a co-author of the book ‘Up in the Air – How Airlines Can Im-prove Performance by Engaging Their Employees’.
Additional ThemeAlong with organising globally to build strong unions, the other strong theme, evident through-out the congress, was the focus on electing women and youth. This is not only encouraged, but specifically mandated in the rules. The final plenary elected its new executive board under the presidency of Paddy Crum-lin the national secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia. Fi-nally, the congress closed with a mass rally through the streets of Mexico City to call for trade union rights. ^
sionals (e.g. licensing)”; and the “promotion of fatigue and stress issues” to ensure that “the findings of the fatigue and stress study are promoted at regional and national level.”
Civil Aviation Section WorkshopThe title of one single-day civil aviation work-shop at the Congress was “Labour and the future of the aviation industry”. The main presentation and discussion of this workshop
three developed joint ILO/ITF initiatives on is-sues related to social dialogue and health and safety.” The ITF would seek to achieve “co-ordinated initiatives with other International Federations”. Further, “influence” at the ILO/ICAO level should show agreed results.
Other priorities are the “defence of profes-sionalism of aviation workers” which should achieve “national/regional initiatives support-ed to recognise aviation workers as profes-
4 Plenary meeting of the 42nd ITF Congress in Mexico. Photo Credit: AB
between IFATCA and ITF and to benefit controllers around the globe. ITF Civil Aviation principals will meet with the new IFATCA Executive Board in Amman, Jordan after the close of IFATCA’s 50th Anniversary Conference. Plans were devel-oped for the parties to meet in Europe next year; and EVP Eu-rope, Željko Oreški, will attend the 2011 ATS Committee meet-ing in London. IFATCA is also working with ITF to ensure ATM issues are addressed in the ILO’s next work program and upcom-ing tripartite meetings pertain-ing to civil aviation. ^
every November at the ITF House in London. This year, IFATCA Executive Vice President Fi-nance, Darrell Meachum, attended the function on IFATCA’s behalf on November 11 and 12, 2010. Mr. Meachum has an extensive labour background, having served in various capacities for the National Air Traffic Controllers Associa-tion (NATCA), including 6 years as a member of NATCA’s National Executive Board.The meeting yielded several specific commit-ments intended to further the cooperation
ITF AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES COMMITTEE CONFERENCE
^ by Darrell Meachum, IFATCA EVP Finance
The ITF Civil Aviation Section conference estab-lished a dedicated sectional committee for ATS employees at the ITF Congress in Vancouver in August 2002. The purpose of the committee is to afford ATS workers autonomy within the international union movement to develop their own industrial policies and guarantee their voice in ITF decision making structures.
The Civil Aviation Section, including the ITF Air Traffic Services Committee, typically meets
4 ITF Civil Aviation Section Joint Plenary at ITF House, London. Photo Credit: DM
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by Dale Wright, NATCA Director of Safety and Technology
The entire aviation industry in the United States is keeping a very close eye on the progress of NextGen initiatives. Many of the industrial working groups have been instrumental in providing the Federal Aviation Administra-tion (FAA) with input on how the initiatives will affect their domain. The National Air Traffic Control-lers Association (NATCA) has stressed the importance of con-troller involvement at the front end of these initiatives. Since October of 2009, NATCA has experienced a renewed effort by the FAA to get con-trollers involved via Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) simulations, demonstrations and Safety Risk Management (SRM) Pan-els. NATCA remains ready and willing to participate. NATCA’s membership with RTCA has resulted in benefits for the con-trollers. Through participation in the Task Force 5 initiative and the associated Working Groups, controllers had their input included. NATCA remains concerned with some of the ini-tiatives but this should not be confused with opposition. The role of the controller in the DataComm initiative is very in-teresting. While there was an ef-
fort to have Controller Pilot DataLink Commu-nications (CPDLC) up and running several years ago, the domestic airspace in the United States does not use DataComm type systems. Con-trollers have participated in several demonstra-tions with the last one being held in January 2010 where controllers were placed in an ap-proach control or terminal radar environment using DataComm. The results were mixed but there was progress in addressing controller concerns such as head-down time and priority of duties. At times the controllers participating in the demonstration found it more efficient to issue instructions via radio rather than send a DataComm message. Staffed NextGen Towers (SNT) is another initiative being researched in the United States. The control of aircraft in the airport area and on the surface seems to belong in an air traffic control tower. This initiative utilizes ground surveillance, both ASDE-X and future ADS-B equipment along with ap-proach radar to provide the controller with information which can be used to control the aircraft from a location other than a tower. The controllers are concerned with visual clues that are used everyday such as pos-sible gear up landings, bird activity, aircraft emergencies such as an engine smoking or on fire that will not be available using the SNT technologies. NATCA has participated in two demonstrations, which were held at the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Tower. These studies were beneficial in stressing the need for certain types of equipment that could be used to improve service in a tower environ-ment. The FAA has not made a decision on whether this technology will be deployed at this time. Benefits for the FAA are mainly fi-nancial due to the possibility of not having to construct control towers at airports. NATCA has not offered its support to this initiative but does believe the demonstrations are providing benefits as far as equipage.
^ by Dale Wright, NATCA Director of Safety and Technology^
NATCA’S ROLE IN NEXTGEN
“NATCA has provided over 100 members for
NextGen projects.”
Photo Credit: © Lars Lindblad | Dreamstime.com
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In April of 2010, NATCA was able to select a member to serve as our National NextGen Representative. Mr. Melvin Davis, a control-ler from Southern California TRACON (SCT) was selected by NATCA’s leadership to work directly in the NextGen office providing con-troller input to all the NextGen programs. Through Mr. Davis’s work, the Safety and Technology Department at NATCA has been able to stay out in front of the projects and have controllers willing to participate when the need for volunteers is noted. NATCA has provided over 100 members for NextGen projects. The need for controller involvement in NextGen is the same as what IFATCA is currently doing with SESAR. Through IFATCA, NATCA has also increased our ability to compare/monitor SESAR and NextGen initiatives. For the global harmoni-zation of air traffic control it is imperative that NATCA and the European Member Associa-tions increase communication on the technolo-gies being developed. IFATCA has worked for several years to increase controller involve-ment with SESAR and has benefited from the contracts signed by the parties. NATCA’s work on NextGen will be reported to the IFATCA Executive Board at its January meeting. ^
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teroperability of ATM systems throughout the entire world’s airspace. Secondly, we need to make sure the right people are getting hired, educated and trained in the right ways, and have them participate in the necessary continuous sys-tem’s improvements. Third is how functionality can be added to the controller workstations that improve communication, separation and flow manage-ment tasks in a way that is compatible with what they are providing now. Fourth is the energy and creativity shown by the sector’s industry to recover from the economic and financial downturn. And last is to recog-nise that safety is not a single unity. Safety is not an accident: safety is a focus, a continuous improvement. It is watching, listening, keeping vigilant and aware, retraining, recertifying, focusing on concrete targets and the right set of actions.”
Many of the subjects covered will be revisited in Amster-dam (ATC Global, March 8-11, 2011). The working papers of the 55th ATCA Conference should be available on the As-sociation’s website www.atca.org by January, 2011. ^
ogy and procedures; workforce issues and challenges; weather and environment; the integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS); and airports (where NextGen begins and ends).
The speakers came from national and international organizations and industries, including prominent roles for FAA and NATCA representatives. Keynote addresses were made by prominent personal-ities: Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood highlighted President Obama’s $50 billion infrastructure program. It includes restoring 150 miles of runways and advancing Next-Gen. The latter is expected to cost some $20 billion to implement. By reducing flight delays by 21% by 2018, it aims to bring $22 billion in benefits. Jim May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association noted that “the NextGen plan is not solid” and that “focus-ing on collaboration will bring benefits before 2018 and 2020. The only way to see them now is for aircraft to be equipped with ADS-B, but operators won’t buy and install new equip-ment because FAA requirements are hazy”.
Rick Ducharme, the new senior VP Opera-tions in the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) stated that controllers graduating from the FAA Academy will need to be trained to a higher level than they are today. He added: “safety needs to be the number one thing we do”. He called for less focus on programs and more need for adaptive and behaviour-al changes. In that sense, the results of the Partnership for Safety program described by Robert Tarter, vice president of FAA Office of Safety, were very encouraging.
At the end of the conference, the Gilbert Award was presented to Neil Planzer, VP of Boeing’s ATM division, for his life-long achievements in Air Traffic Control. ATCA Chairman Peter Challan summarised: “Five things are the most important outcome of this conference. First, continuous international collaboration is required in order to ensure in-
Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) has some 3,200 members worldwide, including aircraft and avionics industries, airlines, air-ports, institutions, associations and inviduals. All of them are actively involved in fostering and developing air traffic management sys-tems, their components, their implementa-tion and operation. The Association’s 55th
Annual Conference and Exposition was held in the prestigious Gaylord Hotel on the Potomac River eastern waterfront (Maryland) a few miles south of Washington, D.C.
Main topic was an update of the NextGen devel-opment in terms of technologies, organization and workforce. Over 1,400 delegates attended the conference and swarmed the exhibition floor. Over 50 working papers were presented in nine sessions during three days. Beside Nex-Gen, the subjects were: global harmonization of policies, procedures, automation and eq-uipage; safety (considering all aviation system users, suppliers and service providers); Technol-
^ by Andrea Artoni, ANACNA, Italy
ATCA 2010 CONFERENCEOCTOBER 24-27, MARYLAND USA
4 Example of trajectory-based computerized study of a complex airspace.
4 Visualization of a runway incursion alerting system. Photo Credit: SELEX
4 Neil R. Planzer receives the Glen A. Gilbert Award from Peter Challan.
Photo Credit: BARCO
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IFATCA Board members, such as Kurt Kihr (RVP EUR East 1987-90) and Günter Melchert (EVP EUR 1994-98). Marc Baumgartner, former IFATCA President gave a speech in which he said: “As an association, you are striving to change public perception of ATC. If today’s media and politicians gather around to acknowledge your celebration, then this is a rewarding harvest of your tireless efforts to show what value society now has in our pro-fession and a testament of your influence.” The evening continued with a more mod-ern musical “clubbing” and continued well into the night. All in all, a very stylish way to celebrate a 50th birthday. ^
The Austrian Air traffic Controllers’ Association was founded in 1960 as VÖFVK (Verband öster-reichisher Flugverkehrs-kontrollore). One year later, it was one of the 12 associations that found-ed IFATCA. In 2000, they changed their name to AATCA (Austrian Air traffic Controllers’ Associa-tion). Today, they have some 300 members. To celebrate their 50th birthday in style, they chose one of Vienna’s many historical buildings: the “Palmenhaus” or ex botanical gardens pal-ace. Over 250 guests attended, most of which were of course Austrian controllers. They were joined by local and international personalities, such as IFATCA President Alexis Brathwaite. In his welcome speech he said: “Austria was among the 12 controller associations that founded IFATCA in 1961; this showed that con-trollers in this country have always embraced the concept that we are stronger working to-gether and that collaborating locally, regionally and internationally benefits us all.” A classical music quartet welcomed the guests prior to dinner. Besides retired col-leagues, it was very pleasant to see former
Before we left, Alexis and I had the opportunity to visit the new Vienna airport control tower. Located over 100m above the passenger ter-minals, it is very stylish and hard to miss. And it’s not only the architecture that is modern: it is equipped with an ATC system that is both modern and unique. Paperless, strip-less and and the large room is relatively quiet. The Sur-face Movement Radar has a very quiet antenna on the TWR cab roof and multi-lateration is also used. All vehicles on the ground require an SSR transponder. The system uses various touch screens, including a very large iPad-like screen (30 x 30 cm). Electronic strips can be moved around and updated using a plastic stylus. This is a locally designed system that is praised by the controllers as a very friendly tool, much better than old paper strips. It also eliminates a lot of voice coordination. Only one concession is made to the past: a bell, to indicate when an aircraft is going around. It is still the best way to warn everybody, especially the controller of the other runway(s)! ^
^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor ^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor
AUSTRIAN CONTROLLERS’ ASSOCIATION TURNS 50
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VIENNA AIRPORT CONTROL TOWER
4 New Vienna control tower.
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4 Tower working position.
4 Go-around bell.
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ranted and indefensible attacks on air traffic controllers and our profession.”
As witnessed by several criminal prosecution cases, ‘Just Culture’ is still very much lacking in many States - Romania and Italy to name but two. Many associations also reported missing genuine, committed relations between em-ployers and employees. This was illustrated by the numerous reports by several associations of negotiated working conditions being erod-ed or even annulled. Most striking examples were countries like Belgium, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Romania and Spain. Genuine concern existed among attendees that these developments have a very real and significant impact safety.
Many controller associations also reported specific problems in their country: Spain for in-stance was again in the news. Their employer, AENA, has decided to enforce single man op-erations (so-called mono-sectors) in 13 of the 14 sectors of Madrid ACC. It’s an important part of AENA’s plans to tackle the staff short-age and would reduce their reliance on over-time. A proper safety case was missing and
Slovenia is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but what it lacks in size, it makes up with a magnificent landscape. The IFATCA re-gional meeting this year was held in the thou-sand year old city of Bled, in the Alps near the Austrian border. The city lies on the shore of a beautiful lake, which is surrounded by an old castle and a few churches. It could easily be the setting of a Disney fairytale movie.
Thirty-eight European countries were represent-ed by 135 participants from all over the ATM spectrum. The event was extremely well organ-ized by the Slovenian Association (SLOATCA): 15% of their members directly assisted in the organizing committee! Many industry part-ners contributed to the meeting, making well-received presentations. Organizations present included EUROCONTROL, the European Com-mission, European Aviation Safety Agency, Eu-ropean Cockpit Association, Air Traffic Control-lers European Unions Coordination, etc.
Reacting to several very harsh statements made by the CEO of a major European low cost airline (Ryanair) over the past weeks and months, IFATCA Executive Vice-President Europe Željko Oreški said: “The economic environment is being used to make unwar-
^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor
EUROPEAN REGIONAL MEETING 2010BLED, SLOVENIA
4 Bled castle. All Photo Credits: DP
4 Blejsko Jezero (or Lake Bled).
4 Željko Oreški, IFATCA EVP Europe (right) at the head table.
after a series of protests, includ-ing threats of industrial action, the company backtracked and postponed the implementation. It is not clear is the project is just delayed or cancelled. Greece also made the headlines after a series of total failures of its main ATC system. Currently, they are 67 controllers short in Athens. Of the current workforce, 40% is over 50 years old and 20 con-trollers are due to retire by the end of 2010. By law, voted in as part of the measures to combat the economic and financial crisis, they are only allowed to replace 1 in 5 people that retire...
During the debates on these issues, a number of solutions were proposed. These will be voted on during the next IFA-CA Annual Conference in Am-man, Jordan in April 2010. ^
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As has become traditional, during the European Regional meeting, I made a VFR flight in Slovenia. Organized by a long-time friend, Dalibor Jovanovic, whose brother Primoz runs the flight training school of Adria Airways (the national airline of Slovenia). He arranged a new Piper warrior III (PA28) and a young enthusiastic local flight instructor to act as safety pilot. We took off from Ljubljana Int’l airport (LJLJ) towards Bled, the location of the Regional meet-ing, a 10 min hop, overflying the famous lake and its castle at low level. The weather was perfect, with no wind and full autumn sunshine. The first snow of the season had just covered the tops of the surrounding Alps.
Heading into a valley with rather steep walls, we climbed to 6000ft to make it over the 5500ft pass in between snow covered 2500m (8000ft) peaks close to the Austrian Border. Then it was a slow descent to-wards the Adriatic Sea, turning sharply to the south to avoid Italian airspace and Trieste air-
AVGAS fuel costs between 1,9 and 2 euro/litre (the European average). The landscape over -flown and the friendliness of the con-trollers in Ljubljana information frequency and towers make it a very good choice to fly VFR. Just look carefully at the map to avoid inadvertently entering neighbouring FIRs, which are all very close by!
Many thanks to Dalibor and Primoz for or-ganizing this flight. If you pass in Slovenia you can contact the school by phone: +386 41636420 or e-mail: [email protected] ^
port (LIPQ). We then de-scended towards the small airport of Porto-roz (LJPZ) for a visual circuit, the base leg of which is partly above Croatian airspace. We took time to visit the local tower, all very mod-ern and simple. Then, we took off again towards Ljubljana, joining the downwind and orbiting 1000ft above ground to get a slot in between arriving Airbus and Regional jets. Diving down fast, we had no problems in landing a PA28 on a 3000m runway! A perfect flight. Filing a VFR Flight plan for flights from and into uncontrolled airspace is not man-datory as such, but strongly recommended for search and rescue when overflying mountain-ous area (and 60% of Slovenia is mountain-ous). Most of the airspace has radar coverage so requesting an SSR code and contacting the INFO en-route frequency helps receiving traffic info to keep clear of other traffic. The service is free, as is landing in all the small local airports (there are 12 In Slovenia). Only a modest land-ing fee is required at Portoroz, Maribor and Ljubljana airports.
^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor^ by Philippe Domogala, Deputy Editor
FLYING VFR IN SLOVENIA
We had no problems in landing a PA28 on a
3000m runway!
4 The aircraft with Dalibor. All Photo Credits: Dalibor J.4 Overfl ying the pass at 6000ft.
4 Overfl ying the Venetian city of Piran on the Adriatic.
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Management and Safety Management Serv-ice concepts for AFIS aerodromes
• Information about AFIS throughout Europe • Initial and refresher/development training
One of the seminar’s success factors was the participants’ open attitude and desire to share information about local AFIS practices. All 16 participating states showed the same keen interest in learning more about how AFIS is developed and handled outside their own country. The seminar brought to light some remarkable differences in AFIS practices. Cay Boquist, a Eurocontrol specialist in AFIS regulation, lead a discussion on the idea of a Eurocontrol AFIS manual. With great interest, the content of the manual was analysed. Fu-ture lines that have to be covered and further developments were also discussed. Seminar participants felt that now more than ever there is a need to have a harmonised AFIS network throughout Europe. All participants also agreed that the sharing of best practice working methods should be mandatory. Entry Point North had the opportunity to deliver a brief lecture about “Safety Manage-ment Service” and related “Aerodrome Re-source Management” issues. It highlighted the increasing need to address these topics more thoroughly in the AFIS environment. The semi-nar gave participants the opportunity to attend workgroups and discuss a selection of impor-tant issues, including: training and competency within ATS training, pilot perspective and the afore-mentioned Safety Management Service and Aerodrome Resource Management. The results from the different group discussions were then presented to everyone, leading to fruitful discussions among all participants. Morten Nielsen, AFIS manager at Sønder-borg Airport, delivered a presentation concern-ing the use of radar when providing AFIS. An AFIS service with the aid of radar has been in use at Sønderborg in Denmark for many years. He gave exam-ples of various work-ing situations along with phraseology. The seminar’s main conclusion is that the local
On the 21st and 22nd of September, Entry Point North AB - Nordic ATS Academy host-ed the biggest Aerodrome Flight Informa-tion Service (AFIS) seminar in Europe. AFIS is an information service delivered to assist the safe and efficient conduct of traffic in an uncontrolled aerodrome environment. Among the 62 participants were AFIS op-erators, air traffic controllers, training acad-emy delegates, pilots, Air Navigation Service Provider managers, Civil Aviation Authority representatives, training instructors, a Euro-control AFIS regulation specialist and many other aviation related personnel. Sixteen states from across Europe were represented: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Fin-land, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom. The seminar offered participants the oppor-tunity to exchange experiences and informa-tion regarding best practice working methods within their different AFIS environments. What started out as a simple idea to create a harmo-nious environment in which to bring together professionals from the aviation industry, quickly received an overwhelming amount of interest, and turned into a world-class event.
The seminar agenda included subjects about: • Dissemination of local AFIS practices with-
in the participating countries • The upcoming Eurocontrol guidelines for
AFIS• Experiences from the use of ATS surveil-
lance systems• AFIS and the pilot’s perspective • Information about the Aerodrome Resource
^ by Calina Gavril, Entry Point North, Nordic ATS Academy
“AFIS TODAY!” SEMINARAN AFIS NETWORK THROUGHOUT EUROPE
4 Seminar welcome from Anne Kathrine Jensen - Managing Director Entry Point North. All Photo Credits: EPN
4 Group foto of the AFIS seminar attendees.
execution of AFIS should be carried out in conjunction with a set of common regulations. As such, the highly anticipated Eurocontrol AFIS manual is expected to be a major step towards the harmonisation of AFIS practices. The “AFIS today!” seminar hosted by Entry Point North has provided the first step, and set the course for what we all hope will soon grow into the biggest AFIS network in Europe. The seminar was exceptionally well received by its participants and was considered to be a brave initiative on the part of its or-ganizers and hosts. Following last years’ seminar on Just Culture & ATC Train-ing, Entry Point North started a series of ATS events. For the next year, we are looking into new topics considered to be of great interest to aviation pro-fessionals worldwide. You’re ideas and feedback are wel-come at [email protected].
For further information re-garding Entry Point North, our courses and material from the previous events, please visit www.trynorth.com. ^
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You may have seen this movie: three characters, each with a unique nature, pursuing the same target. In air traffic con-trol, these characters can be in-carnated by a single controller throughout his career, most of-ten by leaders of associations or unions.
~ THE GOOD ~At the beginning of his career, a controller shows commit-ment to the job, he sticks to the SARPs and pays attention to all local procedures. He is happy and proud to have been selected to some local ATC task force. He does this not for bonus, but because he likes his job. Everybody sees him as “the good Controller” and he deserves the title. However, working conditions and bad management practices seem to conflict with the goal: air traffic safety enhancement. The search for a safe system brings the « good » controller to challenge the hierarchy’s ATC policies. He mobilises his colleagues within the associa-tion to make their point of view understood. In so doing, the « good » ATCO becomes the leader and this leads to con-frontations with management about poor working conditions, poor salary, unfair treatment and other grievances resulting in disputes and even strikes.
~ THE BAD ~Following a dispute, manage-ment’s power is undermined and they look for the scape-goat, obviously the leader. He is charged with indiscipline,
adverse effect on the behaviour of his mem-bers, consciously or not, and the great loser is air traffic safety. That is why it is important to the leader and other controllers to reverse course back to the initial status of “good” con-troller, without necessarily going through the same path. Without being exhaustive, the fol-lowing attitudes could be helpful:
A controller should always remember the commitment to safety and should not wilfully jeopardise it.
He must regain self-confidence and stick to SARPs and all local procedures.
He can adopt a safety culture even if this is not yet management’s policy; soon or later his example will be followed.
He should try to consider his current pro-fessional situation not as a disaster, but as preparation for a new professional life full of success and wisdom.
Thus the “good” Controller who became the “ugly” can and must be born again; this depends only on him and not on what one thinks of him. For the sake of air safety let’s always play the “good” in the movie no mat-ter the prevailing circumstances in our ca-reer. The “good” always keeps the treasure in the end. ^
insubordination, and acts of betrayal. He is now a troublemaker – the « bad » control-ler and must be punished accordingly. Sanc-tions range from salary suspension, career setback, poor performance evaluation, dis-ciplinary posting or dismissal. The “good” controller is now called the “bad” one and feels all these sanctions as if the sky has fallen upon his head; he feels humiliated and disap-pointed. He wants to give up; but, because of financial constraints, he cannot. This new professional life is lived in negative medita-tion; remembering all past events with lots of regrets. His mental and psychological down-turn leads to some professional distortions.
~THE UGLY ~Despite all this the “bad” controller has to fulfil his duty to prevent new sanctions. There is no psychological follow up; so there are im-mediate visible effects on the system. Clear-ances, instructions and information are now given to the pilots in an approximate man-ner. Conflicts between traffic are detected late or not at all. The risks of errors are high! He becomes a threat to safety; he is now seen as the « ugly » controller. Something must be done without delay and two options are possible: Expulsion or rehabilitation! In many cases the first solution is obviously chosen because the second one could be seen as a lack of authority. The “good”, “the bad” controller who has become the “ugly” is finally out of the ATC system. In some rare cases where the second option is adopted, implementation is done in such a way that the threat of new sanctions remains high. In both cases the leader is definitely down un-less he adopts a positive attitude.
~THE REVERSE COURSE~Given that the air traffic safety was the goal can we say that the leader was successful? Obvi-ously, the answer is no. The other controllers look to him as a leader, because of his determi-nation, professional discipline and self-sacrifice. A leader who performs poorly can only have an
^ by Serge TCHANDA, ASECNA (Cameroon)
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
4 Opinion
Photo Credit: © MGM
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The origins of the word hijack are not entirely clear. One explanation is bank robbers would say something like “Stick ‘em up high, Jack”, which was then shortened to “High, Jack”. An-other possibility is that it came from the slang word “jack”, meaning “to rob with a weapon”. In any case, hijack had something to do hold-ups. In the 1920’s, during the prohibition pe-riod in the USA, hijack meant seizing a truck, or perhaps a boat, carrying illegal liquor, and make off with it. It was an action of one crimi-nal gang against another. When the Prohibi-tion ended in 1933, the meaning of the term widened to include any illegal takeover of a vehicle, even one with a legitimate cargo. A hijacker was a kidnapper of a vehicle.The phenomenon then seems to disappear until after WWII. Between 1948 and 1957 there were 15 hijackings worldwide, an aver-age of a little more than one per year. Most cases involved people attempting to escape communist rule established by the Soviet Un-ion in the aftermath of WWII.
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^ by Philip Marien, Editor
HI JACK!A BRIEF HISTORY OF AIR PIRACY
Taking ‘flyers’ too literal
November 10, 1961: a group of 6 Por-tuguese political activists seized a Por-tuguese aircraft. They forced the pilot to circle Lisbon in order to drop political leaflets against the Salazar government. Afterwards, the plane landed safely in Morocco, where the offenders received temporary political asylum.
Photo Credit: [GNU FDL] Eduard Marmet | wikipedia
Darkest Peru
February 21, 1931: The first recorded air-craft hijack, though not in the air. Armed revolutionaries surrounded a Ford Tri-Motor in Arequipa, Peru. They wanted to use the aircraft and its crew for their on-going revolution. Pilot-in-command Capt. Rickards simply refused to coop-
erate. They revolutionaries couldn’t do much, since an aircraft without a pilot was as good as useless. After a ten-day stand-off, the crew were told that the revolution had been a success: in return for giving one group member a lift to Lima, they let them and the aircraft go.
Photo Credit: ©
Photo Credit: © Robin A Walker | abpic.co.uk
El-Al
July 23, 1968: Three members of Pop-ular Front for the Liberation of Pales-tine (PFLP) force El Al Flight 426 from Rome to Tel Aviv to divert to Algiers, Algeria. Algeria was formally at war with Israel at the time and considered El Al a paramilitary organisation (be-cause of the role El Al played in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war) and impounded the aircraft. After forty days of nego-tiations, the hostages, the aircraft and the hijackers were set free. It’s the only ‘successful’ case involving El-Al.
Special Court
August 30, 1978: two East Germans hijacked LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165. They forced the flight to divert to West Berlin instead of landing in East Berlin. There were no casualties and the hijackers surrendered. The West-German government was very reluc-tant to prosecute them, citing the right of East Germans to flee oppression in the GDR. The American government had just spent years persuading gov-ernments to sign a hijacking treaty and consequently the case was pros-ecuted in the never-before-convened “United States Court for Berlin”. This court acquitted one of the hijackers over a technicality (she had not been notified of her rights before signing a confession). The other was acquitted on three charges, including hijack-ing and possession of a firearm, but convicted of taking a hostage. He was sentenced to time served during pre-trial detention, about nine months.
Photo Credit: © Toxawww | Dreamstime.com
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Following the Cuban revolution, the number of cases started to rise: hijacking quickly became a Cold War propaganda tool, used by governments on both sides of the ideological spectrum. Be-tween 1958 and 1967, some 48 cases were reported, about 5 per year. Perpetrators were often welcomed with open arms, not in the least in the USA: aircraft hi-jacked in Cuba were seized and distributed to American compa-nies and individuals who lost as-sets in Cuba after the revolution there. The hijackers themselves were rarely convicted. Not sur-prisingly, this policy quickly back-fired, resulting in record numbers of hijacks in the sixties.
In fact, in 1961, Capt. Rickards – yes the very same as above - was again the victim of a hijack-ing attempt. Now flying a Boe-ing 707 for Continental Airlines, a father and son tried to force him at gunpoint to fly his air-craft from El Paso to Cuba hop-ing for a cash reward from Fidel Castro. FBI agents and police chased the plane down the run-way and shot out its tires, which averted the hijacking.
It appears that during the 10 years between 1968 and 1977,
Photo Credit: © Antonio R. Valera | planespotters.net
Make up your mind part I
March 31, 1970: Japan Airlines Flight 351, a Boeing 727 from Tokyo to Fuku-oka, was hijacked by members of the Japanese Red Army group. After releas-ing children and old aged at Fukuoka, the aircraft took off for Seoul, South Ko-rea. After a three-day standoff, the Red Army group asked to be flown to North Korean capital Pyongyang, in exchange for releasing most of the remaining hos-tages. When the aircraft arrived in North Korea, the 5 remaining crewmembers were released and the hijackers sur-rendered to North Korean authorities. At least two of the hijackers died some years later: they were shot when try-ing to escape to South Korea… Some others have formally requested to be allowed to return to Japan, preferring prosecution in Japan to life in North Ko-rea apparently.
Dawson Field
September 1970: 5 airliners from different companies are hijacked by the PFLP (see the El Al hijack above). One hijack, on El-Al flight 219 is foiled while the B-707 is en-route from Amsterdam to London. Three of the 4 other aircraft (TWA 741 – a B-707, Swissair 100 – a DC-8, BOAC 775 – a VC10) are flown to a disused, remote airfield in Jordan – Dawson Field, some 26 km NE of Amman. The passengers are taken off the aircraft and the aircraft are blown up. The 5th aircraft is flown to Cairo, Egypt: this was a B-747 and it was unsure whether the aircraft could land at Dawson Field. It too was destroyed minutes after all passengers are taken off the aircraft, becoming the first Boeing 747 airframe to be destroyed… As a result of this coordinated attack, the USA began putting Air Marshalls on its flights. Jordan’s King Hussein declared martial law and began a crackdown on terrorist activi-ties in his country.
Pizza
July 31, 2001: John Milo Reese stole a plane from Florida Keys Marathon Air-port with the reported intention of de-livering a pizza(!) to Fidel Castro, kidnap him and bring him back to the USA to stand trial. After crash-landing on a Cuban beach, he was returned to the United States, where he was convicted of transporting a stolen aircraft, and was sentenced to six months in jail. In a later interview, he admitted to being slightly intoxicated and having lost his bearings in the air.
Photo Credit: www
One day, I’ll fly away
May 25, 2000: Philippine Airlines Flight 812, an Airbus A330-301 on an inter-nal flight to Manila, was hijacked by a man later identified as Reginald Chua. Just before the airplane was about to land, the hijacker demanded the pas-sengers to place their valuables in a bag. Reginald then forced the pilot to descend and depressurize the aircraft so that he could escape by parachut-ing out of the airplane. Having carefully planned his daring escape, he wore a ski mask, swimming goggles and a homemade parachute made of nylon, with a curtain sash for a ripcord. When the time came to jump however, he panicked and clung to the rear door. A male flight attendant reportedly ‘helped’ him out of the plane… Three days later, his body was found nearly completely buried in mud about 70 km southeast of Manila.
hijacking became very trendy indeed: in that perdiod, there were 414 hijackings in total - an average of 41 per year! All time peak year was in 1969, when 82 aircraft were hijacked – in
THE CONTROLLER32
4 Feature
with the changed policies, it resulted in a decline in hijacks. However, the situation didn’t return to the pre-1968 levels and aircraft became the fo-cal point of several terrorist groups. This lead to several prolonged hijack/hostage situ-ations, often with the Middle-East conflict between Israel and Arab countries at the cent-er. It is also during this time that law enforcement agencies developed and perfected tech-niques to raid aircraft in order to free the hostages.
During the 1980’s, a number of dramatic cases appears to have been a pivotal point: governments became less and less inclined to submit to the demands of hijackers, which resulted in a number of very lengthy hijack/hostage situ-ations. Seeing that the tech-nique became less effective, it appears to have started a decline in hijacks which con-tinues today. Currently, the 10-year average is nearing the pre-1968 situation with well under 10 cases per year. This is undoubtedly the effect of the post 9-11 security meas-ures, which have been more widespread and global than any other such measures taken in the past. They’ve also been applied more consistently for domestic flights in a lot of countries, which would have been under less scrutiny prior the events of 9-11.
Over 1000 aircraft were hi-jacked in the past 60 years. The most hijacked type is the Boeing 727 (179 times). Most hijacked airline is Aeroflot: 67 times, though this includes 25 cases in 1990. Without those, Eastern Air Lines (which ceased operations in 1991) is top of the leaderboard with 47 cases. Al-though the data is very incom-plete, at least 3 aircraft have been hijacked at least 3 times: SP-LTK, a LOT Antonov-24; PP-VJK, a Varig B-707 and ET-AJB, an Ethiopean B-737… ^
Get me the pope…
May 2, 1981: Aer Lingus Flight 164 from Dublin to London. Five minutes before landing, 55-year-old Australian and former Trappist munk Laurence James Downey, went into the toilet and doused himself in petrol (you were obviously al-lowed to bring bottles of liquid on board back then!) He then went into the cock-pit with a cigarette lighter in hand. He initially demanded to be taken to Iran; when told there was insufficient fuel, he changed his mind and wanted to go to France. The airplane diverted to Le Touquet where the hijacker demanded that the Pope release the third secret of Fatima. While authorities negotiated with the hijacker by radio in the cockpit, French Special Forces entered the rear of the aircraft and overpowered him.
Photo Credit: [CC] RuthAS | wikipedia
Photo Credit: [CC] Courtney Walker | wikipedia
747
August 2, 1970: a Pan American Airways 747 from New York to San Juan ended up in Cuba. It’s the first hijacking of the newly introduced Boeing 747 and Fidel Castro personally came out to Havana’s José Martí Airport to see the new airliner for himself. He reportedly met in person with the Pan Am pilot Captain Augustus Watkins and expressed concerns over the ability of the big plane to take off safely from the small airport. Captain Watkins reassured him that it wasn’t a problem…
Photo Credit: [GNU FDL] Eduard Marmet | wikipedia
Sightseeing
September 30, 1978: a Finnair Caravelle, flight 405 en route from Oulu to Helsinki, was hijacked by Aarno Lamminparras. He requested a ransom of 675,000 markka, which he received. As a result, he released all 44 passengers on board. He then or-dered the plane to fly him to Amsterdam in the Netherlands and then back to Oulu. He returned home(!) and was arrested there the next day. He served seven years and one month in prison.
Photo Credit: [GNU FDL] Eduard Marmet | wikipedia
Asylum
February 6, 2000: Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 is hijacked on an internal flight within Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and ended up at London Stansted Airport, where the hijackers and most of the pas-sengers requested political asylum.
Make up your mind part II
June 12, 1979: a Delta Air Lines Tristar L-1011, flight 1061, was hijacked by Edu-ardo Guerra Jimenez, a former Cuban air force pilot. His demand was that the flight be diverted to Cuba. Oddly enough, Ed-uardo had escaped Cuba in a MIG-17 jet to the United States 10 years earlier.
January alone of that year, hijackers diverted 8 airliners to Cuba. Interestingly, intelligence agencies in a number of countries actually used hijacks as a covert action weapon against rival governments. In 1973, the Nixon admin-istration ordered the CIA to stop using hijacks against the Castro regime. The Cuban intel-ligence followed suit and the two countries agreed to prosecute or return hijackers and air-craft to each other’s country. Other countries made similar agreements with their ideological adversaries (e.g. China and Taiwan).
From the early 70’s onwards, more and more airports deployed metal detectors. Together
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Charlie‘s Column
CHARLIE‘S COLUMNResigning in Style Ever wanted to give it all up and walk away? Well, that’s exactly what a flight attendant for USA’s Jet Blue did last August: after landing in New York, a passenger stood up to retrieve her bag while the aircraft was still taxiing. Flight attendant Steven Slater asked/told her to sit down again. The lady started swearing at him and hit him on the head with her bag. Turning his back on the abuse, Steve waited until the plane stopped, then took the public address mike and said: “I’ve had it {..} I’ve been in this business for 28 years and I’m done!”
To illustrate his point, he then took 2 cans of beer from the galley, pulled the emergen-cy chute and slid off the aircraft (an A320). He walked across the airport, took his jeep
and went home. He was later arrested in his house by a SWAT team in true Hollywood style and brought to court. He might escape jail but his current job with Jet Blue and his career as a flight attendant are over. Howev-er he’ll probably be able to secure a lucrative book deal and his story is probably coming to a cinema near you soon! ^
How to evacuate a TU-154 Maybe you heard about the crash landing of a Tupolev 154 in Izhma, Russia, last Sep-tember. The aircraft had to make an emer-gency landing at a small airport – meaning one with a very short runway. The aircraft overran the concrete and ended up in the woods. Not in the least impressed by the event, people started filming inside the plane during the “evacuation“. Thanks to
their mobile phones, passengers can be seen calmly standing up. In no hurry what-soever, they discuss while taking their lug-gage, opening the emergency exit and walk out on the wings. Some smoke a ciga-rette, while other are trying to get a signal on their mobile phones. For an aircraft to crash-land in the woods doesn’t seem to be a very big deal for a Russian passenger.
In an interview with the BBC, a Russian pi-lot elaborated: “For 75 years we were told God did not exist. But in my airline all pi-lots believe in God, because in a crash or an evacuation only God can help!” When asked how pilots cope with stress he said: “In Russia we don’t believe in pills and drugs to fight stress. We know only one thing: a small shot of vodka.” ^
TWR, somewhere in Canada: “ABC123 you just completed an unauthorized right-hand turn!“Pilot: “uh.. I’m sorry sir, where would you like me to go?”TWR: “if this wasn’t a recorded frequency, I’d tell you where I want you to go.”
Level 4 Language Proficient - part 1
TWR Trainee on the phone: “Hello sir, can you tell me?“ACC Controller: “Tell you what?”TWR: “Just can you tell me? For a line check?”ACC: “I read you five.”TWR: “No no, can you...[Voice of coach on background] NO! CALL! CALL ME!”TWR: “Ah sorry. Can you call me, for line check?”
Level 4 Language Proficient - part 2
French TWR on the Atlantic coast: “DEF456 cleared to take off.
Wind 270 with 25 knots gusting 35”(Very British) pilot: “Ah, I can see some seagulls on the runway!”TWR: “Yes, it is normal this time of year, sea-gusts up to 35 knots”Pilot: “not wind gusts, sea gulls” TWR: “Yes, 25 to 35 knots”Pilot: “Not wind gusts, SEAGULLS, birds sitting on the runway!”TWR, with obvious sigh of relief: “Ah, now I understand, yes birds sitting, but that’s normal with this kind of wind, no?”
Cultural Differences
Rhein Control (Karlsruhe, Germany) has recently hired some Italian controllers.
Alitalia pilot: Rhein, AZ123 with you climbing to flight level 250
Rhein controller: (very enthusiastic) Aah bon giorno, climb to FL 380 as requested and direct to Roma...
(very heavily German accented voice on the background: NEIN, NEEEEIN!)
LUGGAGE ROULETTEFor those who can’t wait to get gambling, one international airport (known for its strip of casinos) has installed this luggage belt. Rather than waiting until you’ve checked into your hotel, this rien-ne-vas-plus belt probably offers the biggest gamble of your holiday: will I get my luggage or not? As the old saying goes: “Jet set is: breakfast in London, lunch in Paris, dinner in Madrid, and your luggage in New York.” ^
OVERHEARD ON THE FREQUENCY
Photo Credit: www
34 THE CONTROLLER
