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Pilots' in the AirServices simulator fly their aircraft across the radar screen in real time while trainee controllers give instructions to the aircraft. Several targets are given to the trainee to control along with some inflight emergencies. The simulators depict actual Australian airspace and can be used to train approach and sector controllers in any airspace for which Australia is responsible.
Airspace Management
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Simops Review
AirServices Australia is undertaking a review of SIMOPS. SIMOPS is an ATC procedure which permits simultaneous operations (landings and/or takeoffs) on intersecting runways. After successfully using SIMOPS at many airports throughout Australia including Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport (KSA), AirServices undertook a risk analysis of the procedures. The results of the analysis indicate that the procedure “… contains an element of concern that needs to be addressed.” It could be suggested that after the last government closed Sydney’s 07/25 runway (which intersects 16 right/34 left), AirServices conducted, or was ordered to conduct, the risk analysis to justify the closure. A cynic might also suggest that the timing of this review was more than a coincidence. The initial measures introduced as part of the SIMOPS review took effect on February 1, not long before the election, with further modifications being considered for later this year. Computer simulations reveal that the potential handling capacity at Sydney could far exceed the 80 movements per hour claimed to be possible by the addition of the parallel 16/34 runway. As mentioned elsewhere in this issue, AirServices’ own computer modelling suggests that if KSA was used to its full capability as a three runway airport using international ICAO sanctioned practices it would be able to operate up to 110 movements per hour. It will be interesting to observe what happens at KSA over the coming months. Will SIMOPS be safe enough for 07/25 to become a real runway again? Will John Howard’s pre-election pledge to “spread the noise around” also mean that KSA can achieve increased capacity? If so, will that take the urgency off the need for Badgerys Creek?
Practice Makes Perfect
If you’re a keen aviator and computer boffin, AirServices Australia could have the job for you. Target Generator Operators (TGOs) are required to play the role of ‘pilot’ on the computer simulators used for training air traffic controllers. The simulators are part of the Thomson-CSF Eurocat 2000 air traffic system installed as part of the TAAATS project, due to be commissioned in 1997. The simulators, based at Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, will initially be used for training controllers on the new system. Long term use will be for ongoing training and the final training of new recruits. The TGOs generate a target (aircraft) with callsign, transponder and flightplan information which appear on the trainee controller screen. The blip can represent a radar return, flightplan or Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) track. The TGOs fly the radar blip across the screen turning, climbing and descending as instructed and talk to the controller as in the normal situation. The trainee controller, in an adjacent room, talks to the aircraft, (the TGO) and coordinates with other air traffic controllers and Flight Service Officers, also role-played by TGOs. AirServices requires potential TGOs to have “… experience in aviation practices and procedures together with clear oral communication and computer skills.” 84 Australian Aviation April 1996
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Loud And Clear
On the subject of clear oral communications in aviation, whatever happened to English as the official ICAO aviation language? Some recent aviation incidents around the world have pointed to the poor use of English, leading to misunderstanding or misinterpretation of instructions, particularly in places where English is not the main language. Clear communication between pilot and controller is vital to air safety, ultimately an intelligent voice interface may cut through any confusion. In developing controller-pilot datalink technology (an integral part of the Future Air Navigation System), human factors experts are hoping that one of the benefits of this visual message communication system might be to overcome linguistic problems. In the US, researchers at Boston University are experimenting with the Aviation Interface Research (AIR) system. AIR uses a system of nested menus (in which choosing a menu item brings up another menu) to send messages back and forth between two computers, which simulate pilot and controller interfaces. When a message is entered from one computer, a program checks that it is correctly formed with respect to the restricted English vocabulary that is used by the system, before transmitting to the other computer. This prototype system serves mainly to illustrate the concept and demonstrate the feasibility of an error resistant visual message sending and receiving system for pilot/controller communication. It is envisaged that it will also provide bilingual screens – in English and the users own language – to enable the crew or controller to check the correctness of the message they want to send or to test their understanding of messages they receive. It will also be possible to have the system choose randomly from a set of synonymous alternative formulations of an instruction in order to pre-empt the semi hypnotic boredom that is induced by repeatedly receiving instructions in exactly the same form.
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