There are places in the world where ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information System) is still the hard to understand analogue affair, suffering not only from poor voice quality but also the multitude of accents their operators will dish out for you. Of course, somebody somehow will have approved them for use, poor quality, accent and all. Now talk to any organization that has installed a new type of digital ATIS and most of them will tell you horror stories (backed up by the manufacturers) about the new and in many cases totally unreasonable requirements such a digital system had to meet, supposedly to improve safety.
Safety is of course our primary concern but it is not served at all by allowing suspicions about the hidden gremlins in digital technology to drive requirements which are either not possible to meet or which drive up costs without contributing to safety. It is also counter productive to dream up new requirements simply because new digital versions of old tools “can do it”.
Exaggeration? Not at all. The ATIS is just one simple example of the treatment digital solutions get at the hands of regulators and policy makers, very often simply because their understanding of the realistic problems of digital leaves a lot to be desired. So they go for the overkill while hiding nicely behind the safety argument.
This problem has been talked about a lot and one can only hope that with a new generation of experts maturing into senior regulatory and policy making posts, the overall approach will finally start to improve.
In March 2010, ICAO, IATA and other industry stakeholders will convene the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals symposium in Montreal with a view to discussing how best to update and amend existing provisions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of training in aviation generally and what steps to take to brush off the image of aviation professionals. This initiative comes from the recognition that the aviation world is changing fast in both the economic and the technical sense and without properly trained and committed professionals the industry cannot adapt to the changes.
This is a laudable initiative and an important step in the right direction. Improvements are needed and there is no time to waste.