Most of those who took part in the epic battle over the introduction of Mode S Enhanced Surveillance (EHS) have either retired, moved to other activities or flew west to greener pastures but I guess there is still a hard core who will remember how the airspace users lost that one to the three big States in Europe and EUROCONTROL who was caught between a rock and a hard place… I was one of those doing the shouting, telling anyone who would listen that Mode S Enhanced Surveillance would cost the airlines an arm and a leg and would generate next to zero benefits. The majority of the airlines and some ANSPs agreed… This was back at the beginning of the previous decade and in the end, the three promoters of Mode S EHS, fed up with the indecision of the others and the opposition of the airlines, banded together and set up the Three State Program, in effect deciding that they would put in Mode S EHS regardless of the opposition. They did have the grace to announce clear time-frames (2003) to have everything on the ground ready and the benefits accruing for the airspace users. We are now in 2011 and very little of that grand promise has been realized, certainly if we look at things from the benefit point of view. If anyone out there has news about Mode S Enhanced Surveillance quantifiable benefits being available to anyone, please let us know…
But the story continues except that the stakes are even higher. This time the matter is on the level of the European Commission and its Single European Sky Implementing Rules (SES IR). Mind you, there is nothing wrong with the Commission wanting the jump start SES via implementing rules. On the contrary, this is a good thing. Except that the old specter of Mode S implementation is beckoning again in the Surveillance Performance and Interoperability IR.
Improving the legacy radar based surveillance environment in Europe by the introduction of a better and more cost-effective system, ADS-B, is a core element of the SESAR project as it is also part of NextGen in the USA. The sooner we get this more cost-effective surveillance system, the better. But it is not immaterial how we get there!
The big problem with Mode S enhanced surveillance had been that the corresponding mandate forced airspace users to equip while leaving the ANSPs free to do whatever they might want to do… this is why aircraft have been flying around with expensive new boxes earning them zero benefits. ANSPs failed to implement the Mode S EHS capabilities that would have delivered quantifiable benefits (no surprise there… we told you so!!!).
Now the surveillance implementing rule, as it is being proposed, will officially repeat the Mode S flop. Airspace users will be obliged to equip by 2015 while ANSPs will only need to do so by 2020!! This is the exact same synch problem we have fought again so many times in the past and here we are, nothing has changed…
To make the situation even more questionable, in a recent European Newsletter CANSO announced on behalf of its European ANSP members that they will never accept the imposition of ADS-B in 2020. Great!
What it boils down to is a scenario where airspace users are obliged to spend the money and equip, then carry the equipment for five years without any hope of any benefit… Then at the end of the five years something may happen if they are lucky. If not, the ground infrastructure will still not be there and the benefits will slip further into an uncertain future… Just like they did with Mode S enhanced surveillance!
Considering that a more efficient surveillance system is one of the key elements in SESAR it is really surprising that such a rule proposal could go out for review at all. Have those who drafted it completely forgotten all the noise about the need to have the ground and airborne elements of ATM synched so that the benefits for the airspace users are maximized?
With the dates in the proposed rule we are back at the old Mode S days. The big difference is that Mode S Enhanced Surveillance never had any real benefits except in the minds of select individuals while ADS-B IS the future. It would be a great pity if Europe managed to put ADS-B on the same sad footing as Mode S used to be… while the rest of the world went ahead to enjoy the benefits.
It is time for the airspace users to raise their voice if they want to avoid a debacle identical to Mode S Enhanced Surveillance.
