If you have read my article on the New Directions for Airport Collaborative Decision Making (CDM), you will be interested in this narrative description of the envisaged working of the expanded CDM concept. I do strongly recommend that you read the New Directions article first! The example used is that of a departing flight. It… Continue reading New directions for Airport Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) – a detailed example
Performance Based Navigation Workshop, Budapest 17-18 November 2009 – Reminder
BluSky Services is organising a Performance Based Navigation (PBN) workshop, to be held in Budapest, Hungary on 17-18 November 2009. The event will be hosted by HungaroControl and will take place at their premises. Participation in the workshop is free. As is well known, both IATA and CANSO have expressed their support for PBN and… Continue reading Performance Based Navigation Workshop, Budapest 17-18 November 2009 – Reminder
A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 1
Introduction Talking to a group of young controllers the other day I suddenly realized that Controller Pilot Digital Link Communications (CPDLC) and its enabler, air/ground digital link were a kind of given for them… Their centre has either already implemented it or had plans for it and while their opinion diverged on the usefulness of… Continue reading A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 1
Visiting Djibouti… 1
Pre-departure My work takes me to different places in the world. All of them with their unique challenge and beauty and every time with a different reason for going. Close, far, considered safe or hostile, it doesn’t really matter, we go where we are needed. Our visit to Djibouti started out in Brussels and… Continue reading Visiting Djibouti… 1
Same time, same place, same level…10.
The machines and their tenders Though modern towers are equipped with electronic instruments of all kinds, when visibility permits, aerodrome controllers are still expected, to the extent possible, to keep an eye on their aircraft. On occasion this can save lives. The little departing aircraft was dwarfed by the dimensions of the runway, built for… Continue reading Same time, same place, same level…10.
SWIM – Institutional aspects first and foremost
Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine has recently published a very interesting article with the title “Integration Nightmares”. It is about the problems planners and engineers are facing in integrating the battlefield “system of systems”. As the author reports, high level military planners do not like to pay to solve complexity… Researchers have to weave… Continue reading SWIM – Institutional aspects first and foremost
Anniversary – IL-18 HA-MOH crash at Budapest-Ferihegy airport
35 year anniversary on 15 January 2010 Some anniversaries are occasions for sadness and a moment’s silence. An aircraft crash is always sad, a huge loss for everyone involved. When HA-MOH flew into the ground in the early evening of 15 January 1975 only 9 crew members were on board and they all lost their… Continue reading Anniversary – IL-18 HA-MOH crash at Budapest-Ferihegy airport
We need pro-active safety
After two aircraft collided over Zagreb on 10 September 1976, authorities in the region started to scramble, speeding up the introduction of more modern ATC equipment. The Uberlingen mid-air in 2002 highlighted several shortcomings in pilot training as well as ATC practices. Then we jump to 2009 and a crash near Buffalo in the US… Continue reading We need pro-active safety
Same time, same place, same level… 9.
Dawn in the tower On another occasion we managed to draw fire from the duty supervisor, however. He was a nice elderly gentleman with an understanding of the young, and this attitude manifested itself in many ways. One of this had been his insistence that he not wake the slumbering tower crew when out doing… Continue reading Same time, same place, same level… 9.
Sway – The irresistible pull of irrational behavior
By Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman Publisher: Doubleday ISBN – 978-0-38552438-4 Put two identical products in different packaging and with different names and different prices on a store shelf. Have the more expensive one recommended by a well known face, the other advertised only by itself. Which one will sell more? The one endorsed by… Continue reading Sway – The irresistible pull of irrational behavior