The Road to Becoming an En-route Air Traffic Controller To continue with my story, let me just go back to that time when, in 1981, I received an Order transferring me to the Manila Area Control Center (ACC), eight years after I graduated from an air traffic control training course. The ATC staffing crisis –… Continue reading The Story of Alpha Mike (Part 2)
Tag: CPDLC
Incentives for Early Airborne CPDLC Equipage
The LINK 2000+ programme has been working on the definition of incentives schemes for early airborne equipage since 2005. Various creative schemes were explored with stakeholders, such as reduced route charges for those that equip early. However, it proved impossible to get stakeholders to commit to such schemes even though the principles of the route… Continue reading Incentives for Early Airborne CPDLC Equipage
Equipping for NextGen – where does the cash come from?
If anything, the LINK2000+ program in Europe has shown what a bit of free cash can achieve. Equipping aircraft for Controller/Pilot Digital Link Communications, the raison d’être of LINK2000+, was proving difficult as in the initial phases those who spent on the required avionics would see few benefits and hence there were no takers. Then,… Continue reading Equipping for NextGen – where does the cash come from?
Air/ground digital link and CPDLC – Airworhtiness and compliance
Stakeholders have expressed some uncertainty about how to comply with EC 29/2009, the Data Link Services Implementing Rule. In partnership with the European Commission and EASA the EUROCONTROL LINK Programme has been working to address those concerns. A stakeholder workshop was held in March 2010 to address the issues and a brochure is now available… Continue reading Air/ground digital link and CPDLC – Airworhtiness and compliance
Air-ground voice communications – the vital and often weakest link. New guide from EUROCONTROL for GA pilots
It is a curious fact of life in air traffic management that it is impossible to do ATC without proper communications yet the air-ground voice communications system as we know it to-day is both a hindrance to increasing capacity and a potential source of serious incidents. The former is due to the fact that a… Continue reading Air-ground voice communications – the vital and often weakest link. New guide from EUROCONTROL for GA pilots
A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 2
The clash of VDL Mode 4 and VDL Mode 2 Following years of testing and discussions on countless forums, VDL Mode 2 was emerging as the solution that, combined with the ATN protocol, could support the initial implementation of Controller Pilot Digital Link Communications. There was nothing else it could do but it had a… Continue reading A short (unofficial) history of air/ground digital link – 2
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
Anniversary – First European STC for CPDLC on VDL Mode 2
5 year anniversary on 12 April 2010 The issuance of a Supplementary Type Certificate (STC) is not normally an event that we commemorate years later… except of course if the STC is the first instance in Europe of Controller Pilot Digital Link Communications (CPDLC) using VDL Mode 2 being approved on an aircraft type. I… Continue reading Anniversary – First European STC for CPDLC on VDL Mode 2