NATS SPA MEETING – SWANWICK - 4 DEC 08

UKFSC CE SUMMARY

- Agenda

RTF Exam – Jason Cawdron

- An RTF Exam had been formulated by NATS to encourage better R/T communication and phraseology between flight crews and Controllers

- Value of the RTF Exam among Members varied and its use mixed.

- It was suggested that ASI/ACEP could advertise its existence and promote the use of it in recurrence training

- ATQP may be one method to introduce the RTF to current pilots

- FOCUS and the UKFSC website could also be useful exploited

- Since the R/T is aviation wide, GASCO would also be approached

- It was suggested that a CAP 413 Supplement could also be investigated

- However, it was considered essential that NATS review the information before issue to the various outlets and to state clearly what its objectives are.

- Since new phraseology changes are coming in March 2009, that would an appropriate time to publish and promote the next RTF iteration

- Irish AA pointed out the need to align phraseology with the FABs

Stabilised Approaches (SAP) - Graham Wadeson

- Excursions have been identified as a major safety issue – and that unstabilised approaches have often led to runway excursions

- EU-Ops has mandated States to introduce specific SAP criteria

- NATS wished to identify the part played by ATC on SAPs as well as the part played by runway infrastructure

- NATS requested airline information and data on SAPs in order to get a better understanding of the phenomena and the factors involved

- The ultimate objectives of NATS in its SAP work is:

o To train new ATC controllers on SAPs and their influence

o To identify procedures to reduce unstabilised approaches

o CANSO wish to provide global awareness of SAPs among ATC

- In discussion, the following issues were raised:

- Airlines do not practice SRAs regularly and new pilots are not trained in them

- The introduction of PR Nav procedures will assist SAPs being flown

- No Blame Go Arounds are widely promoted by the airlines represented by SPA attendees and pre-flight briefings cover the options for the approach and Go Rounds

- It was recommended that an FDM expert from the CAA and from the FDM office of an airline were drawn into the programme in order to assist in providing brief material on SAP criteria and the various factors which influence them

- It was confirmed that CAA Approval for AT Controllers to fly on aircraft jump seats is already in place and the procedure had been issued

- The possibility of setting up a dedicated SPA meeting to gather a deeper understand the SAP for ATC was discussed and a January 2009 date would be identified to enable the stabilised approach issues to be gripped by NATS.

Infringements - Jonathan Smith

- ‘Infringements of Controlled Airspace’ Stats have shown a decline in high risk incidents but a significant increase in low risk numbers in 2007.

- Separation Criteria standards are established as 5 nms and 5000’ in controlled airspace.

- Worst infringement numbers occurred at Stansted (120) and S’ampton (115)

o The impact of G Airspace and the deemed separation procedures are the major factors in these high incidence airports.

o Nav error/pilot lost/comms/cockpit distraction/Atc co-ord are the major causes cited for the incidents.

- These infringements, especially those involving GA and microlights, are considered as very high risk to the NATS operations and business.

- NATS Actions to address the issues and communicate their concerns are:

o Safety days

o Poster awareness

o VFR Guide for each airport

o Heli route DVD Guides

o Working in partnership with the GA community

o CAIT – Controlled airspace infringement tool – a radar display modification

o LARS Farnborough established for £1M per annum

o STCA used to ident infringement potential

- Continues to be a very high risk area for NATS to target

- The presentation concluded with a very serious debate on a very high risk Stansted infringe which raised serious concerns from the SPA Members about the application of ‘deeming procedures’ which appeared to be making dangerous assumptions with significant flight safety implications

o NATS were asked to provide a detailed brief the next SPA Meeting on their work so far on ‘deeming’, the risk assessments being applied and the outputs from the specialist groups studying the problem.

SID Climbs – Stu Lindsey

- The results of collaborative work between NATS and ATSD-CAA on phraseology to be introduced when height/vertical changes are applied to SID procedures were briefed.

- In essence, extant ICAO rules will apply to when vertical profile changes are imposed whilst SID procedures are being flown in UK airspace

- These new changes to phraseology will be introduced within the next 2 months and details will be issued via a FODCOM.

Requested Flight Levels

- Currently, 70% of all flights request different levels on the day to that notified in their submitted flight plan.

- As a result, the subsequent density planning and flow control by the ANSP becomes ineffective and regularly leads to flow overloads in the UK and Europe

- The NATS Proposal is to stop the AT Controller routinely asking for the level required when the aircraft comes on frequency and instead put the aircraft at the Flight Plan height - unless the aircraft specifically requests a change of level

o During discussion, it was clear that the variation between flight plan levels and those requested on the day was dependant on the type of flight planning method used. Those using live met information feed into planning were much less likely to seek a change of level from planned. As more live met feed systems are introduced, the number of change requests will reduce.

Rich Jones

Chief Exec

UK Flight Safety Committee

5 December 2008