Without them, we would
use boats. No airline would fly. No one would plan a weekend shopping
trip, an overseas vacation or visits from far-flung family.
Their work was duly acknowledged on Sunday, the 52nd International Day of the Air Traffic Controller.
Every year, the
Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization pauses for a
moment to mark the day in late October 1961, when 12 European countries
met in Amsterdam, Holland, to found the European Federation of Air
Traffic Controllers Associations.
The organization has
since grown to encompass Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa-Middle
East, representing more than 50,000 air traffic controllers in 137
countries, 27 of them throughout South and Central America and the
Caribbean.
The Cayman Islands is one
of them, and while no special ceremonies were planned for Sunday,
Jeremy Miller, one of 15 air traffic controllers at Grand Cayman’s Owen
Roberts International Airport and Cayman Brac’s Charles Kirkonnell
Airport – working alongside three trainee controllers and three
assistants – says the demands and stresses are similar to anywhere, and
that “we are just trying to get public awareness of the safety of air
traffic control.”
“In Cayman, we do not
have the high volume of traffic, but the stress levels, the workload,
are still as daunting as in the U.S. You have to be trained almost like a
military guy.”
Training and demands of the job
Mr. Miller, a controller
for nine years, completed a 10-month course at Trinidad’s International
Civil Aviation Organization-certified College of Air Traffic Control in
Port au Spain, followed by three months of on-the-job training.
Every 13 months, he – and
other controllers – undergo a refresher course to maintain their
certification, overseen by Cayman’s the Civil Aviation Authority.
While most air traffic
control employs radar to ensure ICAO-required aircraft separation,
Cayman, because of its relatively low traffic volume, uses “procedural”
control, relying on trained individuals. Ground-based navigational aids
detail horizontal and vertical separation of aircraft according to time,
distance, height and location. Meanwhile, air traffic controllers have
to visualize the location of each flight based on its route, speed,
altitude and estimated times as they pass predetermined points.
The controllers then separate each aircraft based on the progress board and their best judgment.
Cayman’s controllers
occupy the airport tower behind Beacon House, the edge-of-runway
headquarters of the Aviation Authority. Each controller works a
seven-hour shift, tracking both departures and arrivals, although hopes
are that the functions will be separated in the near future.
High-pressure season
Mr. Miller says his team is just now coming into the highest-pressure months of the year as tourist arrivals start to mount.
“In the winter, we get
between 150 and 200 aircraft movements [arrivals and departures] on
Fridays and Saturdays. On Sundays, between about 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., we
get about 50 movements. We are pushed to the extreme from November
through February or March,” he says.
Thousands of lives are at
stake, of course, but the operation pales in comparison with places
like London’s Heathrow, New York’s JFK, Washington’s Dulles or even Hong
Kong’s Chek Lap Kok.
Heathrow and Hong Kong,
Mr. Miller says, will have hundreds of controllers, overseeing “hundreds
of movements throughout an eight-hour period, similar to Atlanta or
Miami.”
The demands are so great,
he says, that an individual can only work “on two-hour intervals, then
go on break for an hour because of the stress.”
In Cayman alone, Mr.
Miller says, he will sometimes handle eight aircraft simultaneously,
looking after imminent departures, the “aerodrome operation,” while
processing communications from Cuba, as incoming flights come within 40
minutes of arrival, the “approach operation.”
“The tower moves aircraft
on the ground to take off, and the approach controller separates the
planes as we get information from Havana. At the moment, I do both of
these. With eight planes, I get so concentrated on air altitude, and
crossing at 4,000 feet, and then you also need to give a second and
third aircraft an altitude.
“Then you get the departures and have to figure out how you get him out.”
He hasn’t made a mistake
yet, but the potential is ever present: “In a busy period, you are so
concentrated, you’re almost in ‘a zone.’ Without much activity, when
you’re not so busy, that’s when you can make mistakes.”
Every air traffic
controller is responsible for a “section” of the sky. “Each controller
has his own grid and they hand off to each other” as aircraft move in
four dimensions.
“In the future,” he said,
“I would like to progress to a different style of ATC, which would
require more [personnel],” assigning departures and arrivals to separate
controllers.
Rules vary internationally
Some rules vary between
Montreal’s ICAO and Washington’s Federal Aviation Administration,
creating separate organizations. Montreal, for example, allows ATCs to
work until age 65, whereas Washington enforces retirement at age 56.
Unlike in Cayman, ATC
operations at larger airports are usually privatized, Mr. Miller said,
provided by companies under contract to airport management.
“The company would supply
ATCs all over Europe, with different countries contracted to different
agencies. Dubai, for example, he said, “comes under the U.K.”
One of the concerns at the ICAO, on fact, is that privatization raises issues of accountability.
“As an independent
business now responsible to [aviation regulators], air traffic service
providers can expect increasing regulation of their activities – and
this will include items such as certification standards for their
equipment (previously not even a question when combined as a government
department),” according to a 2007 ICAO report.
Managing a provider’s
behavior, however, means regulators must be able to suspend – or even
revoke – a license, replacing the company with another to maintain
continuity of service.
“It will not be long
before there are multiple air traffic service providers in any given
state’s airspace.” Anticipated changes will free air traffic management
from the restrictions of national boundaries, meaning the provider “will
truly become an international business and have to deal with multiple
legal jurisdictions, just like any other international business.
The Airports Authority
declined to comment on proposals for airport expansion and whether it
might affect air traffic control, but Walter Ebanks, senior manager of
Air Navigation Services, offered his appreciation to ATCs: “On behalf of
the Airports Authority, I commend our Cayman Islands team for their
professionalism, track record and dedication to maintaining aviation
safety in the Cayman Islands. Their combined efforts contribute to the
overall safety of travelers throughout the world and we recognize them
on this special day.”
Source: http://www.compasscayman.com
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