AVIATION SAFETY AND SECURITY

CHAPTER 5

AIR TRAFFIC
SAFETY

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Safe Separation Standards

The primary means of controlling aircraft is accomplished by using highly

sophisticated computerized radar systems. In addition, the controller
maintains two-way radio communication with aircraft in his/her sector. In
this way, the specialist ensures that the aircraft are separated by the
following criteria:
Laterally -- 5 miles
Vertically --
1,000 feet (if the aircraft is below 29,000 feet)
2,000 feet (if the aircraft is at 29,000 feet or above)
The controllers can accomplish this separation by issuing instructions to
the pilots of the aircraft involved. Altitude assignments, speed
adjustments, and radar vectors are examples of instructions that might be
issued to aircraft.

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AIR TRAFFIC SAFETY SYSTEM

 Today’s complex airspace system comprised of three major elements:

People – individual who operate and use the system – pilot, mechanics, regulators,
instructors, technicians, ATC and passengers
Equipment – the aircraft that operates within the system
Infrastructure –used by individuals of the system – airports, air traffic control
facilities, navigation aids, radar, communication, lighting aids and he airspace itself

 The airspace of the world is divided into flight information regions (FIRs)
The country within the FIR is responsible for the ATC in that FIR
Across continent – radar is the main source of information for the surveillance of air traffic

NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM PLAN (NASP) of 1981

 A comprehensive plan by FAA to modernize and improve airways and aviation facilities –
an upgrading of ATC system – however they were delays due to :
Congress unwilling to appropriate Airport and Airways Trust Fund
FAA was unable to spend money on NASP
FAA believed its modernization problems caused by federal acquisition regulations

 But many believed the delays were due to FAA underestimated the time needed to tailor
existing technology to the ATC system requirements and did not provide adequate time for
development and testing

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NAS MODERNIZATION

 US airlines expect to carry twice as many passengers by 2015 as they do today as

projected increase in business, recreation and personal travel is soaring in the 21st
century.

 A long-range blueprint plan was designed to last till 2015 for modernizing the NAS and
improving NAS service and capabilities

 To help plan this modernization effort, many representatives participated in the future
design of the NAS:
 airlines, general aviation, military, pilot association, air traffic control association,
airports, product manufacturers, government contractors and international
organizations

 The White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security recommended to FAA in
1996 to accelerate its modernization of NAS

 1997 – National Civil Aviation Review Committee which recommended funding and
performance management methods for improving NAS modernization

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COMPONENTS OF THE NAS PLAN

 Communication, Navigation, Surveillance, weather automation system, and Avionics

(1) Communication – since air traffic management depends on timely and accurate
transmission of information during flight planning, in flight, and for airport operations –
today’s communication systems must be modernized to handle the additional demand and
the need for faster and clearer transmission

 this modernization require replacing outdated hardware, making full use of the whole spectrum of
VHF available and integrating systems into a seamless network using digital technology

 (2) Navigation - Transmissometer providing runway visual range information

 With 4300 ground-based navigation systems
being used throughout the country – where it does not cover some airports and airspace
 Over next 10 years satellites would augment the ground monitoring stations
 As satellite navigation provides equivalent or better level of service –
reliance on ground based navigation aids is expected to decline

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ADVANTAGES OF SATELLITE-BASED NAVIGATION

 enables significant operational and safety benefits

 pilots able to navigate anywhere in the NAS, including at airports that currently lack
navigational and landing signal coverage
 it supports direct routes
 the number of published precision approaches will increase, more runways will be served
by precision approaches, enhancing safety
 combining GPS with cockpit electronic terrain maps and ground-proximity warning
systems can help pilots avoid controlled flight into terrain (CFIT)

Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) describes an accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is
unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, water, or an obstacle.
1.The term was coined by Engineers at Boeing in the late 1970s.
2.The pilots are generally unaware of the danger until it is too late.
According to Boeing, CFIT is a leading cause of airplane accidents involving the loss of life, causing over
9,000 deaths since the beginning of the commercial jet age

 it decreases the number of ground-based navigation systems, thus reducing

infrastructure costs

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SURVEILANCE

 future NAS surveillance modernization plan will provide coverage in non-radar areas and
include aircraft-to-aircraft capabilities – thus improves situational awareness

 the plan calls for evolution from current primary and secondary radar system to digital
radar and automatic dependent surveillance (ADS)
 primary radar – termed as independent surveillance because it detects aircraft or motor vehicles
without the need for enabling avionics and equipage
 secondary radar – is called cooperative because it relies on the aircraft to have a transponder

WEATHER AUTOMATION SYSTEM

 NAS modernization plan contains improved ways to collect, process, transmit, and
display weather information to users and service providers
 the key to reducing weather-related accidents is to improve pilot decision making
through increased exchange of timely information
 future stand alone integrated weather system into the NAS focuses on two capabilities:

 Improved processing and displays

 Improved sensors and data sources

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 FAA is conducting research to improve the capability to predict weather hazards and to
communicate these to NAS users:

 New wind, temperature, icing and weather hazard modeling will be used to help diminish
weather-related delays and improve safety

 Aviation weather research focused on in-flight icing, aviation gridded forecast system, ground
deicing operations, convective weather, short-term ceiling and visibility predictions, turbulence, and
wake vortices
Convection - rising currents of warm air - is an important part of the process whereby heat is
transported from the bottom of the atmosphere to the top. Thunderstorms, consisting as they do of
rising currents of warm air, are the most visible and violent manifestation of atmospheric convection
short-term ceiling and visibility predictions - An automated statistical system that utilizes regional
high-density surface observations to forecast low ceiling and visibility events. The system is based
solely upon surface observations as predictors, featuring forecast lead times of 1, 3, and 6 h.

Wake vortices

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AVIONICS

 users can access many enhanced technologies that will help them to fly more
safely and efficiently by using CNS – communications, navigation and surveillance
related technologies built into the NAS

 some of the planned improvements in avionics :

Avionics for the GPS, WAAS and LAAS to enable aircraft to navigate via direct
routes and fly precision instrument approaches to virtually any runway
 New multimode digital radios for voice and data communication for pilots,
controllers and ground facilities
ADS-B avionics that track the GPS-based position
Multi-functional cockpit displays to present information – weather, notices to
aircrews (NOTAM) and moving maps to improve situational awareness
 FAA will install a compatible ADS ground system to provide more accurate
surveillance information to the controllers
 The current TCAS which provides pilots with advisory information to prevent
midair collisions with other transponder-equipped aircraft, will be improved.
 It will remain as an independent safety system to prevent air-to-air collisions

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Why replace radar with ADS-B?

ADS-B is a replacement for (or supplement to) traditional radar based surveillance of aircraft. ADS-B is a major
change in surveillance philosophy – instead of using ground based radar to interrogate aircraft and determine
their positions, each aircraft will use GPS to find its own position and then automatically report it.

Although radar technology has advanced, it is essentially a product of the 1940s World War II technology. Radar
occasionally has problems discriminating airplanes from migratory birds and rain “clutter.” Secondary
surveillance systems can determine what the objects are because they interrogate transponders; however, both
primary and secondary radars are very large structures that are expensive to deploy, need lots of maintenance,
and require the agency to lease real estate to situate them.

ADS-B, on the other hand, receives data directly from transmitters rather than passively scanning for input like
radars, so it does not have a problem with clutter. Unlike radar, ADS-B’s accuracy doesn’t degrade with distance.

In addition, ADS-B updates in real time and locates aircraft with nearly 10 times more accuracy than radar.

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ADS-B ground stations are inexpensive compared to radar and, with no moving parts, are easy to
maintain. They are about the size of dorm refrigerators so they can be located just about anywhere
– on buildings, on cell-phone towers, or even on oil rigs. This eliminates the need to lease
expensive real estate and it also means that ASD-B
ground stations can be deployed to regions that are too remote for radars. Remote areas that
currently are not covered by radar can have precise surveillance coverage with ADSB.

Because ADS-B is so much more accurate than radar and gives pilots greater situational awareness,
less space is needed to safely separate aircraft. This will make more room in the national airspace
and help meet the projected growth in air traffic.
Current ground-based technology cannot meet the demand for increased capacity.

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