It's boom time for India's aviation sector, but that's hardly cause for cheer if you're an air traffic controller (ATC). Their shortage has been pegged at 600 and it's only set to get worse with the explosion in air traffic. This, in a profession where one wrong move, one momentary lapse can send numerous lives downward in a spiral of death.
The country has 1,500 ATCs, the requirement is for 2,100. The Roy Paul Committee, which looked into air traffic management in 2005, reported over 200 ATC vacancies. Three years later, the gap has widened three times.
‘‘Air traffic in India is hardly one-tenth what it is in developed nations,'' says a senior pilot. ‘‘And yet, we still don't have the infrastructure and personnel to keep pace with development.'' What's AAI's response to this? (ATCs come under it.) GM V Somasundaram kept stonewalling this reporter. A query about their hiring plans elicited this combative reply, ‘‘Why do you want to know about ATCs? Do I ask you about your organisation? This is an internal matter.'' Not if it involves the lives of numerous air passengers!
India could take a leaf from FAA's book. Its site has a detailed 55-page document which gives a 10-year strategy for US ATCs, including staffing requirements, hiring plans, training and funding.
The pressure on ATCs is immense. Mumbai and Delhi handle about 720 and 700 flight movements daily, up from 500 and 450 three years back. And if the horizontal distance between planes is reduced from some five nautical miles to three as has been proposed, the pressure would increase. Here's the ground situation...
TRAINING: ATCs handle three areas: Radar, tower and en route. Radar is the toughest; it takes over three years to become a controller here. And though there have been recruitments, it hasn't made much of a dent. The basic qualification for an ATC is B.Tech (telecom/electronics/radio engineering) or MSc in electronics. The training at the Civil Aviation Training College, Allahabad, lasts six months. It has 12 simulators, each of which can train only 10 people at a time, says K N Srivastava, joint secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation. "So in a year, only around 300 can be trained. But the shortfall is 600." The college is also short of instructors. ‘‘No good controller wants to become one as they have to slave it out, what with refresher courses, general duties, etc,'' says a source. "Also, there's a general shortfall of engineers as many prefer MNCs. Some of the applicants can't even speak proper English." Transfers too are skewed. Sometimes, radar controllers are sent to stations which don't even have radars.
SOLUTION: Change the eligibility criteria. You don't need engineers when any articulate, bright science graduate would do. There's a move to recruit such people, says Srivastava, as has been done in European countries. Also, dedicated instructors are a must. There are plans for another academy in Hyderabad.
TIME FACTOR: Recruitment is through ads. That takes time. Even after training, it takes about two years to acquire minimum skills. "But it's important we don't compromise on quality,'' says an old-timer. The training used to be for a year earlier, now it's been reduced to six months."
SOLUTION: Why advertise when campus recruitment is quicker? That's on the cards now.
AUTOMATION: It's lacking in most airports. Secondary Surveillance Radars, which identify flight numbers and altitude, are available only in big cities. Pilots also ask why the Air Traffic Flow Management System hasn't been implemented. Here, a Central Flow Management Unit balances the number of flights with available ATC capacity and helps prevent congestion. With each airline burning some 10 hours of fuel daily due to congestion, this is the need of the hour.
Thermal printers, which give details of a flight's progress, too aren't available at all airports. In some places, ATCs calculate manually. Also, radars have been installed only in about 12 airports.
SOLUTION: There is a move to reduce verbal communication between pilots and ATCs (which can be misinterpreted) by laying down instructions on computers, says Srivastava. "Also, Indian air space, presently divided into four Flight Information Regions, will be reduced to two (Delhi, Mumbai). Often, a pilot entering a new FIR has no information of congestion there. The new FIRs will handle the entire load of the country. These solutions will take a year to be implemented."
JOB PANGS : Initial attrition rates in this high-tension job are pegged at 10-15%. Salaries and job prospects are sore issues. An ATC takes about 10-12 years to become a manager. Salaries start from Rs 20,000 and can go up to Rs 75,000, low by international standards. Add to this the stress factor: ‘‘Numerous shifts, recalcitrant pilots who don't follow speed controls, phone calls to give priority to certain flights...it's strenuous,'' says one.
Consider a typical day of an ATC: keeping a hawk's eye on the monitor as planes inch towards the airport, firing instructions at 100 words/minute to pilots, asking emergency services to stand by for a distressed flight...you have to be cool, clinical, detached. The stress often results in ulcers, hypertension and heart problems. Says a senior pilot, ‘‘I ask my colleagues not to argue with ATCs. They're doing a good job considering the constraints.''
SOLUTION: There's a move to license ATCs. There are also calls to make air traffic control a separate entity, immune to interference. That may seem radical, but it's an idea whose time has come.
Taken from
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Sunday_Specials/Special_Report/Mayday_ATC_shortage_spells_turbulence/articleshow/2964413.cms
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Committee recommends Indian air navigation overhaul
The committee was established in March last year with a brief to formulate a masterplan for the further development of India's air navigation services, which have been under great strain in recent years as the domestic air transport market has been growing rapidly.
Flight delays have become much more common in India as a result of air traffic capacity issues, which airlines largely blame on inefficient procedures.
Headed by civil aviation secretary Ajay Prasad, the committee has now presented its report to the minister for civil aviation and is recommending that the number of flight information regions is reduced to two from four, with area control centres located at Delhi and Mumbai.
It also recommends that Airports Authority of India "immediately review air traffic control procedures being followed at various airports, especially at metro airports, and initiate action to increase the capacity of handling air traffic".
The committee says that air traffic control-related delays of more than 5min "should be considered as significant and the capacity to handle the air traffic should be determined accordingly".
In addition to recommending a further modernisation of voice communication, datalink communication, navigation, surveillance and weather services systems, the committee is calling for more airspace that is currently set aside for defence use to be opened up for civilian use.
"A high-level committee of the government should be constituted for common use of Indian airspace and for working out ways of flexible use of airspace. The committee feels that the IAF [Indian Air Force] should review the restricted and danger areas expeditiously," it says.
"As a first step, the airspace above 29,000ft [8,850m] could be released for civil traffic in the presently defined restricted/danger airspace.
Flight delays have become much more common in India as a result of air traffic capacity issues, which airlines largely blame on inefficient procedures.
Headed by civil aviation secretary Ajay Prasad, the committee has now presented its report to the minister for civil aviation and is recommending that the number of flight information regions is reduced to two from four, with area control centres located at Delhi and Mumbai.
It also recommends that Airports Authority of India "immediately review air traffic control procedures being followed at various airports, especially at metro airports, and initiate action to increase the capacity of handling air traffic".
The committee says that air traffic control-related delays of more than 5min "should be considered as significant and the capacity to handle the air traffic should be determined accordingly".
In addition to recommending a further modernisation of voice communication, datalink communication, navigation, surveillance and weather services systems, the committee is calling for more airspace that is currently set aside for defence use to be opened up for civilian use.
"A high-level committee of the government should be constituted for common use of Indian airspace and for working out ways of flexible use of airspace. The committee feels that the IAF [Indian Air Force] should review the restricted and danger areas expeditiously," it says.
"As a first step, the airspace above 29,000ft [8,850m] could be released for civil traffic in the presently defined restricted/danger airspace.
Shortage of ATCO's
Air Traffic Control (ATC), the important arm of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) that manages and regulates aircraft movement in Indian skies, has been facing a manpower shortage for some years now. However, the problem has become serious of late and repercussions are expected to be felt soon. ATC officials, who have been doing double shifts several times in a week to make up for shortage of staff, have refused to do so, effective March 14.
Though the move has not affected air traffic yet, officials say if things continue the way they are, simultaneous use of both runways could also be hit, upsetting air schedules and resulting in massive delays. Such a situation, said officials, arose just after the ATCOs stopped reporting for extra duties for about two days when simultaneous use of runways was suspended for a few hours each day.
AAI official V Somasundaram, however, denied the reports and said there could have been some confusion over the issue as the order that directed officials to put in extra hours was to expire on March 31. ‘‘The order however was renewed last week so there is no question of ATCOs not reporting for extra work. They have been very cooperative all this time and we have not faced any problems. Till the time we are comfortably placed as far as manpower is concerned, this order will be extended,'' he said.
ATCOs normally do six-hour shifts, but many of them were allegedly being asked to work another shift to make up for manpower shortage. According to sources, since the management did not want simultaneous use of runways affected, they had pulled out men from other duties and rostered them for tower duties. Consequently, several important services did not have a single person overlooking the work.
Confirming that such double shifts had indeed stopped from March 14, sources at the airport said refusal of ATCOs to put in extra hours could be pressure tactics they were using to have their demands of higher pay and less workload looked into. ATC has been suffering a massive manpower shortage for a few years and even Somasundaram accepted that with air traffic having grown and extra facilities being provided to airlines and passengers, pressure on the ATC was indeed a lot.
‘‘We have been recruiting extensively in the past few months but seeing the rate at which air traffic is growing, we need more people. However, extra duties are not the norm and only when someone is on leave and we need urgent replacement, we ask officials to work extra,'' he said.
Though the move has not affected air traffic yet, officials say if things continue the way they are, simultaneous use of both runways could also be hit, upsetting air schedules and resulting in massive delays. Such a situation, said officials, arose just after the ATCOs stopped reporting for extra duties for about two days when simultaneous use of runways was suspended for a few hours each day.
AAI official V Somasundaram, however, denied the reports and said there could have been some confusion over the issue as the order that directed officials to put in extra hours was to expire on March 31. ‘‘The order however was renewed last week so there is no question of ATCOs not reporting for extra work. They have been very cooperative all this time and we have not faced any problems. Till the time we are comfortably placed as far as manpower is concerned, this order will be extended,'' he said.
ATCOs normally do six-hour shifts, but many of them were allegedly being asked to work another shift to make up for manpower shortage. According to sources, since the management did not want simultaneous use of runways affected, they had pulled out men from other duties and rostered them for tower duties. Consequently, several important services did not have a single person overlooking the work.
Confirming that such double shifts had indeed stopped from March 14, sources at the airport said refusal of ATCOs to put in extra hours could be pressure tactics they were using to have their demands of higher pay and less workload looked into. ATC has been suffering a massive manpower shortage for a few years and even Somasundaram accepted that with air traffic having grown and extra facilities being provided to airlines and passengers, pressure on the ATC was indeed a lot.
‘‘We have been recruiting extensively in the past few months but seeing the rate at which air traffic is growing, we need more people. However, extra duties are not the norm and only when someone is on leave and we need urgent replacement, we ask officials to work extra,'' he said.
e-navigation for safety in sky
Even as a new runway is coming up at the IGI airport to ease traffic congestion, the air traffic control (ATC) is in the process of finalizing a procedure that will reduce risks of accidents in air even further. The performance based navigational system (PBNS) is in the final stages of its draft form and should be in place by June.
The PBNS, being used in south Asia for the first time, will be made operational in Delhi and Mumbai simultaneously.
At present, the procedure that defines the height to be maintained by aircraft at a particular distance from the runway and in relation to other aircraft exists on paper. With the new system in place, this will be available to the pilot in his cockpit through a computer program.
"There are computers in the cockpit and the procedure to be maintained will be fed into that. Depending on which city the aircraft is going to and on which runway it has to land, the pilot can choose the particular option and instructions will be there before him to follow," said a senior official.
The process, say officials, will reduce the interface between pilots and air traffic controllers, making the flying system more organized and smooth. "ATCs often have problems since, due to a shortage in their numbers and a large number of operations, they talk to more than one pilot at a time. This often led to confusion when they had to give directions. PBNS will solve that since pilots will have their position and the altitude they need to maintain at that point, plus distance from other aircraft right in front of them," said an ATC official.
The system, in place for about a year, is already in use in the US and four persons from AAI recently went there for training under the Federal Aviation Administration. These four have been developing the software to suit Indian needs. "We will have discussions with pilots and airlines to fine tune the system and implement it in other parts of the country in a phased manner. When in place, it will also help accommodate more flights per hour," said the official.
Airlines are also happy with the decision, saying this will bring about more transparency in the system.
"In the manual process, one never knew when which flight would be given clearance for landing first. It was done randomly earlier, with no consideration for which aircraft was first in priority. Now, with system being followed, this should not be a problem," said a pilot. Pilots who will have to operate this system will need certification by the directorate general of civil aviation.
The PBNS, being used in south Asia for the first time, will be made operational in Delhi and Mumbai simultaneously.
At present, the procedure that defines the height to be maintained by aircraft at a particular distance from the runway and in relation to other aircraft exists on paper. With the new system in place, this will be available to the pilot in his cockpit through a computer program.
"There are computers in the cockpit and the procedure to be maintained will be fed into that. Depending on which city the aircraft is going to and on which runway it has to land, the pilot can choose the particular option and instructions will be there before him to follow," said a senior official.
The process, say officials, will reduce the interface between pilots and air traffic controllers, making the flying system more organized and smooth. "ATCs often have problems since, due to a shortage in their numbers and a large number of operations, they talk to more than one pilot at a time. This often led to confusion when they had to give directions. PBNS will solve that since pilots will have their position and the altitude they need to maintain at that point, plus distance from other aircraft right in front of them," said an ATC official.
The system, in place for about a year, is already in use in the US and four persons from AAI recently went there for training under the Federal Aviation Administration. These four have been developing the software to suit Indian needs. "We will have discussions with pilots and airlines to fine tune the system and implement it in other parts of the country in a phased manner. When in place, it will also help accommodate more flights per hour," said the official.
Airlines are also happy with the decision, saying this will bring about more transparency in the system.
"In the manual process, one never knew when which flight would be given clearance for landing first. It was done randomly earlier, with no consideration for which aircraft was first in priority. Now, with system being followed, this should not be a problem," said a pilot. Pilots who will have to operate this system will need certification by the directorate general of civil aviation.
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