The 11th Air Navigation Conference is underway in
Montreal (Sept. 22 to Oct. 3).
On the agenda this year is the introduction and assessment of a Global Air
Traffic Management (ATM) operational concept.
The International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilots Association’s (IAOPA),
through the efforts of IAOPA Secretary General John Sheehan and COPA Director
Frank Hofmann, is providing input regarding integrating general aviation and
aerial work into the Global CNS/ATM concept. The following is the IAOPA position
being presented at the conference.
Communications,
navigation, and surveillance/air traffic management
(CNS/ATM) systems are intended to accommodate the needs of all airspace
users, including general aviation (GA) and aerial work (AW) operations. Yet,
airspace design, aircraft equipment requirements and operational procedures
sometimes ignore or unintentionally exclude the needs of GA/AW operators.
While CNS/ATM systems must be designed to provide services to the majority, user
provisions must also be made to accommodate the needs of GA/AW operators as
well. This may be accomplished by instituting procedures and employing
technology that will permit access to valuable airspace segments without either
unnecessarily excluding GA/AW operations or requiring equipment effectively
excluding them.
OPERATION OF AIRCRAFT, DEFINITIONS.
In sheer numbers GA/AW is impressive: Approximately 350,000 aircraft and one
million pilots are involved in these activities worldwide. On balance, roughly
60,000 aircraft and 500,000 pilots are employed in commercial air transportation
(including cargo and charter).
The significance of GA/AW becomes greater when it is realized that every airline
and military pilot must begin their journey to professional competence in the
cockpit of a general aviation aircraft. Further, the essential services provided
to the public by GA/AW for police, emergency medical services and search and
rescue make all of our lives safer and more productive.
Aerial survey, agricultural application and pipeline/powerline patrol add
significantly to many aspects of the economy. And, for the many remote areas of
the world, life and civilization would not be possible without the benefits
provided by GA/AW operations.
GA/AW activities globally create hundreds of thousands of jobs and tens of
billions of dollars for the countries and small business enterprises these
activities serve. Without this activity essential transportation functions would
be eliminated and the opportunities associated with them would be lost to the
economies they potentially serve. Therefore, GA/AW needs and desires should be
taken seriously as a worldwide economic engine.
GA/AW OPERATIONAL NEEDS
The ATM operational concept seeks to bring benefits to the international
civil aviation community.
From an airspace user perspective, greater equity in airspace access, greater
access to timely and meaningful information for decision support and more
autonomy in decision-making including conflict management, will provide the
opportunity to better deliver business and personal outcomes, within an
appropriate safety framework.
In particular, system harmonization and integration will provide high levels of
assurance of predictability to airline operators and their customers.
While the omission of GA/AW operations from the assurances afforded the airline
community may have been an oversight, it bears emphasizing that we too desire
these assurances.
While we acknowledge that the ATM system was designed principally to accommodate
the needs of the airlines and military, a significant amount of GA/AW traffic
regularly participates in this system worldwide. Therefore, the system must
“bring benefits to the entire civil aviation community.”
OVERVIEW
CNS/ATM requirements for GA/AW are similar to those of commercial air
transport: reliable on-demand access to an air traffic system and efficient
routings and handling by air traffic service providers, all at a positive
cost-benefit ratio. Yet, there are differences.
The majority of the world’s GA/AW operations are conducted under visual flight
rules (VFR) and in visual meteorological conditions. Something less than half of
the world’s general aviation aircraft and pilots are equipped and trained to fly
under instrument flight rules (IFR), separating them from the mainstream of air
traffic supported by modern CNS/ATM systems.
Yet, these activities still need large portions of the airspace in which to
operate, particularly in the low altitude structure, and to be able to gain
access to airports located in closely controlled airspace.
The point being that while closely controlled airspace, especially in busy
terminal areas, is designed primarily for high speed IFR air traffic, slower VFR
traffic also require access into or around these areas, either to operate into
major airports or to peripheral reliever airports.
As control constraints escalate in airspace along busy routes and equipment
requirements to operate in that airspace grow, VFR operations are effectively
eliminated in favour of well-equipped IFR operations.
GA/AW IFR traffic constitute approximately 20 per cent of the total in North
America and less than 10 per cent in Europe. While these percentages will
probably not grow appreciably in the near future, this access is increasingly
important to those who use this service.
Because of the diversity of GA/AW operations and the differing capabilities of
their diverse elements, it is important not to consider this segment of aviation
as a homogenous group; the intercontinental Gulfstream V has very different
needs than the Robinson R22 helicopter employed to muster cattle. Yet, each of
these lay a legitimate claim to CNS/ATM needs.
COMMUNICATIONS, NAVIGATION, AND SURVEILLANCE
VHF data link (VDL), global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and
automatic dependent surveillance (ADS) systems offer great promise for
international aviation, yet with that promise comes two considerations: as use
of this equipment becomes the price of access to the system, will the benefits
provided be adequate to offset the costs, and, will those who cannot equip be
excluded from vital airspace and airports?
GA/AW operators readily embrace new technology when a clear benefit to use of
that technology is available. For instance, it is estimated that two-thirds of
the world’s GA/AW fleet uses a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of some
sort, either panel-mounted or hand-held. No one mandated these devices; it was
the clear benefit available to the user that led them to embrace them.
However, GPS receivers requiring a sophisticated pedigree to be used for IFR
enroute and approach applications contain a less certain and well defined
cost-benefit ratio.
An IFR capable single-engine Raytheon (Beechcraft) Bonanza valued at $100,000
can ill afford to install $50,000 worth of satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS)
certified GPS, enhanced Mode S transponder and VDL equipment that may be
required to operate in some locations within the next five to 10 years.
Similarly, it may require as much as $500,000 of equipment to properly equip and
configure an older million dollar Learjet. Moreover, even if this equipment is
not mandated, will access to desired routes, altitudes and terminal areas be
available without it? As the transition to space-based navigation systems some
backup system is envisioned for the foreseeable future. Airlines will be able to
employ already installed inertial navigation systems (INS) or multiple distance
measuring equipment (DME/DME) sensors.
GA/AW will be forced to use the existing VHF omnidirectional radio range (VOR)
ground stations for as long as they exist. However, these stations may begin to
be phased out as early as 2005 in some parts of the world, leaving GA/AW with no
effective backup means for comprehensive IFR enroute or approach guidance.
Either ground or space-based backup navigation systems, developed with economy
in mind, must be designated to accommodate GA/AW needs.
The timing of required equipment changes is an important consideration for GA/AW
operations. For instance, does it make sense for an IFR operator to install a
Mode S transponder that may be eclipsed by ADS-B just a few years later? That
is, will existing Mode C transponders provide adequate surveillance signals
until ADS becomes a mature technology. Therefore, single-step solutions are
preferable to costly and disruptive multi-step solutions.
AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
While ATM is designed to accommodate and direct IFR traffic flows, it also
indirectly affects VFR traffic, as well. In order to safely control IFR traffic
ATM designers must designate certain portions of the airspace for varying
degrees of access and control.
In doing so, VFR traffic, especially in busy terminal areas, is constrained and
restricted from access to increasingly valuable portions of the airspace. It is
clear that increasing amounts of managed airspace will be required as more
flights continue to crowd into a finite amount of sky. However, compromises are
available to the ATM specialist to properly classify airspace segments,
providing VFR entry points and routes in terminal areas and imposing less
controlled airspace segments where possible. Importantly, the equipment required
as a precondition for access to managed airspace should be carefully evaluated
and minimized.
Perhaps the most important consideration for air traffic managers to acknowledge
that non-airline and non-scheduled traffic exists that have legitimate
requirements to use the air traffic system.
This is particularly important when devising airspace structures, rules and
procedures that impose constraints on the system. GA/AW cannot claim access
equal to the mass flow of airline traffic, yet their needs must be acknowledged
and accommodated fairly and equitably.
It is useful to note that a principal constraint on air traffic systems is
airport capacity. Unless the runway launch and acceptance rate at key airports
can be enhanced airborne capacity improvement efforts may prove to be of little
value. Therefore, ATM efforts should be directed to solving airport capacity
problems as well as the airborne capacity component.
Land-long and land-and-hold-short techniques can provide short-term
improvements, but long-term, additional airports to relieve terminal area
congestion may hold the ultimate solution.
WORKING WITH GA/AW
IAOPA has been working with ICAO and regional aviation authorities since
1962 to present and promote GA/AW needs and requirements. IAOPA represents the
interests of affiliates in 58 ICAO States, involving more than 450,000 pilots
and aircraft operators. Each of our affiliates is available to work with State
regulatory authorities to find ways to accomplish the goals stated above.
Our representatives regularly attend ICAO CNS/ATM meetings as well. We are
available to assist with CNS/ATM systems design and validation issues.
ACTION BY THE CONFERENCE
The conference is invited to note the needs and concerns of GA/AW and use
the information contained in this paper to continue the implementation of global
CNS/ATM systems.