Seminar Day 1
20th October 2014. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER
Inaugural Session:
The session started off with a warm welcome to the chief guest, Mr. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Hon. Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr. Hai Eng Chiang, Director, CANSO-Asia Pacific and Mr. V. Somasundaram, Member (ANS), who were greeted and presented with floral bouquets by Mr. D K Behera, President of the Air Traffic Controller’s Guild (India) and Mr. Manoj Sinha, General Secretary of the Air Traffic Controller’s Guild (India).
As is customary, the session then invoked the blessings of the Almighty by Goddess Saraswati vandana sung by Ms. Ritu Sharma and Mr. Gulshan Suman to signify the growth and prosperity of the quest for knowledge.This was followed by the lighting of the ceremonial lamp symbolizing the importance of lighting – to seek the blessings of the almighty and sharing of knowledge.
The welcome address was given by Mr. D K Behera, President of the Air Traffic Controller’s Guild (India) who welcomed the guests, the eminent personalities in the field of aviation, the guests from Nepal, all the sponsors and to all present at the two day seminar. He elaborated on the significance of 50 years of the Guild.
Mr. M K Sinha, General Secretary of the Guild in his speech announced that the Guild would contribute a sum of Rs. 2 lakhs to help the victims of the recent cyclone ‘Hudhud’ in Andhra Pradesh. He reflected on the fact that ATC Guild (India) is not merely an association but an institution built over the period of 50 years. He delved on the ongoing move for the creation of ANS Corporation and demanded that a Guild representative should be on the Board of the newly formed Corporation for its effective functioning. Mr. Sinha also opined that despite the impressive number of movements per hour at Delhi and Mumbai Airports, there is still scope for increasing it by 18 to 20 aircraft movements per hour. To bridge this shortfall he wanted a revamp of the ATC training system and hoped that formation of the ANS Corporation will lead to better training methods. He also made a reference to the number of unresolved issues between the Guild and the AAI which are waiting for a resolution for more than a decade now. He asked the AAI management for simplification of rules for better efficiency.
The Member (ANS) of AAI, Mr. V. Somasundaram was next to speak. He said that AAI is already recognised as one of the best ANSPs of the world and he gave a lot of the credit to the ATC and CNS personnel. He enumerated the various advances and enhancements made and new initiatives taken in Indian ATM in recent times. He particularly spoke about the project of Upper Airspace Harmonisation in Indian airspace.
Mr. Hai Eng Chiang of CANSO was very appreciative of the Guild’s purposeful existence for 50 long years. He said that in the last 50 years in Air Traffic Management has undergone phenomenal changes.He also opined that the ANSPs (CANSO is a federation of ANSPs worldwide) of Asia Pacific Region face huge challenges as there is much difference in the level of services provided by thec ANSPs of this region. Standardisation must be the aim. He also mentioned about the crucial contribution of ATC Guild (India) in the region.
The Chief Guest of the Seminar, Honourable Mr. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Minister of Civil Aviation then addressed the august gathering. He found the theme of the Seminar very apt and interesting. He hoped that the papers presented, and conclusions reached at this two-day seminar become actionable. He advised the Guild to ensure that the discussions held percolates down to the users. He congratulated ATC Guild (India) for its 50 years of meaningful existence.
This was followed by the release of the Souvenir for 2014 Seminar inaugurated by the honourable minister.
The presentation ceremony followed, where the prominent dignitaries in their fields on dais were felicitated along with the office bearers of other prominent Guilds and Associations with mementos. This was followed with a vote of thanks by Mr. Khsamendra Kumar, Vice President, Central Executive Council, ATC Guild (I), and subsequently a coffee break.
Technical Session 1 : Accelerating Air Traffic Management Efficiency in India : ANS initiatives
The session was chaired by Mr. S K Saraswati, Ex- Executive Director, AAI and Former Technical Officer, ICAO (APAC) and had a host of eminent speakers like including Mr. M K Nelli of AAI, Ms. Mimi Dobbs of MITRE, Mr. Eno Siewerdt of ATECH and Mr. Tehmur Khan Galindo from INDRA.
The first speaker was Mr. M K Nelli, Jt. General Manger in AAI and he deliberated on ANS Strategic Plans of AAI with its focus on Safety, Capacity and Efficiency. He discussed the background of the plan, the stages through which the plan was developed, its objectives. He detailed the elements of the plan and focussed on its strategies. In conclusion he said that the plan will be successful with collaboration between the ANS, the Airport Operators and the Regulators.
The next speaker was Ms. Mimi Dobbs, Assistant Director, International, India Country Manager of the MITRE Corporation. Her paper was entitled “Partnering for the Future of Aviation in India” detailing the collaboration between Mitre and the Indian ATM. She discussed about the projects that Mitre is executing with the AAI: PBN, GAGAN, Advanced Human In-The-Loop Simulations, Fast Time Modeling and Simulation, ATFM, Upper Airspace Redesign and the Research and Development India Air NavigationServices (RADIANS) Technical Center being set up.
The subsequent speaker Mr. Eno Siewerdt, of ATECH, a Brazilian Company spoke on “ATFM – Smarter Decision Making”. He elaborated on how implementation of Air Traffic Flow Management by ATECH has helped Brazil in coping up with its traffic. He explained how Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) service relies on a number of supporting systems, processes and operational data in order to function effectively. He demonstrated SkyFlow – an ATECH product and how it has been implemented successfully in Brazilian airspace. He mae a strong case for India implementing SkyFlow.
The paper by Mr. Tehmur Khan Galindo of INDRA ATM was on Indra supplying ATM Systems to the world for more than 90 years now. Mr. Khan presented a brief on INDRA and its ATM Division. He then proceeded to detail the various solutions that INDRA SISTEMAS has developed for ATM/CNS and Airports. He concluded his presentation with a brief about the projects that INDRA is involved with in India.
Mr. Harry Dhaul of Aviation Watch presented an engaging paper on Safety and Security concerns in aviation. His talk focussed on Aviation Security And The Importance Of Training For Emergency Response And Security. He presented the status of Aviation Security in India, Airport Security and Emergency Response Training For Crew members. He reasoned that the present system of Reportng of Incidents suffers from a lot of deficiencies. He also talked about importance of English proficiency among ATCs and Pilots. He gave examples of IC491, IX812, MH17 and MH370 to illustrate his point on India’s preparation to tackle emergencies and to create Emergency Security Plan.
Mr. Amber Dubey, Partner & Head-Aerospace and Defence, KPMG-India was the next speaker who made out a strong case for the Need for an independent corporatized ANS in India.Indra’s experience in ATC of last 90 years. His presentation focused on the various manufacturing engineering services being provided by Indian players. The presentation highlighted how manufacturing engineering services are coupling with component manufacturing and poising India to become a key player in the global aviation manufacturing sector.
Technical Session 2 : Collaborative ATM and Airport Solutions
The session had speakers from Thales, CANSO, BIAL and CIAL.
Mr. S Satish Kumar of Business Development – India, Thales presented his paper on “ASBU Ready Solutions – A Global ATM Solution Provider’s Response”. He demonstrated TopSKy – a Thales product and how it is 40% of world’s airspace.
Mr. Hai Eng Chiang of CANSO gave a presentation on “Enabling air transport growth in the Asia Pacific Region”. He mentioned the fact that 50 years of ATC Guild (India) also coincides with 100 years of Civil Aviation. He also elaborated on ICAO’s ASBU and its implementation.
Mr. S V Arunachalam of BIAL presented a paper on the ACDM-CATFM collaboration between Bengaluru Airport and AAI and how it led to more Growth & Efficiency.
Mr. A M Shabeer of CIAL’s presentation detailed how the Cochin Int’l Airport Ltd. Came into being and why is it a Path breaker in Indian Civil Aviation History
Technical Session 3 : Innovations for Aviation Stakeholders
The session had speakers from UNO technology, Honeywell and AAI and was chaired by Mr. Kanu Gohain, Ex-Director General of Civil Aviation
Mr. Unni Bhaskar of UNO Technology Plc made a presentation on “High-Vision Airport Control Cabins”. He informed that they have been in the business of design, fabrication, and installation of High Vision Air Traffic Control Cabins since 1996 using modern trends in designing High Vision Control Cabins.
Mr. Sushim Jain of Honeywell presented a paper on “Integrated Airside Operations Management”
Mr. Sudhanshu Gupta of AAI presented a paper detailing the in-house project of AAI on Airport Collaborative Decision Making.
Seminar Day 2
21st October 2014
The 2nd day of the Seminar started with Technical Session 4.
Technical Session 4: Analysing the Man Behind Machines
This session was chaired by Mr. A K Dutta Executive Director (ATM), AAI This session had speakers from MITRE, IIT (Mumbai), K J Somaiyya College (Mumbai) and Indian Statistical Institute (Delhi).
Dr. Thomas Becher, Department Head for PBN Tools, Processes, and Criteria at MITRE Corporation was the first speaker of the session. He presented his paper on “The benefits of Human In The Loop (HITL)”. He explained the benefits of HITL, how it has been implemented in AAI, How it has been beneficial to AAI and what are the future deployment plans.
Prof. Rajkumar S. Pant of Aerospace Engineering Department at IIT, Mumbai spoke next at the session. His topic was “Human Factors in Air Traffic Management”. He expained what is meant by Human Factors, the problems in Human Dependent Approach, how to identify Operational Issues using HF Approach. He concluded his presentation by a case study he conducted on Mumbai ATCOs.
Dr. Atish Taukari of K J Somaiyya College, Mumbai spoke on “Executive Functioning in Air Traffic Managers”. He explained why ATCOs need Executive Function. He has conducted research on ATCOs of Mumbai and hypothesised that “Executive Functioning in ATCOs increases with their job experience, mitigating negative impact of ageing contrary to General Population (Controls).“ He explained his research methodology and his conclusions which proved his hypothesis.
Dr. Antar Banerjee of Theoretical Statistics and Mathematics Unit, ISI (Indian Statistical Institute), Delhi spoke on “Challenges in the Airspace Safety Monitoring” based on joint project with BOBASMA, AAI & ISI. He described the achievements and further challenges for the project.
Technical Session 5 : Environmental Initiatives
Mr. N V Atale of AAI listed the benefits of Environmental initiatives that the AAI has taken over the years in his lecture on “Environmental initiatives of ATM in AAI”
Mr. Sudhir S. Rajeshirke, of Helios (an Egis company) gave a presentation on “AAI’s transition to performance-based management”. This project by Helios was funded by the European Union. He explained what is performance management and why it is important?. He listed the scope of the project alongwith Helios’ approach and methodology for the project. He also made the audience aware of the next steps to be undertaken in this continuing project. He made the point that AAI is one of the first in the region to start implementing performance-based measures
Mr. Richard Kopmair and Dr. Panagiotis Karamanos of Indo-EU Co-ops Project presented a paper on The EU-India Civil Aviation Project Sustainability in Indian Aviation. They listed out the project objectives including Drafting the White Paper for National Aviation Policy until 2030, Drafting of the Civil Aviation Authority Bill, Drafting of new Civil Aviation Act to replace present Aircraft Act of 1934 and establishment of National Aviation University. He also presented a Future course of action for the project.
Interactive Discussion between the Air Traffic Controllers and Pilots
The 5 Technical Sessions was followed by an Interactive Discussion between the Air Traffic Controllers and Pilots of various Airlines which saw a free and frank discussion on the perceived and actual problems in air traffic controlling over the Indian skies. This interactive session was very aptly chaired by Mr. K Gohain, Former DG of Cvil Aviation and saw participation from the Controllers from all over India and pilots from Air India, Jet Airways, Indigo Airlines among others.
This concluded the seminar technical sessions.
Mr. D K Behera, President, ATC Guild (India) presented a brief report on the 2 days’ activity. He concluded by thanking all the participants, the sponsors, the logistics support and others who made the seminar the success that it proved to be. He then declared the ATC Guild (India) Seminar 2014 closed.
The Seminar was very well received by all the stakeholders. The two-day seminar ended with a positive note that all the parties concerned should strive hard to contribute their best in India’s initiatives for Aerospace Infrastructure.
A Gala Dinner was organized on the 21st October for all the participants and their families at the Airports Authority of India Officers Institute lawns.
