August 27, 2018  -  No. 068

In This Issue 
SA government refunds millions over 'sub standard' TAFE training courses 
Alabama aviation groups looking to solve pilot shortage 
Marywood to expand aviation program at AVP airport 
The Potential Benefits Of Blockchain Technology For The Aviation Industry 
NBAA Annual Compensation Survey Shows Business Aviation Salaries Are Up 
Nolinor Advocates for Real-Time Data and Automated Distress Tracking in Remote Regions 
Powell River accepts offer to develop aviation industry 
New Chinese Startup Airline Plans to Begin Operations in Early 2019 
Controlling the World's Air Traffic with a Frequentis Tower Engineer 
SpaceX adds new astronaut walkway to historic NASA launch pad 

SA government refunds millions over 'sub standard' TAFE training courses

The South Australian government has paid more than $2 million in compensation and retraining fees to 87 TAFE SA aircraft maintenance training course students who had their licences revoked following a damning Civil Aviation Safety Authority audit.

The audit early last year, which led to the exposure of a widespread TAFE SA training scandal affecting about 800 students across 16 "substandard" courses, found the aircraft maintenance training course was non-compliant for a number of reasons.

It was only after an investigation by The Weekend Australian that the serious training bungle was exposed in September last year.

Former Labor skills minister Susan Close, who is now the opposition's deputy leader, was informed of the investigation five months earlier, but kept it from the public.

The incident saw Qantas no longer use TAFE SA for training.

South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas, who will deliver the new government's first budget next week, said the TAFE SA settlement would cover the cost of students' lost wages, retraining fees, accommodation and airfares for interstate and overseas students - as well as the cost of sending TAFE SA staff on "travelling roadshows" across Australia to conduct the retraining.

"This whole sorry saga is just another example of the sheer incompetence of the former Labor government and the mess they've left us to clean up,'' Mr Lucas said today.

"Aircraft maintenance training students - who had paid around $5000 to $10,000 for a module and up to $52,000 for a full Diploma - were told their licences were invalid and forced to suspend all work directly related to them."

There were only three other centres in the country offering the training: TAFE NSW, Aviation Australia and Federation Training in Gippsland, Victoria.

Mr Lucas said four students from Dili, East Timor had paid $98,000 to take the course at the Parafield Airport campus of TAFE SA and sit their exams.

"On the advice of the Crown Solicitor's Office, the government is now covering their lost wages and paying for them to be retrained but, because many of them live interstate, there is an added $1m cost to fly TAFE SA staff on travelling roadshows to Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane and Perth to conduct the retraining," Mr Lucas said.

The taxpayer-funded payout is among more than $12m in claims the Marshall government is settling with around 100 victims of previous issues on the watch of the former Labor government, including the Oakden scandal, chemotherapy under-dosing, missed breast cancer detection and Pathology SA's incorrect prostate test results.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/sa-government-refunds-millions-over-sub-standard-tafe-training-courses/news-story/036b5ce4e4fc070bdf79ddc8cb897996

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Alabama aviation groups looking to solve pilot shortage

George Davis grew up in rural north Alabama, but even then he had his eyes on the sky.
"Aviation has been my passion since I was a kid. I used to watch the approach patterns coming into Huntsville all the time," said Davis, whose Lawrence County home was in the flight path for planes coming into the airport from the west.

That doesn't mean his head was in the clouds. That love for airplanes led him to the military, where he first became an aircraft maintenance expert, and then a pilot.

Today, Davis is the general manager for Signature Flight Support at Huntsville International Airport, and he and Signature's parent company, BBA Aviation, are on a mission to find more young people with eyes on the sky.

This month, in fact, Signature and BBA donated $10,000 to the Huntsville non-profit, FlyQuest, which is dedicated to getting young people interested in careers in aviation. It was the second $10,000 donation BBA Aviation has made to FlyQuest in the past three years.

It's not just a good thing to do for Alabama kids looking for an interesting career, it's a way to fill a major need in the aviation industry.

Pilots these days are in short supply, and the shortage is about to get serious. Davis said Delta Airlines alone has 7,000 pilots that are planning to retire in the next year or so. Overall, the number of airline pilots nationwide - more than 800,000 in 1987, according to the Federal Aviation Administration - has dropped by 30 percent over the past three decades.

"That's a lot of experience walking away all at once" Davis said. "The shortage is there, and the need for pilots is increasing daily."

The military isn't turning out the pilots it used to, either. In fact, Davis said, the armed services are experiencing pilot shortages of their own.

Imagine the impact on the U.S. and global economy if we don't have enough pilots to keep people and cargo criss-crossing the country and the world.

Not only are careers in aviation not being put in front of a majority of school kids today, but the cost of learning to fly can be a real deterrent.

"To go from zero hours to be able to qualify to fly for the airlines, you are looking at anywhere from $75,000 to $80,000," Davis said.

Enter FlyQuest, which provides young people scholarships to get their start in aviation, not only as pilots, but aircraft maintenance specialists, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, ground crew and numerous other careers.

So FlyQuest, which has been working with schools for several years, is now taking its show on the road.

The group - with donations from Signature Aviation, the Huntsville Airport Authority and others -- has souped up an old Greyhound bus and turned it into a mobile aviation classroom that can visit schools across the northern part of the state.

The bus will have flight and air-traffic control simulators, cutaways of aircraft engines and hydraulics and other things to stimulate kids' interest in the industry, Davis said.

"It's my passion, along with FlyQuest, to give kids the opportunity to see what's going on in aviation," Davis said. "Otherwise, they may never, ever get exposed to it."

https://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/08/alabama_aviation_groups_lookin.html


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Marywood to expand aviation program at AVP airport

PITTSTON TWP. - Marywood University will bring its aviation education program to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport starting next month, university and airport officials announced Thursday.

The university, which has used Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort for its student flight training and hands-on aviation experience, will begin operations at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International in September.

Aviation Technologies Inc. will provide flight training for students in the program.

The arrangement will be a "win-win for everybody," said Sister Mary Persico, president of Marywood University.

"This is going to be a great experience for our students," she said.

Marywood is the only college or university in Northeast Pennsylvania that offers a four-year degree program in aviation, according to Joseph McDonald, the program's director and a commercial airline pilot with American Airlines.

The move to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton international, a larger airport than Wyoming Valley, will give the program "room to grow," he said.

The program's 37 students, including 31 pilots or pilots-in-training, will have greater opportunities, such as a chance to meet and learn from commercial pilots whose flights come through the airport, McDonald said. The new venue also offers better winter maintenance, to allow an improved year-round flying experience, he said.

The students will "get a flavor of what their career paths" will entail, McDonald said.

Programs such as Marywood's are vital to the aviation industry, which faces a growing shortage of commercial pilots, said airport Executive Director Carl Beardsley Jr.

"It's important that the pilots of tomorrow are educated," Beardsley said. "There is a shortage of pilots. We want to take care of that."

McDonald described the current state of hiring in the aviation industry as "excellent."

Members of the airport's bi-county board of directors praised the newly forged agreement between the airport and the university.

"I think it's a great partnership," said Tim McGinley, chairman of Luzerne County council.

Lackawanna County Commissioner Patrick O'Malley, the airport board chairman, described the airport as "the greatest jewel of our region."

He lauded the partnership with Marywood as "another opportunity to draw more youth to our region."

https://www.citizensvoice.com/news/marywood-to-expand-aviation-program-at-avp-airport-1.2377544

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The Potential Benefits Of Blockchain Technology For The Aviation Industry

When you begin to think about all the data involved in taking a trip on a plane, it's really rather staggering. There's your own personal data, your check-in and ticket information. There's a huge amount of information regarding the plane, its safety checks and routine procedures. There will be meteorological data, flight paths and schedules, and all of these can alter in an instant. Take all this into account, and you can understand why sometimes flights are delayed or over-booked.

Blockchain could massively improve the handling of this data
There are several tests and much research underway to investigate the uses of blockchain technology within the aviation business. Using a decentralized and distributed database, data saved on the blockchain are highly secure. Blockchain transactions can also be very fast. When you're dealing with vital and confidential data, that can change in a second, both these factors are of paramount importance.

Blockchain for the aviation industry: what are the real-world use cases?
That's all well and good in theory, but let's take a look at some ways in which these new technologies may be incorporated within the aviation industry in the not too distant future...

Automatic payouts for delayed flights
Some insurance companies are already using blockchain to connect to air traffic databases, issuing automatic payments when flights are delayed over a certain length of time. So there's no need for the customer to go through a claims process.

Track your own luggage
It's a real pain when you're waiting for your luggage to come off the conveyor belt and it never arrives. Imagine how useful it would be to have an app on your phone to pinpoint exactly where it is. This is something that Air New Zealand is currently looking into. Automation of compensation for lost luggage could also be implemented into this process.

More efficient maintenance records
Air France-KLM is working on a blockchain-based system to improve aircraft maintenance procedures and records. A fully digital system would be a big improvement, and with blockchain, every transaction is recorded, so there's always a full audit trail. This could not only increase efficiency, but also would be of benefit from a safety point of view.

An overall smoother experience for travelers
With better handling of these massive amounts of data, in the future, passengers should find that those niggling issues such as delays and over-bookings are reduced. Everything from checking in to boarding the plane could run more smoothly and involve less time and paperwork.

The future looks good with blockchain
While many of these innovations are still in their infancy, it's certain that blockchain technology will be be implemented within the aviation industry over the coming months and years. These will most definitely be welcome changes and can only improve our experience with air travel.

https://www.aviationplusmag.com/news/2018/08/25/benefits-blockchain-aviation-industry/


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NBAA Annual Compensation Survey Shows Business Aviation Salaries Are Up

The 2018 NBAA Compensation Survey results reveal that industry salaries are on the upswing, with several positions reflecting double-digit growth on average compared to survey results from 2017.

This year, 790 NBAA operating member companies participated in the survey by providing compensation and benefit data for 4,130 employees - the survey's largest data set to date. Across all 16 surveyed job descriptions pay increased by 3-4 percent on average. The categories seeing the biggest increases, according to the audited data, were aviation department managers (managers who don't fly), up 30 percent in total cash compensation to $205,000; maintenance foremen, up 14 percent to $127,000 and senior captains, up 12 percent to $164,000.

"The survey shows that our members are adjusting and keeping up with industry trends," said Peter Korns, NBAA's manager, tax, operations and workforce engagement. "As our industry continues to work to attract and retain quality talent we are seeing real efforts to fairly compensate pilots and mechanics who may otherwise seek out alternative opportunities."

The overall increase, he said, "is on par with expectations, however we see some significant decreases in dispatcher and line service personnel salaries (12 percent and 10 percent, respectively), which is cause for further analysis.

Since the late 1960s, NBAA has conducted annual salary surveys to give aviation managers and human resources personnel benchmarks for employee compensation. Each year, the association and its committee leaders evaluate the survey questionnaire and develop new methods to streamline the submission process for participating companies, while focusing on essential compensation elements.

NBAA added two new questions to this year's survey. One asked participants if their company uses sign-on bonuses to attract talent. The other asked, "Do you formally track or record flight hours, duty hours, RONs or weekend days worked?" This question was posed to ensure greater legitimacy in those hours, RONs and weekend days that participants provided by only accepting that data which is formally recorded.

The NBAA Compensation Survey is an important resource for association members, and we encourage them to take advantage of this valuable information," said Patrick Haller, NBAA's director of membership and member services.

The 2018 survey results are available for free to NBAA members who participated in the survey.
 NBAA members who didn't participate may access the online results for $700.

https://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12426668/nbaa-annual-compensation-survey-shows-business-aviation-salaries-are-up

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Nolinor Advocates for Real-Time Data and Automated Distress Tracking in Remote Regions

August 23, 2018 - Nolinor Aviation sees real-time flight data as key to proactive safety management and a recommended best practice for operators throughout the aviation industry.

The specialists in remote charter flights to Canada's North and other under-served international destinations presented their global tracking and real-time event management solution to industry stakeholders this week at the AEEC Global Aircraft Tracking (AEEC GAT) working group session on Autonomous Distress Tracking.

The AEEC GAT working group is currently engaged in developing system standards for ICAO's Global Aeronautical Distress and Safety System (GADSS) and is an initiative developed in response to the tragedies of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and Air France flight 447.

"Working as we do in some of the world's most remote locations, it is essential for us to know what is happening with our aircraft no matter where they are on the globe. It improves safety, adds efficiency to our maintenance procedures and provides better customer service. We have had an independent tracking system in place since 2008 which provides us with position reports every 2 minutes. We have also installed a system that is designed to inform our crew on the ground immediately if a flight has deviated from standard operating procedures or encountered a maintenance issue," said Nolinor Director of Operations Yves Bergeron.

Nolinor has worked with SKYTRAC Systems to install a technology that monitors the aircraft for safety and maintenance performance exceedances during flight. If a critical incident is detected, the system immediately sends alerts to ground crew over the Iridium satellite network. This ensures the team can promptly begin review and follow-up. The system also regularly offloads inflight data over satellite even during normal operations. Nolinor can regularly review flight data and proactively investigate any incidents that require additional maintenance review or training. 

"Nolinor is an example of a forward-thinking operator that has chosen to implement a real-time position and event tracking solution well before any formal mandate. From a technical perspective, the system capabilities are very similar to the ICAO 2021 GADSS recommendations. In addition to this, Nolinor has retrofitted the solution to a Boeing 737-200 analogue aircraft. They saw the benefit to themselves and their clients and overcame the technical challenges to implement a system that is truly industry-leading," said SKYTRAC President Malachi Nordine.

Learn more about the implementation at player.vimeo.com/video/286358668.

ABOUT NOLINOR 
Founded in 1992, Nolinor Aviation is an air transportation company specializing in charter flights. Their readily configurable fleet is used for transporting passengers, cargo, or both. Nolinor offers air service across Canada, the United States and to other destinations around the world, with the capability to land on gravel and ice runways. Nolinor's state of the art operations centre receives live fleet information from a satellite based tracking system. Their experienced operations team is able to ensure unparalleled reliability and service. Nolinor Aviation is a private company, wholly owned by the Prud'homme family trust.

ABOUT SKYTRAC 
SKYTRAC is aviation's full-service, data-driven solutions provider. Since 1986, SKYTRAC has pioneered the development, evolution and commercialization of flight following, flight data and communications technology. Today, with systems certified on over 900 airframes and an online data management portal that is the go-to tool for over 7,000 global users, SKYTRAC is truly the partner of choice for data-guided business insights. From performance trending and operations reporting to real-time asset tracking and situational awareness - SKYTRAC offers a one-stop response to meeting more of your company's needs. For more information go to www.skytrac.ca.

https://www.openpr.com/news/1198288/Nolinor-Advocates-for-Real-Time-Data-and-Automated-Distress-Tracking-in-Remote-Regions.html

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Powell River accepts offer to develop aviation industry

Plans to develop an aviation industrial park were announced at City of Powell River's regular council meeting on Aug. 16.

Throughout his second term, Mayor Dave Formosa, along with councillors and economic development staff, has been working on airport development and building a small aviation industry.
 This opportunity is the closest the city has come.

"We've been keeping this under wraps for a year and a half, and quite frankly we're optimistic we'll see small aircraft manufactured here," Formosa said. 

The city has accepted an offer to enter into a 99-year lease with Gaoshi Holdings (Canada) Limited on a 4.6-hectare parcel of land within the city-owned Powell River Airport for $600,000.

The deal also includes a 10-year tax revitalization bylaw "to help him build his industry," said Formosa.

The tax structure would see Gaoshi pay nothing in the first year and then graduate each year by 10 per cent to 100 per cent after 10 years.

Formosa said he believes the public will accept the tax break.

"There's been nobody knocking on our door," said Formosa. "There's been no interest. We've tried and tried to get someone here to do development."

Formosa said he and council are trying to create an aviation industry. 

According to the announcement from city manager of economic development and communications Scott Randolph, Gaoshi intends to develop an aviation industrial park, which will include maintenance and repair operations, accredited pilot and maintenance technician programs and possibly aviation manufacturing of small aircraft.

"It's huge; it's big," Randolph said. "Bottom line is this helps us take a further step in diversifying our economy. It also secures an anchor tenant at the airport, which gives us a business case for further development there."

While the city has accepted the offer, the deal is not done, yet.

A lease and tax revitalization bylaw are being drafted and will be brought back to council for review and approval.

"Now it's just a matter of fulfilling our end of the deal and doing the revitalization bylaw," Randolph said.

According to Randolph's report, the offer includes a commitment by Gaoshi to begin construction within two years and obtain occupancy permits by the fourth year of the lease.

If either deadline is not met, the city will have the option to buy out the lease at the original price.

https://www.coastreporter.net/news/local-news/powell-river-accepts-offer-to-develop-aviation-industry-1.23410359

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New Chinese Startup Airline Plans to Begin Operations in Early 2019

Genghis Khan Airlines is a new start-up in the Inner Mongolia region of China. However, unlike some airline start-ups, which start seamlessly, Genghis Khan has had a few problems along its route to the sky.

Genghis Khan Airlines was originally marketed as Tianjiao airlines. However, that name was dropped for a more iconic name, which is based on the famed historic Mongolian figure Genghis Khan. The airline originally planned to start operations with Bombardier CRJ-900 aircraft in March, but it was unable to secure production slots with Bombardier. Then, in May, the airline was said to be negotiating with Embraer for E190 aircraft to launch operations. The airline was not able to secure production slots or maintenance contracting with Embraer either.

Finally, the airline announced a large order for up to 50 Comac ARJ21 aircraft, including 25 firm orders and options for an additional 25. The airline plans to receive its first two aircraft in December 2018, with the remaining 23 in the next five years. Genghis Khan Airlines has also entered into an agreement with Comac in order to establish a flight school for its pilots as well as a maintenance and overhaul facility for the airline's operations.

The airline's investors are mostly the Inner Mongolian government, which has invested USD$438 million US dollars into the airline. The Inner Mongolian government is hoping to increase tourism to the region, which has increased already 12% over 2017, to 202,600 tourists in the first half of 2018. The airline will be run by a mix of executives who have left various other Chinese airlines, such as Air China, 9 Air, China Southern Airlines, and Qingdao Airlines. The former chairman of Qingdao Airlines will be in charge of preparing the airline for its commercial operations, and the chairman of the airline will be Hao Yutao.

Genghis Khan Airlines will be the second airline to operate the Comac ARJ21 after the Comac-owned Chengdu Airlines. Genghis Khan will also be the second-largest operator of the ARJ21 should they exercise their options; Genghis Khan Airlines will follow Henan Airlines and tie with Joy Air. Should the new carrier choose to do so, the 25 additional aircraft will be delivered 3 years after the original 25 aircraft.

Part of the reason for Genghis Khan Airlines' decision to order the ARJ21 was influenced by a relatively new aviation rule in China, dubbed Rule 96. Rule 96 requires that new start-up carriers operate at least 25 regional aircraft with 100 seats or less before they are permitted to launch international flights. The only 100 or less seat aircraft certified in China, however, are the ARJ21; Bombardier CRJ-900 and Q400; Embraer E190; and the Xian MA60.

After starting operations, Genghis Khan Airlines plans to launch into the international market once they have received their 25thaircraft. The airline plans to be operating to 40 destinations with 25 aircraft in five years, and then to 80 destinations with 50 aircraft in eight years. While these plans are ambitious, the airline's wide investor pool will be able to help finance their expansion plans.

Genghis Khan Airlines has not yet released its plans for seating configurations on the ARJ21.
 However, the aircraft is typically equipped with between 78 and 90 seats depending on the number of classes, allowing for some flexibility on the airline's part. The aircraft also has a range of up to 3,700 km, which will allow for great flexibility when the airline is considering new routes. The airline also plans to operate extensive flights within Inner Mongolia from its base at the capital of Hohhot, as there are 20 transport-class airports within the region prepared for the airline to serve them.

Genghis Khan Airlines says that it has completed acquiring the personnel required, including executives, maintenance personnel, pilots, cabin crew, and more.

Genghis Khan airlines look like it has a good chance at being successful in an underserved region of China, and although their plans may be ambitious, they have a strong team behind the plans to help see them through.

https://aeronauticsonline.com/new-chinese-startup-airline-plans-to-start-operations-in-early-2019/


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Controlling the World's Air Traffic with a Frequentis Tower Engineer

Hannes Schrittwieser has traveled all over the world installing and customizing air traffic solutions for Frequentis. That travel is one of his favorite things about the company, which famously has flexible work hours for its employees rather than a rigid workday.

Schrittwieser, an Austrian national who was always interested in IT and engineering, joined the Frequentis Trainee Program after attending his home city of Sankt Pölten's Höhere Technische Lehranstalt technical secondary school a decade ago. The company sponsors such technical schools and the trainee program serves as an entry point for young engineers.

Schrittwieser spoke with Avionics about his growth through Frequentis, from trainee to project manager, and what it's like installing air traffic control solutions anywhere for clients ranging from small island countries to the German DFS in pursuit of SESAR goals.

What has working at Frequentis been like?

In about 2012, 2013, we found out that how Frequentis was delivering software, the processes are not really good. When I joined, most of the projects were telecommunications project where you build up systems, product systems and so on. But in the branch I joined, the tower automation branch, it's pretty different, so it's not like you just deliver solutions. They are really customized; most of the time you have development, even in the small projects. It's a lot of customization also from a configuration point.

So we found out that our current process is not working. Some new people came to the company and we changed our development process. We were the first department which fully switched from a waterfall system to an iterative system. We also started to use a scrum process.

We were separated from the VCS (voice communication systems) department and then we introduced new roles like solution consultation and we're more switching because we don't deliver hardware products anymore, we deliver customized solutions.

And what are you doing on a given day now in your role as a consultant or project manager?

As a project manager, I do the calculations and negotiations with the customer about the contract, offering change requests if necessary, planning, organizing resources. And you work with a consultant who was involved in the specification and the requirements engineering.

How much of your time do you spend on engineering versus with customers?

At the moment it's nearly 50/50.

How much does the region or country you're working in affect what you do?

Yes, that makes a really big difference. I have a good example at the moment: the big One Sky project in Australia. Not even in the UK have I seen a contract where they wanted such a detailed process. It's a huge project for us, but we are just a part of a much bigger program.

You have a huge project team. Everything is more or less defined, there is nothing open. You have specifications, you have traced everything. It's pretty clear what needs to be done and all the specifications phase needs to be in the documentation, and the documentation is very controlled.

To compare it, I have another project now that is much smaller but still like half-a-million, in Fiji.
 You have a customer where they are really open; there is not even one requirement, not even one specification from the customer about what you want to have, they just want to have a running system. You have to do a lot of work, a lot of talking to the customer, be pretty flexible, estimate that there will be many changes on site. There are nearly no insurance processes, so it's very different.

What projects that you have worked on stick out to you as particularly memorable, interesting or fun?

One reason (that some do) is because of the countries; the Cayman Islands was a really nice project. It was easy to handle. Also, Norway, which was a big program where we rolled out 20 airports where we delivered the whole portfolio of one of our products and a lot of integration work on site, and did a lot of traveling. I have seen nearly all of Norway because every airport was in another place. Some of them had been in construction, so nearly every airport was different; it was quite some fun there.

What are you working on now?

The One Sky project. Everybody has told me it's the biggest project for Frequentis ever. It has volume, and I think the project delivery will at least be for the next five, six, seven years. And then there are 20 years of maintenance. The other project is for sure the DFS remote tower project where we are in the middle of our delivery phase. We have in Poland eight airports where we have very specialized, very customized smart tools in use. And last year we won the contract again for eight or 10 airports for smart strips.

You know flight strips from a flight controller point, where you have paper strips to control it?

 (Smart strips are) another product of our department. There you have this electronically visible, and you can move and control them so you have silent coordination functionality. It's more complex than tools because you really change the workflow of the operator to improve their work so that they can handle more flights, they are more efficient so that you can have better statistics and so on.

You've worked on projects for both civil and defense. How do they differ?  

Sometimes, it's restricted and it's a little bit special if you work for the military. There's quite a difference because civil aviation is controlled by ICAO worldwide. So as long as you have an international airport, every customer cannot design a system how they want, they need to stick to the rules of ICAO. When it comes to local ones, then it's also no problem because the systems are much smaller and easier. They also usually stick to ICAO rules.

When you work on defense, there is no international regulation, so they are always different. They also have their own processes when the controllers are working. It can be really different from the software workflow, how you have to design the system, how the HMI (human machine interface) looks or how you interact with the system.

What change have you observed in the industry over the last decade?

When I joined Frequentis, it was really funny that everything was more based on hardware. So, it was "the more hardware you deliver, the more value it had." ... After the last years, it's fully changed so everybody, all our competitors and customers, is now thinking more COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) products, so use COTS IT hardware and let's run software there. We can program whatever we want and there is more flexibility; you can program different features so you really can improve the situation for the controller. Before, we had many standalone systems in the hardware. Maybe you had some interfaces that fit, but when you have a software-based system, then you can be more flexible and integrate together.

And then, in the last years, more and more integrated working positions (for flight controllers), like common design at the airport of the tower cabinet or the control room. There has been a push to reduce the space or increase the situational awareness, to remove senseless things from the screens and so on to really optimize the working space of the operator.

When we talk about remote towers, always have to be a little bit careful because first, we really starting to focusing on remote towers, but we found out that the solution that we call smart vision is not only really for remote towers; you can also have it on the airport as an extension. In big airports - for example, Singapore - they could never could see anything, but they didn't want to build a tower up there. With a remote tower system, you can also have this with you in the tower. And we also got requests from airport security, they really wanted to control the FANS and have the optic detection available just to get alerts when something is moving in the fence.

What changes do you expect over the next several years?

I think the next stage will be that somehow this needs to be regulated by ICAO so as soon as first ones in place where you have a certain quality there that there will be regulations about certain standards. Like you have to have a certain frame rate, you have to have a certain delay until you display something, that because before nobody could really regulate it because nobody had experience with a system like this.

I think the next goal is multi remote towers so that you have for example one working position where you can handle several airports from one working position. This does not only have a technical aspect it will also have an aspect about the processes of the control of how the flights are. For example in small airports where a plane is landing on the airport A then airport B, airport C and going back, that you don't need on every airport a special control available so that they can follow the plane for example.

What hobbies do you have outside of work?

I play a lot of volleyball and beach volleyball for I would say 15 years since four years ago, I've played second-league indoor volleyball. In the last years, I've trained about an additional three times a week and had a match on the weekend. It was a bit tricky to combine this together with my business trips.

On my holidays. I work as a snowboard instructor. Also on holidays, I go surfing-wave-riding.

Do you do anything related to engineering or your work at home?

I really love to travel. For the company, when I travel, I like countries where I can do my sports there. And from a technology point, yeah, I (was involved in it in my private life) while growing up. But, it's more or less, when I'm at home, I'm not there doing any technical things anymore because, for me, my sports are to get my brain clean.

https://www.aviationtoday.com/2018/08/27/controlling-worlds-air-traffic-frequentis-tower-engineer/


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SpaceX adds new astronaut walkway to historic NASA launch pad

 


August 25, 2018
- A new astronaut walkway added by SpaceX to a historic NASA launch pad looks decidedly different from the heritage hardware it is replacing, but it carries on a 50-year legacy leading crew members to their ride to space.
 
"Crew access arm installed at Launch Complex 39A in Florida; will serve as a bridge for NASA astronauts to board Crew Dragon," wrote SpaceX on its social media accounts on Friday (Aug. 24), captioning a photo of the sleek new ramp.
 
The 85-foot-long (25-meter) arm was delivered to the base of the Pad 39A Fixed Service Structure (FSS) at Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 15. Five days later, it was hoisted by crane 265 feet (80 m) above sea level, where it was mounted to the space shuttle-era tower.
 
The walkway was attached 70 feet (21 m) higher than the orbiter access arm that extended from the FSS for 30 years. The higher perch aligns the access arm with the Dragon when positioned atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.
 
Like the Dragon and Falcon, SpaceX's crew access arm is mostly white in color, such that it stands out from the metal gray FSS, especially when set against the blue sky and ocean behind it. The new walkway is also enclosed, with windows running along its walls rather than the open air configuration of the prior arm or the tower standing beside it.
 
The plan going forward is to install cladding on the FSS, enclosing the tower, because it "looks brutal otherwise," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter on Friday.
 
The new crew access arm will see its first use in support of an uncrewed test flight of the Crew Dragon, which SpaceX has targeted for November. If all goes to plan, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will then become the first to use the arm to board a Dragon to launch on a demo mission to the International Space Station slated for no earlier than April 2019.
 
The SpaceX access arm is the second commercial crew conveyance to recently be added to a launch pad.
 
In August 2016, United Launch Alliance (ULA) mounted the astronaut walkway for Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft atop Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The 50-foot (15-meter) arm was installed 172 feet (52 m) above the ground, where it will bridge the gap between the pad's gantry tower and the Starliner atop a ULA Atlas V rocket.
 
At the spacecraft end of the open-air ULA walkway is a "white room," an enclosed, environmentally-controlled cabin that serves as the interface to the Starliner's crew cabin. The white room that was mounted to the arm two years ago was recently replaced to "enhance the capability" for Boeing's Starliner and to ensure "flexibility for future commercial launch partners," a ULA spokesperson told collectSPACE.
 
The height of what ULA now calls the "Common White Room" was increased by 4 feet (1.2 meters). For the most part, the room features the same equipment and functionality of the prior model, but some of the locations for storage and communications connections were changed to improve access based on lessons learned with the original configuration.

 
ULA raises 'Common White Room' for Boeing Starliner

The Common White Room, which sports a U.S. flag and ULA logo on its exterior, was lifted by crane into position on May 9. It was in place and configured for a first Integrated System Verification Test (ISVT) in June.

Boeing is targeting its first Starliner uncrewed orbital flight test for late 2018 or early 2019. A crewed test flight with Boeing astronaut Chris Ferguson and NASA astronauts Eric Boe and Nicole Mann aboard is slated for mid-2019.

Although the use of white rooms date back to NASA's Gemini program in the early 1960s, the crew access arm was not introduced until the Apollo program in 1967. The original walkway spanned the gap between the support gantry on Complex 34 and the Apollo spacecraft atop a Saturn IB rocket.

Pad 39A's first crew access arm was installed 320 feet (100 m) above the launch pad surface, bridging the distance between the launch umbilical tower and Apollo command module atop the towering Saturn V rocket. The same configuration was used on Pad 39B in 1969, where NASA now plans to launch crews on the Space Launch System with a new Orion crew access arm.

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-082518a-spacex-crew-access-arm.html

Curt Lewis