Changing weather and UAV integration challenges will require increased industry collaboration
LONDON – Participants to the virtual event included representatives from across the industry, encompassing airlines, airport authorities, ANSPs, Governments, academic institutions, technology providers, consultants, military and research institutions.
As the world warms the aviation industry will have to cope with greater levels of weather unpredictability, according to Dr Herbert Puempel, Chief, Aeronautical Meteorology Division at the Geneva based World Meteorological Organisation who participated in the first of two global webinars over the course of the day. Airports in particular will have to develop increasingly capable and customized forecast and mitigation systems, said Nic Nilsen, Managing Director, Oslo Airport, another of the speakers. Nicky Cooper, Head of Network Operations Management,EUROCONTROL, spoke of the need for aviation stakeholders to work together more closely on mitigation measures, given the vulnerability of the overall network to delays and disruption caused by severe weather incidents in a single major hub.
Coping with winter and extreme weather conditions: How the European ATM network works together featured experts from all sides of the industry to access advice, debate issues and share best practice experiences and solutions.
The second session, held later in the day and also moderated by ATC Global Insight Editor Philip Butterworth-Hayes, explored UAV Operators’ experiences of moving towards integrating civil-military UAS into the Single European Sky and globally. ATC experts heard from Gerard Mardine, EUROCAE UAS Work Programme Lead, and Member of the European RPAS Steering Group Regulation and Radio Frequency Working Group along with David Gleave, Air Traffic Management safety expert.
In an audience poll, conducted live during the session, most participants did not believe remotely piloted vehicles would be sharing the same controlled airspace as civil traffic by 2018. Some of the issues discussed included how airports and controllers would cope with managing inhabited and uninhabited aircraft in the same airspace, whether collision avoidance technologies would become available for unmanned vehicles and how Europe and the U.S.A. are aligned in their airspace management programmes in view of these issues.
“We were delighted to be able to engage so many people from across the industry and provide a neutral platform for the ATM community to talk about these important topical issues,” said Paula Milburn ATC Global Event Director, “the virtual event compliments the annual event in Amsterdam (12 – 14 March 2013) and is yet another way ATC Global contributes to knowledge sharing throughout the year.”
With more than 55 countries represented and senior personnel from ANSPs and civil aviation authorities including ENAV, FAA, Austro Control, NATS, Jamaica CAA, Nav Canada, PANSA, SMATSA, Skyguide, Kenya CAA, Naviair, Uganda CAA and ANAC (Argentina), the virtual conference proved to be a hit across the globe.
They were joined by key suppliers and ATM stakeholders such as Indra, Thales, Frequentis, Raytheon, Barco, HITT, Vaisala, Egis Avia, Altran Praxis, Ministry of Transport (Bolivia)European Commission and SESAR, among many others, all coming together on a neutral platform to participate in the interactive debates, network with peers online and source valuable industry information in the resource centre .
