More of The Same Down Under

The Australians are going through their own trials and tribulations with their National Airspace System. And once again, it looks much too much like our problems. I know I have a small audience of readers from Australia. While I wouldn’t presume to tell them how to run their airspace (or their country) I hope that my comments might prove useful.

Two stories from The Australian caught my eye. The first is about an operational error -- also know as a proximity event, a “deal” and several other names. In short, two airplanes got too close to each other.

”On such occasions, controllers say the accepted practice is for those controllers involved to be stood down so they can calm their nerves and for the incident to be investigated.

"In normal circumstances, the system says you stand the controllers down because safety is paramount," said the controller.“

As usual, the controllers are correct. You never know how one of these incidents will hit you (as a controller.) Sometimes it doesn’t bother you -- sometimes it bothers you a lot. It’s possible you could keep working without any trouble. A good supervisor will make sure you’re all right. He won’t just take your word for it -- he’ll make sure you’re okay to continue to work. Like so many things, it requires good judgment on the supervisor’s part and you don’t want that judgment tainted by staffing shortages. Which is exactly what happened, of course.

”"But the line manager asked them to continue apparently because they were already one man short on that shift and they would have lost another two, which would mean severe restrictions on air traffic out of Sydney. “

And then Airservices Australia (the company that runs the ATC system) sealed their fate with this moronic remark;

Airservices denied it had acted unsafely, saying that it was appropriate for the controllers to continue on duty because they were not at fault in the incident.

It doesn’t matter who was at fault. Think about when you’re driving. When you narrowly avoid an accident -- a Mac truck misses you by inches -- does that adrenaline sickness (you know, the rush followed by your stomach turning and your hands shaking) depend on whether you were at fault or the truck driver was at fault ? Of course not. It’s the same in air traffic control when an accident is narrowly averted. Whose fault it was doesn’t enter into your immediate reaction to it.

The second story involves a problem dealt with long ago in the United States -- the inherent conflict between Civilian ATC and Military ATC.

”Defence has backed away from any rapid implementation of the plan to create a unified national system, declaring it wants to move only at "a measured pace, cognisant of the requirements to maintain Defence capability". “

This is a big issue that is not to be taken lightly. I sincerely hope the Australians are able to reach an agreement with less pain than we did -- here in the States. It’s an ugly story.

Don Brown
August 27, 2008