Air Traffic Management

The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation [CANSO] has recently published its Global vision of the future air navigation services.

The document in itself identifies a number of areas of change in the operational and regulatory domains necessary to achieve a global ATM system.  I found it quite clear to read -unlike some other documents issued recently on the subject.   In its 16 pages -rather short, it explains CANSO’s views on items such as: customer focus, business-like approach, civil military collaboration, the people working in the ATM system, environment, safety management,  etc.

What particularly interested me in this document was the vision CANSO has on the page dedicated to the people working in the system where it recommends a change from National Training Standards to Globally Harmonised Training Standards.

This is a very important recognition, especially in the light of recent corporatisation and privatisation of several European ANSPs [many of which members of CANSO themselves] who in the interest of surviving in the commercial world have endorsed the strategy of isolation with regards of standard practices in training.  Europe is passing through a hard time where it comes to harmonisation of training, with many training institutions pleading for guidelines but no standards.

I simply hope that the direction set by CANSO is endorsed by its member ANSPs and we start once more moving towards harmonising training in European ANS…Â

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Once upon a time training managers actively participated in harmonising ATM training  for 3 main reasons

The first being that it was a bottom up approach so they owned the proposals.

The second being that they believed in the benefits of the proposals.

The third being that they knew it was guidelines material with the only aim of improving training and not to oblige them to do anything they would otherwise not do.

Presently, we seem to have come against a hurdle which is hard to overcome.  Training harmonistation has been severely slowed down in certain areas like:

Revisions and additions to CCC

Other guidelines

The reasons may be manifold but here are some:

First is that the initiative many times has drifted from bottom up to top down by interpreting requirements stemming from European Union directives or ESARRS. [Note I write interpreting because mant times a top down direction of what to work on is not clear either - this the whole system is left in vacuum]

Second, some trainingproviders fear that in the past they have been cheated because the work they have participated in with the intent to serve as guidelines was hijacked and became regulation.  They are very defensive not to repeat the same mistake again.

Third the system of defining a working plan has not changed with times.  The system is still looking for consensus from the wron forums where sometimes we are obliged to develop material.  Here the direction setting from the commission is very weak.

It is time to change all this.

A difference needs to be made between obligatory work for which we get  by the European Commission to execute - and which would then support some sort of regulation, and bottom up work to produce guidelines – which will always remain thus, with the aim of sharing knowledge and harmonising / improving training.Â

Until such time a difference is made, we will continue to stumble with every few steps.

[Note - the situation is only gloomy where it comes to guidelines and standards, common material development is still very popular, highly used and highly encouraged.]

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