Emma Kelly/LONDON
Two helicopters in Azerbaijan have been equipped for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) as part of a major programme to test new-generation air traffic management technology in former Soviet Union states and Mongolia.
Late last year, the first ADS-B ground station was set up in Baku, Azerbaijan, followed recently by the installation and certification of ADS-B airborne transponders and pilot displays on two Azerbaijan Airlines Mil Mi-8 helicopters. These provide air transportation services from the Zabrat helicopter base to oil rigs in the Caspian Sea.
The project is intended to demonstrate safety and capacity benefits of ADS-B, for applications such as search and rescue (SAR). VHF datalink Mode 4-based ADS-B will allow the helicopters' positions to be constantly monitored from the shore and by other ADS-B-equipped helicopters, giving full situational awareness.
Azerbaijan air navigation service provider AZANS will demonstrate the technology to operators and air navigation authorities in the region and international aviation organisations in late March. ADS-B will be used for low-altitude monitoring by air traffic control from take-off to landing, emergency notification SAR integration with other traffic and navigation support to and between oil rigs, says Elkhan Nakhmedov, manager of AZANS' technical development group.
ADS has been used on helicopters operating between oil rigs in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea for a number of years, where much of the area is outside radar coverage. The technology allows position and direction information to be transmitted internationally to ATC.
The ADS-B trials in Azerbaijan are part of a wider project which will also see ADS-B-equipped Georgian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154s and Tu-134s operating out of Tbilisi by the end of this month.
The scheme ris part of the Southern Ring Air Routes project, which is a European Commission-funded programme to encourage safe and efficient operation of aircraft in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Source: Flight International
