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Aviation History
1938
1938 - 0146.PDF
FLIGHT. JANUARY 20, 1938. OR NISING FOR SAFETY Modern Air Traffic Control Methods : Likely Changes : Reducing Personal Responsibility : Croy don's System Described By H A TAYLOR ALTHOUGH air traffic congestion is at present onlyreally noticeable, as far as this country is concerned,k> in the Croydon area, where all the Continental and many of the internal services converge, the need ior a co-ordinated traffic system covering the entire country is obviously pressing at least in order to prepare ior the future. Early last year it seemed that certain drastic changes were due to be made, but so far the only official sign of such changes has appeared in the decision eventu- allv to instal specially trained Air Ministry control officers at all the radio control centres, and the appointment of an inspector of air traffic control who will look after the entire system. For the moment the three communication areas designed to cover the south-eastern part of the country remain unaltered, but during the year a fourth communica- tion area was arranged to cover the Irish Sea district. It would still seem that the obvious course would be to have a central control office to look after the whole system, the specially selected officers there being in direct and imme- diate communication with the separate terminal aerodromes. This office might _plan the movements and altitudes of the different machines on their various routes, while the indivi- dual control people at the terminal airports would take over after the machines had entered each particular con- trolled zont;—thereafter the safety of these machines would no longer be the responsibility of the central office. All of which is very fine in theory, but might or might not work so well in practice. At the moment the position of the various municipal authorities to whom Air Ministry officials have been, and are to be, delegated is a peculiar one. The aerodromes are owned, and have been paid tor by the municipalities, and the new officers may at any lime order special equipment or the erection of special exten- sions in order that they may be able to carry out their work efficiently and well. The Air Ministry, so tar as finances are concerned, is only legally responsible for the radio equipment, but it seems that the Government will, aft^r all, be paying directly or indirectly for such extensions. In these circumstances the controlled airport should be better off than the others. Furthermore, the system which has. been outlined, if it is not brought in gradually, may cause a certain amount of dislocation in its earlier stages, whereas the more happy-go-lucky methods at present in use stili work extremely wi-11. The expression "happy-go lucky" should not be taken as suggesting inefficiency, but merely that the system as it . • stands has been built up very largely by the more experienced control officers themselves, and that its success depends almost entirely on these men's own initiative. A more carefully co-ordinated scheme might help to relieve the separate officer's personal responsibili- ties and, consequently, to make the possibility of mistakes an even less likely one. Harassed as they are by a number of smaller matters requiring immediate attention and by the needs of various aircraft crews who are either waiting their turn to land in bad weather or waiting for permission to take off, the control officers must, at the same time, look after a number of other machines which are, in fact, well outside the danger areas. The object of any modifications to the system will, in fact, undoubtedly be such as to make the whole thing a good deal more automatic and less dependent on personal inclinations. However, whatever may be the details of any new scheme, the basic methods of traffic control are likely to remain unaltered. Briefly, the country is divided into cer- tain sections which are known as communication areas, each having its central control. In point of fact, there are, as already mentioned, only four of these areas and the greater part of the country is uncontrolled. Tn addition to the control centres some of the other radio- equipped aerodromes, both inside and outside the area, have what is knoivn as controlled zones. No machines may enter these zones without previously obtaining permission from the control concerned, cind in this way the possibility that half a dozen machines, each crammed with, possibly, frightened passengers, might, in conditions of bad visi- bility be approaching one spot at the same time, is largely nullified. These zones, which are formally outlined, are not considered as being in existence unless the weather conditions are such that the horizontal visibility is less than 1,000 yards and the vertical visibility less than 1,000 feet—
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