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Short Term Conflict Alert
Short-term conflict alert (STCA) is an automated warning system for air traffic controllers (ATCO). It is a ground-based safety net intended to assist the controller in preventing collision between aircraft by generating, in a timely manner, an alert of a potential or actual infringement of Separation (air traffic control), separation minima. Description ICAO Doc 4444 requires that radar systems should provide for the display of safety-related alerts including the presentation of actual and predicted conflict. It is worth mentioning that ICAO Doc 4444 does neither provide definitions of the term STCA nor ''conflict alert''. Instead the term STCA is ambiguously used in Air traffic control, ATC community to identify such alerts as well as for data processing systems providing the alert function. As an implementation STCA is part of the predictive safety net functions. It uses surveillance information derived from radars, ADS-B or multilateration as well as environmental data and o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Traffic Controller
Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control towers on the ground, they monitor the position, speed, and altitude of aircraft in their assigned airspace visually and by radar, and give directions to the pilots by radio. The position of air traffic controller is one that requires highly specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. Controllers apply separation rules to keep aircraft at a safe distance from each other in their area of responsibility and move all aircraft safely and efficiently through their assigned sector of airspace, as well as on the ground. Because controllers have an incredibly large responsibility while on duty (often in aviation, "on position") and make countless real-time decisions on a daily basis, the ATC profession is consistently regarded around the worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Separation (air Traffic Control)
In air traffic control, separation is the name for the concept of keeping an aircraft outside a minimum distance from another aircraft to reduce the risk of those aircraft colliding, as well as prevent accidents due to secondary factors, such as wake turbulence. Separation can also apply to terrain, obstacles, and controlled airspace, wherein an aircraft must stay at a minimum distance from a block of airspace; as an example, all aircraft must be approved by the controller who "owns" the airspace before the aircraft is approved to enter that sector. Air traffic controllers apply rules, known as ''separation minima'', to do this. Pairs of aircraft to which these rules have been successfully applied are said to be ''separated'': the risk of these aircraft colliding is therefore remote. If separation is lost between two aircraft, they are said to be in a ''conflict''. When an aircraft passes behind or follows another aircraft, wake turbulence minima are applied due to the effect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Air Traffic Control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airspace. The primary purpose of ATC worldwide is to prevent collisions, organize and expedite the flow of air traffic, and provide information and other support for pilots. Air traffic controllers monitor the location of aircraft in their assigned airspace by radar and communicate with the pilots by radio. To prevent collisions, ATC enforces traffic separation rules, which ensure each aircraft maintains a minimum amount of empty space around it at all times. In many countries, ATC provides services to all private, military, and commercial aircraft operating within its airspace. Depending on the type of flight and the class of airspace, ATC may issue ''instructions'' that pilots are required to obey, or ''advisories'' (known as ''flight infor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. A radar system consists of a transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the objects. Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the objects and return to the receiver, giving information about the objects' locations and speeds. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several countries in the period before and during World War II. A key development was the cavity magnetron in the United Kingdom, which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multilateration
Trilateration is the use of distances (or "ranges") for determining the unknown position coordinates of a point of interest, often around Earth (geopositioning). When more than three distances are involved, it may be called multilateration, for emphasis. The distances or ranges might be ordinary Euclidean distances (slant ranges) or spherical distances (scaled central angles), as in '' true-range multilateration''; or biased distances (pseudo-ranges), as in ''pseudo-range multilateration''. Trilateration or multilateration should not be confused with ''triangulation'', which uses angles for positioning; and ''direction finding'', which determines the line of sight direction to a target without determining the radial distance. Terminology Multiple, sometimes overlapping and conflicting terms are employed for similar concepts – e.g., ''multilateration'' without modification has been used for aviation systems employing both true-ranges and pseudo-ranges."Multilateration (MLAT) Conc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flight Plan
Flight plans are documents filed by a pilot or flight dispatcher with the local Air Navigation Service Provider (e.g. the FAA in the United States) prior to departure which indicate the plane's planned route or flight path. Flight plan format is specified in ICAO Doc 4444. They generally include basic information such as departure and arrival points, estimated time en route, alternate airports in case of bad weather, type of flight (whether instrument flight rules FRor visual flight rules FR, the pilot's information, number of people on board, and information about the aircraft itself. In most countries, flight plans are required for flights under IFR, but may be optional for flying VFR unless crossing international borders. Flight plans are highly recommended, especially when flying over inhospitable areas such as water, as they provide a way of alerting rescuers if the flight is overdue. In the United States and Canada, when an aircraft is crossing the Air Defense Identificat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minimum Safe Altitude Warning
Minimum safe altitude warning (MSAW) is an automated warning system for air traffic controllers (ATCO). It is a ground-based safety net intended to warn the controller about increased risk of controlled flight into terrain In aviation, a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT; usually ) is an aviation accidents and incidents, accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under aircraft pilot, pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, a body of ... accidents by generating, in a timely manner, an alert of aircraft proximity to terrain or obstacles. Description ICAO Doc 4444 requires that radar systems should provide for the display of safety-related alerts including the presentation of minimum safe altitude warning.{{cite book , title=Rules of the Air and Air Traffic Services , publisher=ICAO, id=Doc 4444-RAC/501 It is worth mentioning that ICAO Doc 4444 does not provide a definition of the term MSAW. Instead the term MSAW is ambiguously used in ATC commun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airway (aviation)
In the United States, airways or air routes are defined by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in two ways: "VOR Federal airways and Low/Medium Frequency (L/MF) (Colored) Federal airways" These are designated routes which aeroplanes fly to aid in navigation and help with separation to avoid accidents. Airways are defined with segments within a specific altitude block, corridor width, and between fixed geographic coordinates for satellites navigation system, or between ground-based radio transmitter navigational aids (navaids; such as VORs or NDBs) or the intersection of specific radials of two navaids. United States To guide airmail pilots on their delivery routes, the United States Postal Service constructed the first airways in the United States, the Contract Air Mail routes. These airways were between major cities and identified at night by a series of flashing lights and beacons which pilots flew over in sequence to get from one city to the next. Intermediate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eurocat (Air Traffic Management System)
The TopSky (formerly EUROCAT) system is a computerised air traffic control and management solution developed by Thales Air Systems (formerly Thomson CSF). It utilises a distributed computing architecture and is capable of integrating geographically dispersed air traffic control units within a Flight Information Region (e.g. control towers at different airports and en route control centres) into a single coherent system. During 2012, the Thales marketing name has been changed from Eurocat to TopSky. Features TopSky handles a large variety of different functions required for the smooth operation of air traffic control and management. A non-exhaustive list includes: *Surveillance data processing and track correlation (radar, ADS-B, ADS-C etc.) *Flight plan processing *Communication ( CPDLC etc.) *Aeronautical information data processing (NOTAMs, QNH, wind aloft etc.) *Flow control and sequencing * Human-machine interfacing (e.g. correlating data to generate controller's display ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aviation Safety
Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of aircraft and aviation infrastructure. The aviation industry is subject to significant regulation and oversight. Aviation security is focused on protecting air travelers, aircraft and infrastructure from intentional harm or disruption, rather than unintentional mishaps. Statistics Evolution In 1926 and 1927, there were a total of 24 fatal commercial airline crashes, a further 16 in 1928, and 51 in 1929 (killing 61 people), which remains the worst year on record at an accident rate of about 1 for every flown. Based on the current numbers flying, this would equate to 7,000 fatal incidents per year. For the ten-year period 2002 to 2011, 0.6 fatal accidents happened per one million flights globally, 0.4 per million hours flown, 22.0 fatal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
