Hello everybody!
I've been following this topic for some time now and recently there's been an increased interest in the rules and looks of the new FEAST DART. As most of you already know DART stands for Dynamic ATC Radar Test and it was implemented several months ago as a replacement to the Flight Strip Test in Eurocontrol's selection process.
...so where to start. I took the test some time ago and I will try to explain some of it here. The FEAST DART test is basically a simplified simulation of the actual work of the ATCs. You're given a radar screen which consists of several circles with different radiuses, representing the airspace you control. There are some small green squares with trails (four of them) which represent the aircrafts you're controlling. There are four orange triangles which are the checkpoints you have to take your planes through, and some buttons in the right side of the screen (we'll discuss them later). The exercises in the test are six, the first three of which are only there to train you on the rules of the test, and the second three (4th, 5th and 6th) are the ones you are being evaluated on.
This is not a screenshot from the real test, but the real one is almost identical.
TRAINING
Ex1, Ex2, Ex3: as mentioned above, these three are training exercises. You're introduced to the rules and some characteristics of the test, which very briefly sounded like this:
-You'll be given four aircrafts, colored green, which are under your control;
-Apart from "your" aircrafts there will be some traffic that you can't control, as these planes will be colored grey. They will pass through the radar screen without changing their altitudes and headings;
-All aircrafts (controlled and uncontrolled ones) are moving with the same speed, so you can change only the heading and the flight level of the ones under your control;
-The information for the aircrafts' headings and altitudes are given with small numbers next to the green squares that represent each particular aircraft.
-The aim is to get all of your aircrafts through the checkpoints in the correct order, avoiding conflicts. Checkpoints are named CP1, CP2, CP3, CP4 and this is the order you should follow with any of your aircrafts;
-The six small vertically arranged circles on the left of the screen represent the exercise you're currently on;
-The buttons on the right side of the screen are named "LEFT", "RIGHT", "ALT" and "SUM". The LEFT/RIGHT buttons are used to change the heading of a particular aircraft (Clicking RIGHT and entering 315 will make the aircraft turn right to heading 315);
-The ALT button on the screen is used to change the altitude of a particular aircraft. You're only allowed to use three altitude levels 100, 200 and 300;
-You have a conflict when both of these conditions are present: two aircrafts are flying at the same altitude and are less than 2.5NM apart;
That's pretty much all with the exception of the SUM button (we will talk about it in Ex6).
TEST
Ex4: the first one of the evaluated exercises. The aim is to guide your four aircrafts through four checkpoints in the correct order. There is no uncontrolled traffic. Your priorities will be in this order of importance:
1)Avoid conflicts;
2)Use less commands;
3)Pass checkpoints accurately.
Ex5: absolutely the same as Ex4 with the same priorities, but this time you have uncontrolled traffic, which makes it more difficult because you have
to avoid conflicts with more aircrafts.
Ex6: includes Ex5, but there is an extra task. You have to put your headphones on. While guiding aircrafts through the checkpoints you'll have to listen to a long sequence of letters and numbers and calculate the sum of the last two numbers you hear. If the sequence goes like this "M K 5 J 3 6 N P Q 8", you'll firstly have to sum 5+3, then 3+6, after that 6+8. The sum has to be entered, using the SUM button on the right side of the screen.
...and last, but not least, some pieces of advice from me:
-When doing Ex5 and Ex6 make sure you keep a fair amount of distance between your aircrafts, because it gets pretty nasty when you are controlling two aircrafts at different altitudes close to each other and you have to dodge two uncontrolled ones, heading your way, again flying at different altitudes. Remember, you can only fly at three altitude levels (100, 200 or 300)!
-When doing Ex4, Ex5 and Ex6 keep in mind the turning radius of your aircrafts (which is one and the same for all of them).
-Keep in mind your priorities!!! The most important one is to AVOID CONFLICTS and, God forbid, collisions. The second is to use less heading and altitude changes. The least important is to pass the checkpoints accurately (there is a certain distance within which you can pass the checkpoint).
I hope that my post would be useful! If you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them! GOOD LUCK to all of you, who are attending the test!
