Bd,
Okay, to answer some of your concerns. But before we do that perhaps we should deal with what appears to be a subjective approach that you seem to be adopting to justify your responses.
First:
But without that mindless strip loading task there will be less of them required as the workload will reduce per individual.
Now, from that statement we can only deduce that the whole exercise that you are embarking on here is one of cost-cutting. On that ground alone I would seriously question your Safety Case.
Second:
Do you really think it's an effective use of a skilled persons time to put paper strips into a holder and walk them round to put them in front of the ATCO?
Well, actually yes I do. Because your solution disregards the majority of airports in Scotland. i.e. those that aren't Edinburgh and Glasgow. I haven't included Aberdeen as they have already raised their own concerns re the fact that the new technology doesn't seem to cater for helicopters, which probably account for the majority of movements there. You can't introduce a system that only caters for a minority of the airports and users in an FIR and then wonder why the system doesn't work when interfacing with the airports and users that are not part of the new system. It has to be all-inclusive.
I know you will say, who pays? And the answer that I will throw back to you is it should be funded by the same people who are going to pay for it's introduction to NATS. i.e. the flying public. Unless you feel that only NATS operated and run airports are deemed suitable for the benefits of new and improved technology.
So we come back to the Safety Case. If the new technology improves the safety of air transport users, then shouldn't that apply to all air transport users, irrespective of which airport in Scotland they happen to be flying out of or into. I hope this explains my previous reference to the fact that the whole concept and it's introduction hasn't been thought through properly. It is a band-aid solution which refuses to accept the fact that the patient has cancer.
As some of the comments by others previously have indicated you need to start from a level playing field, for want of a better cliche. So my suggestion to you and the members of the D of S that read this is to do just that and if the technology can't be introduced throughout Scotland then you need to ask yourself the question - why? If, as I suspect it's cost then that's a question that the CAA, as opposed to NATS, needs to address. If it enhances safety, then.... well, you don't need me to state the obvious.
On the beach