NATS Electronic strips
 

Has the system that's been installed at the London airports,been incorporated into the new terminal approach room at Swanwick?

Er...... No!

Paper strips are still used at Swanwick, but there is an automatic exchange of data between NAS at Swanwick and EFPS units - they update each other.

Thanks.Do you think that EFPS will ever come to TC.

In a word no....

how could a computer keep up to date with all the heading changes in conditions like today!

paper and pen for me!

in AC the planner uses the EFPS to coordinate in and out aircraft, TC coordinators don't have the time to do that.

EFPS is the name used by nats specifically for the NavCanada Electronic Flight Progress Strip system, which is in use at (most) London Airports and coming to a nats aiport near you - yes even the ice station.

I do not think that AC use EFPS, they have a slightly different electronic data transfer system, however they have had representatives assessing EFPS for suitability...

ALL major ATC units will eventually be using some for of electronic data presentation - even TC!. It is a matter of economics. Management believe that a $multimillion computer system is cheaper than a fleet of ATSAs and do not understand the added value that an experienced ATSA brings - I can think of many ocations where an alert ATSA has saved the day, not something I can say of the current version of EFPS by a long shot. Electronic data transfer will, however, eventually also lend itself very well to the introdiction of Collaborative Decission Making (CDM), which as a concept should make the whole aviation system run very much more smoothly using real-time data for the whole flight including readiness on the stand to get better use of those limited resources that we keep running out of (you know - airspace; runway capacity; parking stands etc).

"in AC the planner uses the EFPS to coordinate in and out aircraft, TC coordinators don't have the time to do that."

Do you mean that TC co-ordinators don't have time to co-ordinate (ie everything is on Standing agreements) or that they don't have time to co-ordinate electronically?

Electronic co-ordination, for routine traffic, is far faster than the mediator system for the offering sector and gives the accepting sector the choice of prioritising the traffic as he/she accepts it.

Not unless it was done in the last 4 days...in which case I have a surprise waiting for me at 0700 tomorrow morning.:}

Yea TC co-ordinators have time to co-ordinate, however, if it is not on a SA then it is individual co-ord done at the time.

There are no means of electronic co-ord in the TMA.

Arkaldy, pop round to the ops room and have a look. Sure one of the GS's will be accommodating.

Or ask the TC guys, you'll be able to spot us in the canteen, we're the ones not sitting with the AC guys!

integration pah!

I'm still a bit puzzled. What is it that you say TC co-ordinators don't have time to do?

How would electronic strips cope with SRAs??

With mine.....not well at all:E

Probably the same way I cope with missed approaches....issue the heading to the a/c, and when I've chucked it back to TC, enter the final heading on the strip! :}

..or forget using strips on GMC when it gets really busy! Thank goodness for ASMGC-S for getting callsign information.

Seen Amsterdam Approach?

<<or forget using strips on GMC when it gets really busy! >>

We never had the luxury of strips in the Dark Days - the GMC man (note singular) had to write everything down on paper. There were two ATCOs who never wrote anything down - kept it in their heads. Taking over from them was a screaming nightmare.

I may be tugging on the wrong end of the proverbial stick here but has the EFPS systems made the simple yet lovable ATSA redundant??

And if it has, as it spreads across the rest of the air traffic world does this mean the end of the ATSA as we know it??

From a simple yet lovable ATSA

Near us, maybe. But then Eefrow's not a million miles from Ciderset now, is it?

The reason I ask the question is that we are probably destined for EFPS at the Ice Station in the near future.However Tower I can accept that it would work,but I am yet to be convinced about Radar.The Atsa's are getting worried about job security.If no Nats unit has got EFPS on radar,then what are we dealing with here.:(
I would guess that the strip info would have to be displayed on the radar screen.Is the Aussie TAATS system like this?

The chaps from NavCanada that came over to help the introduction of EFPS at Heathrow told us they had designed their system primarily to address the co-ordination difficulties that remote airfields in Canada had experienced communicating with the Centres. Of course, NATS has (so far) failed to equip TC with a system that can properly interface with the EFPS equipped airfields. The full potential of EFPS is therefore not realised, and extra tasks have to be undertaken which the "full system" could do. The biggest one is the transfer of non-airways inbounds, outbounds and overflights which have to be co-ordinated by telephone (and an electronic strip created) when the full system could do it for us.

Some of the money saved in ATSA salaries will be needed to replace the touch screens that are now wearing out. After 8 months of bashing the same area (up to 80 times an hour) we have several screens with noticable dead spots and others where the plastic surround is cracked and broken. At least six are ready for replacement.

At least I don't go home covered in felt tip pen marks:)

SM