Airspace Management and Air Traffic Services - Essay Example

1. Introduction The nation of Emohruo is an island with a central mountain ridge and a wind direction of west to east. The need for rebuilding in thewake of the civil war represents a major challenge that is being undertaken with the cooperation of Weeluvya. A major part of the rebuilding effort is based on the need for airborne communication given Emohruo’s expanding needs and its place at the cross roads of international air routes. Moreover inaccessibility in certain regions and potential for economic activity in other regions prompts for the creation of an air traffic system that corresponds to Emohruo’s current and growing needs. This report will delineate the major issues associated with the airspace management and air traffic services required for Emohruo. Reference will continuously be made to the map of Emohruo which is displayed below for reference. Figure 1 - Map of Emohruo 2. Governmental Policies Within the scope of future airspace management and air traffic services Emohruo will emerge as an island nation with multiple roles. Given that Emohruo sits at the cross roads of international traffic, it is highly likely that the nation will see international traffic in the shape of connecting flights from all directions. Moreover the prospect of LVI developing into a gambling den is very real and will present a lot of international and regional tourist traffic. The air traffic will also be augmented by needs of the mining industry as well as the fishing industry along with the ski resort SKI to the north east. On the other hand, domestic traffic will most likely flow along the eastern coast and to the mid western town of MP4. Constant movement will be required between LVI, the mining towns, the fishing industry, SKI and the cities of BP 1, 2 and 3 as well as MP4 in order to provide goods and services. This will represent the domestic air traffic load. Another set of air traffic is presented by military needs especially in wake of the recent civil war and whilst required this component of air traffic will have to be kept isolated from all other forms of traffic for strategic reasons. The current location of the military exercise areas (refer to Figure One above) is isolated from cities and other commercial functions and should be maintained as such. Consequently commercial air traffic from the west over the military zone will be forbidden and should be designated as a no fly zone. The military setup could also be removed and moved further down south just above MP4 such that traffic towards LVI will not interfere with it but this presents two problems. One there may be high altitude flights in this belt for spying and two that the costs of shifting the current military facilities to a new location would require huge fiscal as well as time based resources. The aftermath of the civil war means that such a risk cannot be afforded at any costs. The airspace would be managed by the government alone including the airports. Foreign investment could be looked into as a financing option but the controlling shares must remain with the central government at all times. Moreover regional and global air operators may be consulted as per revision of and framing new policies but in all disputes the final word would be that of the governmental regulation agency. Airport placement, expansion and other allied affairs should be handled by a central aviation agency such as the FAA in the United States. Moreover new air traffic operators would require government licensing in order to commence operations within Emohruo airspace (over both land and water) including territorial waters and adjoining sea space as per the treatise of International Law and provisions of the UNCLOS III. (Frakes, 2003) These policies and other such policies relating to airspace structure and management can only be changed after legislative approval of the parliament and government agencies as per applicability. 3. Airspace Structure The airspace structure of Emohru would need to consist of differing classes given that various classes of aircrafts would be flying within its airspace. Broadly speaking there are two kinds of airspace that are controlled and uncontrolled airspaces. In the case of Emohru the controlled airspace will be composed of the military domain as well as larger passenger and goods aircraft. The area on the west coast designated for military exercises will be considered as controlled airspace including the territorial waters adjoining the land military establishments. This is shown in the diagram in red below. On the other hand the controlled airspace consisting of commercial flights is shown in yellow. The uncontrolled spaces are shown in green and correspond to smaller aircraft and other such vehicles (e.g. air balloons). Figure 2 - Controlled and Uncontrolled Airspace The commercial larger airliners (especially from international flights) would need to operate near the stratosphere and hence their ceiling limits would be higher than regular domestic flights (which would be under the stratosphere). Similarly smaller aircraft would operate much lower than the stratosphere. (FAA, 2011) Based on this distinction, several classes would have to be created in order to ensure proper operation of the airspace management. The FAA’s distinctions are outlined in the chart provided below and the distinctions for Emohruo will be similar as well. Furthermore the routes for the aircraft will be designated accordingly. Figure 3 - Distinction Chart for Airspace Structure 4. Airways Route Structure Figure 4 – Airways Route Structure The primary airways route structure is shown in the diagram above. The red arrows represent domestic flight paths while the blue arrows represent international flight paths. As seen above the primary international path is for flights flying in from the west into LVI and from LVI to BP2 and from BP2 to the rest of the world. The second largest international route is from the north east into SKI while the last international route is from the fishing towns to the outside world and vice versa. LVI is envisioned as the largest and the busiest airport with both national and international flights. The eastern coast is totally connected through airways. The largest airport on the eastern coast will be BP2 which will handle national and international flights including total connectivity for MP4 to BP1 to BP2 and vice versa as well as for SKI to BP3 to BP2 and vice versa. SKI has been provided with both international and domestic access because both tourists and supplies need to be flown in. Similarly the fishing towns have been provided international and domestic connectivity. However both these airports are being limited at the moment to small aircraft for SKI and turboprops for the fishing town because immediate future expansion is not expected. In terms of the industrial infrastructure, the most important airport is at the mining town which offers connectivity to LVI and BP1. Moreover it offers domestic connectivity for the fishing towns whose supplies will be moved through the mining town airport. A direct route to the fishing towns on a domestic scale would create congestion in the future so this route has been chosen. Moreover MP4 has been offered connectivity on two sides that are the LVI leg and the BP1 leg because an expansion of MP4 is expected in the future. MP4 airport can also be expanded later to offer international connectivity too. This design of the airways route structure ensures that the airways are mostly in the direction of prevailing winds especially for international flights. Moreover large swaths of airspace have been kept isolated to accommodate for future expansion as well as to promote ease of navigation and to ease congestion in the air. The central mountain range has also been avoided in most cases to make flying safer. Certain routes have been provided to bypass the central mountain range crossing route for strategic reasons. (FAA, 2009) 5. Military Use of Airspace and Cooperation The primary military air infrastructure is based on the west coast within the military zone for exercises. However all major airports will be expected to support military operations in the event of a war as the larger airports can all support the kinds of runways required for military operation. These airports include LVI, MP4, BP1, BP2 and BP3. The airport at the mining town may also be used especially for logistics based military operations. Smaller aircrafts such as those for surveillance can also be flown from the fishing town. In case of an insurgency it can be expected that rebels would resort to occupying the central mountain range as it offers hiding areas as well as ease of operation for a rebellion. The military operation in such a case would need to be coordinated on the east coast and the west coast for which adequate airports are placed along the east and the west coast. The bypasses for the mountain ranges (such as MP4 to BP1 and vice versa as well as mining town to BP3 and vice versa) ensure that air traffic can continue in case of an insurgency to support military operations. The LVI airport is connected internationally and domestically in order to act as a forward base that can be supplied to deal with an insurgency in the mountains. This arrangement applies equally to the SKI mountain range too and similar structures can be used to support military operations in the SKI region too. Weeluvya is a large ally and adequate international access has been provided in the form of LVI airport as well as BP2 airport to move supplies in case of a war. Moreover clear access has been provided to the western coast military zone for movement of aircraft and supplies for joint exercises. 6. Infrastructure for Navigation Air traffic management requires that adequate navigation systems be put in place. The current navigation infrastructure relies on local TRACON (terminal radar approach control) along with a central ATCSCC (air traffic control system command centre) which would need to be upgraded in the future to handle larger operations and more traffic loads. The proposed structure would be composed of: ATCSCC (air traffic control system command centre); ARTCC (air route traffic control centres); TRACON (terminal radar approach control); ATCT (air traffic control tower); FSS (flight service station). The ATCSCC would be located at LVI airport while the ARTCCs would be two in number and would be located at LVI and BP2 to control the eastern and western sectors divided over by the central mountain range. The TRACONs would be located at each airport while ATCTs would be located at each airport depending on the requirements of each airport. (Breitler, 1996) The FSS stations would be three in number and would be located at the western military zone, at SKI and at BP2 to coordinate emergencies and to handle small local traffic. (Freudenrich, 2011) 7. Infrastructure for Surveillance Surveillance infrastructure would be required in order to detect combatant movement on ground as well as to deal with enemy movements on shore. These facilities would be made available at the coastal airports along the east coast and the west coast with central command located at the western military zone. 8. ATS System The ATS system would rely on ATCT (air traffic control towers) based at each airport depending on the number of runways and the total traffic flowing through. Both BP1 and BP3 would have one ATCT while BP2 would have two ATCTs to handle traffic. The airport at SKI would have one simple ATCT to deal with both international and domestic traffic. The airport at LVI would be equipped with at least three ATCTs to deal with international and domestic traffic (two for international and one for domestic). The airport at MP4 would have one ATCT with expansion place for two more. The airports at the fishing town and the mining town would each have one native ATCT to deal with traffic. The military zone would have ATCTs based on the need felt necessary by the military command but would have one dedicated ATCT for domestic traffic (for families of soldiers as well as supplies). Each airport would further possess one TRACON each and the size would be determined by the current traffic inflow and the projection for the future. (McDougall & Roberts, 2007) 9. Privatisation During the initial reestablishment of the airspace management system the government would control as many shares of the airports and the overall system as possible. In any case at all the government should not sell out its share more than the controlling interests required (that is 51% of the shares must be government owned). In order to finance future expansion or to deal with other fiscal issues the government may decide to shed more shares as long as the standing parliament and the governmental regulatory agencies approve of it. Given the large amount of work needed there is little doubt that private finance would be required. The smaller airports ought to be privatised first followed by the larger airports to create enough market pressure to drive the prices up for the larger airports. However any degree of privatisation should be taken well after the airspace management system is fully in place and regulatory authority should still be available to the government to ensure that no monopolies or oligopolies come into existence. 10. Cost Recovery Costs can be recovered through renting of airports, use of airspace and by selling out shares in airports and allied infrastructure. Cost recovery should be initiated only when no other choices are left to the government and to its allies. Moreover such moves must be endorsed by the parliament as well as governmental regulatory authorities. 11. Communication Requirements Communication equipment would have to be updated in order to deal with future requirements but for the moment the older equipment would be used. Newer equipment would be required to deal with a larger range of frequencies used for communication between sectors as well as military operations. 12. Bibliography Breitler, A.a.K.K., 1996. Effects of Sector Complexity and Controller Experience on Probability of Operational Errors in Air Route Traffic Control Centers. Analyses. Center for Naval Analyses Document. FAA, 2009. Traffic Flow Management in the National Airspace System. [Online] FAA Available at: http://www.fly.faa.gov/Products/Training/Traffic_Management_for_Pilots/TFM_in_the_NAS_Booklet_ca10.pdf [Accessed 9 October 2011]. FAA, 2011. Airspace. [Online] Available at: http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim/chap3toc.htm [Accessed 9 October 2011]. Frakes, J., 2003. The Common Heritage of Mankind Principle and the Deep Seabed, Outer Space, and Antarctica: Will Developed and Developing Nations Reach a Compromise? Wisconsin International Law Journal, 21, p.409. Freudenrich, C., 2011. How Air Traffic Control Works. [Online] Available at: http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/air-traffic-control.htm# [Accessed 9 October 2011]. McDougall, G. & Roberts, A.S., 2007. Commercializing Air Traffic Control: Have the Reforms Worked? Canadian Public Administration, 51(1), pp.45-69. Read More