Chennai ATC used unsafe tech

Chennai: A technical snag in the Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) system at the Chennai airport air-traffic control (ATC) on Friday night forced the staff to use voice systems to trace aircraft movements in the oceanic region, instead of the faster and safer CPDLC.
The ATC staff had to tune for aircraft signals along the weaker channels using VHF equipment. “Lucky we did not have any mishaps,” said a senior ATC officer.
“As the CPDLC of Automated Dependent System (ADS) is a back-up tool to trace the aircraft signals from remote oceanic regions where the high frequency voice communication is not possible between the ATC controller and the aircraft pilot. We managed to maintain the traffic through very high frequency and voice communications. CPDLC is exclusively for long distance communication in oceanic control with a data link up to 600- 700 nautical mile,” said the officer.
But the pilots do not seem to be too disturbed about this problem. A senior Air-India pilot told DC that the CPDLC should be activated in oceanic control desk “because it is much faster and safer for the ATC and the pilots to communicate on the correct altitude of the aircraft and its movement.”
03/08/10 Deccan Chronicle

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Categories: airports aug 2010, Safety Aug 2010