Is Refresher Training for Air Traffic Controllers Adequate to Meet the Challenges of Emergencies?

Transcription

1 EUROCONTROL Safety R&D Seminar Munich October 2009 Is Refresher Training for Air Traffic Controllers Adequate to Meet the Challenges of Emergencies? Dr. Stathis Malakis Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority & Dr. Tom Kontogiannis Technical University of Crete

2 ORIGINS Air traffic control units shall maintain full and complete coordination, and personnel shall use their Best Judgement in handling emergency situations. (ICAO - Doc 4444, 2007,). BUT!!! How can we identify, train and employ this Best Judgment???

3 The Fundamental Assumption The fundamental assumption behind the refresher training is to impart them with the required skills and knowledge to meet successfully the wide range of challenges imposed by emergencies and abnormal situations. BUT!!! Is this a true assumption???

4 Controllers Emergency Training 1. Initial Training: i. Part of AB Initio training. ii. Briefing sessions. iii. Simulator sessions. iv. General guidelines on how to handle each occurrence based on ACS Common Core Licensing requirements. 2. Unit Training: i. Refresher training in emergency procedures / unusual occurrences as part ii. iii. iv. of ATCOs competency scheme. Briefing session. Simulator sessions. General guidance on how to handle each occurrence based on MUACC documents.

5 Cognitive Strategies Evolution Cognitive Strategies Failure Sensitive Strategies No Strategies Experience / Time

6 T 2 EAM Model T 2 EAM : Taskwork & Teamwork strategies in Emergencies in Air Traffic Management Individual Strategies Recognition (i.e., noticing cues, recognizing states and projecting future states) Managing uncertainty (i.e., critiquing goals and mental models) Anticipation (i.e., acknowledging threats and exploiting less busy periods to plan) Planning for typical events and contingencies Managing workload (i.e., prioritizing tasks and coping with interruptions and distractions) Teamwork Strategies Team orientation (i.e., shared situation understanding and communication of intent) Team coordination (i.e., managing dependencies and avoiding information garbling) Team communication (i.e., providing unsolicited information and updating situation status) Error management (i.e., error detection and correction) Change management (i.e., detecting and correcting problems in distribution of tasks)

7 Refresher Scenarios Scenario Holding Emergency Descent Radio Communication Failure (RCF) Airspace Clearing Fuel Dumping Hijack Diversion Short Description An aerodrome is temporarily closed for arrivals and all inbound aircraft are compelled to hold. The team has to guide aircraft to published holding patterns, or create new ones by selecting and freeing temporarily a part of the sector, coordinate with the adjacent units and provide the holding aircraft with accurate time estimates on when normal operations will be resumed. Due to a system failure and the resulting loss of cabin pressure, an aircraft is compelled to initiate an emergency descend. The ATC team has to recognize the emergency descent from its onset, provide traffic information to pilots and keep clear the affected aircraft while maintaining coordination with the adjacent units. The escalation pattern for this type of emergency is much steeper than all other scenarios.) An aircraft encounters a radio malfunction that makes the flight crew unable to communicate with ATC. The aircraft is squawking the code 7600 on the mode A of its transponder which signifies communication failures and probable problems with its altitude encoding equipment; and hence with TCAS (Traffic Collision and Avoidance System). The controllers have to recognize the RCF situation, discriminate its type, keep the affected traffic clear and provide greater separation minima. Due to a bomb threat received in the Area Control Centre, the operations room must be evacuated immediately after the ATC team cleared the airspace in a restricted time window (usually 10 minutes). The team has to reroute and transfer all aircraft from their sector to adjacent units while maintaining team coordination. An aircraft is compelled to dump fuel due to a technical malfunction. The ATC team is informed by the flight crew or the previous sector that the aircraft will dump fuel in their airspace. The team has to provide the aircraft with adequate airspace, separate it from other aircraft with greater separation minima and maintain coordination. The ATC team has to recognize early cues and synthesize them as a suspected Hijack situation, keep other aircraft in the sector well clear of the hijacked aircraft, provide increased separation minima and maintain the required coordination with the other units. An aircraft experiences an emergency and requests and navigational assistance to the nearest suitable aerodrome. The escalation pattern is generally smooth provided that a range of informative cues and expectations are available. The ATC team has to recognize early cues as a possible. Upon issuing the request for, the team has to provide direct routings which usually entails using a restricted airspace between the aircraft and the most suitable airdrome and provide a continuous descent profile to the aircraft.

8 T 2 EAM Model T 2 EAM : Taskwork & Teamwork strategies in Emergencies in Air Traffic Management Individual Strategies Recognition (i.e., noticing cues, recognizing states and projecting future states) Managing uncertainty (i.e., critiquing goals and mental models) Anticipation (i.e., acknowledging threats and exploiting less busy periods to plan) Planning for typical events and contingencies Managing workload (i.e., prioritizing tasks and coping with interruptions and distractions) Teamwork Strategies Team orientation (i.e., shared situation understanding and communication of intent) Team coordination (i.e., managing dependencies and avoiding information garbling) Team communication (i.e., providing unsolicited information and updating situation status) Error management (i.e., error detection and correction) Change management (i.e., detecting and correcting problems in distribution of tasks)

9 Types of Operational Problems Type Scenarios Detection Source CC role Readback/Hearback errors 3 3 STCA No detection Early transfers to the other sectors 4 4 STCA No detection Flight plan overlooking 2 2 STCA No detection Distractions 1 1 STCA No detection Failure to consider crossing traffic 4 1 CC 3 STCA 1 Detection

10 The Diversion Scenario SECTOR Exit Point The control of the aircraft is transferred Aerodrome A (Diversion aerodrome) Restricted Airspace Intended path of the aircraft The controllers route the aircraft through the previously restricted airspace The flight crew requests to aerodrome A Controllers request permission for a possible use of restricted airspace The flight crew requests the METAR of aerodrome A SECTOR Boundaries SECTOR Entry Point

11 Decision requirements for the scenario Critical decisions Why difficult? Important cues Aspects of expertise Recognize threat and manage uncertainty Delayed declaration of emergency, screen clutter, remember track history Crew s request of the weather of a nearby airport, from flight path Make a mental list of concerns, call shift supervisor Plan for contingent events Many secondary tasks (e.g., speak to military units and other sectors) Military aircraft inside sector, military flight plans filed earlier, information from military units Make a paper list of units to coordinate, assign tasks to others, let sectors know of threat, do not accept early transfers Construct most suitable flight path Military area obstructs in route, heavy traffic, memory load, Flight paths of adjacent aircraft Use velocity leaders to project route, ask permission to enter military area Manage communications Communication workload Implicit crew requests pointing to threats, signs of stress in crew s voice Avoid asking too many clarifications from crew

12 Cognitive Task Analysis Resilience EC provides the METAR to the flight crew EC & CC consider a to another aerodrome probably in the next few minutes EC & CC discover that the closest path to the aerodrome is blocked by restricted military airspace EC provides instructions for a direct routing to the aerodrome through the restricted airspace EC handles the and the other traffic in other sectors EC hands over the diverting aircraft to the next sector Coordination CC records the METAR and hands it over to EC CC initiates coordination with aerodrome and affected sectors stating that they may face a possible CC initiates coordination with unit responsible for the restricted airspace and requests permission CC finalizes coordination with military unit, the aerodrome unit and other affected sectors CC informs the supervisor and coordinates with the next sectors for the CC informs the supervisor about significant details of the Affordances CC utilizes automation to obtain METAR EC and CC utilizes automation functions to estimate distance and bearing to the aerodrome EC and CC utilizes velocity leaders to detect potential conflicts with other aircraft in the sector, in the event of a EC and CC utilize velocity leaders to perform tactical planning of the traffic for the CC writes down all the necessary information regarding the EC and CC utilizes velocity leaders to perform tactical planning of the traffic Events on board The flight crew of an aircraft detects cues of a system malfunction Crew considers a, requests the METAR of a nearby aerodrome, without alerting controllers Checklists are applied and company dispatchers are notified Malfunction persists and the crew agrees on a with dispatchers Crew requests to the nearby airdrome due to technical reasons The aircraft is routed to the aerodrome The aircraft is transferred to the next sector

13 Implications for Refresher Training The examination of the refresher-training course is an initial step in tailoring the training requirements to operational reality. The proposed CTA can also help instructor to enhance the cognitive fidelity of training by identifying events in a scenario that would provide opportunities to controllers to practice specific cognitive strategies. The T2EAM model can be used to investigate the demands of many EAS scenarios and the cognitive strategies employed by expert controllers. The findings presented do not lend support the fundamental assumption since refresher training has been disjoined from actual operational experiences. It failed to address many situations that have often led to separation loss in the operations room. Operational reality will always contain situations whose subtle and infinite variations will be different from those replicated in training

14 Thank you for your attention! QUESTIONS?