Cool time-lapse video of a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 getting a new coat of paint...

Virgin Atlantic plane livery time-lapse movie from johnson banks on Vimeo.

On monday 15th March 2010, the EGATS Annual General Meeting was held in Maastricht UAC. Attendance was, certainly compared to previous years, quite good. In a relaxed atmosphere, president Ive Van Weddingen opened the meeting which proceeded to discuss both Guild affairs as well as professional matters affecting the Eurocontrol staff.

You can read the draft minutes of the meeting here. If you have any comments, feel free to send them to the board using our contact sheet.

A Northwest Airlines flight from San Diego, California, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, flew about 150 miles past their destination  before realising they had to land there... Air traffic controllers were desperately trying to call the aircraft and even after contact was re-established, considered the possibility that the aircraft had been hijacked. The instructed the plane to make a series of unnecessary maneuvers to convince them the pilots were in control of the flight. Fighters were also on standby to intercept. NWA released a statement, saying: "The crew [...] were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness".

Update: Apparently, the pilots were using their personal laptops while talking about "airline crew flight scheduling procedure."

Both pilots were suspended pending the investigation.

EGATS Internal

To save costs we decided to close an old mailbox, it wasn‘t used anymore and we are reachable with our address at MUAC.

New Roster

There was no RRT meeting since our last board meeting.

Medical checks if staff is AM

There were no checks recently. EGATS is monitoring the situation very closely.

CSS (Central Supervisory Suite)

EGATS was not involved again in the development, we were presented some ideas, which we didn‘t like very much: There is less supervisory staff needed in the future, so it will limit your career prospects. The board doubts a CSS can manage at sector level as efficiently as the sector supervisor now.

EGATS Internal

We are still busy with cleaning up our new office and decided to give a lot of stuff, like Polo-shirts with the old logo to Ilia‘s charity.

New Roster

The minutes for the last RRT meeting should be published very shortly. In the meantime the study to find the best split for the N-duty has started. It is on us (you!) to give our input and try to find an optimum solution. However it will still be a night shift and it will be tougher than day shifts.

BOSS

The world's GPS systems could start to fail next year, according to a report presented to US Congress. This could cause serious problems for aviation, emergency services and ordinary drivers, as well as the military.

The US Government Accountability Office (GOA) blames mismanagement and lack of investment and predicts a one in five chance that the number of satellites will drop below the required 24 for global coverage before 2012.

Read the full report here.

The USA - FAA equivalent of SESAR is NextGen. The FAA have made a promo video about what they hope to achieve over the next 10 years.

According to the Air Transport Users Council (AUC) report, airlines around the world 'mishandled' 42 million bags in 2007 and completely lost more than a million of them. Still according to the report, the problem was the worst it had been in recent years.

The policies of some airlines are highlighted in the report, clearly showing the red tape passengers have to deal with to try and get compensation for a delayed or lost bag.

Read the full story on the BBC website.

As some of you will remember EGATS used to give the opportunity for a member to join the official EGATS delegation at the IFATCA annual conference. Last year we didn’t organise the ballot, as there were too many practical difficulties, but this year we are bringing it back!

The 48th IFATCA Annual Conference will be held in Dubrovnik, Croatia from 20th to 24th April 2009. Participating in this conference will give you the chance to attend interesting meetings regarding our profession, with professional and technical committees set up to discuss the main issues and the way forward.

Air traffic control has developed from the humblest beginnings into a highly sophisticated and technology dependent occupation. And even as we are on the cusp of an even more dramatic leap of new technologies, many people remain unaware of just what an air traffic controller does and few comprehend just what is involved in keeping aircraft safely apart, but close enough so that they get to their destinations as efficiently as possible.