On the initiative of BGATC, EGATS and TUEM, operational staff from BELGOCONTROL and EUROCONTROL Maastricht UAC sat together recently in an informal setting to discuss operational related tensions, as well as problems associated to the development of FABEC.

The result of the meeting is a powerful common statement which you can read here (PDF file)

Night licence: According to our information the project was stopped.

EUROSS: It will be one of the topics in our new FORUM. There will be a new phaseof observations starting at the end of this year with controllers this time. The results of the first round will be in the summer edition of the OUTPUT.

CSS/CNS: We had a very long and good discussion about the project and theconsequences. The board thinks very critically about it and decides to make it atopic in the FORUM as well. As well we plan to write a letter explaining our view/ concern.

The CONTROLLER magazine: We will start using the option of directly mailing thecopies to members in our outside station. For that we will try to find a contactperson in each.

The EGATS Executive Board regrets to inform you of the death of our good friend and colleague Bert Verstappen. Besides a very skilled air traffic controller, Bert was an experienced helicopter and glider pilot. He died in a glider crash in the Provence in the south of France.

Bert's sense of humour, common sense and dedication will be sadly missed in the operations division. On behalf of the EGATS members, the Executive Board wishes to extend their condolences to Bert's family and loved ones, especially his 2 young children.

Update: A funeral service will take place on Wednesday the 26th of May at 13:00 in the aula of the Funeral Centre Heselmans, Diesterstraat 56, 3890 Tessenderlo, Belgium.
 

Displaying TCAS Resolution Advisory (RA) information from aircraft on a controller’s screen (or Controller Working Position - CWP) may seem to be useful information to assist controllers – however the information displayed may be wrong or outdated and therefore unsafe.

Read the IFATCA Safety Bulletin

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.

Nightshift

According to the study done 12-5 was the best option especially regarding concentration. The EB is supporting this and promoting to allow 5 consecutive hours during night. However there seem to be further projects running behind our back. We have to find out more about this MUAC night licence and single man operation rumors to be able to react. Again the board is very disappointed that there seem to be such important professional matters discussed without involving EGATS.

EUROSS

We will ask Christiane to write a report about the results, which seem to be very interesting, for our next OUTPUT.

New licence

The board noticed that on our new licence all the issue dates for the ratings, that were issued before 20/08/2004 are incorrect. We will react on this and ask to correct this immediately.

For those who're planning to attend the EGATS Annual General Meeting, please find the draft agenda and the tradional booklet.

RRT

Three instead of only one programmer are working on finishing the tools from now on. All tools will be done in house. The tool managing the fair share and the point system is the most difficult to develop and it will take a while to get it done. For the moment the focus is on a roster tool, that will optimise the roster and make more preferences possible.

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