Shortage of Air Traffic Controllers widens

Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) are crucial in achieving high levels of safety for flights and assisting pilots during take-off and landing, monitoring aircraft as they travel through the skies and preventing mid-air and on-ground collisions.

India is well on its way to becoming the world’s third-largest aviation market. Airlines are looking to expand, and the government is aggressively pushing for more airports for better connectivity. But an essential cog in the mammoth Indian aviation machinery is facing issues – Air Traffic Controllers. It seems that the country needs more of them, and fast.

With a rapid increase in the number of airports in India and the skies getting busier every year, the country’s current lot of air traffic controllers can’t keep up with the industry’s growing needs.

According to reports, several ATCOs in India are overworked. 

Faced with an escalating need for air traffic controllers due to the rapid increase in airports in the country and slow recruitment, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has asked the aviation safety regulator to revise rules on their duty hours so that their rest periods can be shortened.

To comply with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's rules on "watch duty limitations and rest requirements", the AAI as the provider of air traffic services needs 40% more personnel for 2022 than its current strength of 3,163 personnel.

In 2023, it will need 5,131 ATCOs or 60% more than the present numbers, and in 2024, it will need 5,428, or 70% more officers, according to a government official.

India's current ATC workforce cannot keep pace with the growing industry.

Officials at the AAI as well as members of the Air Traffic Controllers Guild attribute the widening shortage to three factors — failure to create new posts for the past six or seven years, delay in recruiting new officers during the pandemic as well as several new airports expected to become operational later this year.

"We have asked the DGCA to rationalise its rules. Instead of one set of rules for all airports in the country it must look at volume of air traffic at different airports to fix duty and rest periods. An airport that operates 24x7 hours such as Delhi will have different requirements than those that see flights only between dawn to dusk or have limited day-time operations."Government official

The three training centers for ATCOs in Prayagraj, Hyderabad, and Gondia can only accommodate 264 trainees a year. It also takes around 18 months on average for a new joinee to effectively start working at an airport tower.

With air traffic increasing swiftly and airports mushrooming in all corners of the country, the present ATC resources are spread too thin. 

The trainer aircraft crash-landed, when the student pilot of Carver Aviation, was flying it as a part of the training exercise. Fortunately, the 22-year-old trainee pilot, identified as Bhavika Rathod, suffered minor injuries. The pilot was admitted to Navjeevan Hospital in Shelgaon.

A major accident was averted on Monday, July 25 after a trainee pilot had a narrow escape when her aircraft crashed near Pune in Maharashtra.

The trainee aircraft crashed on a farm in Kadbanwadi village of Indapur taluka in Pune district today at around 11:20-11.30 am. The pilot was rescued by the villagers and given first aid. The trainee aircraft had taken the sortie from Baramati.

Fortunately, the 22-year-old trainee pilot, identified as Bhavika Rathod, suffered minor injuries.

“On 25.07.2022, Carver Aviation Cessna 152 aircraft VT-ALI on solo cross-country flight made a crash landing while 15 nm inbound to Baramati Airfield due to suspected power loss. No injury reported to cadet pilot,” said a statement by Arun Kumar, chief of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Union civil aviation minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia said, the incident is unfortunate and he is "praying for the recovery of the injured pilot, Ms Bhavika Rathod." 

https://twitter.com/JM_Scindia/status/1551478804933066752

Carver Aviation is based in Baramati. The Carver Aviation and police personnel reached the accident spot and started investigating the cause of the accident. DCGA authorities are also present at the spot and an investigation is underway.

The Academy of Carver Aviation Pvt. Ltd was established on August 19, 1995. It is a DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation, Govt. Of India) approved institution. The school is located in the rain shadow region of Baramati in Maharashtra.

In June 2022, a Red Bird flight training organisation (FTO) Tecnam P2008 aircraft had a hard landing on at Baramati runway in Maharashtra.

The trainer aircraft crash-landed, when the female pilot, a student of Carver Aviation, was flying it as a part of the training exercise.

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In the same month, a trainee aircraft was forced to land from the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) at Fursatganj in Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli. The DGCA had ordered a probe into the incident of a forced landing.

Cessna 152 aircraft VT-EUW crashed near the Birasal airstrip in Odisha in June 2022. The aircraft belonged to the pilot training organisation 'Gati'.

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Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, New Delhi announced that due to the ongoing up-gradation work, traffic movement on the carriageway connecting terminal 3 (T3) to terminal (T1) of IGI airport, through the underpass, has been suspended for three weeks starting July 23, 2022.

With this change, it is advised for those who wish to travel from T3 to T1 to take National Highway (NH-48 or the old NH-8) to get to T1 through the Radisson roundabout. The highway that goes from T1 to T3 will continue to be used to move traffic from Delhi Airport’s T1 terminal.

It is worth noting that due to the suspension of traffic movement the travel time from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 will increase to 20-25 minutes from the current 10-15 minutes for the next three weeks.

The road connecting Delhi airport terminal T3 to T1 to remain closed for 3 weeks 

People who have booked connecting flights that require a change of terminal are advised to ensure extra time or, if the connecting flight has less time, they can change the flight altogether to avoid no-shows.

The work on a flyover is underway as part of the Phase 3A expansion project and hence, the traffic movement on one side of the carriageway will be prohibited for three weeks, airport sources said.  

The phase 3A expansion work has been planned to cater to the expected increase in air traffic in the future. As part of the expansion project, the integrated T-1, where work is underway, will have arrival and departure terminals under one roof.

Delhi Airport is the busiest one in India in terms of passenger traffic and cargo.

The upgraded T-1 will double its capacity from 20 million passengers per annum to 40 million passengers per annum. The other development plans under the project include a fourth runway, dual elevated eastern cross taxiways, landside developments for circulation and connectivity improvements and T-3 modification work.  

Among the T-3 modifications are increasing the international transfer area, adding of seventh check-in island and associated baggage handling system. After the upgradation, T-3’s capacity is estimated to go up from 34 million passengers per annum to 45 million passengers per annum.

ALSO READ - Elevated cross taxiway at Delhi Airport, India’s first, to be ready by December 2022

Air India is in talks to lease about 400,000 sq ft of office space at Vatika’s office complex in Gurugram, Haryana.

The erstwhile national airline now owned by the Tata Group has already signed a letter of intent (LoI) for about 200,000 sq ft with the option of doubling the space later. The airline will shift all offices to this building, one of them said. Other Tata airlines – Vistara and AirAsia – may also shift to the same complex later.

“Air India is planning to consolidate and was initially looking for a property with Tata Realty, but that building is part of SEZ. Now, they have decided to move to this building, which is on the National Highway,” said one of the people aware of the deal.

Air India to lease 400,000 sq ft office space in Gurugram

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The Vatika project, One on One, on National Highway 8 is spread across 2.2 million sq ft and is being developed in two phases with an investment outlay of INR 1,200 crore. CBRE India facilitated the deal.

According to a report from Bussiness Today, Air India Executive Director Harpreet A De Singh has been given the responsibility to complete the transition. Singh will be assisted by consultants from Ernst & Young and a team of professionals from Tata Realty, it said.

Air India has a total of 12,085 employees of which 8,084 are permanent and 4,001 are contractual.

The Indian commercial real estate (CRE) office market saw net absorption rise 62% sequentially in the quarter ended June to 9.6 million sq ft, the best quarterly performance since the quarter ended December 2019 which saw 10.7msf of net absorption, according to a report by ICICI Securities.

The Tata group took over the management of Air India on January 27 after winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year. Air India has a total of 12,085 employees of which 8,084 are permanent and 4,001 are contractual. Air India Express, its low-cost international arm, has 1,434 employees.

ALSO READ - Air India intends to purchase a 100% stake in AirAsia India; Tatas to relocate all 4 airlines to Gurgaon

(With Inputs from The Economic Times)

Lenders of Jet Airways led by the State Bank of India could push the airline into liquidation if the winning bidder, the Jalan-Kalrock consortium, disagrees on distributing the proceeds from aircraft rentals among the financing banks, The Economic Times has reported.

Jet Airways owes a lot of cash to many lenders and stakeholders, including ex-employees and ticket claimants. So, any source of revenue for the airline is being carefully observed, with attempts being made to direct the funds to those demanding their money back.

Aircraft rentals to Air Serbia have, so far, yielded about INR 108 crore. The amount is parked with the SBI. The report said the banks conveyed to the winning bidder that they would apply for liquidation if lease rentals were not distributed to the verified lenders, citing sources.

Lenders of Jet Airways threaten bankruptcy over aircraft rental revenues

The Jalan-Kalrock group has proposed INR 380 crores in phased payments. These include a one-time payment of INR 185 crores and a two-year payment of 195 crores following the implementation of the plan.

Additionally, lenders would get a 9.5% ownership of the airlines. However, a portion of the money used to pay the creditors comes from the sale of assets belonging to Jet Airways. Only 5% of the lenders’ claims are recovered, which limits the negative effects of a firm liquidation.

The Jalan-Kalrock consortium has sought time until next week for a decision. The resolution plan approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is silent on the distribution of the lease rentals, leading to a dispute between the lenders to the distressed airline and the winning bidder.

Jet Airways was grounded in April 2019 due to its failure to pay for fuel and lease rentals.

Although the NCLT approved the Jalan-Kalrock plan in June 2021, the consortium has not yet paid the lenders. As the new owner of Jet Airways was working on receiving regulatory clearances, the implementation of the plan was delayed.

Civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) reinstated Jet's air operators’ certificate in May 20222. Jet Airways was grounded in April 2019 due to its failure to pay for fuel and lease rentals.

ALSO READ - Jet Airways nearing a deal to buy 50 A220 jets from Airbus

Jet Airways is near a deal to buy 50 A220 jets from Airbus. "We are in an advanced stage of discussions with lessors and OEMs (manufacturers) for aircraft, and we will announce our aircraft choice and fleet plans as we make our decisions," a spokesperson for Jet Airways said.

(With Inputs from The Economic Times)

As pilot shortages continue and automation seems inevitable, the U.S. Air Force is partnering with a Boston-based technology company, Merlin Labs, to test using an autonomous co-pilot on its C-130J Super Hercules cargo transport plane.

The Economic Times

The technology is touted to be advanced auto-copilot, designed to take over the responsibilities of one crew member in flight while being supervised by a human pilot. Reportedly, the software can also steer and maintain an aircraft’s course in flight, even in turbulence and harsh weather.

Merlin’s avionics system uses GPS, inertial navigation systems, air data, and altitude and heading reference systems to establish an aircraft’s current position and altitude. The system performs actions using actuators connected to the plane, which are directed by the onboard flight computer.

The business case is relatively simple: in a world of increasing transportation costs and a global shortage of pilots, autonomy can help to ease the burden of cost on companies, and at the same time can increase safety for pilots themselves, who now have an always-on, alert, and intelligent robotic co-pilot within the airframe they’re already familiar with says Merlin Labs CEO Matthew George

Mathew George | Cargo Facts Symposium

According to George, the Merlin Pilot is “a box that goes into the aircraft”. Depending on the aircraft, a bunch of different interfaces allow the Merlin pilot and the Merlin intelligence to be able to go and control the aircraft surfaces. It is intended to steer the plane by skipping the physical interface and going directly to the electrical control and may not quite literally handle the yoke controlling roll, pitch, and yaw.

Given the fact that this technology is still in its infancy, the company is hiring human factors scientists to figure out the best relation between the Merlin pilot-in-a-box and a human overseer.

Representative | Thai Military and Asian Region

One particularly unique aspect of Merlin’s product is its use of speech recognition to interface with air traffic controllers. The system had to be trained on a range of accents and voice types to ensure it was genuinely robust and useful-says George. He was also quick to add that the human pilot would take over in instances where it would fail.

Philosophically, we believe that air traffic control needs to be able to interact with an autonomous aircraft. The system present-day is designed to be talked to just like a human pilot and will respond just like a human pilot, albeit with a slightly funny voice says George

However, the software would not be able to detect obstacles, such as birds in the sky or cars on a runway.

Merlin is working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States and the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as the first regulators for certifying its pilot.

In a world where pilots are becoming more scarce, we can enable pilots to be able to go perform other missions where human brains are even more needed. The Air Force, I think, has picked the C-130J as the first testbed for this because it’s the most ubiquitous transport aircraft out there. It is a really good platform to start to think about autonomy in the cockpit in a very real and practical wayGeorge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StoD5hPnCIg&t=91s

Reportedly, the company has previously said that it expects to see autonomous flights that can take off, navigate, land and converse with air traffic control as soon as 2023.

SOURCE(s)

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