Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH
The International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations (IFALPA)is set to launch a public attack on the state of Greek air traffic control (ATC) in a move which could dent the country's huge tourist trade.
The German Cockpit Association (VC) and the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA)are especially vociferous in their criticisms. According to the Germans pilots, Greek ATC is "inadequate". The Association says Greek controllers have a "miserable" grasp of ATC English, sometimes making their instructions incomprehensible, and they often speak Greek to local pilots, with the result that other flightcrews cannot monitor the ATC situation.
While radar cover is becoming available in much of Greek airspace, it is often not in use and the controllers employ less efficient procedural ATC, which entails increased separations between aircraft, despite ever-increasing traffic. The VC also says that the arrangement of Greek airspace is "clumsy", citing the fact that incoming and outgoing traffic fly along the same corridors on the approaches to Athens and Crete, a traffic procedure which contributed to the fatal November 1996 mid-air collision between a Saudi Arabian and a Kazakh airliner near Delhi, India.
Greek ATC is on IFALPA's agenda for its annual conference in Montreal at the end of April, and the only issue appears to be whether the conference will vote it "deficient" or "critically deficient".
According to the Greek Directorate General of Air Navigation, "some of the rumours are true, some are not". While the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA)also says it is concerned, it claims the Greek situation is "on the verge of improvement".
Much money has been invested in modernising radar coverage and the construction of a new Area Control Centre (ACC) at Athens. "The [new] radar is working, with some minor bugs," says IFATCA executive vice-president Europe, Günther Merchert, who adds that Greece is now working to solve communications problems between individual radar facilities and the Athens ACC.
A successful endurance test has been completed, and active trials are under way, says Merchert, adding that if current tests are successful, the new ACC should be operational by June. But he warns: "Even if the system is working before summer, the controllers are not trained, and there will be problems." Government spending restrictions mean that few new ATC personnel will be hired, and this could lead to manning as well as training problems on the introduction of the new hardware, fears Merchert.
Greek radars are 12-15 years old, and cover only about 60% of Greek airspace. The new system, from Thomson-CSF, should increase this to 90%coverage. Merchert adds that controllers also "have problems with military aircraft" using civil corridors without establishing contact with civil ATC.
Source: Flight International
