This edition starts with a thought for the air traffic controller who got hurt in Nicosia Area Control Center (Cyprus) when the roof collapsed. The ATCO has been brought to hospital with injuries to his head and hands. Apparently, ATCOs have been concerned with the safety of the building for months...
Ironically, the ACI Europe Annual Assembly and Congress will take place in Cyprus, from the 25th to 27th of June - not at the airport or at the ATC facility but an airport tour is part of the program. The event's team is "Transform or die - Airports and the sustainability challenge". It is not too late to register.
Short news
- Riga Aviation Forum 2019 took place, addressing aviation in Latvia, Europe and overall
- The A6 alliance took position on the "wise persons group" report. Disagreement appears, mostly but not only on financial models
- UFA delivers 4 ATTower simulators to the Royal Canadian Air Force
Training & Learning
- ESSP, the organisation in charge of operating EGNOS, the European satellite-based positioning system offers flight procedure design courses
- Airports Council International (ACI) develops and promotes Airport Community Recommended Information Services (ACRIS) for easier integration and interoperability of IT solutions
The fat drone section
The UTM domain was very active this week. It started with the presentation of the Amazon delivery drone. The most interesting part is that it has sensors supporting "fully autonomous operation". This will be an interesting challenge for UTM integration.
The biggest event was the release by EASA of EU wide rules on drones. This is a significant milestone, especially because of the number of countries where the regulation will apply, in a homogenous way.
At the same time, the US state of North Dakota announced plans for a statewide drone air traffic control system. Did you know that US states have some freedom to extend use cases dictated by the FAA?
To close us, a great, detailed article from CERBAIR about the different drone detection and neutrazization technologies. Highly relevant, as many airports get equipped and remember that the Gatwick cases are not explained yet.