·
RVSM in the WATRS (West Atlantic Route System)
·
Acceptance of Doc. 7030 Regional Guidance Procedures for RVSM
·
Acceptance of Edition 9 of the MNPS North Atlantic Operations Manual
Meeting
of the ICAO Ops-Air Working Group of the RGCSP- Review of the General Concept of
Separation Panel
December
4-7, 2000
Transport
Canada - Ottawa
Representing
IFALDA - David H. Porter
Other IFALDA
members participating: Jim King -
Representing Transport Canada
Dave Maloy- Representing FAA (Meeting co-chair)
The agenda
of the meeting included:
|
·
RVSM in the WATRS (West Atlantic Route System) |
|
·
Acceptance of Doc. 7030 Regional Guidance Procedures for RVSM |
|
·
Acceptance of Edition 9 of the MNPS North Atlantic Operations Manual |
Participants
included representatives of NATS/UK, Transport Canada, U.S. FAA, ICAO, NBAA,
ARINC, ALPA, IFALDA, Boeing, Airbus, and IATA.
WATRS
The
WATRS region is a complex, high traffic area that is comprised mostly of fixed
routes with a significant number of crossings. There are two dominant traffic
flows in the WATRS region. One is between North America and the Caribbean,
Bermuda, and South America and the other is between the Americas and Europe.
Historically, WATRS traffic has been increasing at an approximate rate of 2.8
percent per year. This trend is expected to continue and consequently, both the
FAA and the users have agreed that RVSM is needed to accommodate the increased
demand for optimum altitudes and routes.
WATRS
RVSM PHASE II (implementation Date - November 1, 2001)
Phase
II is defined as the implementation of RVSM for all approved aircraft in the New
York FIR portion of WATRS, and the expansion of RVSM transition airspace to
include the San Juan CERAP and any remaining portion of Miami Oceanic. The Phase
II plan creates an exclusive equipage environment in the New York FIR portion of
WATRS where only RVSM approved aircraft will be allowed to operate within the
RVSM altitude stratum.
Note:
The FACSFAC/VACAPES is controlled by the DoD, code-named “GIANTKILLER”.
IFALDA
was tasked with developing Dispatcher Guidance procedures to be included in the
ICAO Doc. 7030 Regional Guidance Procedures.
RVSM
airspace in the WATRS will be from FL290-410 inclusive. The coastal areas will
be RVSM transition airspace while the remainder will be exclusionary.
Exceptions will be granted for State aircraft upon coordination with New York
Oceanic.
See
Appendix 1 for map of WATRS Phase II area.
MNPS North
Atlantic Operations Manual
ICAO
established its North Atlantic Systems Planning Group (NATSPG) in 1965 to study,
monitor, evaluate the NAT air navigation system in the light of changing traffic
characteristics, technological advances and traffic forecasts. In 1994 the North
Atlantic Implementation Management Group (NAT IMG) was formed to coordinate and
manage - on behalf of NAT SPG - the implementation of change to the NAT air
navigation system.
In
1996 a meeting of the North Atlantic NAT IMG endorsed the establishment of a
Program Coordination Office (NAT-PCO) to coordinate the establishment and
implementation of a development program for the NAT region. It was agreed that
the UK would provide such a program coordination service on behalf of the IMG.
The
objectives of the NAT-PCO include:
· To
produce and maintain a NAT Development Program Plan (NAT DPP) on behalf of the
NAT IMG.
· To
coordinate the implementation of the NAT DPP with the NAT Implementation Groups,
the international ATM service providers, user organizations and other interested
parties.
· To
coordinate and disseminate relevant program management information among the
international ATM service providers, the NAT IMG, its sub-groups and other
interested parties.
Toward this
end the 'North Atlantic MNPS Airspace Operations Manual' has been published by
NAT-PCO and is currently in its 9th edition. In 1994, IFALDA was asked to
submit Dispatcher guidance to be included as an addendum to Edition 6.
Since then IFALDA has contributed updates to subsequent editions until it became
apparent that since the MNPSA Manual was used as much by Dispatchers as well as
by pilots, a separate chapter for dispatcher guidance was required.
The 9th
Edition of the MNPSA Manual includes Chapter 16, Guidance for Dispatchers.
IFALDA has been tasked by ICAO and the NAT-PCO to maintain the currency of this
information. Appropriate credit for IFALDA’s contribution is included in
the header of Chapter 16. The manual can be accessed via the NAT-PCO
website in either Word 7 or Acrobat .PDF format. The URL is : http://www.nat-pco.org/.
