GATCO and the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) are hosting a one-day Controller-Pilot Symposium on Wednesday 16th of October 2019 at the Holiday Inn London Heathrow M4 Jct 4:

Holiday Inn London Heathrow M4 Jct 4
Sipson Rd, Sipson,
West Drayton
UB7 0HP
+44 (0) 871 942 90 95

The event aims to bring together air traffic controllers and pilots to discuss issues of mutual interest. While there will be a number of presentations during the event, the key part of the day will be a panel-type session where controllers and pilots will have the opportunity to exchange points of view about their profession, the interaction with each other and the topics presented at the symposium. In addition, the break out area will have a number of ATM and aviation-related exhibitors.

This year’s speakers and topics are:

  • Tom Laursen, Executive Vice President Europe, IFATCA, will discuss whether the Performance and Charging Schemes for Reference Period 3 (2020-2024) can revert the trend of controller shortages and significant delays brought about by those schemes during Reference Period 2 (2015-2019).
  • Robert Mills, Head of Airspace Strategy, DfT, and Rebecca Roberts-Hughes, Deputy Director, Strategy and Policy, CAA, will update us on the Airspace Modernisation Strategy initiative and how professional organisations like BALPA and GATCO can become actively involved in its decision-making.
  • Andy Sage, Head of UTM, NATS, will talk about the recent developments in UTM, particularly looking at strategic and tactical conflict resolution, with the ultimate aim of integrating drone operations in non-segregated airspace.
  • Alison Slater, Head of Investigations and Enforcement Team, CAA, will describe the CAA’s position on Just Culture in the wake of the recent criminal conviction of a Swiss air traffic controller.

In addition, the following technical exhibitors will be on display and present their lines of work:

  • Airbus Defence and Space will display a 3D human-machine interface demonstrator for air traffic control.
  • Airspace4All will show how their work is helping modernise and improve access to controlled airspace and enhance the safety of VFR operations.
  • Enterprise Control Systems will display their surveillance expertise and show how that can help tackle unlawful use of drones.
  • Kelvin Hughes will detail Xpeller™, the modular and scalable Counter UAV System by HENSOLDT, which comprises building blocks that can be selected and combined for the respective scenario.
  • Snowflake Software will describe how their information management platform aggregates flight, weather and aeronautical data ready to be shared amongst all aviation stakeholders.

The full day event is free and will start at 10:30am, with check-in opening at 10:00am. Lunch, as well as tea and coffee breaks, will be provided.

Should you have any questions about the event, please e-mail us at info (at) gatco (dot) org.