European Airline Training Symposium, 6 November 2012 1 European Airline Training Symposium, 6 November 2012 1 The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

TCAS II version 7.1

Changes & training needs

www.eurocontrol.int/acas

acas@eurocontrol.int

European Airline Training Symposium, 6 November 2012

Presented by: Stan Drozdowski

EUROCONTROL

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EUROCONTROL & TCAS

• Civil-military organisation

• 39 Member States

Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System

• TCAS is an established and proven safety net

• New version (7.1)

• Training and awareness required

EUROCONTROL initiated the development of TCAS version 7.1

following the discovery of two safety issues

European Organisation for the Safety of Air

Navigation: EUROCONTROL

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TCAS version 7.1 mandate

• Existing aircraft: before 1 December 2015

• New aircraft: from 1 March 2012

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EU mandate sets an earlier equipage requirement than

ICAO Annex 10 (existing aircraft: 2017, new aircraft: 2014)

Applies to:

• European Union airspace

• All aircraft above 5,700 kg MTOW, or

• Authorised to carry more than 19 passengers

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Two changes in Version 7.1

1. “Level off, level off” RA

replaces “Adjust Vertical

Speed Adjust” (AVSA) RA

2. Improvements to reversal

logic

Source: EUROCONTROL PASS project monitoring (880 RAs)

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New “Level off, level off” RA

2000 ft/min.

1000 ft/min.

500 ft/min.

0 ft/min. 0 ft/min.

RA requires one of these

vertical speeds RA requires a PROMPT level-off

(vertical speed 0 ft/min) “Adjust vertical

speed, adjust” RA “Level off,

level off” RA

Version 7.1 Version 7.0

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Improvement to the reversal logic

Pilot does not comply with a “Climb, climb” RA

or TCAS unequipped aircraft following an ATC

instruction or visual avoidance Version 7.0: No reversal

“Descend, descend” RA

Version 7.1:

Threat’s non-compliance detected,

reversal RA issued

“Climb, climb NOW” RA

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Pilot training will be needed

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A pilot who never follows RAs faces three times the risk faced by a

pilot who always does it correctly

• To communicate changes in

Version 7.1

• And to help improve overall TCAS

compliance

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TCAS compliance is an issue

TCAS RAs must be followed promptly and correctly

Major reasons for non-

compliance

• Rare events (±18/day)

• Relatively low pilot/controller

exposure

• Shortcomings in training

• Simulator exercises not too

frequent and often not realistic

Source: 2010 Egis Avia TCAS-SAF study

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Reporting RAs to ATC is also an issue

RA reporting to ATC

• Only RAs requiring a departure from the current clearance are to be reported (“[callsign] TCAS RA”)

• Only 30% of these RAs reported timely and correctly

Why critical for ATC?

• Signifies when ATC should no longer change the flight path

• Increases ATC situational awareness

• Changes still not reflected in the Ops Manuals

• Some operators do not prioritise RA reporting

• Some instruct to report only after “clear of conflict”

Airlines response to changes in ICAO

provisions (2007)

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Why is TCAS training challenging?

• RAs are stressful - difficult to recreate

• TCAS-related procedures are counter-

intuitive

• Once the RA is reported, ATC ceases

issuing instructions until ‘clear of

conflict’ is reported by the crew

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Many RAs involve more than one TCAS equipped aircraft -

essential that each flight crew respond in the expected manner

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Operational training using real-life

examples will help

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• Strengthening RAs

• Reversal RAs

• TCAS traffic display

• Reporting to ATC

• Vertical speed

Learning points

• How others reacted …. What kind of mistakes were made

• How correct action improved (or could have improved) the situation

4000

Cessna Citation

B777

3600

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ACAS Bulletins are a useful resource

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“Practical real-life examples de-identified for training purposes”

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Also other training aids

Available from www.eurocontrol.int/acas also www.skybrary.aero

Email: acas@eurocontrol.int

Overview of ACAS II

(presentation)

ACAS II Guide

TCAS II version 7.1 for pilots

(presentation)

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Summary

• TCAS RAs are rare but critical events

• Non-compliance needs to be addressed

• Aircraft operators should ensure crews are

• Aware of the TCAS version 7.1 upgrade

• Trained on the new “Level off, level off” RA

• Understand how to respond correctly to all RAs

• Recurrent training

• Will improve flight crew responses to RAs

• Should focus on the operational rather than technical aspects

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