Page 21 - 2017-Issue3

Viktor Jagasits
is an Air Traffic Control Officer and OJT Instructor at
Eurocontrol. He has been in the aviation industry since
1998, when he began his career as an avionics technician
for both the military and the civilian spheres. In 2005
he joined Eurocontrol, and has been working as an air
traffic controller since. Mr. Jagasits is also an On-The-Job
Training Instructor, and in 2011, he took up a sidetrack
career in systems development at Maastricht UAC. In his
spare time, Viktor flies gliders and light aircraft.

EUROCONTROL MAASTRICHT UAC WHY DO WE APPRECIATE WHEN mind goes through all the traffic,
At Eurocontrol Maastricht UAC, PILOTS LOG ON? one-by-one. Callsign, routing, level,
we control the upper airspace For air traffic controllers, time is of aircraft type, possible problems. Is it a
(FL245+) of Belgium, The the essence. We need time to think level flight or an in-/outbound? Is
Netherlands, Luxembourg and the about solutions for conflicts, climbs/ there anyone else at his level on a
Western part of Germany (W of Berlin descents, time to talk to our possibly conflicting course? Is he
and N of Frankfurt). Our airspace is neighbouring units, to our planning going to change direction in my
one of the busiest and most complex controller, supervisor or upper/lower airspace (this might influence the
in the world with between 5,000 and sectors. Even if you don’t hear a conflict geometry by resulting in
5,500 flights daily and an annual controller talking on the frequency, he more/less miles in between)?
traffic of around 1.7 million flights or she may be very busy in the If he’s an in-/outbound: what is the
(2016). background either coordinating traffic in the way? When do I need to
70 percent of this traffic is arriving something or thinking of solutions. start the descent and at what descend
or departing from one of the major At Maastricht UAC, there are rate to be able to get him below the
aerodromes near or below us (London always two people working on the other aircraft? If he’s a level flight can I
TMA, Frankfurt, Paris TMA, same sector: the Executive Controller ask him if he’s able for higher level in
Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg area). (also known as Tactical/Radar case I can’t work it out the way I
We handle both civilian and controller), who has the possibility to wanted? What if he says no?
military flights at the same location at give clearances, and the Coordinating For every flight without a clear
Maastricht UAC. Below us there’re Controller (Planning), who can only trajectory through the sector (no
national partners, different units in try to help through asking neighbour- conflicting traffic), controllers must
different regions, respectively: ing sectors to do something for a have a few plans in mind when the
Brussels, Amsterdam, Langen, conflict resolution. Active CPDLC pilot calls in. A plan for climb/
Bremen. Around us we have London connection enables controllers to descend/conflict resolution – then a
Control, Scottish Control, share tasks, the Coordinating plan B, and eventually a plan C, in case
Copenhagen, Rhein Radar, Bremen, Controller can help out the Executive the others don’t work. There is no time
Paris, Rheims. Controller by handling tasks like to think about plans when the conflict
Our sector capacities are around transferring aircraft near the sector is imminent, by then we must have a
55-70 aircraft/hour depending on the boundary, uplinking directs/speeds as solution. Even then, something can
sectors. In our airspace we have plenty requested by the next sector, re-clear- change, for example a military area
of military areas so our “playground” ing aircraft to avoid military airspaces can go active, requiring controllers to
is sometimes narrowed down when certain CDRs are closed, or re-clear aircraft on direct routings to
considerably, (AWACS, refuelling and anything else which would otherwise go around the area. This process can
TRA activities, where TRAs can consume precious frequency time. create additional conflicts, as the
occupy up to around 50 percent of our When we sit down in front of the traffic which was spread out must pass
airspace when active). radar and look at the picture, our through much narrower areas.