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New air traffic management system ready for commissioning
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     The overseas independent consultant of the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) from the United Kingdom, National Air Traffic Services (NATS), has confirmed that the Civil Aviation Department (CAD)'s new air traffic management system (ATMS) is safe, stable and reliable, and that the CAD is ready for the full commissioning of the new ATMS. NATS was affirmative on the amount of professional work carried out by the CAD to a detailed and achievable level in preparation for the full transition and closure of all relevant recommendations including those from previous assessments. NATS is satisfied that the CAD is ready to proceed with full transition as planned, well supported by clear entry and success criteria, robust fallback contingency measures if needed, and with demonstrated operational readiness in the areas of planning, people, procedures, equipment and safety management processes. For details of NATS' conclusion, please refer to the full report submitted to THB by NATS (Annex A).

     As regards the October 27 "display degrade" incident of the new ATMS, the THB invited NATS to assess the impact of the workstation display degrade incident on the commissioning of the new ATMS. NATS confirmed the cause of the incident, which was triggered by an unusual flight plan without entry to the Hong Kong Flight Information Region (HKFIR). The display degrade was an automatic protection mechanism by system design to contain the non-routine data. NATS further confirmed that the CAD's decision to revert to the existing system immediately upon the display degrade incident was a decision "as intended", which "allowed the CAD to smoothly and safely transition out of [the Phased Functional Implementation] and maintain continuous operations without any safety or operational impacts". Moreover, the new ATMS was stable and no "system crash" was observed at any time. NATS is confident that the cause has been identified and the issue satisfactorily resolved. NATS' assessment on CAD's readiness for full transition as previously concluded remains unchanged.

     With the cause of the incident identified, NATS also reviewed the actions taken by CAD to rectify the problem and is satisfied that enhancement measures, including the software fix and procedural changes, have been duly implemented and verified to both solve and avoid the recurrence. With the software fix implemented, any similar unusual flight plan (i.e. without entry to the HKFIR) will be accepted by the new ATMS for information by air traffic controllers as intended, without triggering the display degrade mode. For details of NATS' conclusion, please refer to the full report on the incident submitted by NATS to the THB (Annex B).

     Based on the independent advice of NATS and the confirmation of the CAD on its readiness in all respects, the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, has endorsed the recommendation of the CAD to fully commission the new ATMS on November 14.

     "Under the safety first principle, the CAD earlier accepted NATS' recommendation to launch the new ATMS incrementally under a Phased Functional Implementation (PFI) approach, and has been targeting at full transition in November. The new ATMS is able to handle 8 000 flight plans per day and can simultaneously monitor 1 500 air or ground targets (five times and 1.5 times the existing system respectively), making it capable of coping with future air traffic growth, including that under the three-runway-system development," said Professor Cheung today (November 11).

     "We invited NATS to assess the impact of the incident on the commissioning of the new ATMS. NATS' report provided a comprehensive account of the October 27 incident, assessed the risk of re-occurrence and recommended further mitigating measures to minimise potential risk of the full commissioning of the new ATMS. The report confirmed that the incident had no impact on system and aviation safety. The THB considers that aviation safety is of utmost importance. NATS' further confirmation on CAD's readiness for full commissioning is reassuring," Professor Cheung added.

     "Parallel to resolving the issue of non-routine scenario data processing, the CAD has arranged additional training for air traffic control staff and reviewed staff readiness as well as actual experiences gained during the PFI. I am glad to have received written confirmation from the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that the Department is ready in all respects to launch the new ATMS on November 14. The DGCA advised that the air traffic controllers have passed objective assessment and are fully competent to handle air traffic with the new ATMS. They have also indicated their readiness through a self-declaration of confidence in mastering the new system. Having carefully considered the CAD's readiness, and taking into account NATS' independent advice, agreement has been given for the Department to go ahead on the recommended date," said Professor Cheung.

     The new ATMS is provided with the latest information technologies, including enhanced flight information and data processing, advanced automatic safety net features and more precise flight trajectory prediction functions. Moreover, the whole ATMS consists of multiple layers of fallback systems - an enhanced feature compared with the existing system - which can meet the more and more stringent aviation safety requirements. The full commissioning of the new ATMS will greatly enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong International Airport in the region.
 
Ends/Friday, November 11, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:47
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