New APV/GBAS course

Hi All,

I am sorry I was quit for so long but I was teching a PANS-OPS course and also creating lectures for the online course.
This is to announce that we have now established the training program for what we call "Procedure Design Level 3" (Level 1 is conventional procedures, Level 2 is ILS and RNAV basic procedures) is now finished.
What falls under Level 3 are the courses "APV/GBAS" (1 week), PBN (Performance Based Navigation) including RNP AR (2 weeks).

Currently I have now scheduled the APV course: It will take place June 30 till July 4 2008 in Switzerland. The location will be the University of Bern or alternatively a hotel in the vicinity of my home. It will be decided a bit later. I already have registrations for the course, so be aware that it might sell out relatively quickly.

Tuition fee for the course is 1100€.

Mobile phone mania

What's the deal with thise mobile phones? Don't get me wrong, I think mobile phones are a good invention and I had one already in times when people were giving me puzzled looks when using it and would make stupid remarks about me and how important I must feel with it. Strangely enough the same people now make last second phonecalls even after boarding an aircraft ("yeah, I am now in the airplane, aahm, can you tell Mark that I shall call him as soon as I arrive?"). After landing the same people can't wait to switch their mobiles on again and get on the phone ("yeah, hi, I just landed. Did you tell Mark, I'd call as soon as I land?").
I look at young people in the cafes, they sit together and don't talk, but look at their phones every minute to see if they received a message....
I see a guy sitting with an incredibly looking woman having a drink and this idiot knows nothing better than speaking 15 minutes on the phone with somebody and let her sit there and feel stupid.
People sit down for breakfast in a hotel and then bring the phone out and make a call. Funny, I was brought up telling people I (or my dad) would call back, as we are in the middle of Lunch or dinner. Let alone even think about MAKING a call myself...
Does the mobile phone make people forget their education, their sense for politeness vs. rudeness? In many cases, it certainly seems so...

The natural flow

I believe in certain "laws of the universe". They are mainly based on Physics or Quantum Physics. A simple example: Action = Reaction. If we look at the nature, we find answers to all the questions we might have. Nature is full of metaphors we can use in our own life. One point, where the human being tries to cheat the physical laws all the time is growth. People start their own companies, haven't got the first deal done yet, don't know if they EVER get a deal, but already think about employing people.
Another perfect example for this is Musicstar or Amercan Idol or whatever it might be called. Young, more or less talented people are taken through a casting process and finally the winner gets a record deal, live gigs in large halls in front of large audiences etc. In other words, on their way to climb a ladder they leave about 20 steps out. The problem is: when they need to step back, the 20 steps won't be there either, therefore they fall.
I observe such behaviour almost on a daily basis. Young people do not go the normal way when buying their first car. They don't go for some old and cheap car they can pay cash, no, they go for the BMW M3 convertable with leather seats straight away. Of course they cannot afford it, they will find out the hard way after a while.
Or people who haven't quite secured and consolidated their own knowledge yet believe, it's their destiny to stand in front of an audience and teach or give speeches. It's like swimming with sharks: if you know what you are doing, you won't be hurt. If you are not quite sure, it's dangerous.
A baby grows at a natural pace. It is never stressed about the time it takes. The baby will simply take in all the impressions it can and will process them. A baby NEVER thinks it needs to be able to walk after three months. It will start walking when it feels that the time is right for it.

Harmony

Everybody speaks of "Harmony": A harmonic marriage, harmonic furniture, harmony in the team (e.g. football) is great, the movement of your hands were not quite harmonic, the courses in that menu were un-harmonic (that's the worst one!) etc.
Once more people speak about something the haven't got a clue. The definition of harmony: a simultaneous sound of two or more notes. That's it. That sound can be consonant or dissonant. Consonance and dissonance are primarily a matter of listening habits and therefore a matter of taste. As you might know, I have a degree in music and for me too much consonance is simply boring. But music generally cannot be without dissonance, it's IMPOSSIBLE. Some styles have more some less. But what makes the music interesting is the change between tension (dissonance) and release (consonance). But that's all HARMONIC. Okay? Generally the difference between a consonant sound and a dissonant sound can be explained by physics (acousics). It has to do with the wavelength ratio.
So back to this "harmonic marriage" crap: A marriage is always (always!) harmonic! As a harmony is the simultaneous sound of two or more notes. A marriage can be dissonant (the couple argueing) or consonant (the couple... well... you imagine). Could it be that the key to a good marriage is to accept that the interaction of tension and release eventually makes it interesting?

Now another one is: "the harmony in the team is great". A harmony cannot be great. A harmony is. It's the simultaneous sound of two or more notes. Therefore the harmony in a team can simply be consonant or dissonant. Even worse ist this "harmonic movement"-crap. A movement can never (NEVER!) be harmonic. As it has nothing to do with the simultaneous sound of two or more notes. And the worst one: A menu cannot be un-harmonic. Unless you just serve one item wihout anything, not even herbs or salt. "Un-harmony" or "Disharmony" do not exist. As soon as we are talking about two menu items, they will always be harmonic. They can be heavily dissonant such as a hamburger with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and roasted garlic.

Got it?

New PANS-OPS structure -first feedback

After having taught the PANS-OPS course with the new fifth edition three times now, I have to say I am not 100% happy with the rewrite. Apart from the fact that some information got corrupted and is still not corrected, the fact that drawings and tables are at the end of each chapter makes the teaching job extremely difficult. It is annoying to flip the pages all the time, to show the diagram that matches the text (and for most non-english speakers makes it understandable).
I will try and do something about this in the IFPP. Please issue complaints as well (e.g as a comment in this blog). Then I have a strong case and will write a working paper for the next meeting of the IFPP.

OCP changes name to IFPP

The ICAO Obstacle Clearance Panel (OCP) has now changed its name to the ICAO "Instrument Flight Procedures Panel" IFPP. This name chane was approved by the Air Navigation Commission at ICAO, since the OCP was of the view that the old name no longer reflects the work the panel is doing accurately. This approval of the name change also indicates that the IFPP is heading in the right direction and the work done by the panel is appreciated by the ANC.
Okay, it will take me a while not say "I have an OCP meeting", but I am sure I'll get there :-)

The Panda bear

A Panda bear enters a restaurant and sits down on the table. After having a meal, he pulls a gun shoots around a couple of times then leaves the restaurant. Two guys sitting in the restaurant look at each other in astonishment. One guy says: "Did you see this?? What the hack was that??" The other guy says: "Well, actually that was nothing abnormal to be honest". "What??!!", shouts the first guy. The second guy replies: "Well, yes if you look in the encyclopedia and look under "Panda Bear" ist actually says *The Panda Bear eats shoots and leaves*..."

A historical day for IFP design training

Today the first ever online PANS-OPS course worldwide started. We have a nice class of 5 people that will be joined by a sixth person after part 1. I am very exited about this, because it allows me to pack much more information into the course than in the classroom one. It will be very interesting to see how the students perform in the practical phases. I am sure, they will do fine.
I'll keep you posted!
For those who are interested, you can still enter this class for some weeks from now. I also plan to run another online class in the second half of the year, as the classroom courses at ANI are fully booked for the whole year.

2 more places available

Dear All,

We have two more places for the PANS-OPS basic course in Oslo/Norway this year. The dates are: part 1 April 16 - May 4, part 2 August 20-September 7. THAT'S IT FOR 2007! All other basic courses in 2007 are full. If anybody wants to do a basic course, that would either be an online course or it's in 2008. Or at a different institute, but you wouldn' SERIOUSLY consider that, would you? ;-)

Software freaks, eat this:

There are 10 ways to understand binary: Either you do, or you don't.

Geodesy Course a success

We have finished the Geodesy Course for Flight Procedure Experts and thanks to the instructors Prof. Dr. alain Geiger and Dr. Maurizio Scaramuzza it was a great success. The picture shows Alain and some of the class on the roof of ETH Zürich performing some practical exercises with theodolites and other equipment. This 3-day course in Geodesy and survey is tailored to the needs of aviation specialists and is a great help for people who have to handle data, maps, obstacles, navaids, digital terrain models all referenced to different coordinate systems. They will learn how to transform cordinates from local systems to WGS84 and so on. Together with the training program offered by WX GeoSystems, this is the only one of its kind as far as I know.

Bratislava Course is full

Hi All,
The PANS-OPS course in Bratislava/Slovakia is full now. For basic courses in the whole 2007 I can only offer 2 places in Oslo (April and August), probably 2 places in Fukuoka (November and December), or of course the online course. This should tell you that if you see that basic PANS-OPS training is needed in your organisation and you want to do it with ANI, approach me now for 2008. I will start scheduling for 2008 in April.

A pioneering term begins

Hi All,
I am still handicapped and recovering from surgery. But nevertheless I have some great things to reveal for the new semester. As the first training provider ever worldwide, the ANI will run a PANS-OPS basic course online. Starting date is February 26. The whole theory will be delivered through my online learning platform (amazed? should've bought a Mac!) and it will be followed by the known practical projects, similar to the ones at the end of the two parts of the classroom PANS-OPS courses. I believe it is a great alternative for those who can not bare so much time away from their work. Furthermore the students can learn at their own pace and therefore the ICAO concept of competency based training can be applied in its pure form.
Okay folks, can't sit on that chair for too long. More to come soon!

Everything slow

I just got home after having spent one week at hospital to operate an injury at my hip joint. Everything is okay so far, only I am limited a bit in terms of flexibility. I am not alllowed to do any rotating or abduction movements with my left leg and the angle between upper body and leg cannot be less than 110°. Which gives a whole new perspective to life, believe me. It means I cannot sit down on a normal chair, because that would be an angle of 90°. Same applies for certain bathroom activities...
I cannot tie any shoes, I cannot put on socks without a special tool. If I drop something on the floor I need another special tool to pick it up. Going to bed is an athletic adventure and so is coming out of the bed.
In other words, my life goes by in slow motion and right now in that hectic time before christmas it shows me how crazy people are. When I go out for a (slow) walk I see the people stressed, running around etc. And somehow it feels like the total opposite of the feeling that the pre-christmas time radiates with all those nice decorations and lights.
My advice to all: slow down and relax a bit. Even if if you can go to and out of bed normally.

Mission completed again

Hi All,
I sit here in Fukuoka in my hotel room, after having finished a long course, a PANS-OPS basic. You know, they are 2 times 3 weeks with a break in between. This time the break was planned around an OCP meeting in Singapore, so all in all I have been on the road in Asia for two months now. It is always the same after a long course/trip like that: a weird mix of feelings. On one side I am happy the course is done and I could help a big class to achieve their training objectives. I am also glad to see my people at home again after a while, I look forward to sleeping in my own bed and I look very much forward to the Christmas holiday, as it has been a very good, but very busy year and I need a break.
On the other hand I also feel sad to leave what has become a part of my life during the last two months: my hottel room, the students, the supermaket next door, the old train that takes us into Fukuoka City, the female voice that announces the stations (about 20 seconds in Japanese, 3 seconds in English... anybody seen "Lost in translation?").
So it's always a farewell to something that became part of the life for a while. Ok, you could say I am used to it, as I constantly do this. I am used to it and I know what's gonna happen at the end of such a course. Nevertheless, the feeling comes and is quite strange. I think it makes me realize everytime that life means motion, moving on, and that we cannot hold on to the past.

ARINC 424 - shift of dates

Sorry pals,

Due to an OCP commitment we have to shift the ARINC 424 date (Gunten/Switzerland with Jim Terpstra) back one week.
The new dates are now June 25 - 29, 2007.
Jim and me are sorry if that creates any inconvenience.

Get ready for the new PANS-OPS

Folks,
This is to remind you that in a week from now - on November 23 to be exact - the new PANS-OPS, the fifth edition will become effective. It will not be available in print, as there is already an amendment in the pipeline from OCP/14, which will be effective in March 2007.
However, the so called "advanced copy" that was circulated a year ago carries some editorial errors. Not all of them were corrected yet, they will be in the Spring release.
If you have problems with the new structure, maybe it would be time for a recurrent/refresher course ;-)

Top Cities

As somebody travelling a lot I always get asked about favourite places, favourite cities. So here is my top ten lists of cities all over the world.

1. Singapore
2. London
3. Seattle
4. Fort Lauderdale
5. Hong Kong
6. Tokyo
7. Denver
8. Palma
9. Kopenhagen
10. Bangkok

There are various reasons why the list is as it is, but I won't give them here. I might also publish my list of disliked places (Paris watch it!) relatively soon. :-)

Various news

While we are in the last stage of part 1 of a basic PANS-OPS course here at the ANI/ATMC facility in Fukuoka/Japan, we are working hard on the academic year 2007. The new concept for the initial training is starting to look good. As mentioned earlier, more e-learning will be required, also prior to part 1. That will free some time we will use for practical exercises with a ficticious simplified airport (just a couple of obstacles and a hill. These exercises will be used to put the theory into a practical context without any real world complexity. Then the practical phase will be as always, a real world environment, working with real maps.
Apart from the new Geodesy courses with Dr. Maurizio Scaramuzza and Dr. Alain Geiger. There are a few other new courses in the Pipeline for the second half of the year. One will be the "Procedure Design Level 3" which consists of Performance Based Navigation and APV (Baro-VNAV and SBAS VNAV). I will have to set the length, I am currently considering 2 weeks but it might as well be 3. Another course will be the Holding and Reversals Master Class. We are discussing whether we want to do this as a classroom course or online only. More on 2007 courses very soon. So long!

New Geo Lecturers appointed!

This is to inform you guys that I have made some change regarding the courses in Geodesy offered at ANI. I have appointed the two heavyweights Dr. Maurizio Scaramuzza and Prof. Dr. Alain Geiger as lecturers for the Geodesy course for procedure designers. The first course run by those two will take place February 14-16, 2007 at the ETH Zürich. We decided to bring the course length down to 3 days.
The Geodesy Skills and Knowledge are considered "ab initio level" and can therefore easily be attended by students who attend a PANS-OPS basic afterwards. I love the way things are evolving right now, this is certainly a new adventure which we will all appreciate.