Interesting Procedure Discussion Forum

I was always highlighting the importance of communication between the different parties involved in procedure design. I think it is crucial that designers, pilots, ATC and database coders and cartographers understand each other's problems. A friend of mine provides such a forum on his website. http://www.asap.sk/discussion/
Check it out, maybe you'll find some interesting info or maybe you have to say something about a question posted.

Crosswind landing

Maybe you have heard about it, here is a video. LH44 was trying to land in strong crosswind at Hamburg Airport on March 1, during storm "Emma".

Little free goodie online

Dear all,
Those who know me will know that I have a degree in education. Over the years attending conferences here and there I always felt a bit sad about the level of the presentations given by about 98% of the speakers. They all make some essential things wrong when presenting and unfortunately everybody was copying each other and the level never improves. I thought I'll do something about it and put a little e-learning lecture about presentation technique online. It's free, and I hope many people will download it. So go ahead and use it, copy it, distribute it, the more people who see it,the better.
You'll find the link on http://www.airnavigationinstitute.ch, bottom left.

Why does everything have to be a "solution"?

I see advertisements for software solutions, my bank is praising their banking solutions, insurances are trying to sell their insurance solution. Interesting, but I am not their target market then. I don't need a software solution, as I haven't got a software problem. I might want a piece of software, though. But not as a solution, not because I have a problem. Only because I like the kit. Same for the insurance. I don't have an insurance problem, I just want to be insured, that's all. Get lost with your solutions, we don't want them. We need them as little as we need an "insurance partner" or a "software partner". We just want to buy a product, that's all. So don't call yourself our partners, because you're not, and don't call your products "solutions", because we don't have a problem. Or do we have to invent a problem for all your solutions?

Pictures from the Geodesy Course

Alain and Maurizio did a good job once more in the Geodesy course in Zürich, February 13-15. The picture shows Alain explaining the Theodolite and Maurizio supervising the explanations :-). We shall have another Geo course early next year. If you are interested in doing the course let me know early enough please. The knowledge aquired in the course becomes more and more important. With the widespread use of computers, databases and DTEDs, knowing how to handle different geodetic datums are a must and can be safety critical.

Only 2 more places for the summer course

The PANS-OPS course in Pezinok/Slovakia in May and July this year sells out quickly. We can take two more places and that's it. So, if somebody wants to join, hurry up :-) Ian is already getting the grill ready for the barbecue on the weekends. And the sandwich shop around the corner from the training center is desperately waiting for our lunch time business :-)

Busy times ahead

Okay Folks, that was the Christmas-New-Year-and-a-little-time-thereafter Season. Looking back at the best year in the 12 year history of the ANI. But more importantly, here is what is coming up: Next week I look forward to running a full level 3 RNAV course in London, followed by another full PANS-OPS update course in Geneva, followed by a PANS-OPS basic part one here in Thun. Right after that I'll go to Montreal to attend the IFPP and when I am back I will be busy preparing the move of my domicile and the ANI headquarters. Having done that, the guys in the basic PANS-OPS course will return for part 2...

So, why am I telling you all this? To show off? Yes of course. But also to let you know what's happening and to have an excuse if I don't post many blog entries over the period.

By the way, for those procedure designers out there who are a bit slow: The latest version of PANS-OPS is fifth edition including Amendment 1 PLUS Corrigendum Nr. 1.

So long!

End of course, end of academical year

Today, we have the last day of the last 2007 PANS-OPS course. Once more, 10 new procedure designers will leave the ANI facility in Fukuoka/Japan (picture). For me, that will also be the beginning of a holiday :-) So I actually look forward but I am also a little sad to say goodbye to another good group of students. However, that's it for the year 2007, quite a year I have to say. It was the year when we finalized 5 new manuals in the ICAO IFPP: The PBN manual, the RNP AR manual and the Quality Assurance Manual for procedure design vol. I, II and III. Volume 2 is the Training Manual, which I believe is a nice piece of work. The last Fukuoka course was adopted to fully comply with this new manual and I must say, I am very happy with the results.
Furthermore, 2007 was the year of the first ever certified online trained procedure designer, Evan Colpitts. So, when I look back, the year brought a lot of upsides. The downside was obvioulsy my constant struggle for health, which some of you guys out there are aware of or witnessed. However, I look forward to some quiet days in the snow and an I will be pumped up to face new challeges in 2008. In the mean time, I wish all readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May the time not be too hectic for you :-)

Cheers,
Beat

Some happy faces

The ARINC 424 course in Langen/Germany given by our database coding guru Christian Freiesleben created some happy faces. Or are you saying they do not look happy? ;-)

"e" in e-mail means: electronic

This week I followed the elections of the Swiss Federal Council with interest. The fact I could do that is already quite an amazing fact, as I am working in Japan as always at that time of the year. Electronic media make it possible to even watch some TV coverage live. But that's not my point. Neither is the political aspect of the elections. But I saw a documentary about the newly elected woman (all six other members were confirmed for another 4 years) and they were filming at her former workplace, the financial department in Chur. "How were the last 24 hours for you" they asked a secretary. She said " oh, quite busy, a lot of phonecalls etc. congratulations from a lot of people". Then she points to a pile of A4 paper: "Over a thousand e-mails, but that's not all yet here." Excuse me??? You PRINT over a thousand emails with congratulation messages?? Actually, you PRINT emails at all?? Why on earth would somebody ever do that? Human beings seem to resist eveolution wherever possible. It's a little bit like some years ago, when I started travelling with electronic tickets. At some airport I was asked for the ticket to enter the check-in zone. I said "I have no ticket, it's electronic". The lady: "Don't you have a printout of it?" No, I bloody don't, because the purpose of electronic documents is that they are what the name implies: E-LEC-TRO-NIC. And the reason you would have such a ticket is because you don't want to travel with all this paperwork...

Life is....

Life is a gift to enjoy and not a problem to solve. This is a line I saw today on a long walk through a city in the far east. Quite nice, not so? Think about it for a minute...

Are humans really ready for progress?

Sometimes I really wonder how humans resist progress. Although some species have high speed internet, the latest flat screen TV, a car with GPS navigation system, hard disk recorders for TV programs, the latest top-notch kitchen equipment, BUT they have their emails printed by their secretaries, they ask me to issue hard copy invoices sent by snail mail and stuff like that? On the other hand they complain about pollution and the CO2 issue. Well, ... wouldn't paperless business actually help? Just a little bit, but everything counts! I am quite glad for example that in the ICAO Instrument Flight Procedures Panel we are quite advanced and hold paperless meetings. All working papers are published on the panel website, which we can acess during the meeting. No hardcopies issued, no nonsense. Now THIS is what I call progress.

Short notice: Another ARINC 424 course this year

Due to popular demand, we scheduled another ARINC 424 database coding course this year. The dates are: December 10-14, the location is the DFS campus in Langen/Frankfurt Germany. Accomodation can be booked at the Steigenberger Hotel (walking distance from DFS) for around 90€-100€.
This course will be taught by Christian Freiesleben. Tuition fee is 1100€. Let me know soon if you wish to join, the course is almost full.

Last PANS-OPS course of the year about to start

There we go: On Monday, October 29, the last PANS-OPS course of the year will start at the ANI location in Fukuoka/Japan, where a full class i waiting to get trained in Flight Procedure Design. As always, I look forward to this and I am sure we will have a good time again.
For those looking for a PANS-OPS course in 2008, you'd better think about booking now, we seem to be looking at full classes again and I cannot accomodate another course.

Obstacle restriction and removal

See in the attached picture how we progress with the latest obstacle restriction and removal operation :-) Thanks to Jan Varga from ASAP s.r.o. for the picture. Another reason to add some margin for vegetation and unlisted obstacles. However, male giraffes grow to about 5.5m, so the chances that your tree allowance will cover it are relatively high...

Procedure Designer Vacancy in Brisbane

Hi All,

There seems to be an intersting job vacancy down in Brisbane for a private consultancy company. They are looking for a procedure designer to head up their procedure design team. As far as I understood, a candidate would have the possibility to establish structures and work processes, as the company only starts to be active in the procedure design field. Now, before everybody jumps, here are the catches:
An order from the Australian regulator CASA requires that a chief designer has the following pre-requisites:
1. A basic PANS-OPS training course with a CASA approved training provider (which I am not by the way. They ask for too much money to get the courses assessed). Currently, I know that Singapore Aviation Academy is on the list of approved institutions.

2. An advanced training course, as far as I know CASA, also at an approved institution.

3. A minimum of 2 years current procedure design experience.

However, if you cope with these requirements, or know somebody who does, please contact Tim Goodwin at Rehbein AOS:

Tim Goodwin
Aviation Consultant
REHBEIN AOS
AIRPORT CONSULTING
Level 3, CBD House, 120 Wickham Street
Fortitude Valley (PO Box 112) QLD 4006
P (07) 3250 9000 F (07) 3250 9001
Email: tim.g@lar.net.au
Internet: www.lar.net.au

First ever "online" Procedure Designer certified

Quite a historical moment that is! Today, Evan Colpitts from Hart Aviation in Vancouver received his certificate of completion for the basic PANS-OPS procedure design training. Evan is the first procedure designer in the world, who has done his training via an online course. Currently, the ANI online course consists of seven students, actually now six, as Evan has completed his training. I am really pleased to see that the online concept works and that this learning method provides an alternative to the classroom courses.

ARINC 424 - course dinner

We had our dinner at the restaurant benacus in Interlaken, where chef René Schudel surprises his guests with his creativity every night with a different menu. It was a great evening with a great group.

Flagship location closes for renovation

One of our locations for short courses, the Hirschen in Gunten/Switzerland, will close for renovation in October this year. That is, the ARINC 424 course starting Monday September 24 will be the last course in the old Hirschen. The Hotel will reopen in Spring 2009. In the meantime I will have to look for a different location for the short courses, I keep you posted on the outcome but it will be a place that matches the Gunten location as far as that's possible.

PANS-OPS in Pezinok 2008

After the successful PANS-OPS course in Pezinok/Slovakia this year, we decided to repeat the operation in 2008. Here are the dates: Part 1 May 5-23, 2008. Part 2 July 14-August 1, 2008. Make sure bookings are made early, the 2007 course sold out in 2 weeks. We already have 2 reservations and we can take a maximum of 15. The course can also be attended as a modular refresher course. For example:
Conventional Navigation (whole part1)
Conventional Navigation Theory only (first two weeks of part 1)
Conventional Navigation Practical only (third week of part 1)
ILS (first week of part 2)
RNAV (last two weeks of part 2)
RNAV Theory only (second week of part 2)
RNAV Practical only (last week of part 2)