Plastic Pilot

The number of technical equipments needed to keep the whole aviation system running is impressive. The typical break-down is known as CNS, standing for Communication - Navigation - Surveillance. Communication includes radio and telephone, but also IT networks. The Navigation part is made of approach equipments (ILS), and en-route navigation beacons (VORs). Surveillance includes radar and other ways to detect aircraft positions.

On top of that comes the data processing system for flight plan and surveillance data, which builds the synthetic view displayed to air-traffic controllers. Airport specific systems include power, conditioned air and fuel delivery to aircraft and runway and apron lighting. Handling companies also depend on these systems to know where and when the airplanes they have to care for will arrive.

Behind all these systems is also a common infrastructure, providing essential services: power, air-conditioning, heating, backbone communication systems, building security, access control, and so on. All the safety relevant systems are doubled, if not tripled, and procedures exist to safely handle traffic in case of equipment failure. The whole system is usually quite resistant, and failures usually leads to delays, diversions, and flight cancellations. These are certainly annoying, but not dangerous.

When discussing with airport staff what would be the worst failure, the answer is always the same. Passenger Information Systems. You know, the nice displays indicating at which counter check-in takes place for each flight, and from which gate each flight will depart.

A complete loss of electrical power is normally not possible, as different power sources are available, including own generators. Moreover, power distribution is segmented so that even if a part of the airport loose power, it will not affect all of it.

A complete loss of flight information display could quickly lead to a cahotic situation. Un-informed passengers would ask the ground personel. If no information is availalbe, it could be possible to send passengers to the right terminal - most airlines always operate from the same terminal, but that’s it.

Once there, the passengers would be left with no information. Assuming that sufficient ground staff is available (not exaclty obious…), and that pilots know where to park their planes, the number of not reaching the gate on due time would create massive delays.

I saw once in Frankfurt a day where the system used to print the boarding passes was inoperative. All the rest was working find. Staff at the check-in counters printed boarding passes without gate numbers, and were sending passengers to counters in the correct terminal. Displays were giving correct information, but boarding passes had to be re-printed locally before boarding.

This “simple” problem created an average delay of more than 30 minutes ! Frankfurt being the hub of Lufthansa, the impact of these delays could be felt throughout all Europe. The problem got solved within less than one hour, but the delays persisted all day long, as they were too long to be compensated for in flight.

A complete failure of the whole passenger information system would have the same results, but at a more larger scale ! Even the problems with the new Terminal 5 in Heathrow would look as minor glitches in comparison.

Do you feel like doing a small experiment ? Next time you go through an airport, try counting the number of flight information displays you see. You’ll quickly understand why they are so imporant.

Pilots have to keep track of their flight time in a logbook, which contains various columns for time spent in training, as pilot in command, co-pilot, in single engine or multi engine aircraft, by day, by night, flying visually or on instruments…

To me, the best column however is the last one: Remarks and Endorsments. During initial training, my instructor had me writing down the elements of the syllabus we trained by the end of each lesson.

Later, I used to note the route flown, and I always note the name of transported passengers, together with general remarks. When flying IFR, I write down the type of approach flown, and the weather conditions, and any special event is briefly described there.

Each time I fly to a new place, I also use this space to get an airport stamp. I did not logged thousands of hours, but I can no longer remember all of my flights. When I flip through the pages of my logbook, I always stumble upon a forgotten passenger or flight.

All the other columns reflect my flight experience, and are kind of a legal and technical record. The last column is somehow of social nature, and it is like a chronicle of my flying. Several names there remind me of friends, colleagues, fellow pilots, instructors and examiners.

Without them on board, the flights recorded in my logbook would not have been the same, so I’m happy that I started the habit of tracking more that departure - destination - aircraft and time. That might sound sentimental, particularly to commercial and airline pilots, but for me flying is a passion and a hobby.

All what remains by the end of the day is a couple of new entries in my logbook, so yes, I’m sentimentally attached to it… Am I the only one, or do you feel the same ?