Safety Topics

REFLECTING widespread concern over the maintenance and where possible, the improvement of safety standards, the annual report of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) makes these topics a central theme. The progress made in recent years towards improving the safety of air traffic control (ATC) has been maintained, in particular the number of public transport aircraft involved in risk‐bearing airmisses fell from 45 in 1977 to 16 in 1985 and remained at that level in 1986. Because traffic levels continued to rise in the latter two years, however, this represents a small improvement from 2.9 per 100,000 hours flown in 1985 to 2.8 in 1986. The comparable figure for 1977 was 11.3. In the accompanying illustration is the three‐year moving average of civil aircraft in risk‐bearing airmisses within UK airspace. Some £125 million has been spent over the last five years on re‐equipping the system, including new radars, new navigational aids and new landing systems. New computer equipment, incorporating for the first time a conflict alert capability, has also been installed at the Oceanic ATC Centre at Prestwick. Over the next five years, £200 million is intended to be spent on more radar improvements and upgrading facilities at the London Air Traffic Control Centre (LATCC) at West Drayton as well as the installation of a new central computer for which detailed design studies are well under way.