ILS "Y" surface _ 2

28.10.2004

Submission:

The new tower on Schiphol airport has a height of about 115m. I do not want to discuss if that makes sense, as the controllers are in the clouds when the pilot has not reached the CATI decision height by far. However I know that this tower infringes the Annex 14 OAS. The solution was that they made designs of the departing and of the missed approach procedures. After that an engineering study was carried out, probably running also the CRM, that the tower was "acceptable" at the end ... One solution is that the starting aircraft on a certain runway have to turn always right when taking off.

Dr.-Ing. Gerhard Greving - NAVCOM Consult - Germany

Answer or Commentary:

(I.W

This is case in point, airport buildings (i.e. Terminal, ATC tower, hangers etc.) should not be built if they will adversely effect aircraft operations at the airport. The easiest way to check this is with the ICAO Annex 14 surfaces. If this is not the solution then an in-depth procedure design study (OAS, CRM etc.) should be conducted prior to construction to ensure the safety of operations. If the study shows that the building is a critical obstacle the structure should not be built.)