Blind spots

Operational safety study

The purpose of this report is to document the operational safety study on one of the Top 5 Network Manager operational safety priorities for 2013 - 'Blind spot - inefficient conflict detection with the closest aircraft' and to serve as a reference for the Network actors in case they undertake operational safety analysis and improvement activities for Blind spot - inefficient conflict detection with the closest aircraft.

The EUROCONTROL Safety Improvement Sub-Group (SISG), reporting to the EUROCONTROL Safety Team, was tasked to identify the Top 5 ATM Operational Safety Priorities.

SISG performed a review during summer 2012 and involved a series of dedicated workshops with 6 ANSPs, representing a large part of European air traffic.

Comprehensive barrier models - Safety Functions Maps (SAFMAPs) - were developed and populated with representative data from the participating ANSPs. The incident data is for high severity (classified as ‘A’ and ‘B’) events, which are on one side thoroughly investigated and on the other side - highly informative because the incident scenarios ‘test’ the majority of the available safety barriers.

As a result of the SAFMAP analysis, five priority areas were suggested, agreed by SISG and endorsed by the Safety Team. Read the document to learn about one of those safety priorities.

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Operational Safety Study on Blind Spots