{"id":26602,"date":"2024-12-10T08:32:12","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T13:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=26602"},"modified":"2024-12-11T07:50:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T12:50:17","slug":"south-atlantic-bulletin-cpdlc-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/south-atlantic-bulletin-cpdlc-warning\/","title":{"rendered":"South Atlantic Bulletin: CPDLC Warning"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been a lot of noise lately from the NAT, especially as we all come to grips with the removal of oceanic clearances.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s important not to forget about the SAT \u2013 or South Atlantic<\/strong>. And it seems a CPDLC issue has been regularly occurring in the Abidjan Area Control Center \u2013 a large chunk of airspace found south of Africa\u2019s Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n

The issue arises from the fact that while the Abidjan ACC<\/strong> is geographically constrained by the much larger Dakar FIR,<\/strong> it is responsible for its own control.<\/p>\n

It seems that pilots have been incorrectly logging onto GOOO\/Dakar<\/strong> rather than DIII\/Abidjan<\/strong> when transiting this airspace. ATC are concerned, and so\u00a0a new SAT Ops Bulletin<\/a> has been published. Here\u2019s a closer look at what it contains, and how to mitigate this error on your next crossing.<\/p>\n

The Airspace Picture<\/h4>\n

Part of the problem may be that pilots crossing the SAT are far less familiar<\/strong> with the airspace picture than they are of its big brother, the NAT. So, he’s a quick crash course.<\/p>\n

Over the South Atlantic lies the \u2018Atlantic Ocean Random Routing Area<\/strong>\u2019, or AORRA.<\/p>\n

This is essentially a volume of airspace between FL290 \u2013 FL410 within the Atlantico, Accra, Comodoro Rivadavia, Dakar, Dakar Oceanic, Ezeiza, Johannesburg Oceanic, Luanda and Montevideo FIRs.<\/p>\n

This article is concerned with the Eastern Side of the AORRA – specifically the DIII\/Abidjan ACC<\/strong> (Ivory Coast) which is contained within the much larger GOOO\/Dakar FIR<\/strong> and where the confusion is occurring. Aircraft on routes that transit between South America and Sub-Saharan Africa will likely overfly this airspace.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The folk at the South Atlantic Steering Group<\/a> (SAT SG for short) have reported more and more instances of transiting aircraft incorrectly<\/strong> logging onto GOOO when they should be logging onto DIII<\/strong> while in Abidjan\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n

This then creates communication issues for ATC.<\/p>\n

Panic Slowly<\/h4>\n

While this is cause for concern, SAT SG are quick to explain that in most cases this can be managed safely but vastly increases workload<\/strong> for controllers who must manually resolve the mis-connection.<\/p>\n

But occasionally the loss of comms has led to the activation of something called INCERFA<\/strong> \u2013 a top-secret ICAO catchphrase for where uncertainty exists as to the safety of an aircraft or its occupants. This alert phase carries its own protocols for ATC.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And so, the key message from the bulletin is this:<\/p>\n

\u2018While Abdijan Airspace is geographically included within the Dakar FIR, it is essential that it is treated as a separate sector for CPDLC logon purposes…\u2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Simple!<\/p>\n

What to do<\/h4>\n

None of us like unexpected paperwork. So, the SAT SG has also provided us with flight crew procedures<\/strong> to prevent communication problems when overflying Abidjan airspace. Check the SAT Ops Bulletin<\/a> for these in full, but here’s the lowdown:<\/p>\n

Before Entering:<\/strong> Check logged onto Abidjan ACC using correct code (DIII). Confirm logon active by checking uplink message response. Don’t log onto Dakar (GOOO) by mistake.<\/p>\n

Failed Logon:<\/strong> Manually log on to DIII if auto fails. Notify Abidjan by voice ASAP if unable to establish CPDLC connection. If practical, trouble shoot before entering.<\/p>\n

Transition between Dakar and Abidjan:<\/strong> Monitor handoff carefully. Ensure CPDLC switches before crossing the boundary. Verify correct CPDLC connection is active, especially entering Abidjan airspace.<\/p>\n

Have more questions about the SAT?<\/h4>\n

You can reach the ICAO EUR\/NAT<\/strong> office directly via icaoeurnat@icao.int<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For ops in the region, you might also be interested in this little guide on the South Atlantic Corridor<\/strong> we wrote before. OPSGROUP members cash download it from the Dashboard here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Click to download hi-res PDF.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been a lot of noise lately from the NAT, especially as we all come…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":26631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2276,1228,2275,467],"class_list":{"0":"post-26602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-briefings","8":"tag-diii","9":"tag-gooo","10":"tag-sat","11":"tag-south-atlantic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26602"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26639,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26602\/revisions\/26639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}