| Level Best Campaign - NATS News*
Level busts are a problem, and YOU could hold
the solution – that’s the message now being communicated to the pilot
and controller communities by a NATS team. The team, working from the
principles of an ACE (Action for Continuous Excellence) team, has put
together a package which addresses the main causal factors of Level
Busts.
A ‘Level Bust’ is
defined as ‘a deviation of 300 feet or more from an assigned
level’, and is one of NATS’ highest priority safety issues at the
moment.
The team, sponsored by Ian Hall and led by
Sharon Dominic (a watch manager at TC) has contributions from pilots,
controllers, Safety Regulation Group, and the Ministry of Defence. The
outcome is a variety of initiatives to publicise and raise awareness
of the problem of Level Busts.
Most Level Bust events result, not from one
individual error, but from several minor errors or variations from
safe operating methods – the ‘error chain’. If, in the period prior to
each event, best practice had been employed to eliminate one link in
the ‘chain’, the event would have been avoided. This is how the ‘Level
Best’ campaign aims to reduce the risk of Level Busts.
The awareness campaign follows on from previous
SRG campaigns in 1994 and 1997 and will, hopefully, be seen by most
controllers and airline pilots based in this country, and many from
abroad. The presentation includes real radar footage of Level Bust
incidents and this, combined with excellent graphics, designed by
Chris Kaley of TC’s training section, makes for a very powerful and
memorable 40 minute presentation. Comments from airline managers who
have seen it indicate that it changed their perception of the Level
Bust problem, and that they would be extremely keen to use this NATS
tool to educate their pilots and help reduce the number of Level Busts
incidents.
Other initiatives include a leaflet which will
be included with CHIRP next month raising the
issue in the aviation community, and this website (which will be
accessible from the NATS internet site).
You can contact the team via the
feedback page; if you want to know any
more, or if you have any comments, or experiences you would like to
tell them about – your input would be greatly valued.
*This article was published in NATS News, the
internal newsletter, in October 2002.
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