Founded in 1960 Eurocontrol, the European Organisation for the safety of Air Navigation, is an international organisation made up of 39 Member States from the European Region, including the UK, France, Germany and Luxemberg. Eurocontrol works closely with member states, air navigation service providers (ANSPs), civil and military airspace users, airports, the aerospace industry, professional organisations, intergovernmental organisations and the European institutions to coordinate and plan air traffic control for all of Europe.
There are a number of different services that Eurocontrol provide, listed below:
The Route Availability Document (RAD) is a common reference document containing the policies, procedures and description for route and traffic orientation. As well as containing the previously listed items it is a single and fully integrated scheme for route availability and utilisation rules.
The RAD affects all areas where EUROCONTROL provides Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM) services, except where otherwise specified. It is also being used as an ATFCM tool designed as a sole-source flight planning document integrating both structural and ATFCM requirements, geographically and vertically.
The RAD provides information about changes in airspace structure and airspace utilisation rules and availability in a timely manner, helping to increase the efficiency and the safety of the airspace regulated by Eurocontrol.
Improving Air Traffic Flow and Capacity Management (ATFCM) is the objective of Eurocontrol's RAD, which faciliates flight planning whilst allowing flexibility for operators. Eurocontrol provides a single, fully integrated and coordinated routing schemes through the RAD.
Collecting from the Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) the route availability updates predicted for the next Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control (AIRAC) cycles and consolidating these into a single document is what the coordination of the RAD consists of. The information that they consolidate is provided through the RAD Coordinators.
While RADs are not mandatory, it is recommended that they are used when assessing particular ATM system or operation. And even though the RAD is not mandatory the information they consist of is derived from mandatory provisions.
Eurocontrol's RAD enables users to see route availablity, make a connection to an airport without SIDs and STARs and puts in place a new airspace project which showing the impact of RAD restrictions further increasing the efficiency of Air Traffic Control.
Eurocontrol: RAD Coordination
The RAD is only applicable to the IRF section of the flight plan. Allowing flight planners flexibility the RAD aims to improve ATFCM by facilitating flight planning. By defining the restrictions that prevent disruption to the major traffic flows through the congested areas with due regard to operators requirements the RAD also enables ANSPs to maximise capacity and to reduce complexity.
The implementation of the RAD consists of the collation, coordination, validation and publication of a sole-source-flight-planning document. RAD implementation integrates both ATFCM and structural requirements ensuring that the content of the RAD is agreed upon between the Network Manager the Operational Stakeholders.
While Eurocontrol is responsible for providing a common RAD reference document following the cooperative decision making process described above, each member states must ensure that the RAD is compatible with their AIP.
The entire RAD review process is the responsibility of the RAD team, who are expected to coordinated the whole process. In order to ensure that the data within the RAD is current and correct, and that any modifications are reflected in the constructions of the RAD restrictions the RAD review is completed.
Eurocontrol mandate that there must be a RAD review for each and every Appendix/Annex completed every year during designated meetings and as part of a rolling process carried out by the RAD team. That is not to say that these are the only RAD review meetings, as additional meetings may be scheduled in the case of any urgent issues which need to be discussed.
As well as Eurocontrol's annual RAD review meetings each member state is expected to convene internal RAD reviews with the airlines concerned, ensuring that they announce any meetings to the Eurocontrol RAD team and conform to all restrictions. Informing the Eurocontrol RAD team allows them the chance to suggest issues which the deem necessary for discussion.
The Eurocontrol RAD team monitor the RAD reviews through the reports or minutes of each review, which must be correctly documented and then stored by the Eurocontrol RAD team.