Mr Ki-tack Lim (Republic of Korea) has been elected as the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), with effect from 1 January 2016, it was announced by the organization on 30 June. This is for an initial term of four years and is subject to approval by the next Assembly).

Mr Lim is currently president of Busan Port Authority. He served as the Republic of Korea’s Deputy Permanent Representative to IMO from 2006 to 2009 and was Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation (FSI) from 2002 to 2004.

It was announced from Washington on 25 June that the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in partnership with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), has begun a safety reporting programme called the Safety Review Process (SRP). This 18-month pilot programme, open to all bargaining-unit employees, allows FAA employees who work in the Aircraft Certification Service (AIR) to elevate safety concerns without fear of retaliation.

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx commented: ‘It is critical that our DOT employees have the opportunity to work in an environment where they are comfortable coming forward with safety concerns. This new safety review process will further advance our culture of safety and help ensure that the flying public has the best, safest experience possible.’

Standard TV signals could one day be used for tracking aircraft, following a proof of concept trial led by the UK air traffic control company, NATS, in conjunction with Thales ATM UK and Roke Manor. This was reported by NATS in mid-June.

For two years NATS, working with Thales and Roke Manor, has been testing whether the same signals delivered to televisions across the country could simultaneously be used to detect and direct aircraft.

The trial, part funded by Innovate UK, was carried out primarily over London with a Thales concept demonstrator using signals from the Crystal Palace transmitter. The results of the trials were then validated by Roke Manor. Up to thirty aircraft were tracked at any one time at altitudes of up to 10,000 feet, although more would have been possible had additional equipment been used.

It was announced on 12 June that following the tragic and sudden passing of the European Space Agency Council Chair, Harald Posch, the Council has elected Bo Andersen of Norway and Jean Yves Le Gall of France as Co-Chairs. A Deputy will be named by Austria at a later date, it is reported. They will serve until the end of the current Chairmanship on 30 June 2016.

Paris Air Show
Full-size Ariane 5 and Ariane 1 mockups at the ESA Pavilion, 2015 Paris Air and Space Show. Credits: ESA-CB PROD, 2015.

ESA was present at the Paris Air & Space Show at Le Bourget in week commencing 14 June with a pavilion offering guests an overview and updates of its activities, 40 years after the signing of the ESA Convention.

UK air traffic delays in May dropped by almost half compared to the same month last year, it has been reported by the National Air Traffic Service (NATS). There were 1,502 minutes of NATS-attributable en route delay – a 47.6% drop from May 2014’s figures. While the average en route delay per flight remained historically low at 0.42 seconds – which was down almost half from the 0.81 seconds in May 2014 – 99.95% of flights last month had no en route delay.

In May 2015 NATS handled 214,176 flights which was a steady increase in traffic as it was up 0.3% compared to May last year.

Europe’s latest Galileo satellite was unboxed at European Space Agency’s technical centre in The Netherlands in May, bringing the total number of satellites at the site to four. This was announced from ESA on 10 June.

The European Space Research and Technical Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk is the largest satellite test facility in Europe, with all the equipment needed to simulate every aspect of the launch and space environment under a single roof. It is an essential stop on the way to space for Europe’s Galileo satellites, built by OHB in Bremen, Germany, with navigation payloads from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in Guildford, UK.

The eleventh Galileo satellite, known as FOC FM-09, being slid out of the 4.5 metre diameter Phenix thermal-vacuum chamber. Weeks of testing simulated the airlessness and temperature extremes of orbital space, taking place at the ESTEC Test Centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands during May 2015. © ESA – Id 341381

It was announced from Montréal early in June that some 600 participants from 48 States and 18 international and regional organizations had gathered in Maputo, Mozambique the previous month for a special four-day series of meetings for AFI Aviation Week hosted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin opened the event, which was designed to further the development of the aviation network supporting Africa and delivered important results in the areas of safety, security, facilitation and human resources capacity-building. All present recognized the value of the AFI Aviation Week’s consolidated meetings and agreed that it should become an annual event on Africa’s aviation calendar.

It was announced on 10 June from Washington that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that Miss Susan, a shallow draft towing vessel with two barges, and Summer Wind, a deep draft bulk carrier, collided on 22 March 2014, because the towing vessel crossed the Houston Ship Channel, impeding the passage of the bulk carrier that was transiting inbound, which could only transit within the channel.

This collision resulted in the release of 168,000 gallons of fuel into the Houston Ship Channel from the breach of the forward barge and the hospitalization of two crewmembers in Miss Susan for inhalation-related injuries. As a result, the NTSB recommended that crews in vessels transporting hazardous materials receive appropriate training, personal protective gear, and access to irectreading
air monitoring equipment.

It was announced from Houston on 2 June that Tideland Signal Corporation (Tideland) has been awarded a contract to supply its SeaBeacon® 2 System 6 radar beacons (racons) to the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) of the United Kingdom and Ireland on behalf of Trinity House, London1, in accordance with the current EU procurement legislation and the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

This contract was awarded under the terms of a joint-GLA framework agreement, which includes the Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL) and the Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) as well as Trinity House.

Following extensive testing of a number of different radar beacons, Tideland was awarded a contract to supply racons to the GLAs for four years with an option for an additional year. This is a continuation of the contract that Tideland has had with the GLAs for the supply of racons from 2011 to 2015, during which time over seventy units were supplied.

The 9th International Symposium on Mobile Mapping Technology (MMT 2015) will be hosted by the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW Australia, in Sydney from 9 to 11 December 2015.

MMT-2015 will be an open forum to discuss the most recent technologies and their applications, to exchange experiences and to promote future research aiming at technological advancement and improved professional practice in the fields related to mobile mapping.

The Symposium will feature keynote speakers, oral and interactive poster sessions, industry panel discussions, technical case studies; pre-Symposium workshops and a trade exhibition, as well as a variety of entertaining social events.

Information has been received from Professor Emeritus Akio Yasuda of the Laboratory of Satellite Navigation and President of Institute of Positioning, Navigation and Timing of Japan, Tokyo, Japan about IS-GNSS 2015 to be held from 16 to 19 November in Kyoto, Japan.

Danish C-130J aircraft with flares – image courtesy and © Fototjenesten, Flyvestation Aalborg

It was reported from Lystrup, Denmark at the end of May 2015 that TERMA now has a heathy order backlog to provide for a comfortable business base in the 2015/16 fiscal year (FY 2015/16) and successive years.

Increased activities in the international defence, aerospace, and security markets secured an order intake in FY 2014/15 of MDKK 1,394, which is on par with
the previous year’s orderbook.

Oersted satellite with boom. This Danish satellite is a unique success. Its
precise magnetic measurements form the basis for the most accurate models of the Earth’s magnetic field and are used both to explore movements in the Earth’s core and to map anomalies in the Earth’s crust.

HRH The Princess Royal addresses assembled ACCSEAS Conference delegates at the inaugural gathering

ACCSEAS, an EU-funded project to support improved maritime access to the North Sea Region, has officially ended after implementing and demonstrating groundbreaking solutions to minimising future navigational risk.

Mrs Brigit Gijsbers, who opened the final ACCSEAS conference in February in
her capacity as Rijkwaterstaat’s Director of Maritime Affairs in the Netherlands, summarised the concerns facing maritime traffic in the North Sea Region: ‘Our country is situated on the shores of one of the busiest sea areas of the world, with currently over 243,000 ship movements along our coast and to/from our seaports. However, we should realize that shipping is no longer the only user community of the navigable space at sea.’

An example of an ACCSEAS demonstration installation

From Washington on 27 May the National Transportation Safety Board issued a Safety Alert urging pilots to vigilantly look out for other aircraft and to make their own presence known.

The Board has investigated numerous general aviation accidents in which pilots operating near one another did not maintain adequate visual lookout and failed to see and avoid other aircraft. Investigators also note that pilots can be distracted by technology such as cell phones, tablets and other devices that
challenge the see-and-avoid concept.

A colourful VE Day street party took place in the historic heart of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) at Duxford, Cambridgeshire (CB22 4QR) in the east of England over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend of 23 / 24 May. Patriotic bunting fluttered in the breeze as visitors, many in 1940’s dress, enjoyed the live entertainment on the Second World War stage, which was accompanied by colour film footage from VE Day, 8 May 1944.

As part of the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe commemoration at Duxford, Cambridgeshire on 23 May, the Bristol Blenheim Mk. I flies with two Mk. I Supermarine Spitfires. – © Imperial War Museum, reproduced here by kind permission.

The VE Day Anniversary Air Show flying display which ran over two days told the story of the how the war was won in the air and was accompanied by music, wartime speeches and recordings of veterans’ memories.

Over Duxford on 23 May the B-17 Flying Fortress Sally B accompanied by two P-51D Mustangs, a TF-51D Mustang and a Curtiss P-40F Warhawk. – Photo © Imperial War Museum, reproduced here by kind permission.

Ship management company, EuroShip Services Ltd, has installed eLoran as a back up to GPS to ensure the safety of its vessels operating off the coast of the UK. The installation is on a trial basis with a view to implementing it across the entire fleet of vessels managed by Euroship.

eLoran is a land based radio navigation system, proven to seamlessly take over in the event of a GPS outage. During its initial trial, EuroShip plans to simulate GPS outages allowing the eLoran system to take over the provision of
positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) data automatically.

Pauline and Yasmine managed by EuroShip

A reminder has been received of the 11th International Conference, TransNav 2015, on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, due to take place from 17 to 19 June 2015. This Conference is jointly organized by the Faculty of Navigation of the Gdynia Maritime University and The Nautical Institute.

Addressed to scientists and professionals in order to share their expert knowledge, experience and research results the event will concern a wealth of aspects of navigation, safety of navigation and sea transport.

A conference programme is now available, subject to modification, and is to be found here. Further Conference information can be obtained on the website.

Deadline for registration is 1 June.

It was announced from Montreal on 1 May that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) successfully concluded its first round of Global Aviation Dialogues (GLADs) on Market-based Measures (MBMs) the previous month, covering all ICAO regions. The two-day GLADs sessions were designed to share information on MBMs and their potential role in mitigating CO2 emissions from international aviation, update ICAO’s progress on the development of its global MBM scheme, and provide an important opportunity for feedback and discussion amongst Member States and relevant organizations.

On 6 May in Washington the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a partnership with industry to explore the next steps in unmanned aircraft operations beyond the type of operations the agency proposed in the draft small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) rule it published in February.

Said US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx: ‘Government has some of the best and brightest minds in aviation, but we cannot operate in a vacuum. This is a big job, and we will get to our goal of safe, widespread UAS integration more quickly by leveraging the resources and expertise of the industry.’

Fugro is working with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Chevron North Sea Limited in a drive to improve helideck safety – Photo courtesy of Chevron North Sea Limited ©

Fugro is working with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Chevron North Sea Limited to improve helicopter safety regulations for the offshore industry.

The CAA has identified a number of development areas to help improve the safety of helicopter operations with afloat helidecks and has formulated a new technical specification for helideck monitoring systems (HMS).

In order to trial the new analysis the CAA required an HMS provider to design, engineer and test a real-time helideck monitoring data collection and display system that met the new specification. Trial results would then be used to validate the system’s suitability for incorporation in a new version of the CAA’s publication: Standards for Offshore Helicopter Landing Areas. (Otherwise known as CAP 437).

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), a leading professional body in the logistics and transport sector, published on 5 May an easily understood and visually representative infographic detailing the findings of the Institute’s Vision 2035 policy series.

It is understood the purpose of the Vision 2035 series is to look to the future and visualise how transport and logistics in Britain would develop, taking account of demographic changes, population growth, technological developments and social and political change.

Click to view

On 26 December 2004 the Indian Ocean Tsunami killed 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and swamped coastal communities with waves up to 30 metres in height. Following this tragic event, the UN set up the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System, and although not directly affected by the 2004 disaster, the Philippines have since set up a similar early warning arrangement. Areas on the west coast of the islands, which face the Manila Trench located between The Philippines and Vietnam, are at particular risk and the project is being progressively rolled out from the densely populated coastal towns and cities to the rest of the region, it has been reported.

Merchant shipping industry repeats call for urgent and immediate collective action by EU member states

Following the meeting of EU Foreign and Interior Ministers in Luxembourg on 20 April the European and global shipping industries have welcomed the increased attention that all EU Member States are giving to the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean. This includes the ’10 Point Plan’ adopted as a result of the impetus provided by the terrible tragedy involving the loss of hundreds of lives at the weekend (18/19 April.)

During recent visits to Madagascar and the Comoros, ICAO Council President Dr Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu met senior government officials and promoted the Organization’s ‘No Country Left Behind’ Campaign aimed at helping States implement international standards set forth by the UN agency. In the Comoros from 28 to 31 March, President Aliu met the President of the Union of Comoros, HE Dr Ikililou Dhoinine, and senior government officials to review the progress made on the implementation of the ICAO Plan of Action for the Comoros and on the Abuja Safety Targets adopted by the African Ministerial Conference in 2012. Discussions also focused on ways and means of enhancing the State’s safety and security oversight capabilities and on ICAO’s full support for the ‘Vanilla Island’ initiative promoting air transport and tourism in the AFI region.

EUROCONTROL, the European organisation for safety in air navigation, has a pan-European scope as an intergovernmental organisation with 41 Member States, ensuring a uniform approach to safety in air traffic management as aircraft move across the airspace of its Member States.

Last month EUROCONTROL’s Director General Frank Brenner informed the European Parliament that expanded safety and risk information is now available at all hours to aviation professionals.

In his intervention at the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign affairs (AFET) and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), on 24 March,
Frank Brenner, outlined EUROCONTROL’s experience in dealing with safety situations in the air and the current state of play on conflict zones, especially after the recent ICAO High Level Safety Conference.

He explained that EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for Safety in Air Navigation has a pan-European scope as an intergovernmental organisation with forty-one Member States, ensuring a uniform approach to safety in Air Traffic Management as aircraft move across the airspace of its Member States.