This year's aircraft de-icing is three to five minutes faster than in previous years, how can it be done?
It is adjacent to Terminal 3 of Capital Airport, which is the "brain center" for coordinating flights at Capital Airport, Daxing Airport and some airports in North China, and "arranging shifts" for flight operations. This is the traffic management room of the control center of the North China Air Traffic Management Bureau.
On December 14, the second day of the blizzard in Beijing this winter, the flight de-icing and runway snow removal support of the Capital Airport and Daxing Airport continued. How to shorten the de-icing time of the aircraft in extreme weather and get the aircraft flying as soon as possible;What is the impact of this round of snowfall on the operation of the two airports in Beijing, and how can air traffic control, airports, and airlines coordinate and linkage?On December 14, a reporter from the Beijing News walked into the traffic management room and interviewed Cai Shuxin, deputy director of the Air Traffic Control Center of the North China Air Traffic Management Bureau. He introduced that in response to the blizzard in Beijing, the air traffic control department optimized the process and cooperated with airports and airlines to shorten the de-icing time and taxiing time of each aircraft by an average of 3-5 minutes this year compared with previous years.
On December 14, a reporter from the Beijing News interviewed Cai Shuxin, deputy director of the Air Traffic Control Center of the North China Air Traffic Management Bureau. Photo by Beijing News reporter Li Xintong.
Optimized procedures to expedite the release of aircraft on the ground.
Beijing News: Before the arrival of this blizzard, what preparations did the air traffic control department make?
Cai Shuxin: This snowfall lasted from December 13th to 15th, reaching the level of a blizzard. As soon as we received the forecast information on December 9, we held a meeting to discuss the scope and intensity of the snowfall. At the same time, organize all airports and airlines in North China to understand the situation simultaneously, predict in advance, and determine the support capacity of each airport, so that all airlines can prepare as soon as possible in terms of flight adjustment and time adjustment. The controllers of the air traffic control center also reviewed the ice and snow support plan in advance, and the front-line operators and staff were familiar with and familiar with the plan.
At the same time, we have strengthened our communication with the meteorological department on a more frequent basis. Generally speaking, on weekdays, we communicate 2-3 times a day, and from the 13th to the 15th, we basically scroll the latest weather information every hour or two.
In addition, we make arrangements and preparations for special situations that may emerge. For example, if the plane cannot land due to weather conditions, how to arrange the plane to wait in the air, or go to other airports for alternate landing. In response to these situations, we have developed a comprehensive set of response mechanisms.
Finally, in view of how to speed up the release of aircraft on the ground, how to cooperate with the ground de-icing work of airlines and airports, we have formulated a set of optimization procedures, including the release of outbound aircraft to break the previous established procedures, and take temporary measures for the connection lines without departure procedures, that is, as long as the aircraft is ready on the ground, it can fly at any time, and it can fly in any direction regardless of which runway takes off, so as to maintain the high efficiency of airport operation.
In addition, the tower of the Capital Airport has carried out in-depth communication with the relevant departments of the Capital Airport, and has made optimization adjustments in the taxiing route of the de-icing aircraft and the arrangement of entering and exiting the fixed-point de-icing position to ensure that the aircraft is taxied in place in the shortest time, and enters the runway in the shortest time after the de-icing is completed to prepare for take-off.
In the flow management room of the control center of the North China Air Traffic Management Bureau, the control personnel pay attention to the flight dynamics. Photo by Beijing News reporter Li Xintong.
Beijing News: How to achieve the optimization and adjustment of de-icing?
Cai Shuxin: First of all, in the apron area, we have adopted the method of de-icing and departing from the airport nearby, which eliminates the ground operation of the aircraft across the east and west areas and shortens the time. In this round of snowfall, the capital airport has opened four fixed-point de-icing positions.
On the other hand, we also apply some special controls. For example, in general, an aircraft in the eastern zone can only take off from the east runway, and if it is going to fly west, the aircraft will have to pass through other runways in the air, which is not allowed in normal conditions because it will reduce the safety factor. However, in the snow and ice weather, we have taken some special control measures to ensure that the aircraft can fly smoothly even if it takes off from the east runway and flies to the west, thus ensuring operational efficiency.
This year's aircraft de-icing efficiency is better than in previous years.
Beijing News: What is the effect of such optimization and adjustment?How long does it take for an airplane to de-ice?
Cai Shuxin: Because we have made full preparations in the early stage, and relevant units such as airlines and airports have also attached great importance to it, and have formulated detailed countermeasures in terms of de-icing support, and on the whole, the de-icing efficiency of aircraft is better than in previous years.
Yesterday (December 13), we preliminarily calculated the average de-icing time of the flight under this round of blizzard weather, which is basically less than 10 minutes, and the ground taxiing time of the aircraft is about 10 minutes, plus the time for the plane to launch and start, so from the whole process, the aircraft is launched from the stand, to the fixed-point de-icing position, and finally takes off from the runway, a total of about 30 minutes.
Of course, 30 minutes is still room for improvement by normal flight standards, but in extreme weather conditions, the overall average delay time of flights is much improved. Compared to previous years, the average ground taxi time and de-icing time of this year's flights are about 3-5 minutes shorter than in previous years.
Beijing News: Although flight delays are prone to occur in rainy and snowy days, there are still flights that can take off and land on time. In special weather, why do some flights take off and land normally, while others have to wait?
Cai Shuxin: Flight support involves a lot of details and aspects, in short, whether it is an inbound flight or an outbound flight, as an air traffic control department, what is important is a whole, for example, the support capacity of the capital airport within 1 hour is 30 flights landing, then the number of flights from airports across the country to the capital airport will be controlled at 29-32. Therefore, if the passenger takes the flight exactly 33rd, it may be delayed, and the passenger takes the flight within 30, it may be on time. It has nothing to do with which airline the traveler chooses to fly with.
In recent years, we are also optimizing and promoting related work, trying to make flight arrangements more and more front-loaded, that is, to ensure that the aircraft that has taken off arrives on time, but if the plane has not yet taken off, the airport has begun to snow, and the support capacity has declined, then the plane needs to wait on the ground for a period of time, and the air traffic control department will make unified arrangements.
In addition, the Air Traffic Management Bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration has built a national traffic management system, which adjusts the daily support capacity of each airport in the country for the second time, and gives the latest recommended departure time, which can be seen at all airports and towers in the country, and can arrange the operation of aircraft at the airport according to this time.
Air traffic control, airport airlines, and airlines cooperate to deal with the blizzard.
Beijing News: In response to the blizzard, what is the difficulty of air traffic control support?
Cai Shuxin: The main difficulty of air traffic control support lies in the fact that the first is that the air traffic control facilities and equipment are foolproof. Once the facilities and equipment fail, it may affect the flight safety of air flights.
The second is that we have a protection plan that keeps up with the weather. The weather is uncertain, but the work of the air traffic control department needs to be carried out 24 hours in advance, and if our preparations deviate from the actual results, we need to adjust quickly according to the latest weather conditions.
Beijing News: Flight support involves air traffic control, airports, and airlines, how can these departments coordinate and linkage?
Cai Shuxin: In recent years, the coordination between air traffic control, airlines and airports has become closer and closer, and after the establishment of the Capital Airport Operation Management Committee, air traffic control departments, airports and airlines can work together on the same platform to jointly cope with various bad weather and other special situations.
In May this year, the coordinated operation mechanism of multiple airports in North China was established, which brought together the operation management committees of more than 10 million airports in North China on one platform, thus solving the previous mode of "fighting alone" of the operation management committees of various airports. We have taken coordinated actions at the regional level, with the same goals and measures, and the efficiency has been significantly improved. Judging from this year's luck, the overall situation is very smooth.
Beijing News: Judging from the situation of this Blizzard's response, what experience has been accumulated that can serve the future?
Cai Shuxin: Judging from the operation of the airport in the past two days, the overall operation is relatively smooth, and the airlines and airports have also made a lot of adjustments to the flight operation, and the flight operation volume in these two days is about 70% of the normal operation, the operation efficiency is normal, and there is still room for improvement in the flight punctuality rate. In the next step, we will continue to summarize and further ensure the punctuality rate and create a better travel experience for passengers.
Beijing News reporter Wu Tingting.
Edited by Tang Zheng and proofread by Wu Xingfa.