AFIS Seminar 2012

On 5 – 6 September 2012, we hosted the third annual AFIS seminar. Once again almost 50 participants from 12 different nations participated in the unique yearly event for international AFIS community. This time participants as far away as Indonesia took an active part in the seminar – the presentation made by Mr. Rusdi Abdullah and Mr. Wahyu Kurniawan (AFIS representatives in Indonesia) made a great impression and extended the knowledge of AFIS in the East.

During the seminar Mr. Emanuil Radev representing EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) gave a presentation on the European rulemaking process. He highlighted what needs to be done to start a common AFIS rules initiative. Following the presentation, a seminar workshop was performed on the subject of common international AFIS rules.

Mr. Kari Fält from SAAB Remote-Tower solutions introduced the participants to the first remote towers projects in Sweden, Australia and Norway. It followed with intensive question-answer session.

The second day of the seminar was dedicated to Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) subjects. Mr. Jan Morten Myklebust from Stord Airport in Norway presented unique experiences from major accidents with fatal outcome. Psychologist Torben Kjeldsen from Denmark gave a valuable expert advice on how to start a local CISM culture. Base Captain Odd Thomassen and Chief Ground Instructor Kjell-Olav Aasjord from Widerøe provided a presentation on AFIS seen from the pilot’s point of view.

Following very successful experiences from the three annual AFIS Seminars, we are proud to announce the strategic incentive to organise and grow the annual event in the future. Additionally, we introduce a new forum website dedicated to the AFIS and ATS community named www.meetingpointats.com. The purpose of the forum is to give a daily opportunity for AFIS and ATS community to come in contact with each other, which would be valuable in their daily duties, whilst at the same time encouraging people to further develop and improve their operational best practices. We kindly encourage AFIS and ATS people to register on the forum already now.

Thanks for all the participants and we are already looking forward to seeing you again in the annual AFIS Seminar on 4 – 5 September in 2013!