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Safety Guiding principle and paramount priority of skyguide. All safety-related procedures in the operation of air traffic control services, as well as all technical systems, are constantly monitored, verified and improved if necessary by skyguide experts or by external specialists in risk management and safety management. (–> ESARR, Safety case, QMS)
Safety case An analysis performed to determine whether or not a system meets safety requirements.
Safety nets Systems of continual on-screen verification of the radar trace of an aircraft designed to ensure that aircraft keep to the trajectories allotted them by air traffic control, as well as that they respect the required distances between vessels in the air and those on the ground.
Satellite navigation A system that uses satellite observations to determine an aircraft’s position and heading. In the near future, satellite navigation will largely supersede traditional ground-based navigation systems such as radio beacons. (–> EGNOS, Galileo, GLONASS, GNSS, GPS, SBAS)
SBAS (Space-Based Augmentation System) With the help of satellites, this system transmits corrective data to the GPS or to GLONASS. It covers larger regions than the GBAS, but is less accurate and can accordingly be used only for non-precision approaches. (–> EGNOS)
Search and Rescue (SAR) ATC services alert the relevant search-and-rescue services if an aircraft is in distress, and offer them any support they may require.
Secondary radar (SSR or Secondary Surveillance Radar) Secondary radar communicates actively with the transponder (–>) of a detected aircraft, a feature not available in primary radar. It can provide air traffic control services with additional information, which appears on the radar screen in the form of a radar label (–>), and the picture is renewed every 4 seconds.
Sector The airspace for which an air traffic controller, assisted by a coordinator, provides aircraft with altitude, heading and speed instructions to ensure that all separation minima are observed.
Selfbriefing –> AMIE
Separation All aircraft are managed by ATC to ensure that the distances between them never fall below certain prescribed minima (–> AIRPROX). Vertical separation between two aircraft must be at least 1000 ft. Horizontal separation in Switzerland is normally 3 NM (–> Nautical mile) in the vicinity of airports, and 5 NM in other airspace.
SES –> Single European Sky
SESAR –> Single European Sky ATM Research
SID (Standard Instrument/Initial Departure) Standard departure trajectory. Defines the flight trajectory which aircraft flying in the Instrument Flight Rules (–> IFR) mode must follow, from their departure from a specific airport until the first waypoint.
Simulation Skyguide owns sophisticated simulators which it uses for the basic training and subsequent instruction of air traffic controllers and ANSEs (–>) in radar and tower operations. The skyguide simulators are also used to test new ATC procedures and proposed modifications to the structure of the airspace under the company’s control.
Single European Sky (SES) A European Commission programme to restructure European airspace in order to streamline air travel and increase its safety, in particular by creating functional airspace blocks (–>). The SES implementation programme is SESAR (–> Single European Sky ATM Research). Skyguide has strongly supported this project ever since its inception and takes an active part in it. (–> Cross-border ATC)
Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) SESAR is the the Single European Sky (–>) implementation programme to reengineer European ATM network and make it more efficient, better integrated, more cost-efficient and safer. Concretely, the objectives of SESAR are to eliminate the fragmented approach to ATM, transform the European ATM system, synchronise the plans and actions of the different partners and federate resources. The development phase of SESAR will run from 2008 to 2013, its deployment phase from 2014 to 2020.
Sion Skyguide is in charge of the civil and military air traffic at Sion regional airport.
skyguide
Base aérienne
P.O. Box 544
1951 Sion
Phone +41 27 324 21 40
Fax +41 27 323 11 09
skyguide A Swiss limited company responsible for civil and military air navigation services. The company, based in Geneva, handles the airports at Zurich, Geneva, Bern Belp, Buochs, Grenchen (SO), Lugano Agno, St.Gallen Altenrhein and the mainly military or civil-military aerodromes at Alpnach, Dübendorf, Emmen, Locarno, Meiringen, Payerne and Sion. Staff have been gradually moving into the new air navigation service centre in Dübendorf since autumn 2005. At the regional aerodrome at Les Eplatures, local air navigation services are delegated by skyguide to the aerodrome manager. Skyguide exercises its air navigation services surveillance over this regional aerodrome and has a right to impose service orders (Weisungsrecht).
Skymag English-language company magazine dedicated to air navigation service provision and published twice a year by skyguide. Skymag explains the ins and outs of an unusual business. A free subscription can be obtained by contacting skymag@skyguide.ch.
Slot A time allocated by ATC within which a flight must take off, land, or pass a certain point (–> Waypoint, Reporting point). Slot allocation is a key tool for managing traffic flows and enhancing the punctuality of flights. (–> CFMU)
SNOWTAM NOTAM (–>) indicating the state of runways in winter (snowfall at airports and ice layer).
SRC (Safety Regulatory Commission) Commission created by Eurocontrol to regulate safety. The ESARRs (–>) are drawn up by the SRC.
Stakeholder In Switzerland and in the adjacent airspace assigned to it, skyguide provides highly professional air navigation services which meet user needs and are in the public interest. Skyguide works closely with national partners (such as the Swiss Air Force and the Swiss weather service, MeteoSwiss) and with international partners, such as ICAO, Eurocontrol, CANSO, and air navigation service providers in neighbouring countries. Skyguide also creates consortia of clients with partner organisations. The company forms partnerships with providers, and offers its direct clients (such as airlines, airports, air forces, civil aviation, etc.) services for the benefit of its end users (passengers and freight operators).
STAR (Standard Arrival Route) Standardised approach trajectory. Defines procedures to be followed from the moment that an aircraft flying in the IFR (–>) mode leaves an airway (–>) until it lands.
Static data Data and information which are unvariable in the short term, or which refer to a fixed point on the Earth’s surface (such as buildings, antennae, runways (–>), approach and departure procedures, navigation aids (–>), airways (–>), etc.). They are expressed as coordinates on charts.
STC (Skyguide Training Center) Skyguide operates its own training center where future air traffic controllers (–>) and air navigation service employees (–> ANSE) learn their craft. Training lasts approximately 3 1/2 years for controllers and 2 years for ANSEs. For further information, please contact recruitment@skyguide.ch or go to www.skyguide.ch/en/Jobs/Training/.
STCA (Short-Term Conflict Alert) A warning system (–> Safety net) that produces an acoustic and visual signal on the ATC radar screen alerting the controller that two aircraft are closer together than allowed by the separation minima.
St.Gallen Altenrhein Skyguide is in charge of the civil air traffic at St.Gallen-Altenrhein regional airport.
skyguide
Airport St-Gallen-Altenrhein
Flughafenstrasse 11
9423 Altenrhein
Phone 071 858 51 67
Fax 071 858 51 50
Strip Flight progress strip containing the most important information (identification, trajectory, flight level, etc.) about aircraft approaching or in the sector of an air traffic controller. (–> Flight plan)
Stripless Thanks to the digitisation of the controller work station, the information formerly recorded on the strips (–>) now appears directly on the radar screen. This technological world first has been successfully operational in Geneva since December 2005.