H i s t o r y

The Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS)has been operating in European airspace formore than 10 years. During that time itsperformance has been closely monitored byexamining incidents that have involved ACASequipped aircraft. As a result, EUROCONTROL,in conjunction with the Centre d'Etudes de laNavigation Aerienne (CENA), has developed a PCbased tool: Replay Interface for ACAS Alerts(RITA2).

D e s c r i p t i o n

RITA 2 (Replay Interface for TCAS Alerts) is a tooldesigned for the ACAS II training of air trafficcontrollers and also for use as an additional, butessential source of information to reinforce theACAS training syllabus of flight crews.

RITA 2 provides the synchronous replay of report-ed and analysed ACAS II (TCAS II Version 7)events, which have been selected for theirrelevance to training issues, by showing, on thesame screen, both what the pilots and thecontroller could see and what they said.

ACAS TRAINING LEARNING F

T r a i n i n g

To provide high quality training, RITA 2 has been designed to show realistic control situations and to be easyto use by instructors.

Although it is possible to use it individually, RITA 2 is better used with the help of an instructor who has alreadya good knowledge of TCAS II performance and its effect in the replayed events, so as to focus attentionon the important points (i.e. the training objectives of RITA 2) and not on irrelevant details. The mostappropriate use of RITA 2 is through briefing sessions to small groups of pilots or controllers. The replay ofrelevant events with RITA 2 may also help introductory presentations of ACAS II (performances, operationalimpact, regulation, etc.)

Rita 2Main Window

communication

displayed transcripts of the RTF between controllerand pilots;

RITA2 control panel

simple command keys to controlthe event replay sequence (freeze,stop,acceleration,...) and the dis-play options (zoom, translation,maps, altitude band selection,...

T h e D i s p l a y

The display is divided into four parts:

controller’s view

the visual display of all traffic, provided from radardata recordings and any STCA (Short TermConflict Alert) warnings, on a generic controllerODS-like display;

pilot’s view

the visual display of the results of the TCAS II alertsby the simulation performed during the analysis ofthe event, on either an IVSI (Instantaneous VerticalSpeed Indicator) or an EFIS (Electronic FlightInstrument System), with the associated auralalarms;

FROM ACAS INCIDENTS

EUROCONTROLACAS II SUPPORT UNIT

(ASU)

Tel: ++32 2 729 3133/3170Fax: ++32 2 729 3719

E-mail: acas@eurocontrol.intWeb Site: http://www.eurocontrol.int/acas

U s e r s G u i d e

The RITA 2 package includes a User Guide book-let and a CD-ROM for PC. The User Guide bookletis designed to help the instructors in the use ofRITA 2 for the replay of the TCAS II events. TheCD-ROM also includes a detailed PowerPointpresentation about ACAS II / TCAS II and someadditional relevant documents.

Descriptions, commentaries and lessons learntabout each incident are contained in a user guide.

RITA 03B737 - TC AS

FL330

RITA 01B767 - TC AS

FL320

RITA 02A 320 - TC AS

FL330

Extract from RITA2 Users Guide

More Information is available from

T r a i n i n g C o u r s e s

Training courses for controller instructors, bothabout ACAS and how to use RITA2, have beendesigned by the Institute of Air Navigation Services(IANS) in Luxembourg. Information about thosecources is available at www.ians.lu

Course Reservation Office

Telephone number: ++352-43-60-61-205 (307) Fax number: ++352-42-20-71 Email address: ians.reservation@eurocontrol.int