1.
Air traffic control
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The primary purpose of ATC worldwide is to prevent collisions, organize and expedite the flow of air traffic, and provide information and other support for pilots. In some countries, ATC plays a security or defensive role, to prevent collisions, ATC enforces traffic separation rules, which ensure each aircraft maintains a minimum amount of empty space around it at all times. Many aircraft also have collision avoidance systems, which provide additional safety by warning pilots when other aircraft get too close, in many countries, ATC provides services to all private, military, and commercial aircraft operating within its airspace. Depending on the type of flight and the class of airspace, ATC may issue instructions that pilots are required to obey, or advisories that pilots may, at their discretion, disregard. Pursuant to requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization, ATC operations are conducted either in the English language or the used by the station on the ground. In practice, the language for a region is normally used, however. In 1921, Croydon Airport, London was the first airport in the world to air traffic control. In the United States, air traffic control developed three divisions, the first of air mail radio stations was created in 1922 after World War I when the U. S. Post Office began using techniques developed by the Army to direct, over time, the AMRS morphed into flight service stations. Todays flight service stations do not issue instructions, but provide pilots with many other flight related informational services. They do relay control instructions from ATC in areas where service is the only facility with radio or phone coverage. The first airport traffic control tower, regulating arrivals, departures and surface movement of aircraft at a specific airport, approach/departure control facilities were created after adoption of radar in the 1950s to monitor and control the busy airspace around larger airports. The first air traffic control center, which directs the movement of aircraft between departure and destination was opened in Newark, NJ in 1935, followed in 1936 by Chicago. The primary method of controlling the airport environment is visual observation from the airport control tower. The tower is a tall, windowed structure located on the airport grounds, surveillance displays are also available to controllers at larger airports to assist with controlling air traffic. Controllers may use a system called secondary surveillance radar for airborne traffic approaching and departing. These displays include a map of the area, the position of aircraft, and data tags that include aircraft identification, speed, altitude. In adverse weather conditions the tower controllers may also use surface movement radar, surface movement guidance, remote and virtual tower is a system based on air traffic controllers being located somewhere other than at the local airport tower and still able to provide air traffic control services
2.
ICAO airport code
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The ICAO airport code or location indicator is a four-character alphanumeric code designating aerodromes around the world. ICAO codes are used to identify other aviation facilities such as weather stations, International Flight Service Stations or Area Control Centers. Flight information regions are identified by a unique ICAO-code. Code selections in North America were based on existing radio station identifiers, for example, radio stations in Canada were already starting with C, so it seemed logical to begin Canadian airport identifiers with Cxxx. The United States had many pre-existing airports with established mnemonic codes and their ICAO codes were formed simply by prepending a K to the existing codes, as half the radio station identifiers in the US began with K. Most ICAO codes outside the US and Canada have a geographical structure. Most of the rest of the world was classified in a more planned top-down manner, thus Uxxx referred to the Soviet Union with the second letter denoting the specific region within it, and so forth. Europe had too many locations for one starting letter, so it was split into Exxx for northern Europe. The second letter was more specific, EGxx was the United Kingdom, EDxx was West Germany, ETxx was East Germany, LExx was Spain, LAxx was Albania, France was designated LFxx, as the counterpart EFxx was the unambiguously northern Finland. ICAO codes are separate and different from IATA codes, which are used for airline timetables, reservations. For example, the IATA code for Londons Heathrow Airport is LHR, in general IATA codes are usually derived from the name of the airport or the city it serves, while ICAO codes are distributed by region and country. Far more aerodromes have ICAO codes than IATA codes, and to add to the confusion IATA codes are assigned to railway stations. Unlike the IATA codes, the ICAO codes generally have a structure and are comprehensive. In general, the first letter is allocated by continent and represents a country or group of countries within that continent, the second letter generally represents a country within that region, and the remaining two are used to identify each airport. The exception to rule is larger countries that have single-letter country codes. In either case, ICAO codes generally provide geographical context unlike IATA codes, for example, if one knows that the ICAO code for Heathrow is EGLL, then one can deduce that the airport EGGP is somewhere in the UK. On the other hand, knowing that the IATA code for Heathrow is LHR does not enable one to deduce the location of the airport LHV with any greater certainty, there are a few exceptions to the regional structure of the ICAO code made for political or administrative reasons. Similarly Saint Pierre and Miquelon is controlled by France, and airports there are assigned LFxx as though they were in Europe, further, in region L, all available 2-letter prefixes have been exhausted and thus no additional countries can be added
3.
Cirencester
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Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England,93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames and it is the home of the Royal Agricultural University, the oldest agricultural college in the English-speaking world, founded in 1840. The towns Corinium Museum is well known for its extensive Roman collection, the Roman name for the town was Corinium, which is thought to have been associated with the ancient British tribe of the Dobunni, having the same root word as the River Churn. The earliest known reference to the town was by Ptolemy in 150AD, Cirencester is twinned with Itzehoe, Germany. Cirencester lies on the dip slopes of the Cotswold Hills. Natural drainage is into the River Churn, which flows north to south through the eastern side of the town. The Thames itself rises just a few miles west of Cirencester, the town is split into five main areas, the town centre, the suburbs of Chesterton, Stratton, Watermoor and The Beeches. The village of Siddington to the south of the town is now almost contiguous with Watermoor, other suburbs include Bowling Green and New Mills. The area and population of these 5 electoral wards are identical to that quoted above. The town serves as a centre for surrounding villages, providing employment, amenities, shops, commerce and education, and as a commuter town for larger centres such as Cheltenham, Swindon and Stroud. Cirencester is the hub of a significant road network with important routes to Gloucester, Cheltenham, Warwick, Oxford, Wantage, Swindon, Chippenham, Bristol, Bath, however, only Gloucester, Cheltenham, Stroud and Swindon have slow bus connections. These good roads bring the town passing trade, although the ring road and bypass take traffic away from the town centre, both roads have busy service areas with adequate parking. Since closure of the Kemble to Cirencester branch line to Cirencester Town in 1964 the town has one of the largest in the region without its own rail station. However Kemble railway station,4 miles away, serves as a railhead and it provides regular services between Swindon and Gloucester, with peak-time direct trains to London Paddington station. The nearest airports are Bristol Airport, Cotswold Airport at Kemble, London, Cirencester was known to be an important early Roman area, along with St. Albans and Colchester, and the town includes evidence of significant area roadworks. When the Romans built a fort where the Fosse Way crossed the Churn, AD49, native Dobunni were drawn from Bagendon, a settlement of the Dobunni situated 3 miles to the north, to create a civil settlement near the fort. When the frontier moved to the following the conquest of Wales. 70, but the town persisted and flourished under the name Corinium Dobunnorum, even in Roman times, there was a thriving wool trade and industry, which contributed to the growth of Corinium. A large forum and basilica was built over the site of the fort, there are many Roman remains in the surrounding area, including several Roman villas near the villages of Chedworth and Withington
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Runway
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According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a runway is a defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft. Runways may be a surface or a natural surface. Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally the magnetic azimuth of the heading in decadegrees. This heading differs from true north by the magnetic declination. A runway numbered 09 points east, runway 18 is south, runway 27 points west, when taking off from or landing on runway 09, a plane would be heading 90°. A runway can normally be used in both directions, and is named for each separately, e. g. runway 33 in one direction is runway 15 when used in the other. The two numbers usually differ by 18, Runway Zero Three Left becomes Runway Two One Right when used in the opposite direction. In some countries, if parallel runways are too close to each other, at large airports with four or more parallel runways some runway identifiers are shifted by 10 degrees to avoid the ambiguity that would result with more than three parallel runways. For example, in Los Angeles, this results in runways 6L, 6R, 7L. At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, there are five parallel runways, named 17L, 17C, 17R, 18L, for clarity in radio communications, each digit in the runway name is pronounced individually, runway three six, runway one four, etc. A leading zero, for example in runway zero six or runway zero one left, is included for all ICAO, however, most U. S. civil aviation airports drop the leading zero as required by FAA regulation. This also includes some military airfields such as Cairns Army Airfield and this American anomaly may lead to inconsistencies in conversations between American pilots and controllers in other countries. It is very common in a such as Canada for a controller to clear an incoming American aircraft to, for example, runway 04. In flight simulation programs those of American origin might apply U. S. usage to airports around the world, for example, runway 05 at Halifax will appear on the program as the single digit 5 rather than 05. Runway designations change over time because the magnetic poles slowly drift on the Earths surface, depending on the airport location and how much drift takes place, it may be necessary over time to change the runway designation. As runways are designated with headings rounded to the nearest 10 degrees, for example, if the magnetic heading of a runway is 233 degrees, it would be designated Runway 23. If the magnetic heading changed downwards by 5 degrees to 228, if on the other hand the original magnetic heading was 226, and the heading decreased by only 2 degrees to 224, the runway should become Runway 22. Because the drift itself is slow, runway designation changes are uncommon
6.
Asphalt
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Asphalt, also known as bitumen is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in deposits or may be a refined product. Until the 20th century, the term asphaltum was also used, the word is derived from the Ancient Greek ἄσφαλτος ásphaltos. The primary use of asphalt/bitumen is in construction, where it is used as the glue or binder mixed with aggregate particles to create asphalt concrete. Its other main uses are for bituminous waterproofing products, including production of roofing felt, the terms asphalt and bitumen are often used interchangeably to mean both natural and manufactured forms of the substance. In American English, asphalt is the carefully refined residue from the process of selected crude oils. Outside the United States, the product is often called bitumen, geologists often prefer the term bitumen. Common usage often refers to forms of asphalt/bitumen as tar. Naturally occurring asphalt/bitumen is sometimes specified by the crude bitumen. Its viscosity is similar to that of cold molasses while the material obtained from the distillation of crude oil boiling at 525 °C is sometimes referred to as refined bitumen. The Canadian province of Alberta has most of the reserves of natural bitumen, covering 142,000 square kilometres. Additionally, most natural bitumens contain organosulfur compounds, resulting in a sulfur content of up to 4%. Nickel and vanadium are found in the <10 ppm level, as is typical of some petroleum, the substance is soluble in carbon disulfide. It is commonly modelled as a colloid, with asphaltenes as the dispersed phase, and it is almost impossible to separate and identify all the different molecules of asphalt, because the number of molecules with different chemical structure is extremely large. Asphalt/bitumen can sometimes be confused with tar, which is a visually similar black. During the early and mid-20th century when town gas was produced, coal tar was a readily available byproduct, the addition of tar to macadam roads led to the word tarmac, which is now used in common parlance to refer to road-making materials. However, since the 1970s, when natural gas succeeded town gas, other examples of this confusion include the La Brea Tar Pits and the Canadian oil sands, both of which actually contain natural bitumen rather than tar. Pitch is another term used at times to refer to asphalt/bitumen
7.
NATS Holdings
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NATS Holdings, formerly National Air Traffic Services and commonly referred to as NATS, is the main Air Navigation Service Provider in the United Kingdom. It inherited the traditions of UK air traffic control, which was the worlds first air traffic control regime, the workforce of NATS is mainly made up of Air traffic controllers, Air Traffic Control Engineers, Air Traffic Services Assistants and Science Technical Analytical and Research Staff. Administrative and Support staff make up the remainder of the 4,500 or so staff employed by NATS, NATS is split into two main service provision companies, NATS En-Route PLC and NATS Services Ltd. NERL is the provider of civilian en-route air traffic control over the UK and is regulated by the CAA who, for example. NERL is funded by charging airlines for the provision of air traffic services, NATS en-route business is regulated and operated under licence from the Civil Aviation Authority. The terms of the licence require NATS to be capable of meeting on a continuous basis any reasonable level of overall demand and they are charged with permitting access to airspace on the part of all users, whilst making the most efficient overall use of airspace. The organisation was set up as the National Air Traffic Control Services in 1962, bringing together responsibility for the UKs existing military. The organisation became National Air Traffic Services when responsibility for sponsoring the civil air traffic service component was transferred to the newly formed Civil Aviation Authority in 1972, prior to this it had no legal existence – all contracts were with the CAA or MoD. Until its establishment as a company, leadership of NATS alternated between civil and military, the latter normally a serving Air Marshal. The first Controller was Sir Laurence Sinclair, exceptionally an Air Vice Marshal, NATS staff were drawn from, and paid by, the CAA and the MoD. The London Air Traffic Control Centre at RAF West Drayton opened in 1966 and provided ATC services until it closed in 2007, scottish air traffic control has been carried out from Atlantic House in Prestwick since 1978. This situation changed with the opening of the Prestwick Centre in 2010, the Prestwick Centre houses the Domestic and Oceanic Services and allows for state of the art technology to be introduced in future. In 1992 it was recognised that as a provider, NATS should be operated at some distance from its regulator. Although debated, it was decided that NATS should not be privatised at that time, NATS was re-organised into a limited company on 1 April 1996 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the CAA. The direct involvement of military officers in the management of NATS ended at this time, in 1998, a public-private partnership was proposed. This was written into the Transport Act 2000 and in 2001 51% of NATS was transferred to the private sector. As a public private partnership the UK government holds 49% and a share, with 42% held by the Airline Group, 5% by NATS staff. Martin Rolfe has been CEO of NATS since May 2015, other Board members are listed here, http, //www. nats. aero/about-us/board-executive/ In 2015 NATS handled 2,256,152 flights, an increase of 2. 5% over 2014
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