New system leading way for safer military flights

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mona Ferrell
  • U.S. Air Forces in Europe News Service
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFPN) --  Thanks to a new software-based program being implemented here, terminal instrument procedures specialists will soon be able to support flying missions within U.S. Air Forces in Europe’s area of operations more efficiently and with increased safety.

The new system, called the Global Procedure Designer, allows the specialists to provide a better evaluation of obstacles and terrain in the arrival and departure path for aircraft, said Capt. Mack Coker, air procedures flight commander for USAFE.

An instrument procedure is essentially a map that tells pilots what altitude and heading to fly in to cover the most efficient and, more importantly, the safest, route into and out of an airport, he said.

“TERPs specialists basically develop road maps for the sky,” Captain Coker said. “Pilots need to be aware of any obstacles and the terrain in their path, and we’re responsible for establishing and updating those flight procedures; usually within a 100-mile radius of an airfield.”

The specialists’ responsibility became increasingly important in 1996 when a plane carrying U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashed into a Croatian mountainside, killing him and 34 other passengers. The pilot was trying to land in foul weather.

“After the crash, the secretary of defense mandated that all military troop-carrying or cargo aircraft flying foreign instrument procedures must first have a Department of Defense TERPs specialist evaluate the procedure in question to evaluate for terrain and man-made obstructions,” Captain Coker said.

But, while the job used to entail tedious calculations that would take hours or even days to do by hand, the new software-based system can provide a more complete evaluation of obstacles and terrain in a fraction of the time.

“For a simple comparison, the software that TERPs specialists use now for obstacle and terrain evaluation can evaluate up to about 10,000 obstacles,” said Master Sgt. Whit Morrison Jr., Air Force Flight Standards Agency training and international instrument procedures chief. “But, the new system can evaluate 23 million terrain and obstacle points, so (it) is much more thorough and correct.”

That is not to say the old system was not safe, said Sergeant Morrison, who is here on temporary duty to help provide training on the new system.

“This one is much better,” he said. “It’s like going from driving a Volkswagen Beetle and moving up to a Ferrari. They both get you where you want to go safely, but the Ferrari is a much faster and smoother ride.

USAFE’s terminal instrument procedures facility is the first organization in the world to implement the new system, Captain Coker said. However, the program has been in development nearly seven years and is going to be released to all Air Force major commands after specialized training has been completed.

“Ramstein Air Base is in the midst of the Rhein-Main Transition Program,” the captain said, referring to returning Rhein-Main Air Base back to the German government and moving all flying assets from Rhein-Main to Spangdahlem and Ramstein Air Bases, in Germany, by December 2005. “Part of the program consists of Ramstein and Spangdahlem getting instrument procedures developed to international criteria, a new feature never possessed by the old software.”

An example of a new procedure being developed using this software will give Ramstein aircrews the capability of flying down to 50 feet above the ground (without sight of the ground), as they maneuver for landing in inclement weather, Sergeant Morrison said.

Andrews Air Force Base, Md., is the only other Air Force base that has that capability, he said.

“Just as different countries have different construction criteria for building roads, there are also different criteria for building air routes for aircraft in the sky,” Sergeant Morrison said.

“This is the largest change to the criteria since the inception of TERPs,” he said. “Air Force TERPs specialists haven’t had the tools to take advantage of the newest technology in 20 years, so this new program is light years ahead of what we’ve used in the past. It revolutionalizes the way we do business.”