First ever FABEC Training & Qualification Manual for Airspace Management (ASM) staff released

19 April 2021; the principle of the general requirements regarding training and qualification of ASM personnel are established at high level by the Single European Sky and EASA[1] regulations. However, both FABEC Airspace Committee (AC) and Standing Committee Operations (SC OPS) were convinced that more detailed and harmonised requirements should be developed to frame the technical training required for airspace managers.

The Joint Flexible Use of Airspace Task Force (J FUA TF) received early 2019 the mandate to work on this topic and to release a Training and Qualification Manual (TQM) for FABEC, convinced that a common understanding of the ASM issues as well as an efficient human relationship among FABEC airspace managers are essential parameters to enhance FUA implementation and collaborative decision making (CDM) in the Core Area. From the beginning, this project received the support of the EUROCONTROL Network Manager Directorate who was actively involved in this activity.

The Training and Qualification Manual was developed with the objective to define a general framework at FABEC level for training and qualification of the Airspace Management staff working daily in the national Airspace Management Cells (AMC).

The manual is built on three complementary pillars:

• A general training, comprising knowledge on ASM in Single European Sky (SES) and FUA / Advanced-FUA context. Such training is considered necessary for personnel not being fully familiar with those issues;
• A national training, designed in accordance with the needs of each State, its processes, internal structures, resources and ASM supporting tools;
• A specific FABEC training organised at FABEC level, comprising sharing of knowledge to improve the specific understanding of FAB ASM management, as well as cross border and network related issues (e.g. Cross-Border Operations procedures of the neighbouring States, cross border operational understanding, situation of Cross-Border Areas, Long Range direct routes (DCT) and network effects).

The present manual is also presenting in annex some information describing the current training methods applied at national level in the FABEC states that can be used as reference material to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the partner states’ practices. Included in the manual are the outcomes of the first AMC staff workshop, including NMD/NMOC[2] members, that was organised in 2019 following the guidance introduced and described in the manual.

This manual leaves a lot of flexibility for FABEC states to adapt their own training programmes and training methods to their specific needs, while providing a common basis and a clear incentive to train and qualify their ASM staff in a manner that is harmonised within FABEC.

The present manual constitutes the first known attempt to adopt this kind of approach for the training of ASM staff, in particular in the context of a functional airspace block.

Training and Qualification Manual version 1.0, which focuses on the training part was validated by AC and SC OPS (Feb/Mar 2021) and it has been released to the FABEC States.