Airservices recently worked with Spookfish, a company that creates aerial views of current conditions on the ground. We provided them guidance in their shooting process (capture program) in and out of controlled airspace.
The aerial shoot consisted of approximately 10 500 sq. km of land area for the NSW Spatial Services Department.
Speaking about the process, Spookfish CEO Jason Waller said: "Before and during this program, our team met several times with staff at the Sydney TCU, and their guidance and assistance proved invaluable in allowing us to understand the significant challenges and modify our planning and operations. We believe this was instrumental in our ultimate success and also ensured we were able to minimise adding to the controller workload."
The capture program encompassed the majority of the Sydney basin. The timeline set by their client was very ambitious, particularly in terms of the challenges presented by weather through July and August.
"Service Manager Roger Chambers and his team have provided us with exceptional assistance throughout this process and without their professionalism and commitment it is clear we would not have been able to achieve our target. At the tactical level both ATC Line Manager Jeff Cristani and ATC Traffic Manager Alan Dukes provided clear and tangible strategies on how to increase our clearance rate and were also a valuable conduit for a two-way exchange of ideas," added Mr. Waller.
Working together with Spookfish is but one example of how we can better foster and promote civil aviation in the industry.
In dealing with survey flights in terminal area airspace, Service Manager Roger Chambers said: "It is challenging and presents a significant workload for the Traffic Manager and the controllers. Jeff and Alan took an educational and collaborative approach with Spookfish that resulted in improvements in their planning and a more flexible approach for the Sydney team to support Spookfish’s survey flights."
The outcome was successful and a fine example of how a shared understanding and collaborative approach is able to deliver optimum services and help both parties to better manage the situation.
The visit to the Sydney TCU also allowed for the Spookfish crew to better understand the complex environment and the broad range of priorities our air traffic controllers balance each and every day.
