ATM training at Entry Point North

Entry Point North AB – Nordic ATS Academy – is the outcome of a constructive partnership between the Air Navigation Service Providers in Scandinavia: Avinor AS in Norway, LFV Group in Sweden and Naviair in Denmark. The academy was officially opened in March 2006 and welcomed the first students from the three Scandinavian countries. As of New Year, a wide range of new ATM training programmes will be offered to international Air Traffic Service Providers in accordance with the European ESARR 5 standard.

All in all, Entry Point North is a unique initiative within international Air Traffic Management. The new Academy is approved by the Civil Aviation Authorities in the three Scandinavian countries, so for the first time we have succeeded in establishing highly specialised training and education of Air Traffic Controllers across national borders.

It is our hope that Entry Point North AB will be seen as an initiative directly linked to the plans in Single European Sky and, as such, serve as an inspiration for other Air Navigation Service Providers in Europe.

The new Academy is located next to Sturup International Airport outside Malmö, Sweden, with easy access to Copenhagen and in the geographic, traffical and commercial centre linking Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Full scale training programmes

In the first years, approximately 100 new Air Traffic Controllers from Norway, Sweden and Denmark will graduate from the Academy per year, with specific skills defined by the Air Traffic Service Providers in the Scandinavian countries and approved by the three National Safety Authorities. All Air Traffic Controllers are, of course, trained in accordance with the uniformed ESARR 5 standard.

As of early 2007, the Academy will extend its capacity. And, for the first time, Entry Point North will also offer Air Traffic Management training programmes for Air Navigation Service Providers from other countries, as well as a number of new Academy programmes for other countries interested in optimising all kinds of Air Traffic Management training.

We will expand our business with special programmes within the Human Factor and Safety area, as we have experienced a great need for such courses among the European Service Providers.

We will also focus more on AFIS training (Aerodrome Flight Information Service). This will be based on Entry Point North’s Scandinavian experience during the past years, as these courses have already been regulated and approved by the National Authorities for some years.

In 2006, we have already developed and executed AFIS courses for external customers including a number of airports in Switzerland and in Denmark. We have also provided and facilitated Human Factor related courses to external customers such as Denmark’s and Greenland’s Civil Aviation Authorities. Furthermore, companies such as Statoil and ConocoPhilips from Norway have acquired AFIS courses to be executed in 2006 and 2007.

Thus the Academy offers a full education programme within Air Traffic Management – including initial training, continuation training and development training. Initial training and continuation training takes place at Entry Point North in Sturup and partly at the Copenhagen Kastrup Airport, and development training may take place at either Entry Point North or on location at the national Air Traffic Service Providers.

The organisation

The organisation at Entry Point North consists of the Training Division and The Administration Division, plus two staff functions responsible for Business Development and Quality Management.

The training programme at the Academy is conducted by the Training Division, which is divided into specialised Training Offices, headed by Director of Training Mr. Per Ekelöf.

Each Office is responsible for a specific course module e.g. Ab Initio Basic, APS, ACS etc. In order to be cost-effective, Entry Point North has a limited number of permanent staff members. When a programme has been scheduled, we engage the most qualified instructors for a shorter or a long term period – e.g. operative Air Traffic Controllers with the relevant ratings.

The staff at these courses are mainly Air Traffic Controllers from the Scandinavian Service Providers, but also specialists from other organisations.

Also, the Administrative Division has only a very limited number of permanent personnel as it is a basic strategy at Entry Point North to focus on core business and to outsource the support functions.

Air Traffic Controller training

The initial training to become an ATCO leads to a Student License including relevant ratings. At Entry Point North the initial training consists of different modules leading to become Air Traffic Controller either in an Area Control Centre or in a Tower and Approach Unit.

When a student has been recruited and selected, he or she starts a Basic ATC course lasting for 20 weeks, and where all the basics of the profession are learned, including Navigation, Aviation law, Human Factors, Meteorology and Basic Air Traffic Services.

With training periods in tower, approach and area simulators, the students get a solid understanding of the ATM system – from pre-flight to parking.

From the Basic module all students progress to an 18-week APS/TCL module (Approach and Terminal Control). While the Basic module is mostly based on theory, the APS/TCL module is mostly based on simulator training.

After completion of the APS/TCL module, the students specialise in either Tower control by conducting the ADI/TWR/RAD module or Area Control via the ACS module.

Human Factor courses

The Human Factor courses at Entry Point North offer intensive and very efficient On-the-Job Training Instructor Courses (OJTI) and Refresher Courses. The OJTI courses consist of a combination of long distance e-learning and classroom exercises including both theoretical and practical sessions.

In addition, Assessor Courses are offered for the ATC specialists who are to ascertain operational competence within the Service Provider organisations.

This Human Factor programme is developed to meet the regulatory requirements generated by the European Harmonization Programmes that are currently the driving force behind the customer demand for these courses.

The OJTI and assessor courses lasts 3-8 days – and are offered as a standard programme or as an individually tailored programme aimed to meet the requirements of our customers.

Simulators & equipment

Entry Point North has access to a number of advanced simulators and equipment such as:

• BERT – Basic Radar Simulators with 16 trainee positions
• TOR/TORA – Combined Tower and Radar 3D Simulators
• ODIN/FREJA – Basic 3D simulator for Tower training
• SMART – Advanced Radar Simulator with 28 trainee positions
• CBT – Computer based training and E-learning with 20 working positions
• DATSIM 3D TWR – Advanced Tower Simulator with 270 degrees view
• DATSIM 2D TWR – Basic “Birds eye view” for Tower training with 15 working positions
• DATSIM Radar – Advanced Radar Simulator with 32 working stations

All simulators are owned and maintained by LFV Group and Naviair and are placed at their owners’ facilities at Malmö-Sturup and Copenhagen, Kastrup. Access to a large number of facilities gives Entry Point North the opportunity to place the activities in either Malmö-Sturup or Copenhagen – wherever suitable for our customers and the quality of the training.

Focus on core business

At Entry Point North we believe in short decision-making processes, transparency and active communications at all levels. The management of the Academy as well as the development and execution of all training programmes are based on LEAN principles, with commitment to closely involving our staff and the trainees in the daily work and development of the Academy.

It is very important for us to create a culture in the Academy where our customers’ needs are in focus. Our no. 1 priority is to deliver a high-quality product that meets or even exceeds our customers’ expectations. We take pride in being in the forefront with developments in the ATM-training field and in being able to deliver a high-quality product on time. We focus on our core business and utilise our resources in the best possible way in order to create value for money to our customers.

Anne Kathrine Jensen

Anne Kathrine Jensen is Managing Director of Entry Point North AB the Pan-Nordic ATS Academy located at Malmö-Sturup Airport in Sweden.

Her professional career started at the Danish CAA in January 1980. Since then she has been working with a wide range of ATM related issues and from 1998-2005 at management level at Naviair, the Danish ATS Service Provider.