During the work on SID and STAR phraseology changes and cancellation of level restrictions, fundamental issues arose regarding ICAO standards and procedures for terrain and obstacle clearance.
ICAO provisions presently have problems:
- Currently most responsibility lies with pilots.
- Implied responsibility.
- Duty of care under surveillance when an aircraft leaves surveillance airspace.
- Charting has shortcomings.
- Questionable language regarding visual approaches.
“The objectives of the air traffic control service as prescribed in Annex 11 do not include prevention of collision with terrain. The procedures prescribed in this document do not relieve pilots of their responsibility to ensure that any clearances issued by air traffic control units are safe in this respect. When an IFR flight is vectored or is given a direct routing which takes the aircraft off an ATS route, the procedures in Chapter 8, 8.6.5.2 apply”
The note under 8.6.5.2 appears in several places in ICAO documents. It does not specify how a pilot should undertake this task.
Terrain clearance while vectoring is obviously an ATC responsibility. What can be unclear is who is responsible in direct routing (off ATS route) situations.
IFATCA Policy is:Responsibility for terrain and obstruction clearance shall be clearly defined and shall always lie either with the crew or ATC. There shall never be a situation where doubt exists about who is responsible for this task. ICAO documentation should provide clear and unambiguous language with regard to responsibility for terrain avoidance, including amendment to the Objectives of air traffic services to include the prevention of collisions between aircraft and terrain. ATCOs should be provided with ATS surveillance tools and/or procedures to efficiently separate aircraft from terrain and obstacles. |
| See: Resolution B1, B2 – WP 85 – Gran Canaria 2014, Resolution B9 – WP 92 – Sofia 2015, Resolution B30 – WP 60 – Virtual 2022 |
Last Update: August 11, 2022