SAFEGUARDING SERVICES TO AIRPORTS

ASD offers a variety of services to help airport operators. These include checking planning applications and other potential obstacles, advice on operational developments, safeguarding seminars for aerodrome staff and LPAs, and courses to teach the elements of safeguarding.

AIRFIELD SAFEGUARDING

Whether or not your airport has been safeguarded by the CAA in the past, you are undoubtedly finding that safeguarding is being given a higher profile by your CAA auditors, producing an increasing and irregular workload. As you will know, the process of checking a planned obstacle against all the obstacle limitation surfaces and other planes is labour-intensive, and requires accuracy.

Software is available to help, but this is generally CAD-based, and is often a "bolt-on" feature to existing CAD software. This means considerable CAD expertise plus training are required. Then, of course, there is the expense of installing the necessary computer workstations and other hardware. The total cost would run into £thousands. Furthermore, as applications arrive at irregular intervals, can you afford to employ trained staff who have to be instantly available for irregular safeguarding checks? How easy will it be to update the software for changes in the CAA's safeguarding parameters or aerodrome criteria?

The cost-effective alternative to doing it yourself is to let ASD help you, using our wide aviation experience and specialist software. This software was conceived, then developed over a number of years, for the sole purpose of aerodrome safeguarding. It was originally in a military version for MOD, and later in a civil version which is ICAO Annex 14 and CAP 168-compliant.

ASD fully appreciates the need for smaller airfields to safeguard their operations within a very restricted budget. We can help with a package tailored to that specific need.

AIRFIELD OPERATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

With our depth of knowledge, we are able to offer advice on many matters of airfield operational development, in particular those Involving runway upgrades or extensions and the effects of terrain and existing/planned obstacles upon the obstacle limitation surfaces.

Existing obstacles or planned structures can be analysed to show the effect of each upon all the safeguarded airfield, runway and aid planes and surfaces. This is particularly useful for airports following an obstruction survey or when considering airfield changes. Field length parameters may be adjusted to see the effect of obstacles upon the resulting runway planes, enabling optimum values to be chosen, commensurate with CAA requirements. Advice can be given on such planned developments, both on and off the airport, using extensive safeguarding, aircraft performance and operational expertise. This is ideal when considering where to build the next hangar or new ATC tower, or a new airport hotel.