AvBuyer Magazine, October 2014
by Ken Elliott
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Situational awareness for pilots and air traffic control (ATC) is critical both in the air and on the ground. Ground awareness extends to all users of airport movement areas as well as to ATC. It is also not just about safety and traffic avoidance, however. For a singular aircraft, taxiing around an unfamiliar airport can become very challenging at night and during low visibility.
Situational awareness is critical in all phases of flight (that means from ramp-toramp), but it typically increases in and around airports and Metroplexes. For the purpose of this article the focus is on both low visibility operations and surface movement; the portion of a flight from the ramp until after take-off and again from the visual transition point of an approach procedure until parked at the ramp destination.
Historically, air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and flight crews have visually scanned surface op...