Supporting the Air Navigation Service Provider in Haiti for the transition to surveillance control

We are pleased to announce that our cooperation with Haiti continues. Indeed, the Supervisory Authority’s development assistance project is coming to an end and despite the crisis that has affected the Republic of Haiti in recent months, it has been possible to continue working and the autumn should see the first real audits implemented by the DSACH.

It is a completely different project that is beginning, that of assisting OFNAC and the Directorate of Air Navigation in Haiti (DNAH) to switch to surveillance control (Radar and ADS-B). This project had been in development for more than a year. The new control TWR, built by Vinci, is in the process of taking shape and the corresponding technical equipment, which is delivered by Thales, is on the way. The new radar station and the ADS-B stations have been installed. It was therefore urgent to work on the implementation of all these systems, to develop the corresponding skills of DNAH agents and to establish an operational switchover strategy. It will therefore be the task of FRACS to support OFNAC in this ambitious project.

This major project will also include an upgrade of the documentation and operational procedures that need upgrading. Signed at the end of August, the project is starting quickly. It has been structured into two parallel projects: a project to support the changeover and upgrading of Air Navigation and a competency transformation project. These two projects will be coordinated and managed in parallel, but each has its own dynamic, the first linked to the technical changeover, the second to the transformation of skills and pedagogical progression. The “training” project will also involve ENAC to the extent of its capacities for the acquisition of the basic skills necessary for ATCOs, ATSEPs and AIS agents. It is also necessary, in order to stay within ENAC’s natural calendar, to very quickly allow 5 preselected technicians to participate in the BASCNS course at ENAC from this September.

25 experts covering all disciplines have been mobilized for this project and the last few days have consisted of setting up and structuring this team to meet the next deadlines. The first one will be the launch of a diagnostic mission covering all disciplines at the end of September. This will be essential to establish the development strategy of the project. It is indeed extremely necessary, because of the recent crisis that has affected Haiti, to adjust the project’s assumptions, to define the available staff and the corresponding skills, because many people left the country during the unrest and the staff of OFNAC has melted away. The changeover strategy and the training capacities will therefore be very dependent on the available staff because it will be necessary throughout this transition to maintain the operational service.

Despite all these challenges or because of them, it is with great enthusiasm that the team of experts embarks on this very ambitious project. We are pleased that it allows us to actively cooperate with ENAC for its success. We will also implement our respective training tools, ELSA and DIADEME, and will cooperate in terms of practical inspection instruction. In short, it’s a beautiful project that begins!