The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines yesterday launched the country’s first Aerodrome Tower Simulator.
The P84.9-million project which includes supply, installation and testing of the simulator was completed last March 30 and inaugurated yesterday at the Civil Aviation Training Center (CATC) in Parañaque City.
The new simulator will help air traffic controllers (ATCs) in training, testing and maintaining proficiency in handling aerodrome control operations without involving any risk to property or lives, and at a much lower cost than training in actual air traffic control conditions.
The six airport scenario settings installed in the simulator program can be used for ATC proficiency in the airport environments of Manila, Clark, Mactan, Plaridel, Davao and a generic single-runway airport.
Previously, air traffic control instructors use miniature model airplanes, manipulating them tediously over printed airport tarpaulins to recreate air traffic scenarios. With the arrival of the new aerodrome simulator, this practice shall now be obsolete.
The aerodrome simulator is planned to be used for training new ATCs through the Comprehensive Air Traffic Service course offered at CATC.
Designed to artificially recreate the control tower environment, the tower simulator is also cost-efficient as it offers lower expenses than conducting training in actual air traffic control conditions.
The aerodrome simulator will eliminate the obsolete training methods used in the aerodrome laboratory training module of CATC, such as the use of miniature model airplanes that instructors manipulate to simulate air traffic.
Within the next five years, DOTr plans to develop an Air Traffic Service program for recurrence