Airways New Zealand air traffic controller Hadley Cave has been
awarded the 2015 Jilly Murphy Scholarship for Aviation Safety.
The $5000 scholarship is jointly offered by Airways and
Christchurch International Airport Ltd in memory of air traffic
controller Jilly Murphy, who died in central Christchurch during
the earthquake of 22 February 2011. Applications are required to
demonstrate a tangible benefit to aviation safety.
This year's scholar has applied his experience in air traffic
control to envisage a new electronic tool to help reduce the
workload on controllers at peak times.
"Controllers often rely on charts when they are separating
different types of aircraft, but
that can get quite complex because some of our busier towers might
need to call on up to 50 different charts. I'm planning to develop
a tablet version that will let controllers make a couple of
simple selections to allow the appropriate procedures to be
displayed," Hadley says. "My aim is to have the tablet ready for
operational testing at Dunedin within 12 months."
Airways Chief Executive Ed Sims said he and his fellow judges -
John Murphy (the late
Jilly Murphy's father) and Christchurch Airport Chief Operating
Officer Andy Lester - agreed Hadley's application had a clearly
defined and tangible outcome.
"All three judges could easily see how it could reduce
complexity for controllers and therefore have potential to increase
safety in towers. We believe removing unnecessary paperwork and
simplifying safe approaches would have been very close to Jilly
Murphy's heart and principles, which makes Hadley a very deserving
winner."
