Thesis "ANÁLISIS DE PROCEDIMIENTOS DE COMUNICACIÓN ACARS COMO HERRAMIENTAS DE OPTIMIZACIÓN DE PROCESOS EN EL AREA DE OPERACIONES DE LAN AIRLINES".
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Date
2006-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Program
INGENIERÍA EN AVIACIÓN COMERCIAL
Campus
Campus Vitacura, Santiago
Abstract
Hoy en día la eficiencia es una condición necesaria en cualquier compañía que pretenda ser rentable y en LAN no se escapan de esta premisa, más aún en el área operacional, que es donde se concentra el mayor costo de la compañía. El presente trabajo, titulado “Análisis de procedimientos de comunicación ACARS como herramientas de optimización de procesos en el área de operaciones de LAN Airlines”, tiene como objetivo determinar si la utilización del sistema de comunicaciones ACARS está contribuyendo a optimizar los procesos operacionales que han sido objeto de automatización y así poder medir la eficiencia1 del personal involucrado en el área de operaciones de vuelo. Se define el área de operaciones de vuelo como la responsable de los temas que están relacionados de una u otra forma con los vuelos que la compañía opera, siendo la encargada, entre otras cosas, de controlar el cumplimiento de políticas y procedimientos, planificar la operación y representar a la compañía ante los organismos reguladores. Dentro del área de operaciones de vuelo se encuentra el centro de control de vuelo, departamento que es el encargado de realizar el despacho operacional de los vuelos y de mantener una comunicación constante con ellos. Esto último se enmarca dentro de lo que se conoce como comunicaciones para el control de las operaciones aeronáuticas, control que es efectuado por la propia aerolínea con el fin de garantizar la regularidad, eficiencia y seguridad operacional de los vuelos. Dentro de este contexto fue que en el año 1978 se introdujo en la aviación comercial el sistema de comunicación digital ACARS, Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, el cual fue diseñado para mantener un control permanente de la operación de vuelo de un avión. Este nuevo sistema de comunicación permite reducir el número de mensajes de voz entre la tripulación y la estación en tierra, reemplazándolos por mensajes digitales reformateados que pueden ser enviados tanto por la tripulación o por los mismos sistemas del avión, de esta forma la aeronave se transforma en un terminal más de la red de información de la aerolínea. Una de las aplicaciones más importantes que ACARS le entrega a las aerolíneas es la posibilidad de poder contar con información instantánea sobre el funcionamiento de los motores, lo cual es de gran importancia para el mantenimiento preventivo de estos. Sin embargo los beneficios de esta tecnología no se quedan ahí, y a pesar de que la gran mayoría de las líneas aéreas que la han incorporado en sus operaciones lo han hecho por la razón antes descrita, ACARS permite automatizar procesos operacionales, tales como los reportes meteorológicos, la carga de plan de vuelo en el computador del avión, el envío de la estiba, reportes de posiciones entre otros. LAN Airlines, incorporó esta tecnología en sus operaciones en el año 2000, gracias al proceso de renovación de flota que trajo a la compañía los modernos aviones Airbus A340 y A320 que vienen con ACARS incorporado. De esta forma, y siguiendo la tendencia de aquellas compañías que ya contaban con ACARS, en LAN se comenzaron a desarrollar aplicaciones automáticas para diversos procesos operacionales, persiguiendo siempre el objetivo de mejorar la eficiencia operacional de la compañía. En un principio este nuevo sistema de comunicaciones estuvo restringido solo a la flota A340, principalmente por un tema técnico relacionado con el modo de transmisión de los datos. Sin embargo esta situación ha cambiado, y hoy a los 4 A340 de la compañía se suman 22 A320/319 equipados con ACARS, situación que hace que el número de usuarios del sistema aumente considerablemente. Es por esto que se plantea la necesidad de realizar un análisis a los procedimientos automáticos creados por la compañía con el objetivo de determinar, a través de mediciones en el nivel de utilización, si están contribuyendo a optimizar los procesos operacionales que han sido automatizados. Dicho análisis se llevó a cabo específicamente a los procedimientos de inicialización automática del vuelo, envío automático de estiba y requerimiento automático de plan de vuelo, todos correspondientes a la etapa de pre – vuelo de la operación. El análisis del procedimiento de inicialización se realiza en base a los MVT`s (mensajes de movimiento) que bajan del avión, siendo el parámetro de medición los errores que presente el mensaje de MVT, ya que de presentar alguno significa que la inicialización no fue realizada en forma automática. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que un 18% los vuelos analizados fueron inicializados manualmente, pasando por alto el procedimiento automático. Sin embargo el 82% restante no garantiza la inicialización automática, ya que pudo haber sido realizada correctamente de forma manual por parte de la tripulación. El análisis del envío de estiba automática consiste en hacer una conciliación entre las estibas enviadas automáticamente y los ACK ́s (acknowledgement, acuso de recibo) emitidos por la tripulación en señal de acuso de recibo de la estiba. En cuanto al envío de la estiba se detecta que existe una falla en el procedimiento, ya que en ocasiones la estiba no es enviada aun teniendo cobertura VHF en la estación correspondiente. Por otro lado, en cuanto a los ACK ́s, se determina que sólo un 51% se emite correctamente y cumple con el objetivo de informar a tierra que la estiba se recibió correctamente, el 49% restante se divide entre ACK ́s erróneos y no emitidos. Por último, el análisis del procedimiento de requerimiento automático de plan de vuelo se realiza para cada número de vuelo en particular, en donde de acuerdo a la cantidad de veces que dicho vuelo se realizó en la semana analizada se obtienen la cantidad de requerimientos óptima, que considera cobertura VHF en todas las estaciones, cantidad de requerimientos esperada, que toma en cuenta a aquellas estaciones que no tienen cobertura y por ende no se puede realizar el procedimiento y cantidad de requerimientos real, que es la que efectivamente se realizó. En base a esto se diseñaron dos indicadores, uno de cobertura y otro de eficiencia en la realización del procedimiento, arrojando resultados de 88.5% y 53.2% respectivamente. Este último se encuentra muy por debajo del porcentaje de cobertura, el cual es la meta de utilización para este procedimiento. De acuerdo al objetivo propuesto, los resultados obtenidos en los análisis realizados dan cuenta de una subutilización del sistema, encontrándose por debajo del nivel esperado de 85%, por lo tanto se concluye que la utilización de ACARS por parte del personal involucrado no está contribuyendo a optimizar los procedimientos operacionales que han sido objeto de análisis. Lo anterior se atribuye, en parte, a una falta de eficiencia en los esfuerzos realizados por la compañía para acercar esta nueva tecnología a los usuarios. Dado esto se propone, como mejora, un esquema referencial para la documentación de procedimientos de comunicación ACARS dentro de la compañía, el cual tiene como finalidad convertirse en una herramienta de difusión que se encuentre siempre disponible para la consulta por parte de los usuarios. Dicho esquema plantea un formato en el cual los procedimientos sean escritos en un lenguaje didáctico y con ilustraciones de modo de acercar aún mas las aplicaciones al personal involucrado. El formato propuesto contempla para cada procedimiento el siguiente esquema de desarrollo: -Descripción del Procedimiento: describir en que consiste y cuales son los sistemas involucrados. -Objetivo: Fundamentar la razon de por que es creada la aplicación.-En la Cabina: Describir las tareas que deben llevar a cabo las tripulaciones de mando.-En tierra: Describir las tareas que debe realizar el personal de tierra involucrado en el procedimiento.-Flujograma de la Información: Mediante un diagrama describir cual es el flujo de la información, entre el avión y tierra. Como parte final del trabajo se aplica el esquema propuesto a los procedimientos analizados.
Nowadays the efficiency is a necessary condition in any company that tries to be profitable and in LAN they do not escape of this premise, still more in the operational area, that is where the greater cost of the company is concentrated. The present work, titleholder "Analysis of procedures of communication ACARS like tools of optimization of processes in the operational area of LAN Airlines", has like objective determine if the use of the ACARS communications system is contributing to optimize the operational processes that have been automatization object and this way to be able to measure the efficiency2 of the personnel involved in the flight operations area. The flight operations area is defines like the area in charge of the of the subjects that are related of one or another form to the flights that the company operates, being the one in charge, among other things, to control the fulfillment of policies and procedures, to plan the operation and to represent the company before the regulating organisms. Within the flight operations area is the flight control center, department that is the one in charge to make the operational dispatch of the flights and to maintain a constant communication with them. This is framed within which it is known like communications for the control of the aeronautical operations, control that is carried out by the own airline with the purpose of guaranteeing the regularity, efficiency and operational security of the flights. Within this context it was that in year 1978 the system of digital communication ACARS, Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, was introduced in the civil aviation, which was designed to maintain a control permanent of the flight operation of an airplane. This new communication system allows to reduce the number of messages of voice between the crew and the earth station, replacing them by preformated digital messages that can such be sent so much by the crew or systems of the airplane, of this form the airship is transformed into a terminal more of the airline network. One of the most important applications that ACARS gives to the airlines is the possibility of being able to count on instantaneous information on the operation of the motors, which is of great importance for the preventive maintenance of these. Nevertheless the benefits of this technology do not remain there, and although the great majority of the airlines that have incorporated it in their operations has done it for the reason before described, ACARS allows to automate operational processes, such as the meteorological reports, the load of flight plan in the computer of the airplane, the shipment of the loadsheet, positions reports among others. LAN Airlines, incorporated this technology in its operations in 2000, thanks to the process of renovation of fleet that brought to the company the modern airplanes Airbus A340 and A320 that come with built-in ACARS. Of this form, and following the tendency of those companies that already counted on ACARS, in LAN they began to develop automatic applications for diverse operational processes, always persecuting the objective to improve the operational efficiency of the company. At first this new system of communications was restricted single the A340 fleet, mainly by a technical subject related to the way of transmission of the data. Nevertheless this situation has changed, and today to the 4 A340 of equipped company the 22 are added A320/319 with ACARS, situation that does that the number of users of the system increases considerably. It is by that the necessity considers to make an analysis to the automatic procedures created by the company with the objective to determine, through measurements in the use level, if they are contributing to optimize the operational processes that have been automated. This analysis was carried out specifically to the procedures of automatic initialization of the flight, automatic shipment of loadsheet and automatic requirement of flight plan, all corresponding to the stage of pre - flight of the operation. The analysis of the automatic initialization procedure is made on the basis of the MVT`s (movement messages) that down of the airplane, being the measurement parameter the errors that presents the MVT message, since to present some it means that the initialization was not made in automatic form. The obtained results show that a 18% the analyzed flights were initialized manually, ignoring the automatic procedure. Nevertheless 82% rest do not guarantee the automatic initialization, since it could be made correctly of manual form on the part of the crew. The analysis of the shipment of automatic loadsheet consists of making a conciliation between the automatically sent loadsheet and the ACK ́s (acknowledgement, I accuse of receipt) emitted by the crew in signal of I accuse of receipt of the loadsheet. With regard the shipment of the loadsheet one detects that a fault in the procedure exists, since sometimes the loadsheet is not sent even having VHF cover in the corresponding station. On the other hand, with regard the ACK ́s, it is determined that only a 51% are emitted correctly and fulfills the objective to inform to earth that the loadsheet was received correctly, 49% rest are divided between ACK ́s erroneous and not emitted. Finally, the analysis of the procedure of automatic requirement of flight plan is made for each number of flight in individual, in where according to the amount of times which this flight was made in the analyzed week obtain the optimal amount of requirements, that considers VHF cover in all the stations, amount of requirements hoped, that it takes into account to those stations that do not have cover and therefore it is not possible to be made the procedure and real amount of requirements, that are the one that indeed was made. On the basis of this two indicators were designed, one of cover and another one of efficiency in the accomplishment of the procedure, throwing results of 88,5% and 53,2% respectively. This last one is very below 85% waited for by the company. According to the proposed objective, the results obtained in the made analyses give account of a subuse of the system, being below the waited for level of 85%, therefore the use of ACARS on the part of the involved personnel concludes that this not contributing to optimize the operational procedures that have been analisis object. The previous thing is attributed, partly, to a lack of efficiency in the efforts made by the company to approach this new technology the users. Dice this, sets out like improvement a referential scheme for the documentation of procedures of communication ACARS within the company, which has like purpose of becoming a diffusion tool that is always available for the consultation on the part of the users. This scheme raises a format in which the procedures are written in a didactic language and with illustrations of way to still approach but the applications the users. The proposed format contemplates for each procedure the following scheme of development: •Description of the Procedure: to describe in which it consists and as they are the involved systems. •Objective: To base the reason of so that the application is created. •In the Cabin: To describe the tasks that must carry out the control crews. •In earth: To describe the tasks that must make the involved ground crew in the procedure. •Information flow: By means of a diagram to describe as is the flow of the information, between the airplane and earth. As a final part of the work is applied the proposed scheme to the analyzed procedures.
Nowadays the efficiency is a necessary condition in any company that tries to be profitable and in LAN they do not escape of this premise, still more in the operational area, that is where the greater cost of the company is concentrated. The present work, titleholder "Analysis of procedures of communication ACARS like tools of optimization of processes in the operational area of LAN Airlines", has like objective determine if the use of the ACARS communications system is contributing to optimize the operational processes that have been automatization object and this way to be able to measure the efficiency2 of the personnel involved in the flight operations area. The flight operations area is defines like the area in charge of the of the subjects that are related of one or another form to the flights that the company operates, being the one in charge, among other things, to control the fulfillment of policies and procedures, to plan the operation and to represent the company before the regulating organisms. Within the flight operations area is the flight control center, department that is the one in charge to make the operational dispatch of the flights and to maintain a constant communication with them. This is framed within which it is known like communications for the control of the aeronautical operations, control that is carried out by the own airline with the purpose of guaranteeing the regularity, efficiency and operational security of the flights. Within this context it was that in year 1978 the system of digital communication ACARS, Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, was introduced in the civil aviation, which was designed to maintain a control permanent of the flight operation of an airplane. This new communication system allows to reduce the number of messages of voice between the crew and the earth station, replacing them by preformated digital messages that can such be sent so much by the crew or systems of the airplane, of this form the airship is transformed into a terminal more of the airline network. One of the most important applications that ACARS gives to the airlines is the possibility of being able to count on instantaneous information on the operation of the motors, which is of great importance for the preventive maintenance of these. Nevertheless the benefits of this technology do not remain there, and although the great majority of the airlines that have incorporated it in their operations has done it for the reason before described, ACARS allows to automate operational processes, such as the meteorological reports, the load of flight plan in the computer of the airplane, the shipment of the loadsheet, positions reports among others. LAN Airlines, incorporated this technology in its operations in 2000, thanks to the process of renovation of fleet that brought to the company the modern airplanes Airbus A340 and A320 that come with built-in ACARS. Of this form, and following the tendency of those companies that already counted on ACARS, in LAN they began to develop automatic applications for diverse operational processes, always persecuting the objective to improve the operational efficiency of the company. At first this new system of communications was restricted single the A340 fleet, mainly by a technical subject related to the way of transmission of the data. Nevertheless this situation has changed, and today to the 4 A340 of equipped company the 22 are added A320/319 with ACARS, situation that does that the number of users of the system increases considerably. It is by that the necessity considers to make an analysis to the automatic procedures created by the company with the objective to determine, through measurements in the use level, if they are contributing to optimize the operational processes that have been automated. This analysis was carried out specifically to the procedures of automatic initialization of the flight, automatic shipment of loadsheet and automatic requirement of flight plan, all corresponding to the stage of pre - flight of the operation. The analysis of the automatic initialization procedure is made on the basis of the MVT`s (movement messages) that down of the airplane, being the measurement parameter the errors that presents the MVT message, since to present some it means that the initialization was not made in automatic form. The obtained results show that a 18% the analyzed flights were initialized manually, ignoring the automatic procedure. Nevertheless 82% rest do not guarantee the automatic initialization, since it could be made correctly of manual form on the part of the crew. The analysis of the shipment of automatic loadsheet consists of making a conciliation between the automatically sent loadsheet and the ACK ́s (acknowledgement, I accuse of receipt) emitted by the crew in signal of I accuse of receipt of the loadsheet. With regard the shipment of the loadsheet one detects that a fault in the procedure exists, since sometimes the loadsheet is not sent even having VHF cover in the corresponding station. On the other hand, with regard the ACK ́s, it is determined that only a 51% are emitted correctly and fulfills the objective to inform to earth that the loadsheet was received correctly, 49% rest are divided between ACK ́s erroneous and not emitted. Finally, the analysis of the procedure of automatic requirement of flight plan is made for each number of flight in individual, in where according to the amount of times which this flight was made in the analyzed week obtain the optimal amount of requirements, that considers VHF cover in all the stations, amount of requirements hoped, that it takes into account to those stations that do not have cover and therefore it is not possible to be made the procedure and real amount of requirements, that are the one that indeed was made. On the basis of this two indicators were designed, one of cover and another one of efficiency in the accomplishment of the procedure, throwing results of 88,5% and 53,2% respectively. This last one is very below 85% waited for by the company. According to the proposed objective, the results obtained in the made analyses give account of a subuse of the system, being below the waited for level of 85%, therefore the use of ACARS on the part of the involved personnel concludes that this not contributing to optimize the operational procedures that have been analisis object. The previous thing is attributed, partly, to a lack of efficiency in the efforts made by the company to approach this new technology the users. Dice this, sets out like improvement a referential scheme for the documentation of procedures of communication ACARS within the company, which has like purpose of becoming a diffusion tool that is always available for the consultation on the part of the users. This scheme raises a format in which the procedures are written in a didactic language and with illustrations of way to still approach but the applications the users. The proposed format contemplates for each procedure the following scheme of development: •Description of the Procedure: to describe in which it consists and as they are the involved systems. •Objective: To base the reason of so that the application is created. •In the Cabin: To describe the tasks that must carry out the control crews. •In earth: To describe the tasks that must make the involved ground crew in the procedure. •Information flow: By means of a diagram to describe as is the flow of the information, between the airplane and earth. As a final part of the work is applied the proposed scheme to the analyzed procedures.
Description
Keywords
LAN CHILE, LAN AIRLINES S.A, LAN AIRLINES S.A, AERONAUTICA -- SISTEMAS DE COMUNICACION, AVIONES -- EQUIPOS ELECTRICOS
