Electronic flight information systems

The two flight crew were now over the ocean and trying to fly the aircraft manually to return to Lima in darkness, all the time with abnormal or non-functioning altitude and airspeed indications, and with the Electronic Flight Information System generating lots of alarms. 

An additional causal factor in this incident involves the way controllers track which aircraft have checked in and which have already been handed off to the next controller. The old system was based on printed flight progress strips and included a requirement to mark the strip when an aircraft had checked in. The new system uses electronic flight progress strips to display the same information, but there is no standard method to indicate the check-in has occurred. Instead, each individual controller develops his or her own personal method to keep track of this status. In this particular loss of communication case, the controller involved would type a symbol in a comment area to mark any aircraft that she had already handed off to the next sector. The controller that was relieved reported that he usually relied on his memory or checked a box to indicate which aircraft he was communicating with. 

The first level LI corresponds to the electronically excited Cr(CO)6 (fl Tlu) and L5 is the ground state (S0) of Cr(CO)5. Each of these levels produces a different range of ionized fragments following application of the probe pulse. The time-of-flight detector can select ions of a particular mass, and the time-dependent behavior of each fragment ion provides information on the length of time taken for the system to traverse each of the five levels. 

Air traffic control is the means by which separation of aircraft in flight and on the ground is maintained. This service is provided by ground-based personnel utilizing electronic systems and two-way communication. Present-day air traffic control rehes primarily on radar. Radar allows air traffic controllers to identify aircraft and to determine altitude, speed, and course. This, in turn, provides the controllers the information required to maintain separation and guide aircraft to their destinations. Air traffic control is divided into three distinct entities air traffic control towers (ATCTs) terminal radar approach control (TRACON) and air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs). Each has a distinct function, but all activities are coordinated among the sections. Flight service stations, an advisory service, are also a part of the air traffic control network. 

Flight instrumentation refers to the instruments that provide information to a pilot about the position of the aircraft in relation to the Earth s horizon. The term avionics is a contraction of aviation and electronics and has come to refer to the combination of communication and navigational devices in an aircraft. This term was coined in the 1970 s after the systems were becoming one integral system. 

Computers have been defined as systems of machines that process information in the form of letters, numbers, and other symbols, and that are self directing within predetermined limits . Webster s New International Dictionary defines a computer as a mechanical or electronic apparatus capable of carrying out repetitious and highly complex mathematical operations at high speeds . Computers are used in business for the maintenance of inventories, the calculation and preparation of payrolls, etc. in industry for the automatic operation of machinery, the control of refinery operations, etc. and in research for the determination of flight characteristics of missiles and spacecraft, the prediction of the behaviour of substances acted upon by a number of variables, etc. These definitions were cited by the Canadian Supreme Court in R. v. McLaughlin [1980] 2 SCR 331 at 339. 

The Passenger Name Record (PNR) information so required must electronically provide Customs with access to any and all PNR data elements concerning the identity and travel plans of the passenger to any flight in foreign air transportation to and from the United States, to the extent that the carrier in fact possesses the required data elements in its reservation system and/or departure control system. 

At this time the NICMOS 3 design is complete, the flight qualification focal plane assemblies are in manufacture, and all flight focal planes are on schedule for delivery by the end of 1994. Identical focal plane arrays, not under flight qualification procedures, are in use in many observatories aroimd the world. The read out electronics systems differ and the observational modes differ between users. This has provided important information on the operation of the arrays under different circumstances and has inevitably led to different resrdts which depend on the method of use. The following describes the intended method of use for the NICMOS program. Any information from users utilizing the arrays in a similar way will be most welcome. 

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