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Dubai & Amsterdam Air Traffic Control

Luiejen Marc A. Gascon

Saint Louis University
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Electronics Engineering
ECE 527F: Field Trips/OJT, Seminars, and Review
May 16, 2021
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Company Profile
Company Name: Dubai International Airport
Address: Dubai - United Arab Emirates
Contact Details: +971 4 224 5555

Products and/or services:

The company provides flights to any customer from one destination to another.

Customer Profile:
Any person that wants to travel at any part of the world.

Leadership Profile:
Dubai international airport is owned by the Government of Dubai.
Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group: His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed
Al Maktoum
President, Emirates Airline: Sir Tim Clark
President Group Services & dnata, Emirates Group: Gary Chapman
Chief Operating Officer, Emirates Airline: Adel Ahmad Al Redha
Chief Commercial Officer, Emirates Airline: Adnan Kazim
Executive Vice President - Chairman's Office, Facilities/Projects Management and P&L: Ali
Mubarak Al Soori
Executive Vice President Human Resources, Emirates Airline & Group: Abdulaziz Al Ali
Executive Vice President, Service Departments: Nigel Hopkins
Company Goal:
To be the leader in aviation innovation, environment protection as well as the best airline in the
world with a global network of coverage thanks to its strict compliance with flight safety,
responsibility, reliability, product and service quality and competitiveness while making travel
without borders to change the lives for the better.
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Company Name: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

Address: Evert van de Beekstraat 202, 1118 CP Schiphol, Netherlands
Contact Details:
Telephone: 0900 - 7244 7465 (in The Netherlands) or +31(0)20 794 0800 (outside The
Netherlands)
Fax: +31(0)20 604 1475
Email: info@schiphol.nl

Products and/or services:

The company provides flights to any customer from one destination to another.

Leadership Profile:
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is owned by Royal Schiphol Group.
Chief Executive Officer: Dick Benschop
Chief Financial Officer: Ms J.T.M. van der Meijs
Chief Projects & Assets Officer (CPAO): Hanne Buis
Chief Operations Officer: Birgit Otto
Director Schiphol Projects: Siebolt Bennema
Director Safety, Security & Environment, Director Lelystad Airport: Wilma van Dijk
Director IT & Data: Sjoerd Blüm
Director Finance: Henry van der Geest
Director of Airport Operations: Miriam Hoekstra - van der Deen
Director Schiphol Commercial: Jan Willem Weissink
Director Pier A Project: Tony Chisnall
Director Corporate Affairs: Kees Boef
Director Human Resources: Heleen Kuijten
Director Corporate Legal: Anne Hustinx
Director Strategy & Airport Planning: Richard Emmerink
Director Asset Management: Mirjam de Boer-Postmus
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Company Goal:
Connecting your world embodies the 'Why' of Royal Schiphol Group. By creating the world's
most sustainable, high quality airports our company allows international trade, tourism and
knowledge exchange to flourish by providing top-quality aviation infrastructure and air
transport facilities for passengers and cargo. Whether you are a passenger or an employee, we
consider it important for everyone at Schiphol to feel safe, valued and welcome. For this
reason, integrity is an important priority within our organization. This involves doing business
honestly, treating each other respectfully and a transparent policy.
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Process flow diagram

There are seven phases in air traffic control namely preflight, takeoff, departure, in the air,
descent, approach, and landing. In Preflight the weather forecast is communicated from the air
traffic control tower to the pilot and clearance is provided for the flight’s route. Takeoff is when
the tower operators guides the pilot to give the airplane road clearance for lift off. The
Departure phase is when the plane is five miles beyond the airport. Here, the flight control is
transferred to a Terminal Radar. The terminal radar guides the airplane to maintain its aircraft
separation from other planes and obstacles. In the air phase is when the oversight is given to an
Air Route Traffic Control Center or ARTCC, which is a radar system that supervises flights within
an airspace of a given flight information region at high altitudes between airport approaches
and departures. Descent is when the plane is within 50 miles of its destination airport. During
the approach, the TRACON controller fuses several streams of descending airplanes into one
even pace. TRACONs are FAA facilities that house air traffic controllers who use radar displays
and radios to guide aircraft approaching and departing airports generally within a 30- to 50-mile
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radius up to 10,000 feet, as well as aircraft that may be flying over that airspace .Finally, landing
is when the local controller gives clearance for landing and directs pilots through taxiways.

Screenshots of tour highlights

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Personal Insights
In this virtual fieldtrip I learned that everything has a process in plane flight. From preflight to
landing. The communication from the air traffic control tower to the pilot is very important. The
air traffic control towers are designed to be tall in order to help the traffic controllers to see a
wide view of the ramp, taxi way and runway. The workers in the control tower guides the plane
from the ramp to the runway. They ensure that all the planes leave in the right sequence and
time. They also guide the pilots for landing.
The planes are directed to the right runway depending on the weather to reduce accidents and
delays. When the plane has lift off the control is passed to the radar traffic control or also called
area controllers. The radar controllers have digital screen that displays the planes as blips and
their direction as lines and dots. The speed of the plane can also be seen on the radar.
When the plane exceeds 24,500 ft the traffic control is passed again to another air traffic
control sector that control upper area sector. I learned that the plane is guided by a chain of
controllers starting from the start of the plane’s engine to its shutdown. The control starts from
the ground controller, a tower controller, an approach controller, an area controller and vice
versa when it descends.
Without this traffic controllers air travel will never be safe, accidents will be prone and delays of
flights is inevitable. Controllers helps give order and safety for air travel just like ground vehicle
traffic controllers.
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References
Gerven, P. v. (2017, January 19). ASML for beginners. Retrieved from BITS&CHIPS: https://bits-
chips.nl/artikel/asml-for-beginners/
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Z3D_o8m5s&feature=youtu.be
Texas Instruments. (2019, July 19). A manufacturing tour. Retrieved from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFjPl6EhlIM
Texas Instruments. (2020, June 25). Experience Texas Instruments. Retrieved from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzms9dYm4-M