- Nikolai Alekseevich, tell us how and why arose the idea to implement in the airline Forward Observer Command and Control Centre, what are its functions?

-       Initially, we planned to create such a centre in order to organise offshore operations. We studied what offshore is, how to enter it, with which helicopters. Gradually accumulating experience, we began to realise that the operations we do on onshore and the operations that we have to do on offshore, even organisationally and, sometimes psychologically, are prepared in different ways.

In our work, we came to the understanding that it is necessary to build a separate branch of the organisation of offshore operations. To do this, we turned to the experience of foreign companies. After talking with their representatives, we realised that for the successful implementation of all operations it is necessary to organise a Observer Command and Control Centre, which should be separated into a separate unit.

It is not separated from production, not detached, but it is technologically separate. At the same time there are: a representative of the flight unit, who promptly resolves issues of interaction between the aviation segment and the pilot directly on board the aircraft; operators, who are engaged in the organisation and interaction between the contractor, including providing them and fuel, as well as logistics and customer staff who arrive at local aerodromes to arrange departure. This whole chain is built, and representatives of each unit, including the technical, are in the same operating room.

Everyone deals with his questions, but the general idea about the flight, about the situation in the centre, is displayed on monitors. At the beginning of the way it was not clear for us from the point of view of technology, how to organise it. At that time, we agreed to visit the bases of the company Bristow Helicopters, PHI. We examined the production base and their central office in terms of aviation security and the organisation of all these clearance procedures. We visited their centres, production bases, the Houston centre, which manages the flights, drove to the operational points where the flight units are located and realised that they had it organised for the reason of having an Active Area Navigation System (AZN). And we have this topic in government circles for a long time exaggerated. And today it has spilled out only on the aircraft segment, and even then not at every airport.

- What is the essence of zonal navigation?

- The ideology of zonal navigation boils down to what “I see, and see me,” that is, respectively, mutual review and mutual responsibility, because everyone works in their sector, without occupying ATC frequencies. But if we see one and the other does not, then this is an incomplete system, you can’t call it a system - this is something additional, but not a system, and, as far as I know, it is not shifted to the helicopter segment. and not implemented, and it is unlikely in the near future, it seems to me, will appear. Because now all the talk about offshore companies has stopped, namely, they were the locomotive, because the extra money can only be in additional segments of the industry.

- Returning to the FOCC, tell me what year it appeared, and what was the essence of its creation?

-       Officially, we opened two years ago. This centre is the only one so far - neither in Tyumen, nor in Khanty-Mansiysk there are none. We are only now approaching the stage so that there are several such centres. The main essence of this centre is that if you do not see anything, then you can do nothing, because you are dependent on information, which, in turn, is very much dependent on the human factor. And in order to eliminate it, we need some kind of automation, but the AZN has not arrived. We were looking for an alternative - this is a tracker or satellite monitoring system.

- When did you first introduce a similar tracker system?

-       For the first time they appeared in African, UN contracts. They are stationary - this is an international system. In this case, we had the Skytrack system, but this is not an automatic system, but a contract one - this means that only the one who paid for it sees. They transmit flight data for a flight report, but the delivery time for these reports is not very good. And efficiency is money. And here everything is trivially simple - a business in order to earn money, and not spend it. Using these tools, we realised that it is expensive. We needed something cheap, and, at the same time, optimal in terms of functionality.

We concluded that we will have savings on satellite traffic, because then we purchased a batch of two-module satellite trackers with a GSM module in order to save traffic. We thought that traffic should be saved, and the spaces between control points are not so critical. Getting into the zone of sustainable coverage, it restores us all the missing points. But while he switches from module to module, the period of decision making is growing. Although this is measured in minutes, but every minute for an aircraft is several kilometres of flight, and accuracy is already lost.

As a result, we found trackers that fit our parameters. They have a long-lasting battery, a rubberised case that can withstand water penetration, it has the flexibility of settings, the remote option is available. I can remotely transmit all time intervals, to the extent that you can even connect the broadcast user via email. This is all we used when our boards were in Borneo. Therefore, I can say that our Centre was created in parallel with the improvement, we understand what we should do with the control of aircraft.

- What is this control like?

- You know exactly where the board should fly from, maybe even the exact time you can predict, and also where it should fly, and, accordingly, back. Therefore, we created this centre, called it the FOCC, so that our ears could understand this and not introduce anyone into the terminology of definitions. By and large, we cannot and should not control the flight of a helicopter, in the sense that it has said and turned, because the only one who controls our airspace is the ATM dispatchers. They inform us, they recommend us, but they do not control us. Therefore, we are divided functionally.

Here sit production workers, contractees with our regional divisions on places who are engaged in interaction with the representative of the customer on site, aircraft are distributed and flight is organised. It all comes down to a preliminary flight plan - what we have called a work plan. Then all this is entered into the "Meridian" system. All this is done during the day, and by the end of planning - by 18:00 of the Tyumen time, since most of the units work in Tyumen time, a daily plan is being formed. It is displayed in a formalised form, and I, as the head of the centre, check its correct completion, do the formalisation, and bring it for approval to the company's management for the production part.

- How many employees are involved in the work of the FOCC?

- Every day there are 4 workers of the FOCC in the operational shift: technical, flight and ours. The fourth is the head, that is, me. Flight and ours work around the clock. Technical works daily, but not around the clock - during active flights. If the car doesn't fly, it won't break. The additional people who are in the planning are people in the flight directorate and do not belong to the FOCC.

- In what form is the control over the pilots being executed?

-       To understand that the pilot came on board the helicopter, he must bring the tracker on board, turn it on and send me a message. Do not think that the pilot can send me a message even before it turns out in a helicopter, for example, sitting in a room. You can go outside, but I see this place on the map. And if the pilot is not in a helicopter, you can contact him and say: “Boy, and maybe it's still time to get to the helicopter?”. Yes, there were such cases when using trackers and video cameras, especially in winter, unscrupulous employees were caught. He is preparing a helicopter for departure, contacting him - he says that he is preparing. You turn on the picture from the camera on that platform, and there is no trace of snow around the helicopter. So no one has approached the helicopter yet.

I can say that from such a system of control and the quality of work has improved, and the attitude towards the work of the staff. I'm not the one who executes or pardons. I am the one who agrees and explains that it is better to be friends than to fight. And it works. It is clear that the human factor does not go anywhere. The tracker is not included - this is not critical, but I do not see it. Accordingly, no one sees. And comrade must be warned that if I do not see him again, he will not see part of the salary. Then I say that they are already on a pencil, but have not yet lost their salary. They communicate in the smoking room, pass on the change. They can remember me with bad words, but the main thing is that it should be deposited in our heads. And it works.

The tracker system helps to recognise the false alarms of emergency beacons. The bottom line is that when an emergency beacon, installed officially on an aircraft, is triggered abnormally, then officially it is a signal to raise the emergency side. And this costs, nerves, all the services "on the ears" are. When we installed the trackers, we had to spend a lot of time convincing our colleagues that this was a false positive and we see that the board is in flight. In addition, when dispatchers need to contact a helicopter, and on the ground, the coverage often leaves much to be desired, they cannot “shout” to the side, and I assure them that the board is at such and such a height, in such and such a zone then remove.

- Why has this whole system appeared only two years ago?

- Because, technologically, in order to contact and coordinate, you need information. To get this information, we need communication channels, devices with a certain functionality. And we had a solution with the help of trackers just then. Before that, the manager had to sit on the phone to find out where the board was located. And while all the leaders in the chain of communication call, the information is already sour. Today the information has come, it is immediately broadcast on a specific list. We solve all the issues of interaction by various departments and structures. All are in a single information circuit.

- Can you tell how much was invested?

-       Actually we haven’t invested into the FOCC. We organised everything from the workers' divisions; in addition, nothing was spent. We just chose certain segments in our branches - the flight centre, the technical centre, the production centre, and assigned to the operational shift. The only thing we have chosen for a long time is the mode of operation. And the cost of each tracker depends on the dollar. As far as I remember, something about 40 thousand rubles. It is clear that the investment programs were, I will not tell you this amount, because I am not a buyer, but a user. I am the operator of Internet technology, telephone technology. I submit the decision to management for consideration, it approves, and the procurement procedures go on.

- What information does the tracker transmit?

- The registration number of the board he does not transmit. We assign it, let's say, we bind the tracker to the board. All numbers of our trackers are available for change. This is, in fact, the name, I can always change it. The tracker transmits current flight information. If the helicopter is in the air, then every three minutes information comes in: coordinates, date, GPS altitude, current course, actual speed. The temperature of the apparatus itself is in case the board is somewhere in a critical situation and it can be understood that the crew is cold or warm. Accordingly, the battery charge of the tracker is also controlled, because even though the battery works for a long time, it still needs to be charged sometime. The tracker is a GLONASS - GPS module, that is, which signal is stronger, that he uses. Distance also transmits. This was finalised at our request.

- Who is the operator for working with trackers?

-       This is our Russian ISP Telecom provider. They themselves produce these trackers. They are their entire system and fully serviced. Much of the working interface has been refined after our recommendation. We work closely with them, very tight. And they react fairly quickly. We are finalising the system for our customer and the information that the customer needs, should be operational. For example, where is the specific board? Formally, there was a Google map. But it happens that Google doesn’t have enough digitisation of a specific area, but Yandex maps does. We asked the developer to switch to additional cartography. They finalised, and now instead of one Google, we have Yandex, Bing. That is, what you want, and use this. This is me, as a user, I can choose.

- Do clients have access to the system?

- To trackers - no. Only we have access to them. It is clear that customers have such a desire. Everyone wants to follow everything. But there is the concept of transport security and some restrictions on the spread of information. But we understand their needs, so we are finalising a system of three-level access to trackers with partners from the AIM. We have administrative access, and you see my account - Nikolay Loginov. Only I have access to all settings. There is an access that our all divisions in the field see - general access, it is registered in our corporate box, and our divisions. Heads of flight departments, heads of regional directorates, commercial, industrial parts, heads of engineering departments have access to this site. But they do not have access to tracker settings. They can only watch. And the third level of access that we are connecting now is client.

There is one more functionality that can be implemented. For example, the customer has a need to double-check where their people drove the helicopter. To do this, we have the opportunity to upload a separate track, and provide information on request. There will be this particular flight. You can set the date and choose the time for which period. Sooner or later, I think, we will have the opportunity and publication of the weather. So far, the weather is published only at international centres that officially broadcast it.

- Ok, but here is the question. Do you have inactive helipads listed here, or only valid ones? We have a lot of them in the country.

- Yes, active and inactive are displayed. If they are in the database. All information is textual, because the voice is more difficult to transmit, and, most importantly, someone must listen to it. For example, now I’m busy, but after five minutes I’m free, my voice has already flown past me, and I can read the text. And it is more effective from the point of view of control, and from the point of view of unambiguity of phrases, as I heard, I understood, I interpreted. And the time of the passage of information everyone can see.

- Can the pilot activate himself on the SOS tracker?

- Yes. He presses a button, an SOS signal arrives, coordinates, time. In the settings it is possible to install several emergency ways to declare yourself. Even in automatic mode.

- Do you pay the subscription fee of MVS-Telecom?

- Yes, the company pays, but we have special terms of service.

- What platform is the system built on?

- Initially, this common platform - Iridium360, and then you get on our platform, in our personal account. By the way, the most important thing is why we chose Iridium. These satellites are cross-polar. They walk across the pole. And the coverage area is in the areas in which we operate. For this reason, for example, INMARSAT does not suit us, since this system is for marine navigation and covers areas that are much smaller.

- Is it possible to duplicate this system to dispatchers so that they do not constantly tug you?

-       They asked this question too. Sure you may. Technically it is doable.

- You said that you have only one FOCC, here in Surgut, and how many branches do you have?

- For example, Tyumen, Khanty-Mansiysk, Berezovo, Tobolsk, Uray, Nefteyugansk, Nizhnevartovsk. At each point there is a branch manager. There are several helicopters based there. There are trackers there too, so they also watch their own aircraft.

- Do you have anywhere information about those helicopters that are currently decommissioned, for example, for maintenance?

- The database also displays information about which helicopters are currently decommissioned. There is even information about those who were supposed to be in flight today, but were delayed or broke, and the flight was canceled due to a malfunction. And such information is not only published in the system, but also goes to the management team via SMS distribution.

- Do you have branches abroad too?

- Yes, for example, on missions for the UN. Branches exist and they are quite large in size, because contacts and support for UN projects are a little different than Russian contracts. There are other requirements, more diplomacy.

- Does it make sense to include in the circuit FOCC and drones?

- There is, and this is also in our study. But the tracker they are testing now works a bit on another platform. Our drones are monitored only to check if communication with them is lost. This is done by the local unit. When at the legislative level the system of joint flights of unmanned and manned aircraft is formed, then it will become relevant. Then our plans will be formed together. And since the UAV's flight plan is mostly closed airspace, there is no point in connecting it with our helicopters for the time being.

- What are the future steps in the development of the FOCC?

- Everything that we have outlined and implemented must be adjusted and improved: the same correspondence, the exchange of information, the communication of information, the extraction of meteorological information, all in the single window mode. We are trying to connect in one place and localise everything so that there is no duplication or loss of information.