Lack of manpower, dilapidated … air traffic control in Europe is a thing of the past!

Once again highlighted by Senator Vincent Capo-Canellas' recent and highly commented report at the beginning of June, seniority and obsolescence of air traffic control systems in France are also being blamed.

The most recent illustration remaining this failure occurred in central Brest on June 26, when an aircraft disappeared from all radar screens, causing a tremendous fright at the control tower.

Following an update of the flight management system, the Brest air traffic controllers had to re-enter, by hand and in a hurry, part of the flight plans.

A new crisis and a semi-surprise for most observers in the field, who had long been afraid of problems of this kind.

According to the report of Vincent Capo-Canellas, the French control towers still use software dating from the 1980s and, for three of the five French control centers, paper strips to record flight instructions (a technique that has been missing for over 20 years in some European centers).

The highly criticized Directorate of Air Navigation Services (DNSA) promises the upcoming arrival of the operating system 4-FLIGHT, produced by Thales.

Software that should not actually come into service before 2022, according to Les Echos while originally expected for … 2015.