In today's episode Kasia Żmudzińska meets two guests from Airways International: Philipp Zeitel, Training Quality Manager and Jonny Cooke, Head of Products. 

A 95% success rate in Air Traffic Control (ATCO) training in New Zealand, was an inspiration for recording this episode. It is a really high number and it raises the question: what is behind such outstanding result?

Jonny and Philipp share their views on how to make the selection process attractive, available and light for a wide pool of potential ATCO candidates, what are the steps of the recruitment process and what makes Airways' approach to Assessment Centres worth the investment. 

The guests also share insights into the key skills and personal traits that define a successful air traffic controller, and whether these abilities can be consciously developed and practiced.

If you are interested in Air Traffic Control (ATC) and want to learn more about what makes a selection process successful, don't miss this episode!

Günter Graf, Vice President New Business Development & Innovation, Frequentis and Ralf Irmer, Head of Vodafone Tech Innovation Centre, Dresden joined Claudia Bacco, Global Airspace Radar Editor-in-chief to discuss the role of 5G and drones can play in enhancing public safety. 

The two companies have already been working together for quite a while across public safety topics and the use of Mission Critical Services (MCX). Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) continue to play a larger role in providing connectivity and communication for drones. 

Both organisations share their work in the ADELE project - Automated drone deployment from the control centre. The project tested the use of drones in a real operational environment with the Rostock fire department, reinforcing how emergency services teams can benefit from the introduction of drones to their first responder teams.

Listen to the discussion and we hope you'll come away with some new ideas for the use of drones.

Alex Bristol and Peter Merz are Vincent Lambercy's guests for this special episode about the CEO transition at Swiss ANSP skyguide. Alex will leave the company after eight years and three months as CEO and Peter will formally take-over in November 2025. Peter is the ex chief of the Swiss Air Force and used to be a user of skyguide's services.

Alex reflects on his time at skyguide and how the company evolved under his leadership, and also on some hard times, including the COVID crisis and a technical issue forcing to "clear the sky" for a few hours.

Peter speaks about his career as a military pilot, squadron, and base leader, as well as in the Air Force's leadership. He explains why he decided to be a candidate and now how the transition runs.

Today Kasia Żmudzińska meets Karolina Frisk - Group HR Manager at Entry Point North to explore the topic of managing generational differences in the context of training and working with aviation professionals and students.  

Entry Point North has a new course in its offering - Human Factors: Navigating Generational Differences. Karolina explains the findings of the student resilience study and its generational aspects that inspired the development of this training. We learn how training organisations can apply these insights to enhance their performance.

This episode offers a deep dive into the topic of generational differences - where they come from, how they show up in training environments and how to make the best out of this knowledge. For example, it can help us better attract younger candidates to Air Traffic Controller roles.

If you are curious about what the student resilience study has revealed and what it tells us about the younger generation, this episode is a must! 

Monica Paolini, Principal, Senza Fili Consulting joined our editor-in-chief Claudia Bacco to discuss telecommunications supporting drones. A twist is mentioned in the title and the twist is the view from China. Having just returned from a trip to China, Monica shares insights from visiting China Telecom including their drone program. The twist goes further in that the telecommunications company is leading the effort to test drone flights as opposed to the regional air traffic control organisation being in the lead. Certainly different than what we're seeing in Europe and the US.

We also dug deeper into the use of spectrum and the mobile infrastructure in this endeavour, what can be re-used, what needs to be changed/enhanced. Join us in the discussion which leans more toward the telecommunication part of the equation.

Monica Paolini, PhD, is the founder and principal of Senza Fili. She is an expert in wireless technologies and has helped clients worldwide to understand new technologies and customer requirements, create and assess financial models, evaluate business plan opportunities, market their services and products, and estimate the market size and revenue opportunity of new and established wireless technologies.

Drone sandboxes are a way to bridge the gap between regulation and reality, allowing for testing in safe ways. On this episode, Vincent Lambercy discusses with Antoine Martin. Antoine serves as "Advanced ATM Officer" with the French Directorate of General Civil Aviation and has been with the french ANSP DSNA before.

We discuss the status of the current drone regulations in Europe, how the French CAA facilitates testing for drone operations, Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights, and more.

Why are sandboxes useful, and even needed, and how they will evolve in the future? How is the gap between the regulation and the standards, and what is missing for routine BVLOS flights?

We discuss this and more, and Antoine's question is to Florian Guillermet.

What are the leadership skills for a career in aviation? What is the market like for senior positions in air traffic management, what are the regional differences and requirements? Are your qualifications and skills already future-proof?

Arpad Szakal is Marita Lintener's guest on this episode. Arpad is Partner Aviation, Transportation and Infrastructure at CORMIS PARTNERS SEARCH & INTERIM MANAGEMENT, specialising in senior level positions. Marita and Arpad discuss the essential skills for the future, the challenging economic context for C-Suite executives, cross-sector demand for the best leaders and how diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are evolving in the current socio-political framework.

Hear first-hand how to prepare for a headhunter call, gain actionable recommendations on how to accelerate your professional journey from a junior position, the importance of sponsorship and many more insights for a successful career.

How does EUROCONTROL help stakeholders making aviation more sustainable? How is the agency in a unique position to provide guidance and advice, but also tools and measurements that ANSPs, airlines, and airports can use to become more sustainable?

Marylin Bastin is Vincent Lambercy's guest on this episode and they explore all facets of what EUROCONTROL does to make aviation more sustainable. Marylin brings the debate beyond usual topics like free route and continuous descent operations. We discuss how a lot of the sustainability question actually find its roots in the energy discussion but also how getting funding for the transition will be critical.

EUROCONTROL's Flying Green portal is mentioned a couple of times in the episode and can be found at https://flying-green.eurocontrol.int/ and the Global Airspace Radar article about it can be found at https://globalairspaceradar.com/stories/navigating-towards-sustainable-aviation-eurocontrol-flyinggreen/

In this episode, Kasia Żmudzińska meets Lea Trampitsch-Vink, Human Performance Lead at Austro Control, to discuss the future of humans in aviation. 

Lea tells the story of her remarkable journey — from serving as a navigator and warship commander in the New Zealand Navy, chasing pirates off the coast of Africa, to her current leadership role at Austro Control.

She shares her views and ideas on how to get more performance out of today's aviation workforce at times of increasing demand, without causing burnout, how to make the European ATM Master Plan work from a human factors perspective, where the limits of automation development lie, and much more! 

If you’re curious about human factors and performance in aviation, and want to hear insights from an expert with first-hand operational experience, this episode is for you!

Karl Wannenmacher, CTO, Frequentis, speaks with our editor-in-chief Claudia Bacco about all things technology. 

Starting with highlights of the current focus of his organisation - Service-oriented architecture (SoA), cybersecurity internally and throughout the entire supply chain, and artificial intelligence (AI).

What about the ANSP view? ANSPs are challenged to achieve a fully automated air traffic management (ATM) infrastructure within the next 20 years. The path to achieve this goal is supported by the SESAR ATM MasterPlan and the CATS CONOPS. Other industries, such as public safety where Karl's prior focus was, have already started implementation of topics such as SoA 10 years ago. So how does ATM get there?

We took a look at the definitions of SoA, how to implement it, what infrastructure is needed. What ANSPs - Skyguide and DFS - provide good examples of current progress, while being open about their challenges. Also addressed, the readiness of infrastructure vendors and the opportunity to leverage lessons learned and solutions from the wider tech industry.

In addition, a bit about quantum computing and blockchain.