The main purpose of this meeting was to develop volcanic ash exercise objectives for the next volcanic ash exercise that will take place from 16 to 17 April 2020 called VOLKAM20. This exercise will assist in real-time events by reducing the workload of operators and air traffic services.
The objectives developed were mainly based on issues identified in previous exercises. One main objective will be to demonstrate Dynamic Airborne Reroute Procedure (DARP). At least one airline will pass reroute information automatically to Area Control Centre (ACC) Magadan using Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) and then this information will be passed to Main ATM Centre in Moscow for approval. The cleared reroute is then transferred to ACC Magadan for uplink to the pilot via CPDLC. The pilot then accepts this reroute information in the Flight Management System on-board the aircraft. This procedure may also be tested in the Anchorage Flight Information Region and passed from ACC Anchorage to ACC Magadan via Air Traffic System Interfacility Data Communication (AIDC).
The Fifteenth Meeting of the Volcanic Ash Exercises Steering Group for the (far) Eastern part of the EUR Region (EUR (EAST) VOLCEX/SG/15) was held from 23 to 25 July 2019 in Magadan, Russian Federation with 23 participants from Japan, Russian Federation, American Airlines and ICAO.
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