ATSEP: professionals in the technical field

What is the role of an ATSEP?

Maintaining and developing all technical systems deployed in air navigation services are the tasks of specialist technicians and engineers, the Air Traffic Safety Electronics Personnel or ATSEP. The theoretical and practical knowledge which an air navigation technician or engineer must possess is particularly wide-ranging. The systems are complex and multi-faceted, combining time-proven technologies with the very latest ones. Only staff bringing long experience in the field and proven ability are therefore to be found at Skyguide.

ATSEPs perform the following activities on operating facilities, depending on their aptitude, training and qualifications:

− preventive and corrective maintenance

− hardware and software specifications

− modifications

− software integration and testing

− compiling and revising documentation and

− installation and commissioning

The range of activities extends from in-depth theoretical studies to airborne calibrations of navigation and radar facilities and centralised systems monitoring within an operational control centre. In addition to the requisite technical expertise, project management skills are also required. Many ATSEPs have completed the corresponding training and eventually gone on to lead projects and programmes.

How do you become an ATSEP?

Switzerland does not have its own training centres for this discipline. Skyguide air navigation technicians and engineers therefore undertake a basic technical training at a university and then go through area-specific post-graduate courses. These are run by specialist institutes at home and abroad.

Far-reaching perspectives

At the beginning of their career Skyguide specialists are responsible for preventive and corrective maintenance and for the modification of the existing air navigation infrastructure. They are engaged on specifications, installation, acceptance tests and the certification of the infrastructure on the ground. Thus project management also forms an important part of their activities. Maintenance of the system covers a wide spectrum, from system management in the control centre to flight calibration of navigational and radar equipment on board a calibration flight. Later on, many of these air navigation service technicians and engineers move into management or specialist consultant positions. In these capacities, they may find themselves representing Skyguide’s and Switzerland’s interests on international and supranational bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) or Eurocontrol.

Moreover, the professional association for which they are responsible, SATTA (Swiss Air Traffic Control Technical Association), deals with the exchange of experience at a national and international level.

(Adapted from http://www.skyguide.ch/en/Jobs/Skyguide_as_Employer/ATSEP.xml)