Identification of Air Traffic Controller Conflict Resolution Strategies for the CORA (Conflict Resolution Assistant) Project

In order to explore the potential for a human centred design of conflict resolution advisor, or ‘assistant’, a project has been undertaken to elicit from controllers directly their resolution strategies for a number of scenarios. Since this is a European project, it was necessary to consider a number of different countries. Therefore controllers from seven countries were interviewed individually and in groups, using a standardised set of conflict scenarios. These scenarios ranged from straightforward ‘classical’ scenarios such as ‘head on’ and ‘catch-up’, to multiple aircraft conflicts, and conflicts occurring in constrained airspace. This work, currently being analysed, will establish the degree of agreement between different countries, and the range of preferable and allowable resolution strategies for a set of scenarios. It will also establish what controllers would not do to resolve conflicts, thereby identifying potential advice that would jeopardise the controllers’ trust in the CORA support environment. The paper will outline the methodology used, and will focus on the initial results from the interview process. These results include some of the explicit rules that controllers pay attention to, as well as the implicit strategies they adopt when solving conflicts. It will also show the factors controllers consider when carrying out conflict resolution. This information is intended to inform development of CORA, and may also be of benefit in the training of ab initio controllers.