General

A flight progress strip is a small strip of paper used to track a flight in air traffic control

Air traffic control

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...

 (ATC). While it has been supplemented by more technologically advanced methods of flight tracking since its introduction, it is still used in modern ATC as a quick way to annotate a flight, to keep a legal record of the instructions that were issued, to allow other controllers to see instantly what is happening and to pass this information to other controllers who go on to control the flight.

The strip is mounted in a plastic boot called a 'strip holder' and placed with other strips in a 'strip board' which is then used as a representation of all flights in a particular sector of airspace or on an airport. The color of the strip holder itself often has a meaning. The strip board has vertical rails that constrain the strips in several stacks ('bays').

The position of the strip in the board is a significant part of the information of the strip board: approach

Instrument approach

For aircraft operating under instrument flight rules , an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft under instrument flight conditions from the beginning of the initial approach to a landing, or to a point...

 and area controllers typically keep their strips in level/altitude order, whereas tower

Control tower

A control tower, or more specifically an Air Traffic Control Tower , is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport. Control towers are also used to control the traffic for other forms of transportation such...

 controllers use the bays to represent the ground, the runway and the air. Each bay might be further sub-divided using 'designator strips' and metal bars to allow even more information to be portrayed by the position of a flight progress strip. Other special strips can be used to indicate special airspace statuses, or to represent the presence of physical obstructions or vehicles on the ground. They may even be used to provide a quick reminder to the controller of other pertinent information, e.g. the time when night begins or ends.

In some countries, flight progress strips have been replaced by computer displays. This is not always a problem free transition, since physical strips have many characteristics that a computer system cannot replicate. In fact, the term "handoff," which is used today to denote the computerized transfer of control of an aircraft from one sector to another, comes from the older technique of physically handing off the flight progress strip to the next controller to denote the transfer of responsibility. This technique is still used today within some control towers, for example the ground controller may physically hand the strip to the local controller as the aircraft reaches the runway, or the local controller will drop the strip and strip holder down a chute to the departure radar controller in the room below, once the aircraft has been cleared for takeoff.

There are many styles of progress strip layouts, but minor differences aside, a strip contains at least:

• Aircraft Identification (e.g. aircraft registration or a flight number)
• Aircraft Type as the relevant 4-letter ICAO designator (e.g. B744 for a Boeing 747-400
  Boeing 747-400
  The Boeing 747-400 is a major development and the best-selling model of the Boeing 747 family of jet airliners. While retaining the four-engine wide-body layout of its predecessors, the 747-400 embodies numerous technological and structural changes to produce a more efficient airframe...
  
  )
• Level (Assigned Altitude)
• Departure and Destination
• At least one time in four figures (other times can be shortened to minutes only).

Other information may be added as required.

In addition a strip may be "cocked out", or offset, from normal alignment to highlight potential issues. This can be used either as a personal reminder or as a form of communication between controllers.

For filed flight plans, strips are initially printed from a computer and often contain more information than this. Further information is then added by controllers and assistants in various coloured pens to show the role of person making the annotation. For 'free-calling' aircraft (generally smaller aircraft transiting airspace), strips must be fully hand-written by the controller or assistant from information passed by radio.

Digital Flight Progress Strips

Electronic replacements for flight progress strips are based on the
paper strip metaphor and try to mimic existing operational procedures
as closely as possible while leveraging all benefits of a digital
representation.

Strips can be moved around, similar to ordinary paper strips, using a
pen on a touch-sensitive tablet. Hand-written remarks can be added,
and data fields can be directly changed by the controller. Strips can
also be "cocked out" or marked in different colors.

Digital flight strips form a collaborative system which supports
teamwork between several users, allowing strips to be transferred
between positions. In some systems, a workflow engine models the
standard workflow of handling flight strips. This is most beneficial
for control towers, where there is a high
coordination and communication portion between the
ATCO

Air traffic controller

Air traffic controllers are the people who expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. The position of the air traffic controller is one that requires highly specialized skills...

s involved. The workflow engine
suggests the step that is most likely to occur next for each strip,
showing it on an "action button". Clicking on the action button
confirms that next action, and the strip progresses along the
workflow, possibly being moved to a different bay, or transferred to
the next controller working position or unit. Timestamps for each user
action are recorded by the system, providing a very fine-grained and
accurate information database for all sorts of statistics, analysis
and reporting.

Companies that are marketing digital flight strip systems include AviBit, Frequentis and NavCanada.

Safety net functions

Digital flight strip systems can incorporate a range of features to
implement safety nets and safety related logic. These include:

• Constraining the workflow to reasonable actions

• Checks within a single flightplan (e.g. verify Standard instrument departure
  Standard Instrument Departure
  Standard instrument departure routes, also known as departure procedures are published flight procedures followed by aircraft on an IFR flight plan immediately after take-off from an airport.- Introduction :...
  
   (SID)against runway
  Runway
  According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
  
   and route)

• Checks for flight plan
  Flight plan
  Flight plans are documents filed by pilots or a Flight Dispatcher with the local Civil Aviation Authority prior to departure...
  
   conflicts (e.g. multiple flightplans use the same park position)

• Conflicting actions (e.g. landing clearance while vehicle is on the runway)

Integration with surface radar systems

An additional benefit of using digital flight strips is that the
system can be integrated with Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) or similar systems.

Among other features, this allows common highlighting of flight strips
and the corresponding radar image, automatic reaction to events
(e.g. touchdown) in the digital flight strip system, or a more
sophisticated safety net functionality.

External links

• The use of Flight Progress Strips at Ronaldsway Airport, Isle of Man
  Isle of Man
  The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...