An Automated Conflict Alert System and Its Impact on the Air Traffic Controller - an Explorative Field Study

This study aims at investigating the impact of a recently implemented short term conflict alert system in Swedish air traffic control. The main issue is whether controllers have changed their way of working after the introduction of the new system and to look for potential risk factors. Observations, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from working controllers. Results show no change in work procedures except for the fact that controllers have increased the amount of information given to pilots. A tendency was found for experienced controllers to look more often at alerts in other sectors than less experienced controllers did, which might be a potential risk factor.